I post few tattoos, but only because they’re the ones that I feel like have made some bridge between my drawing instincts and tattooing ability. There are many many others that won’t see the light of the internet (maybe I’ll just have a post of tribal and baby footprints) which are great practice and make for a great day job.  But I have to make sure to challenge myself with pieces like this - even though it’s just linework it gives me a pretty clear idea of how I would like to design tattoos.  Having great clients helps too.

They certainly aren’t traditional tattoos - there’s definitely consideration into history and technique but not like anything I’ve seen before.  I’m still experimenting.  Matthew “I’m gonna throw up” Woodson is always a good collaborator since we see eye to eye on details and aesthetics, and even though this tattoo is a strange one, it’s one of my favorites.  Although there’s nothing more terrifying than tattooing someone who has the same critical eye, has enough tattoos to know what’s up, and your friend. He keeps coming back, so I must have done something right.

I’ve got some fun projects coming up soon…pin-ups, vultures, pocket watches, victorian mirrors.  I should be taking cues from the rain and keeping close to the drafting table!

If you’ve followed my blog for any amount of time, 4 months of radio silence shouldn’t be surprising.  But this time, I really do think I have a valid reason for once (other than ambivalence/nothing to say/ambivalence) …

I’ve finished my apprenticeship and am now a full-time tattooist.

Whew!  Even though I made the transition over a month ago, it’s still a great relief to say it out loud.  It’s unbelievable to think that it’s been a year since I started this, and unbelievable how quickly it’s gone by.  I will admit, somewhere 8 months into my apprenticeship, I never thought it was going to end - which I think explains my radio silence, in a way, because I didn’t want to sound so negative about my experience, because in the long run it’s supposed to be difficult.  If it wasn’t difficult, it wouldn’t make the payoff quite as sweet.   And this past month has been very very nice and I’ve started out of the gate strong.  A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, but really, the hard work has just started. Like any independent, client-based work  I get just as much out of this as I put into it.  Feeling like I’ve accomplished something, nailed a tattoo, hurdled a challenge, connected with a client - it’s exhilarating.  But feeling like you’ve failed is nothing short of heartbreaking.  But it’s mostly been encouraging, I’ve got some clients who are both amazingly gracious and I wouldn’t have much to do if it wasn’t for their flattering word of mouth.  I am very lucky, and I do hope I’ve earned it, and I do hope to sustain it.

SO.  I’ve changed this blog over to tumblr - still at blog.blueskycomplex.com - because tumblr is so damn convenient and easy to use.  Hunter/Gatherer will be images only.  No more formal 6 month hiatuses, expect more process work, sketches, you know, an actual blog. And I’ll actually keep it up this time!  Seriously!  I’m excited for things to come.

 And, as always:

Good god, it’s April already?

People often ask me to explain what a tattoo apprenticeship is like, but there are few words for comparisons.  ’Intern’ is the closest term that most people seem to understand, but ‘indentured servant’ is probably closer.   In all senses it’s an apprenticeship in the traditional sense.  I trade my time and dedication to learn a craft, but I can’t help but feel like I’ve admitted myself to the strange, esoteric lifestyle choice of the tattoo artist.  I’ve taken a vow of poverty, humility and perseverance.   I spend 50 unpaid hours a week at the shop:  I mop floors, clean up after other artists, I’m  a secretary, a handyman, a janitor, a shop bitch.  The tattoo apprenticeship is an old school system to weed out flakes and bandwagon-hoppers, it’s designed to wear you out for the long run and those who can last can make it.  All tattooers have gone through an apprenticeship in some form, it keeps tattooing esoteric and it keeps tattooing special - something that’s hard earned for those who are dedicated.  And the more I read into tattoo history, the more fall in love with it.

It hasn’t been easy.  I am a proud person,  with a salty personality, a certain sense of artistic entitlement, and a bad case of stink eye.   I feel like the life has been sucked out of me, and I owe formal apologies to all the friends I haven’t seen in months.  But I’ve learned to shove that all aside and watch, and learn, and ask questions.   I’ve been lucky too:  I work at a custom shop, there’s no flash to copy, and in the scheme of things, I’ve been given a lot of liberties to draw my stuff.   This set of flash was supposed to be an assignment, but I turned it around to be a dictionary of images for myself, a way to have my own set of flash to tattoo and a starting point in creating an aesthetic for myself.   These twelve pages will be colored, eventually, once I wrestle my watercolors into submission and work them the way I want them to.  I like these.  They’re a little bit traditional, a little bit campy, and done nicely enough to be appealing to me, and other people.  Exhibit A:

I’ve begun to tattoo friends, which is a great relief from assuming all tattooing is like tattooing yourself (see also: awful).  But the disconnect between drawing and tattooing is still so vast for me.  Tattooing is very physical: bodies move, skin stretches, swells, and bleeds.  I’m waiting for that sweet moment when I feel like my skills as a draftsman connect with my abilities as a tattooist.  It’s like unlearning and relearning all at once.  Since my personal work has come to a screeching halt since I’ve started this job, I can’t help but feel like I’m being reprogrammed.  Graduating straight from a heady, conceptual art school that tried it’s hardest to breed all illustrative instincts out of me - to tattooing, which indulges all the skulls, snakes and dragons that I’ve been repressing since I was probably twelve years old.  These backgrounds meet somewhere in the middle I’m sure, I just haven’t found that bridge yet.  I imagine that will happen somewhere down the road, where I find out what niche I fill with my clients, what people ask of me, and how they react to what I’ve given them.  That’s the nice thing about tattooing in a shop - it forces talk to a lot of people, build relationships with clients, and out of my natural mode of solitary homebody with a Netflix problem.  Netflix is putting up quite the fight lately…Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, James Bond, Pushing Daises, and X-Files?  I really can’t resist.  Anyway.

Things are looking up!  I haven’t mortally wounded anyone, all the tattoos I’ve done I’ve been very proud of, all things considered.  I’ve gotten wonderful, encouraging feedback from everyone and I’ll grasp onto that the best I can.  I haven’t updated poor blueskycomplex.com in ages, because I’m not sure where to start.  Everything has been turned upside down and I’m finally finding my footing, just in time, too.  

This moleskine spread was specifically for Faesthetic #13, the “Luck” issue.   Giving me two pages to work with was a blessing since the open sketchbook format is very comfortable to work with.  It was nice to work some design muscles here, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.  This issue has some supremely talented artists included, and I couldn’t be more flattered to be a part of it! Get this! 

The last 5 months?  Where do I start?

I’ve been apprenticing to be a tattoo artist and it has taken over my life.  The opportunity fell in my lap and was a sudden change in trajectory.  I do manual labor, live in indentured servitude, and trace things all day:

I tattooed myself, but it’s not the first time.  It took 3 hours, I almost passed out, and it was not easy in the least.  

Tattooing is nothing like drawing.  All things considered, not too shabby:

Sometimes amidst all this nonsense I find a quiet moment and still try to draw:

Change is afoot, hopefully for the best, but I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.  In the meantime, 2010 has worn me to the bone, and cannot roll over and die soon enough.  See y’all next year!