Okay, I decided that seeing as I've now set some specific goals for my progress with this, I'm going to make a thread dedicated to it. You guys can care if you like, the advice and feedback would be appreciated Here's the deal: I want to get myself an apprenticeship as a tattoo artist, and learn the trade. In order for me to actually succeed in being offered to be trained, I need to learn to draw in a way which works as a tattoo. And I need to get fucking awesome at it. So I've set myself the preliminary target of 30 pieces of work, all of which have to be detailed and very finished, including blacklined and coloured if appropriate. Tonight I did two, and they took me about 3 hours each. That would be the minimum I'd be looking to do. And I'm hoping to do 2 or 3 of these a day if I have time. The idea is that at the end of this process, I will have gotten really good at things, however I'm happy to push the 30 target out to 60 or 100 if I feel I need it. When I'm happy, I'll start drawing pieces for a folio and then start looking for someone to take me on And so here are the first two: This one was drawn from a reference as I've never drawn fish before, AND I had no idea how to draw those japanese style waves. I don't think I quite nailed it but I'm going to revisit the koi design soon and try again. This was the reference: http://koifishtattoo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/2006938951.jpg This one wasn't drawn from a reference, and I think it's pretty obvious on that level. It's also not nearly as detailed. I tried to simulate how the colour would look if I did actually do it, but i'm not sure how well that worked either. Also, too many sun-rays = the sky looking like the rays. Lesson learnt! Please be brutally honest in this thread, as I'm really kicking my ass over this. Also, most of the colour is added in Photoshop, but when I get some money I want to buy some more Pantone markers so I can actually do the colour on the paper, which will look more authentic.
i really like the first one, the level of detail is great, the only thing i'm not sure about is the tops of the waves, they look a bit more like fire than water to me. I'm not so keen on the second one tbh, like you said, teh sky looks a bit odd, but the balloon and the clouds look ace. btw, i know nothing about drawing or tattoos, so this is a very uneducated assessment.
Dunno if Hyperplex is on Dtf or not but i believe he used to draw his own tattoos, and could probably give you a lot of advice.
Yeah, I included the reference for how they're meant to look. I think the key is in the tips of the crests, and rounding them a little bit. I'm going to try another one with really bubbly ends and see how that goes
No references again, except I have some playing cards here for the royals. It took me a couple of trys on some scrap paper to get the hands looking how I wanted them to, but I think they came out pretty nice in the end. I kinda was lazy with the colouring in photoshop, mostly because i'd already spent so long on the black and white shading Probably won't do another one tonight, might actually leave my room instead.
Love the fish in the first one - the detail, shading and depth is nicely done although I sometimes almost wish I could see a bit of the other eye, and then sometimes I don't mind it...but that's just me lol. Maybe try keeping the wave tips more rounded than pointy (oh, I just realized you already said that, nvm). I can't quite place what I want to say about the balloon. I actually kind of like the rays, they give a sort of outward movement but the clouds on that seem a bit stiff somehow. LOVE the gloves on the last one. They sort of have a sinister air..also the empty eyes on the cards (yeah I like hints of evil lol) and the cute bunny is trapped between them. Good luck with this! I've drawn a bunch of tats for people who never actually go out and get them, which is lame.
I have a long list of things to draw in the next few days as people are starting to request more and more. Gunna get stuck in tomorrow morning. And by morning, I mean, when I get up. Afternoon. Thanks for the feedback, and sorry I couldn't come meet up today, but i'll be oki doki for September yo
Ok, my serious feedback is that it's pretty good when it comes to shading, color, contrast, style, etc. but to my untrained eye a lot of the perspective and angles seem wrong. For example the top hat's brim just doesn't look right... the balloon itself also. Are you confident that it's something you have down? Otherwise you might just work on drawing cones, prisms, cylinders and stuff from different angles just to get used to it.
