Rose Tattoo Design

I am starting to try and think in terms of "What if someone walked into my tattoo shop and asked me for a.......". So I thought of one of the most common requests, a rose. I am trying to draw from the various tattoo disciplines I see, in this case, I went with a traditional 'old school' approach, except that my lines are heavier and smoother than typical old school designs. And the drawing is also a little bit more realistic and less stylized than the old school look.

The Magic Mouth

What started as an illustration for my second volume of my 'Elemental Magic' Book (and still is) turned out to be what I think is a pretty darned cool design for a tattoo! What do you think?

My Tattoo equipment has arrived!!

My first shipment of quality tattoo equipment arrived today from Eikon Tattoo! So the dream is becoming a reality.....This is my very first machine, a 'Green Monster' made by Eikon, a relatively inexpensive yet really solid, robust little tattoo machine. This is a shader machine. I got another Green Monster 'liner' machine that has to be assembled, so I can learn more about them while building it and setting it up to run properly. I am immensely excited. My new friend Shawn of Vancouver Island Tattoo in Cumberland is helping me get set up and may even go so far as to do a formal 'apprenticeship'. We are working out the details as we go, but he has already been an incredible helpful resource....