More Tony Ciavorra Stencil Practice

The Ape: A Tony Ciavorra replica with the purpose of practicing coloring in a different style. Emphasis on colored rim lighting and exaggerated features. Took approximately 3 hours to complete. About 3"x4"




The Geisha: A Tony Ciavorra replica with the purpose of practicing coloring in a different style. Emphasis on colored rim lighting and exaggerated features. Took approximately 3 hours to complete. About 3"x6"




The Pear: random assignment from an artist at my shop. He asked me to draw a pear with a banner reading "Life is Good" approximately 3 hours of work, done with .02 micron pen and prismacolor pencils on tracing paper and about 3"x5"




I chose images done by Tony Ciavarro because I wanted to practice the technique he uses for shading. He almost always has some brightly colored rim lighting in his tattoos.



If you're interested, check out this gallery featuring his tattoo work
http://www.tattoonow.com/Tattoos/Tony_Ciavarro/

Queen of Hearts Thus Far

Here we have it, the tattooed Queen of Hearts. Michelle was a trooper. We sat and did this all in one day and it's pretty large. It takes up the entirety of her inner arm (bicep area) and we sat for a total of about 6 or 7 hours that day. That's including the preparation before the tattoo but with only one 5 minute break it felt like a pretty long day.

If you remember the design that I previously posted with the concept drawn up you will notice that some things were changed. Michelle decided to simplify the coloring so that it matched some other tattoos that she had and so it gained a sort of old schoolish feel. The faces were also changed very slightly, mostly because the stencil was blurred and I had to redraw them on, but we were both really happy with how they came out.

What I am most proud of is how much better I've gotten at solid color. That is some nice thick red and black, if I do say so myself. This was my first time working with a light color, such as yellow, so I will be anxious to see how that heals. Also I'm pretty excited about how the details turned out. The designs on her robe, the crown, the thin little Q's and hearts all intimidated me but I think they turned out well.

I'm pretty thrilled with how this went, it was a lovely experience and Michelle is a lovely person. I do hope I get the opportunity to tattoo her again.

Lynn Learns Rim Lighting From Tony

I would also like to include images of art I do when I'm not tattooing. These are easy to recognize because they are all done on tracing paper with a .2 black micron for a lining and colored with prismacolor pencils. This particular image took about three hours to complete.

Here's an example of a piece I did mimicing an image done by Tony Ciavarro because I wanted to practice the technique he uses for shading. He almost always has some brightly colored rim lighting in his tattoos.

If you're interested, check out this gallery featuring his tattoo work
http://www.tattoonow.com/Tattoos/Tony_Ciavarro/

Self Mutilation

I wanted to try tattooing myself.  Here I have the before and after images of how that went.  should have taken the picture before putting AnD ointment on because it made it all shiney and seems like her lips are crooked, which they aren't really. The before image if of how she looked from my first attempt tattooing my own leg. Obviously spotty, really terrible line quality, and as indicated by the stencil, I didn't even bother to fully finish it.Over all pretty terrible tattoo. So I went back and fixed it up a little. I'm so much happier with it now! I think the difference is huge. All done with a 7 round liner. The initial drawing/stenciling took about 4 hours (it's pretty damn big) and then the first tattoo session was about 2.5 hours and my second session where I cleaned up those nasty lines took place about 3 months later and took about 4 hours. More content, more patience, more attention to the details, all contribute to why it took so much longer. I'm certain when I sit down to color it it will take even longer. This project has been quite a time investment!

Are you getting ripped off?

I would like to take a second to talk about the cost of tattoos. I offer my tattoos at a very discounted price because I'm still an apprentice for another half a year. Even at this extreme discount I still hear gruff about the cost! It's important that you consider everything that goes into a tattoo before you whine about our shop minimum.

1) Our time. You get a lot of it. Even the simple tattoos have preparation in some way or another. If you are expecting a custom piece you are absolutely paying for our time. Time spent drawing, making stencils, talking with you about what you want, setting up, actually tattooing, cleaning up afterwards, etc. More goes into than what you personally see or acknowledge.

2) Our talent, experience, and knowledge. You came to us for a reason, right? Because we have the creative juices. If you're going to whine about how much it costs to get a drawing or a custom tattoo or the outcome of the tattoo... Do it yourself. It's easy to criticize a process you know nothing about, and it's hard to appreciate an art that you have never had to hone for yourself. Please try to be appreciative and understanding of the stress and concentration and effort that goes into this aspect.

3) Our supplies. Obviously the expense of a tattoo also has to cover the supplies that we had to purchase in order to create this for you! Tubes, machines, needles, power supplies, shop space, cords, bottles, ink, sanitation supplies, healing supplies, chairs, stands, lights, etc. It's a lot!

4) Permanence! This is something that will last for the rest of your life! Think about that little sexy tattoo you got for 150 bucks and whined about for being expensive. I wonder if there was ever a time you paid that much for an outfit that you wore once, or that only lasted for a couple years. This is an accessory you have forever and ever, which sounds like a bargain to me.

