New year, new post.

The holidays brought new toys to the shop.  Nothing says "Peace on earth and goodwill toward men," quite like the STUN BATON. 

In addition to trying to electrocute Timberly, I've done a few tattoos.  Here are some of those.

Marissa was in town from Raleigh, so we threw this in the ditch of her elbow.

Paul's pinup healed.

This one is inspired by a Kiowa story of a boy who turns into a bear while pretending to be one.  He chased his sisters up a stump and into the heavens, creating the stars of the Pleiades. We've got a load of exciting work ahead, which I'm sure will surface here soon enough!

Here's what we've done so far to Kevin's arm, with more to come until we get it all filled out.  It's been really interesting seeing this piece evolve, because I usually would have everything mapped out for a sleeve from the start. 

This last one is a portrait of Emmet Kelly. The face is actually pretty small.

DASSIT.

God I love chiliburgers.

Howdy.

I'm in LA again, where my time isn't stretched as thin, and I've noticed that this is usually when I get around to making updates.  On this trip, I'll be at Black Diamond til November 6th, then back at Speakeasy through the winter.  In Chicago.  In the winter.  Could have planned that better. 

Chicago is keeping me busy, booking steadily about a month and a half ahead (longer when these trips come up).  Upcoming pieces I'll be drawing while here include a V for vendetta half leg piece, a phoenix sleeve, a composite of family tree ish elements for some ribs, a minnesota wildlife half sleeve, a floral side piece, skullz, daggerz, peonies, a biomech sleeve...

Basically I could not tattoo on this trip and still be busy as shit. I want to find time for Knott's scary farm though.  I've wanted to go there since I was a sophomore in high school, so it's time I made it happen.  I'll also be checking out the La Luz 25th anniversary shows, which are looking REALLY stellar.

Rob's Phoenix.  He wanted the wing on one side to transition into a reaper, so that's what we did.

 Bad photo Of Michelle's script!  The Moregore gals are always a blast to have around, and Michelle got all that lining on her chest and didn't sweat it.  Tough as nails, those two.

 Little bird on a little foot!  This one was really fun to draw.

Emily's Shoulder!  Most of it is healed in this photo, I just set a second session to tighten up a few things.

Chris's baby blocks!  Contains initials for the whole family!

Bobs shark all healed up.  The phoenix is going on his other arm.  Should be fun!

I'm going to get a soda.  Need anything from the gas station?

Big news!  I'll be tattooing October 8th at Rotofugi to help with Hope Gallery's "Quick and Painful" Exhibit.  The show takes some really talented folks like Craola, Alex Pardee, Joe Ledbetter, and tons of others, then sets them to the task of creating tattoo flash.  Its a pretty neat concept, given that their work gets tattooed on people fairly often.  I think I've done three Alex Pardee pieces myself, of the top of my head.  I'm definitely curious to see how some of these folks adapt their work to the task.  Here's a link to the site for the exhibit:

Hope Gallery presents: Quick and Painful


The other cool part of that is that it's going to be at Rotofugi, which is really one of my favorite places in Chicago.  You can scope them out here:

ROTOFUGI!

Also, here are a couple new pieces!  The last is a really fun piece I got to do on my girlfriend/bff.

This is the second Snow Crash inspired piece I've gotten to do.

Got a healed picture of this scrippage.

Luz's new tattoo!

Just coming off of a couple days of disease!  So far on this trip to LA I've spent the only time I haven't been working having a sleep marathon or sweating out this Hell Fever.

Got a decent amount of exciting new stuff in the works, lots of foxy lady tattoos and other cool stuff, but my time in Chicago was so busy I never got a chance to load things to my laptop.  In the meantime, here's a start to finish walk in Koi from Saturday!

Coffee gives me energy to fight my demons!!!

Sorry kids, I have been a naughty monkey lately when it comes to posts.  But I have a couple new items to barrage your eyeballs with.  But first, some updates:


I am in Chicago. 
I have a smattering of openings in May that are currently available. 
I am helping foster a one eyed cat.
I'm trying to pick back up on skating (so get in to see me now before I break my wrists.)

The third one doesn't relate to work so much, but dangit, she's a cutie.

PICTURES.

My friend Bens wife Angie.  She already had the star and orchids. 

Some rad stuff inspired by AJ Fosik.

Terrors of the Deep!

Back to the blog!

Oh my landers, it has been a while since my last post!  I have a ton of new pics, and some new news too.  I am back in LA, and I'll be here through mid March at Black Diamond Tattoo.  Saturday I am going to Jumbo's Clown Room.  Words cannot express how excited I am about this.  Weirdo clown burlesque?  Oh yes. 

