Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Tattoo Apprenticeship : Sketches XV

Good morning to all of you and I hope you're having a wonderful Tuesday. Today I'm bringing you the second installment of American Traditional tattoo exercises from my apprenticeship with Cooper at Guru Tattoo. If you missed the introduction to this particular blog post, here's a recap of the assignment. 

I'm nearing the end of the first phase of my apprenticeship, and one of the last genres I have yet to explore in tattooing is the style of American Traditional tattoos. The previous blog post, as well as this present post, feature the illustrations from one of Cooper's more time intensive assignments having to do with this specific type of tattoo. The exercises contained within Cooper's assignment were designed to teach me the fundamentals of how to create a proper American Traditional tattoo by filtering all of the unnecessary filagree that detract from the core meaning within an image. 

When it came time to construct a new illustration
I was pitted with the same question, over and over again- 
"how do I create an image that moves straight to the heart?"

No fluff... no bullshit... no ego.

For the first time I had to truly change my mindset, from striving to create a breathtaking image (riddled with mystery and innuendo), to reinforcing a timeless emblem (free of any confusion or misinformation). I could never claim this work as my own, but I could be proud of the fact that I was replicating a lineage- hopefully in such a way that will reflect the same amount of respect and forethought that most other American Traditional tattoo artists uphold. By the time this assignment was complete, I had gained a new understanding, as well as appreciation, for the craft of American Traditional tattooing. It remains to be one of the hardest genres I have ever attempted to tackle.










Thanks for checking in,
and take care until next time!

xoxo


Friday, February 15, 2013

Parachute Factory Show : Downtown San Diego



Brought to you by Yeller,
in conjunction with Sezio.

This abandoned building, located at 627 8th Ave, will display never before seen graffiti art, created specifically for this one time event! There's a $5 cover, but that gets you into the show, access to three floors of incredible artwork, a dj, a band- and drinks will be served throughout the evening.

So don't miss your only chance to see an event showcasing some of the most amazing street art Southern California has to offer- because shorty after the opening night all of the artwork will be demolished by the owners of the building...

So don't blow this opportunity.

But just in case there's no way you can make it, here are some sneak peaks of my room, taken by Chaz Cruz, before the commencement of this unbelievable show. You can follow Chaz and his amazing photography via these convenient social media sites...

www.chazcruz.com 
www.chazthoughts.com
www.facebook.com/chazcruzphotography
www.twitter.com/chazcruz 

Thanks again Chaz!

And before I wrap up this post, I would like to thank my extremely talented friend, Florence Pacho, for her incredible hair and make-up skills! You can check her out at her personal studio, Pikku Salon located in Golden Hill... She is one of San Diego's best kept secrets!

Thanks again Flo!





Thanks for checking in,
and take care until next time...

xoxo


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Piñata Demon Series II

Hello again, Ladies and Gents... 
Hope you are planning a wonderful Valentine's Thursday... 
complete with someone you love very dearly.

Anyways, here's the second blog installment of my Piñata Demon Series. This week I've decided to overload you with the preliminary sketches for (what could be) the entire set of piñata demons- but lately, I've had a voice in the back of my mind encouraging me to create even more of these interesting little oddities. At the moment, our grand total of 26 illustrations may transform into a convenient alphabet book with a prospective debut date in 2014... but once again... we shall see... There are so many more projects on the agenda right now, so many of which I have yet to tell you about. 

But for now, please enjoy the start 
of these seductive streamer spirits.



























Thanks for checking in...
and take care until next time!

xoxo


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Tattoo Apprenticeship : Sketches XIV

And now back to the drawing board... 

The past few weeks have been full of my own ideas and interests, but we're bringing it back to the epicenter of where it all began... my tattoo apprenticeship at Guru Tattoo with Cooper and his list of assignments designed to prepare me for the best and worst of the tattoo industry.

The images featured in today's blog post are from one of Cooper's most time intensive assignments, intended to teach me how to translate a detailed illustration into one that is indicative of a Traditional American tattoo. I absolutely love traditional, and was excited by the idea of exploring the steps needed to filter an image into its purest, most basic form while preserving the core of its meaning.

 Cooper had me start with small detailed drawings, then asked me to strip any extraneous line work that detracted from the symbology of what I was instructed to depict. After about four stages of this process, each of which eliminating more and more unnecessary material, I slowly began to understand the importance of intention behind every line used to create an image. 

The next "Tattoo Apprenticeship : Sketches" blog post will feature the final stage of this process designed to instill the concept of American Traditional tattooing. Here are a few images from the first round of drawing for this assignment. All of these illustrations could roughly fit into a 2 inch by 2 inch square.