Guns Kills Machines Create

So I spent a majority of the last week working on a tat for this guy starting an apprenticeship and he wanted a pistol with the barrel being a tattoo machine grip, with a snake as the handle, and a banner saying Guns Kill Machines Create, if you haven't heard old schoolers bitch at kids picking up the art form about their language they disdain the term "gun" it's not a tattoo gun, it's a machine.

My first thought was I need to draw for other people...and then I read his description and thought that sounds like 60 pounds of shit in a 5 pound box. The idea in and of itself wasn't bad, but I didn't understand the snake part and it just seemed daunting. I finished it and just looking at it I wasn't totally stoked, the banner seemed off, the snakes head was off but I showed him anyways and he loved it. So here it is:

So it is what it is, it has a pretty old school feel which is cool, and taking a second look at it now, it's pretty good, but I wouldn't want it tattooed on me, especially since I drew another version that is what I think the design should have looked like. The dude loves it, that's the end of the argument, but I still think to myself I would want to tattoo something on someone that I wouldn't be damn proud sporting myself.

Anyways getting on to my design, I'm in love with the zombie hands and I wanted the banner to be connected to the hand as if they were a tattered old bandage, I made a more tattoo machine/handgun hybrid because I think some of that idea got lost in the last design, and I like how the kill part of the banner is grungy, the create part is clean and nice, this is what this should look like and I think after I finish tattoo school, I want to get this done on my forearm because everything is a homage back to the guys who started this and I also would never want to be tattooed by someone who doesn't have their ink showing, check out my version:

If I wanted to be overly critical I would call myself a douchebag for making myself a tattoo that is great not my client, but the truth of the matter is I was so inspired by the idea I knew I could churn out something that made more aesthetic sense, more design sense, and was more cohesive, it's just not what the client wanted, and I think people who sort of design their own ink are much more attached it, and that's the way it should be.

Good night Forest Grove.

Shades of Grey

So I found a bunch of drawings that I had misplaced and before I scanned them in I thought I would step out of my comfort zone and tattoo something with a fair amount of detail as well as try my hand at shading tonight. The design is a civil war era revolver, they are probably the coolest old pistols and the flash one I drew is amazing, but I didn't include all of the filigree in tonight's practice, maybe another day?

The first step was making my carbon copy stencil, I thought I would get some more practice with that because I am having such a hard time since I lack a good transfer paper. Since I used normal printer paper you have to make a lot of passes to get solid lines, and you can only use it on something flat like this.

Obviously that sucks, big time, I cleaned up a couple lines but since I had the picture next to me I know what it's supposed to look like so the lines were more like guides.

Next I did all of my outlines working right to left so I'm not smudging away the stencil. I was working with a 3 round and even when my hand is super steady and fluid the lines have a little wiggle to them still, less than they use to, but more than I really like. I also noticed when looking at the picture I have forgotten a few little details and put them in after the photo.


One thing I was thinking about is that the shading will hide some of the lines or blend into them so the lines on the interior were less of a problem if they weren't completely smooth, but the outer edge of the whole gun would be an issue so with the three round I made tiny circular motions over the existing outermost outlines to thicken it up and it helps make it pop a little too.


I didn't take enough photos of the shading process because I was just in the zone and getting tired which is a shame because I think that progression would have been nice to see. Basically I switched to my nine round and used a flick of the wrist from the needle being down to forward and out decreasing the pressure as it flicks away. The initial shading is lighter than I wanted to I continued to make passes over it and build them up until the were more like I wanted. In certain areas I make a thick black pass with no flicking motion to make the shadow deeper. I forgot that this tattoo skin doesn't take color well, but I tried to do a wooden handle, it's not bad, not great though.

Recapping the even I have to say I'm pretty proud of how this came out, it was the first time I tried shading and it turned out pretty good, a convincing gun metal finish for the most part. I'm not satisfied with it because there are shadows that need darkened, and it definitely needs the filigree so I think I will have to revisit it. I also have to get some better transfer paper or just because awesome at free handing everything onto people. When I have some extra money I really need to purchase some of the shading magnums because I think I'm going to get a much better and smoother gradation with them. Time to scan in some art, post it and the typography tomorrow, good night Forest Grove.