I learned to tattoo
Added 2024-03-21 17:08:27 +0000 UTCI am persuing tattooing as a side career. I discovered this is something that makes sense and is a natural trajectory in my work. Why?
🦇 the surreal, horror, monster stuff is generally the kind of art people are getting tattooed now
🦇 this means any monsters I create can also become tattoos, it's a feedback loop
🦇 all my work has an element of spirituality and aesthetic, and tattoos are a mix of both. People usually get tattoos because they're either cool or because they mean something deeper to them.
🦇 I already have extensive experience with client work like this from working with actors and businesses in film production and advertising. I have tonnes of experience working in retail.
🦇 If I Get Good, it's an opportunity to travel since I can be a guest artist at shops.
One of the Mushroom Madams, the first difficult design I tried to tattoo after practicing linework for months.
I posted some work-in-progress stuff for the super dragons since I don't really like showing off really beginner work and since I wasn't sure I'd commit to doing this... Whenever I try something, I have to meet a 6 month minimum to take it seriously. If something is just hype or obsession, it usually burns out before then... this is why art series are very hard for me.
A rose is a pretty common flash design, so I made my own set of rose flashes.
So far I have taught myself linework, whip shading, pendulum shading, some gray wash, saturation. I took a stab at designing some tattoos & practicing them so I can get a sense of what works and what doesn't. I practiced Pokemon & some Mischiefs to practice doing other styles of art.
Choose your starter! Vintage Pokemon designs on the fakeskin, scanned.
I'm learning techniques alone from YT videos, and then there's a couple courses I can take to round out my knowledge if I don't get a tattoo apprenticeship. This is the next step. I am combining everything into a printed portfolio & going to hit the pavement in my neighbourhood. Ideally, this is something I would do part-time, either at a shop or out of my studio.
Drippy eye designs I created. I put one of these on a shirt so far as well.