I'm a little sad to be out of Chicago actually, I've been doing so much crazy stuff the last couple months.   LA's gonna have to get real weird to compete!  Though I have plenty of faith in this city's capacity in that regard.  There are a few cool pieces coming up, but I still have a good amount of open time, so if you've got some ideas, get at me! 

And if you want to get in when I get back to Chicago, email me about that too!  I've got openings starting at the beginning of April for Speakeasy. 


Enough Jibba Jabba.  Peep this:

Finally wrapped up this fella's back and got some decent photos of it.  I guess his grandpa almost won this castle in a card game?  How awesome is that?

Artist Jane Georges' botanical illustration piece!

One of a set of hop cones for some beer aficionados!

Filling in a gap between a couple other pieces.

Progress on this piece.  We've already done one more part, and have background to go!


So yeah!  That's some new stuff, and there's more on the way.  If you need me, you know where to find me. 

(At the Clown Room.)

Back in the Frozen North

I just wanted to say thank you to 217 Tattoo for an awesome week!  It was great to see everyone and it reminded me how much fun it was working there.  I think I was running on about 5 hours of sleep every night I was there, just so I could come back and start the next day at noon.  On that note, Thank You to Josh Woods for hanging out so late every night I worked with him!

Here are a few photos of things I worked on while I was there, although some of them are crappy phone pictures.

 One last picture, this is one I saw at a friends house from way back in the day.

I think it also said "SEXUAL PREDATOR" somewhere on my neck.  Gooood tiiiiiiiimes.


Thanks again Champaign!  I hope to see you again soon!!!

Travel info

Hey hey hey, I just wanted to let everyone know I will be in Champaign, IL at 217 Tattoo Co. November 30th through December 3rd, so let me know if you would like to get anything done while I'm there!  Most of the trip is booked out already, but I still have time for a couple small pieces or to possibly try setting things up for another trip in the near future!

Now I'm going Bowling.  Wish me luck.

Just got done with this one. It took a bit longer than I thought it would to find time to wrap it up, but I'm glad to see it finished!

I'm letting the original go for $380, but you can also get prints in several different formats and price points below.

Prints

Sketchy

Started drawing this at about 9 tonight.  Think I'll try getting some paint down for it when I get home.

 

 You're welcome for the close up of my hoodie lint, BTW.

Thinking she looks better with pupils, right? 

Topless dudes on the internet.

Last night I got to do our second session on what is going to be a pretty fun back piece.  Well, not a full back.  Kind of a 3/4 back, maybe?  I'm pretty sure it would be easy enough to expand on though should it become a full back.

I wouldn't be posting any pictures here since it isn't finished yet except my friend, photographer Mark Gutierrez, happened to stop in last night and snap a few.  I'm only posting one, because I don't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet on how all of this is coming together on the tattoo.


So, for now, here's a preview!

You want to be sexier. I can help.

You've seen it on the stickers, my station, and even my website, now YOU can own your very own copy of the same design I've been beating you over the head with the last few months!!!

 (Tee shirt is also available in a light grey that won't show your pit stains quite so fast.)


Also, winter is coming.  You should probably also buy the hoodie so you don't freeze to death.

I'm just trying to think of your well-being.  You'll thank me for this one day.


(These are all on really soft American Apparel shirts, by the way.  Very soft.  Luxurious, even.)

OWN THIS.

NEW SHIT NEW SHIT

Here's a tattoo on a local artist Paul Fritz that I was working on last night while all the cool kids were having delicious pizza.

Alright!  I am back in Chicago, just in time for a bit of fall weather.  Hopefully it lasts a while!

Here are a couple things I've done in the last few days since I've been back.

Finished this koi dragon deal a couple days ago, most of what you see in the picture is healed, we just didn't have time to get to the tail last time, so that part is still a little fresh.

I know this one isn't anything huge, but I never get pictures of my script, and I like doing it, so this wrist belongs to a gal from Missouri who stopped in Friday. 

Closing Time

9 pm is coming up here at Black Diamond, but I'm done with everything and left with some time to kill, so I thought I'd throw some more work here that I had just sent to Black Diamond for them to update their site with!

Getting started

Inaugural post!  For the time being, I'll be using this as a way to let out some new work online while I keep plugging away at the flash for the website.  The news for today is that I will be heading out to Black Diamond Tattoo in LA wednesday, and I'll be working there until September 17th.  After that I'll be back in Chicago at Speakeasy Custom Tattoo, where I think I should stay put until November. 

The rhythm I'm trying to stick with is for every two months in Chicago, I'll be in LA for a month. 

The websites for the shops are:
http://www.speakeasycustomtattoo.com/
http://blackdiamondtattoola.com

When you're trying to track me down, the best thing to do is to contact me directly, although the people at either of these shops should know as much about my schedule as I do, so feel free to hit them up too.

It's getting a bit late, and I have packing to do, so I'll close this out with a little bit of eye candy!

SKULL!