This shit is hard work!  And tiring!

I am not complaining by any means though… I feel like I am just scratching the surface of the fun things I will be doing with this craft.  But as far as having a social life… or any life for that matter other than tattooing… its a pretty safe bet that you will be sacrificing these things for the work.  I will work all day, barely a break for a smoke or a bite to eat, and then when my day is done, I go home and draw for clients for future appointments.  It is a constant hustle, and god I love/hate it.  Days off?  ’Fraid not friend, you have a chest piece that needs to be tweaked and reworked for your client in a few days.  Your friends are going to the movies?  Not with you buddy, That pretty young thing that came in yesterday wanting you to draw up that floral rib piece has just changed her mind and wants a completely different flower for her appointment.

Fun stuff, and no I will never ever want anything else for my life.  But be prepared to lose friends and family in the process…. I don’t even remember the last time I called my mother… I should do that.

I haven’t written a lot lately on my experiences in the shop.  Mainly from exhaustion after working all day and partly now because divulging some of the real craziness that goes on in the shop from day to day might lose me some business!  Clients don’t seem to enjoy their awkward moments with a tattoo artist aired out on the blog-o-sphere.  So I will keep things very vague… I have mistakenly seen things that would normally put me in jail.  I have smelled things that would normally put men on the floor.  I indirectly swapped spit with a large, hairy man donning a handlebar mustache.  I am positive my boss will end up as a lamp shade.  I fear for the sanity and lungs of others.

If you understand any of that, keep it to yourself.  If not, the stories are interesting, and ill gladly tell you all of it over a glass of whiskey… you buy.

This piece up top is the start to a crazy fun piece with ma boy DAT.  A succubus that originally started out as just the kanji of the seven deadly sins and turned into an epic rib piece in my opinion.  Shading and color next session but big props to Dat for sitting like a champ for that tough spot.  I love it not only because it is a woman;s head on a snake body, but the process of getting the design to that point was fantastic.  The sketches developed over the course of a week or so from a somewhat traditional dragon to something much more interesting, and brainstorming that piece together was a lot of fun.  See you next session.

and a colorful bird.. the image was taken directly from her friends artwork