Perth seemed like a nice place, especially since it finally got sunny today! I was going to ask, are you looking to specialize in any one particular style of tats? I do a lot of black/tribal-styled stuff, and your stuff seems pretty stylized but still I'd second the opinion that trying to draw stuff representationally from real-life references will help too, if you haven't tried it much before. It just helps to ground things like perspective and proportions that help make even stylized stuff more convincing. Just take a book everywhere and draw stuff, just to get you really looking at things. Draw your coffee cup, draw your shoes, draw whatever...like all practice, it'll loosen up your drawing style and get it flowing and natural. Something that I find fun is taking a pen or sharpie and drawing on other people (and not just pictures of penises lawl), and just seeing how marks on skin are different and organic and prone to stretching and movement (ie I did a henna thingy on my friend's back and it looked amazing when he was lying down and when he stood up it went all crooked).
nice work man, but id say ease off on your own individual creations, and start practising tracing pictures of other peoples tattoos, because at the end of the day you'll just be tracing on the image to someones body anyway, so you want to get extremely good at straight lines etc. sounds silly, but from watching miami ink so much i get the impression most people in your possition, if they're being trained in wont get much of an oppretunity to tattoo their own creations, or big complex pieces to customers for a while, so you'd want to start small and get the basics down and whoever said above, keep drawing everday things around you, really great way to get your hand in shape if ya really want this then keep going and i wish you the best'a luck
The only reason I'm doing these sorts of things at the moment is because people have asked me to, so I figure that I might as well use their ideas to practice with. I'll take up that suggestion of working more on perspective, as I did a little bit at uni as part of my illustration minor, but you're right, it takes a while to get it right whenever I try it. That's something I need to work on, for sure. Also, I did say in the OP that I'm planning on spending a lot of time copying traditional designs and common styles as well, i'm just going to get through the current list of things, then back to skulls and whatnot. I have no real interest in tribal or pattern type stuff, I much prefer the more graphic styles with bold lines and colours. That's something I need to research more as well. I'm not pretending this will be an easy or quick process at all, as I've never really drawn this cleanly before, my style is much more like... flail at the page for 5 minutes and see what comes out, not carefully line everything and spend 3-4 hours on each piece. So I'm already learning a lot even just in the last 24 hours. This is also why I set my first goal of 30 designs Thanks for the feedback though, it's been duly noted
You should try to draw your own rendition of Ganesha. I'm eventually going to get a tattoo of Ganesha, but it will have a lot of detail and extra items. http://ganeshutsav.org/Images/ganesha_symbolism.gif http://www.adishakti.org/images/ganesha.jpg
So today I was looking for jobs in saturday's paper, and there's an add looking for new artists for a tattoo studio. Fuck. So I'm going to the group interview in a couple of hours with those 3 pieces i've done and if nothing else, I'll get a better idea what I need to do before going to another screening. Would it be worth printing out the coloured versions to take along with the originals in my sketchbook?
I would take as much as possible to show what your are able to make... but eh yeah.. It's really not my field of work edit: maybe you can make something on the spot?
These take 3-4 hours, man. lol. I would take uni work and stuff, but none of it is even remotely relevant. Look, I'm just looking to get some good information about what to do when I do have a bigger folio. This was just bad luck, really, but I'm hoping to go and learn something anyway
AND on a human. If you're a total noob they're probably going to start you off with stars and shit until you get the hang of it anyway.
Many tattoo artist start by practicing tattooing on a ham, then their selves and then on their friends, so get some ink and a big ass ham!
