When to get a tattoo or NOT!

This is inspired by some of the things we run into here-

DO NOT get a tattoo if you are on acne medication or any skin medication.
DO NOT get a tattoo if you are on antibiotics.
DO NOT get a tattoo if your friend is going to pay for it. In most cases when you are getting
"hooked up" it could end up not being great!
DO NOT get a tattoo if you are pregnant or breast feeding. This is for obvious reasons. Why would you put yourself through pain when your pregnant?!
DO NOT get a tattoo if you are under 18. It's the law.
DO NOT get a tattoo if you are going camping right after.
DO NOT get a tattoo if you really don't want one.
DO NOT get a tattoo if everyone else does, so you think you should too.
DO NOT get a tattoo if the artist says it's not a good idea.
DO NOT get a tattoo if it's in a garage or kitchen!
DO NOT get a tattoo on a empty stomach.
DO NOT get a tattoo if your drunk.



DO get a tattoo if you love the art and can live with the special characteristics tattoos have.
DO get a tattoo if you have saved some money really like someones' style.
DO get a tattoo if you are not afraid of the pain.
DO get a tattoo if you have checked out portfolios and you know the artist is badass!

There ended up being a lot do not's!

Doing sleeves

I want to write about this subject, because I am in the midst of Sleeves galore! I got probably 15 sleeves actively pending, about 5 that people got started that haven't came back and 5 more I need to draw that are on the list. I want to talk about this because I gather that people that want to get one are naive to the facts for sleeves.
First of, it takes a ton of work. On my end and the receiving end. Drawing one take hours and hours. Probably on average 5 hours for me. Which I do not charge for because you will be in the chair for many many hours and will end up paying a few thousand dollars or more!
I think the one thing that people don't understand from the get go is that sleeves take a really long time. And usually there is always like a coverup involved since people get a small piece on their arm never thinking they would get a sleeve, and then years later, what do you know? you want a sleeve! When someone tells me they want a sleeve, we go through the consult and I always lay it out to them, OK, if your really down for a sleeve, you have to come in every 3 weeks just about and it's going to be a few hundred dollars or more every time and it's going to take a year. When people agree to this that's when I feel like I can go ahead, but they have to commit to it and show me that they really want it. The problem is, that about half way through people's energy starts to wane and they don't sit as good or they don't make it to their appointment. This is always the bummer for me, because I show up for them every time ready to deliver the goods!

I always start with a very rough , crude drawing to block out the basic lay out

Here is a current sleeve in progress- they always look wierd until it's done!

Here's a basic trace out of the arm that I use for my drawing, it's hard to tell in this photo, but it's like 2' by 1'!

So, in order to get a successful sleeve, you need stamina, strong will, money, good energy and a lot of PATIENCE!
Another thing that I run up against when I am doing full color sleeves, is that sun exposure is an issue. Sleeves take so long to do sometimes, that if you run into the summer, and do not keep it out of the sun or tanning, it will do a number on your skin, making it (your skin) tattoo like crap. So basically once you start getting a sleeve, your kinda locked down for fun in the sun stuff.

Here is some artwork for the band Trial by Combat. They are my favorite local Metal band it happens to be my boyfriends band too! I got help from the guys at the shop. The throne is the image for the their latest EP, they are getting ready to launch. I did it on scratch board and  Adam helped with the photo shopping of this piece. The bird on the skull, was a sketch I did on tracing paper that Jessica helped fix it up with her fresh photo shop skills. We actually got stickers made of this piece.