Something for the weekend (formally Old beginnings)

First off I've decided the change the title of my weekly post, mainly because I'm expanding the subject matter I'm covering and the new title is tongue in cheek and makes me smile (which is reason enough in my mind) if you are unaware of it's meaning, a quick search on google will explain all.

This week tattooing will take a back seat on the blog. Instead I decided to share some of my other work primarily for a change of pace and to show other aspects of my creative output.

I don't often show my photography to the world. It's something of an occasional hobby and another art form I enjoy looking at and experimenting with.
These images represent a small selection of the kind of things I like to take pictures of. I'm a big fan of abstract images or structures, rather than documenting the world around me in a more literal or journalistic way.

These are all from my trip to Japan in 2009, awesome place, super nice people and somewhere I really need to return to in the near future :D

Normally I don't normally 'watermark' my images, but due to unscrupulous types claiming my work as their own in the past I've started adding them on my photography. It's a shame we live in a world were others feel it's ok to do such things.

I hope you enjoy them.

Instagram

Some of you may be aware I'm now on instagram, for those that aren't you can search for me as adetatu.
The blog will continue to be updated on at least a weekly basis. However instagram is ideal for showing daily progress of my tattoos and posting slightly more random/interesting images I find along the way.
Look forward to seeing you there.

Fudo leg sleeve further along

One more session will see this finished. I've really enjoyed this and am looking forward to getting it completed.

A couple more atc/aceo

Found sometime to get a couple more atc's done. Although they are hard on the eyes I'm really enjoying creating artwork I can finish in one sitting.

A new project.

My wife introduced me to the ATC (artists trading cards) or ACEO (art card editions & originals). They are small cards that allow me to produce finished artwork in a small amount of time. I'm not sure were the project will go, but it looks like it will be a fun challenge.

This is the first one, I used Copic markers and a fine line permanent pen. Keep your eyes peeled for more over the coming weeks.

Old beginnings part 3

The concept for this tattoo was very strong in my customers mind. It's theme is the power of nature to triumph over mans efforts, for me the tattoo as much represents that as it does man attempts to replicate nature with technology. Most of the imagery came from my customer. However the heart, robotic dragonfly and Leonardo's flying machine were my suggestions.

I was very keen to have elements that overlapped in ethos, so the cybernetic bird on the forearm in amongst the ivy and the 'real' bird surrounded by something man made.
The real challenge was to make sure that the colours complemented each other whilst enhancing the rhythm of the design, it was also part of the brief that the colours be muted as much as possible.

When I carry out work like this I rarely have a fixed design in mind and often will collage images together as I work directly on the skin with a mixture of hand drawn elements and stenciled ones. It's usually the case that several different options will be looked at before the basic design is committed as a tattoo. Even then I find outlining almost everything in a grey lines leaves us some potential to modify the design as we proceed with it.

It takes a great deal of trust on my customers part to allow me to work in this way. However I consider the customers input as essential to the process. The tattoo becomes a collaboration rather than just a commissioned artwork with little input form the client, and I'd like to think the results speak for themselves.

Brighton Tattoo Convention

I will be working the Brighton Tattoo Convention next year. I'm taking a few bookings, message me if you want an appointment, they are limited so get in quick :) I will be keeping some time back for fun walk-ins.
Check out the link for Convention dates etc.
http://www.facebook.com/BrightonTattooConvention

Old Beginnings part 2

So second on the look back at older work list is this cover up.

The challenge with this piece was keeping it dark enough to cover the older 'tribal' tattoo but keep the chest as 'light' as possible. I had previously worked on a half sleeve on the left arm (also a cover up) and on talking to the customer it became apparent that we both wanted a sense of continuity from the arm to the chest.

After some thought we hit upon the idea of a wasp's nest, experience has taught me that a cover up needs lots of lines in addition to dark areas, the hexagonal structure was a great way of breaking up the old tattoo.

The 'paper' blowing away came to me as I have very vivid memories as a child finding a discarded nest and looking at it with some wonderment trying to grasp it's complexity. The image of burning paper as it floats around in the wind and the fragility of the nest strike me as very similar.

It dosen't really come across int he pictures but some areas of the 'paper pieces' have lettering on them. I forget what it was but I do remember the book had a special significance for the customer.

Next week maybe a Japanese style tattoo with some explanation about the imagery and it's meanings.

Cheers

Shoki-The Demon Queller

One session will see this finished.

Old beginnings

I was looking back over the work I have carried out over the last couple of years and found some pieces that brought back good memories of meeting the customer and getting to do a cool piece of work.
My plan is to share some of the images that really pushed me as a tattooist and designer, with others that just give me personal satisfaction in some way.

The first one is an idea that started as a branch/tree with leaves and birds. That eventually turned in to what we did below. It was a great chance to really push the concept to it's limit and tattoo something unlike anything else I've seen. It even includes a small cover up in the exploding/rotating/fractal sphere.
I felt the more I talked through the tattoo with the customer the more refined the essence of what it was she wished to communicate. In the end a sense of movement/perpetual motion was coming through and the tree was dropped in favour of an image I had found on the good ol net (the sphere) that would be the nucleus for a flock of birds 'escaping' from its confines.