The reason I don't have any is 1, because I'm poor and can't afford to book anything in. I'm starting with my chest which will be probably 10-15 hours of work. I don't have that kind of money lying around. As soon as I get a job, I'm going to shop around and find someone who can pull off what I want the best. I'm too picky and too much of a perfectionist to trust just anyone with it. And in the end, the interview was brief but really good. They really liked my work, and want me to do more and come in again in a weeks time, but they were pretty stoked overall with me. Some people had huge folders of work and stuff, and I just had my A5 little notebook, but yeah, promising at least. I'm on the right track, and the girl loved the bunny/cards one a lot, and said it was a great design. So I'm basically going to plow back into these designs and go again next week and see what happens. Also, you don't really get to get your hands on any equipment for at least 6 months, usually. You have to learn everything else first, as well as continuing to get better at the drawing side of things. It's also unpaid, which is fine, I just need to find a part time job to help pay board and minor costs for a while. As the girl said, there is a shitload of money to be made but it does take a while before you see any. I'm cool with that, as this doesn't interfere with much else that i'm doing. It doesn't stop me shooting band photos or freelancing, or working part time Exciting. And I have a bunch of people who have said I can practice on them, which is good.
Good luck! That's pretty cool that they're so accommodating to a total virgin. The reason I mentioned personal tattoos is that I'd imagine it's almost a prerequisite to have a few because it means you're in the circle... you've got ink, you have been through the process, you know what the artist/customer relationship is like, and most importantly you have first hand experience being on the other end of the needle.
That's why you have to do your first ones on yourself before you're allowed to do it to other people. And I imagine that during the training period, you'd get offered to have work done for a cheaper price so you can have that experience as well. I know what you mean though, but in the end, a good artist who is keen is still a good artist who is keen, so you never know. I have someone in mind to mine though. The hardest thing about all this is potentially working full-time for no pay, as in reality it's a course more than a job at first. I'm basically back to being a first year student, and everything that comes with that. The thing is though, I really doubt whether my parents will make any concessions, which means that i'll have to pay for board, food, parking, etc from working weekends or late nights. Having time then for existing commitments like band will be a bit rough as well. It's just something I need to talk to them about really, but I think getting some bar work will be the best idea, working some nights and weekends and such. It sucks being in so many skills-based industries where the money is only there for the best of the best. I'm not even remotely there with anything I'm doing, so i'm also wondering if this is going to have to replace something I'm doing so the remaining things can get some more love, or whether i'm wasting my time starting again with something new and should just work with what i've done already. I guess i'm yet to find my niche, I suppose.
Don't ask me. I am skeptical that artists have to tattoo themselves at any point, really. Maybe some places ask that. I have a friend who has worked at 3 studios, I can ask her about it if we talk anytime soon.
Doing the colour on a tattoo would be okay, but the linework on yourself, unless it was on your foot, would be pretty intense to get right. Anyway, i'm still going to finish these 30 off or as many as i can do, but I'm trying to decide if this is really what i should be doing. But that's irrelevant to this thread, so let's keep it to me trying to be okay at drawing and i'll post more tomorrow afternoon edit: And if nothing else, i'll be able to do almost entirely finished pieces for my own tattoos, meaning that I will be able to get what I want on me, which is important to me.
I've never, never, never, never heard of a shop making someone tattoo themselves before they can tattoo other people. In the past parties I've thrown were sponsored by tattoo/piercing shops, so I've hung out in more than a lot. They do have 'fake skin' which newbies usually use to practice on. That's likely what you'll be using.
Fair enough then! I've got a gig poster to do tonight, so these are on hold till tomorrow, but then I'll be cranking them out as best I can.
So there's a local guy that I find to be incredibly talented and he did one of these. in progress doesn't show how amazing it looked finished but I can't find one again. oh well. here are some other examples of his. fffff so good... I love how his colors just pop out. Can't find another place near here like that sadly.
Looks fucking cool. Just to update this thread similarly to the GD thread about this.. I'm not pursuing the apprenticeship. My parents refuse to support it, and due to me having to live at home in order to make it work on such little income, having them be like "we don't want you to do it at all" just makes it impossible where it was just difficult before. Along with a death and a cancer diagnosis this weekend, I'm feeling pretty shit about life, so it might be a while before I start drawing again. I still want to do the 30 that I set out to do, but yeah.
Shit sucks man, but I'd say definitely try to keep up the drawing, and look to carry on with it in the future, and maybe take the appenticeship when you can support yourself.
