011-012| first color

012
needle: 5RL | 13M

location: right arm
tattoo: knife and ribbon through skull (my design, based off very simple patch brought in by client)

011
needle: 3RL | 5RL | 7M

location: along right arm
tattoo: Gayle, Katherine | True Royalty | 2 Roses (my design)

Date: June 3, 2009

Reflection:
011 | Experimented with shading the leaves in. I look forward to seeing it healed; then I'll really see if it worked or not. Messed up the Katherine, hope to go back at later to fix.
012 | My first time with color, and I experimented successfully I think. I mixed the red with just a touch of light grey wash for the outline. But, I didn't use his skin as the highlights till I went up from the last ribbon (which is the last one is the only fully colored one. I like how the skin created the highlights, and how the mixed read provided a nice outline for the ribbon.
Overall | Still getting accustomed to doing line work and shading.

010

Date: June 02, 2009

Tattoo: Ghost stealing money [designed by me].

Needles: 5RL | 7M

Reflection: I think I'll go back and add faint outline for the dollar bills in the background (the blurry lineless things floating about.

Other than that...it was mighty fun. Just continuing to look for my grove. I now see how much better it is to just shade the details in, rather then linework (Which is largely why I think the bird of 009 looks a bit off. Too much line work). I've always hated that, and preferred the seamless look I've noticed in my favorite tattoo artists.

Might start charging a week from today. I would prefer to remain free for at LEAST another week after this week. But...I need money urgently. Have $300 in bills a month (phone, student loans, credit card (I refuse to have more than 1).), and I can barely feed myself a month.

008

Date: May 28, 2009

Tattoo: Client wanted Jack Skeleton (nightmare before christmas). But I convinced him to do a custom piece influenced by Jack and the client. He liked it, so...

Needles: 3L | 5L | 7M

Self Review: I think I messed up the line work in a few places. But I'm growing accustomed to a technique with shading I like: Treat it like a brush, and make sure the power supply is set high.