This doesn't cover everything but it seems to sound like an angry rant so I'm gonna wrap it up before it becomes offensive. Hopefully this helps to shine a little light on why artists charge what they do. If you're not getting proper sanitation, proper attention, quality art, or a proper environment, that is the time when you should question their prices.

Queen of Hearts Process

 Alrighty, how about a little behind the scenes? I have just finished my very first custom tattoo design! 

I'm still only working for friends. Michelle requested I draw her a custom Queen of Hearts to go on what will be an Alice in Wonderland sleeve she has been working on. How exciting for me!

Portrayed here I have a few of the steps I took to make this design. The very first one was just a basic concept of what we were looking for and it was a little too detailed for the size she wants (3"x4") and so I had to fatten her up a bit and take out some of the smaller details plus something was needed in order to break up the two characters since the piece is going to be in color and we don't need a big block of red.

The next step was to play around with some color and add the Q details that a playing card would have. I wasn't sure what color the hair needed to be at this point but that's ok, this is about 3 hours of work so far.

I sent the designs to Michelle to see what she thought and she preferred the blonde hair and gave the go-ahead to finish it up. I bolded the tiny detailing on the sleeve, turned her blonde, and squished her together a little so that she's the proper playing card size.

All said and done this is about 5 hours of work and the next step will be setting a date for the tattoo :)

Oh the symmetry!

I had the pleasure of doing this tattoo on my old room mate Jan. He and I had talked a little about him coming in to get work done from me when I had first started tattooing but things got busy and it never really happened.

He moved out a few months after I had moved in and he was closer with my boyfriend (as he was really my boyfriends room mate..) and so i was tickled pink when he contacted me about finally getting a tattoo done!

This is a Polish design... That's about all I know. It was done on his right forearm and he has a matching one on his left forearm. 

I've decided i really enjoy doing tiny details, like feathers and talons, but I really hate doing text. It's so stiff and straight and if you do even the tiniest mistake it sticks out like a sore thumb. I have grown to have geometry as well as symmetry in tattoos. That being said, I did still really enjoy doing this piece and it took about 4 hours.

Done with a super tight 5 needle to line and then switched to a tight 9 for the thicker parts. I really enjoyed using a tight 9 round because of the way the needles are stacked. When you hit very lightly with this round the lines are tiny and petite but then if you hit harder it bolds out to a nice thick line. I enjoy the versatility of this needle size. 

Lynn learns delicacy...

Time goes on and Austin comes back for even more ink from me.

This piece on the right of the logo for The Lawrence Arms I was really excited for. It is currently the most intricate design I have attempted as it has so many tiny little lines that run so close to one another. This took about 4 hours and was done with a super tight 5 needle liner and a couple spots in the crown could be complete with a 7 mag shader. I'm pretty proud of how it turned out and it was after this piece was completed i started to feel like I might actually be able to do this.

The delicacy that I had to learn here was the key. A much more aggressive approach had been taken on previous projects but with such tiny details I had to really take my time and focus on the line work.

Austin brought in a friend who wanted to get an outline of Ohio done with a tiny heart in it. I can't recall the city that it is suppose to be located in.

I went a little too delicate on my first time and had to redo the lines in a touch up (where this photo was taken.. unfortunately blurry picture with a spot of blood in it) but that makes about an hour of work with a super tight 5 needle. Very tiny tattoo.

both people are coming back for more work from me which makes me feel great :)

Lynn learns patience..

I've been told that lines, circles, and solid color are the hardest things to pull off in tattooing. Needless to say, I was a little intimidated.

The first image to the right is on my friend Austin's upper arm. He wanted to the Japanese rising sun. This is a huge piece and it took me a very very long time. We have spent a total of three sessions on this; 1)lines 2)color 3) line and color touch up. A total of about 20 hours of work if you include stenciling, set up, the multiple sessions, and the clean up. I used this design as an opportunity to experiment with different size needles, I used a 7, 9, and 13 mag shader and originally did the lines with a super tight 7 and went back over with a size 9 liner. This was a great learning opportunity and I learned a lot about what kinds of needles i prefer.

A friend of mine named JD was also kind enough to let me tattoo her. She already had an image in her mind that she wanted which she drew up for me. This is my first experience in tattooing a design made by someone else!

This is located on her right forarm and as you can see it is entirely composed of straight lines and circles! What a headache. JD is an artist and so she has an eye for what I'm doing and would instruct me along the way on where she thought needed more attention and what not.

 I actually really enjoyed the experience. She is a very sweet person and tipped me really well :)

Joining the Cobra army

For the entirety of my tattooing experience I have been seeing a man named James who has been incredibly supportive of my career choice. In fact, nothing proves it quite like this picture.

My next tattoo- the Cobra symbol from GI Joe. Took about 3 hours to complete including set up and clean up done with super tight 5 liner and 7 mag shader. It is located on James' left butt cheek.

Hah, you have all seen a few inches of his butt cheek now, whether you like it or not. :)

How lucky am I to have such supportive people in my life?