Jbeaufosho

[Jbeaufosho]

Did you mean gradiations? And yeah you’d be lucky for it to even be grey. It would be so dark once it heals you’d barely see it. It’s pointless. Ramen touched on this but tattoo pigments are translucent so the darkest color will always show through.

[Jbeaufosho]

Oh shit man that’s crazy! It never occurred to me there was an age difference. No disrespect intended. It’s a term I use on people of any age anyway though. As far as the ship idea that’s another great one. So you obviously understand the gist of what the subject matter is supposed to be like. Which believe it or not is a huge part of it. Keep it simple on the ship. Don’t try to cram too much shit in there. Do nice clean sails that obviously comprises 80% of the image. Pay special attention to how you shade the sails. There’s a right way to do them. Study some nice ones you like. Check mine out. Anyway good shit man.i Wanna see pics when it’s done. I love to see someone interested in traditional.

Also as far a the swallow rose situation I would put the roses around the banner at the bottom and the swallows up top. Just two facing each other above the ship. Maybe some clouds. But that’s just me. The way you said could definitely work if done right. Be carefull when you shade the roses. Not too much not too little. And odd numbers when it comes to the leaves on the roses (Trust) And don’t use goofy looking swallows. You want them nice and clean. Not too cartoony.
Oh and you asked what I use for color? I use prismacolor colored pencils for all of those. I love them. You can do so much with them. I use the big round ones. Not those verithin bullshits. The lead is softer on the bigger ones and you can get darker more vibrant colors with
Them.

[Jbeaufosho]

Two more for good measure lol:
My life my way: http://i40.tinypic.com/29go8sy.jpg
Squares beware:
http://i44.tinypic.com/206ihz8.jpg

Sorry for the low picture quality. And some sre sideways for some reason. But hopefully that will help in some way

[Jbeaufosho]

Here’s some of my stuff for you to look at. Now I’m by no means perfect and neither is any of my shit but it will give you a feel for how traditional should look.

First these two are gypsie heads so very similar to what you were going for so these will be really good for you to check out:
An older one I did for my portfolio when I was apprenticeship hunting:
http://i44.tinypic.com/11hqi6e.jpg
And a more recent one. Much better:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2ai4g3t.jpg
Some traditional sailor style shit. Look at the shading and color schemes:
Tallship: http://i43.tinypic.com/2m7yvlx.jpg
Sailors grave: http://i40.tinypic.com/ilaf05.jpg

I got a ton more but too tired to upload them. Let me know if you want to see more though ill pm you. Hope this helps.

[Jbeaufosho]

Great job man! Considering your experience level with traditional that’s really solid work man. It was cool to see it progress. As far as both I mean I don’t think you need to but it couldnt hurt. And yeah man as far as just trying to emulate something without too much guidence you did a great job. In the traditional world it’s not exactly perfect (too hard to explain why) but its solid fucking work, it shows you got range, and that you know how to stfu and take instructions which is a HUGE part of learning to tattoo. and I think you should be proud to have it in your folio. I would love to see more of your work. As far as my stuff I couldn’t find any Indian heads I did but I have some other stuff I can show you just to give you a feel. And you were dead on with the heavy blacks. That’s fucking key to good traditional. The old timers always tell me that a good traditional Piece should lookdone with just the black shading, and then the color is like added bonus. Keep studying the masters. That was a really impressive progression from start to finish. You’re a smart kid and based on what ive seen I think you’d be well suited for an apprenticeship. Youve got a great attitude and its really refreshing to see! Good job man.

Oh and lastly I saw you mention line weight. Usually whenever possible when doing traditional you want all the lines to be the same weight. But it’s not always possible. But definitely whenever you can.

[Jbeaufosho]

Your shit ain’t bad man. I couldn’t see the final version. The link wasn’t working for some reason. However you’re definitely on the right track for the second one. For the braid I would just leave it hanging but it looks fine. The biggest advice I could give you would be to finish it. I’m not sure what kind of tattooer the person you’re drawing these for is, but usually you want to stay away from showing sketches. If it were me I would finish all my pieces. Get a micron pen or one of those medium tipped sharpie pens and out line it. For traditional you want heavy bold lines. And I would definitely color the whole thing as well. It doesn’t feel as traditional to you because in essence it isn’t finished. You don’t really see traditional sketches lol. Bold lines, bright heavy colors. Look at the way Jerry does his Indian heads. Basic color schemes. Let me see if I can dig up some of my shit to show you what I’m talking about. But you’re definitely on the right track man. I think with some guidance and some honing you could be good. It’s a good design an it could be a really nice piece. But the shading and color will really make it feel more traditional. Also personally I would get rid of those little flourishes at the bottom. But that’s just me.

[Jbeaufosho]

The Native American girl head is a good call. Very traditional, definitely a classic. As far as all the other shit, I’d scrap it. There’s a saying the old timers like to say about 10 pounds of shit in a five pound bag. Personally I would focus my attention on the head and let the piece speak for itself. I’d love to see a sketch though.

[Jbeaufosho]

The rules of traditional tattoo seem to be pretty heavily guarded. I always loved traditional and always knew I wanted to work in a traditional shop (which I do now) It seems simple enough but it really isn’t. Half the shit you see people do that think they’re doing traditional are all wrong. Was there something specific you wanted know about traditional? You could copy traditional for ever and not learn everything there is to know. Or anything for that matter. The biggest thing is most of it really isn’t open to interpretation. There’s a right and wrong way to do everything. It’s never sort of right. The hallmark of true traditional is what I like to refer to as profound simplicity. It’s gets the point across in the most efficient way possible but still looks amazing. Ive told this to someone else but the best way to learn it is to study the masters. True traditional isn’t like something you do on the side. It takes a lifetime to master, and takes real commitment. I have had to eat, shit, and breath traditional since I started learning and am just now getting down the basics. But that shit is tattoo as fuck. That is the heart of true tattooing. But like I said. Study the masters: sailor Jerry, bill loika, Dave Gibson, buddy Mott, rollo, Brooklyn blackie, Percy waters, Paul Rogers and on and on. You can’t learn everything or anywhere close just from copying others (many try and fail) but its a damn good start. I guess what I’m trying say is the most important thing in learning traditional is to respect it. Respect it as an art form and as the precursor to most of the styles that exist today. Man I guess I’m rambling a bit but this shit is important to me. I realize this is slightly off the original question but the others did a good job of answering your original question. I could spend days explaining the basics to you bu if you have any specific questions hit me up and I’ll always do my best to answer them. I love to see up and comers interested in the old ways. Hope that made any sense to you man.

One more thing then I’m done: another great reason to truly familiarize yourself with traditional is that a lot of the rules carry over into a lot of other styles. You learn traditional we’ll and you shouldn’t have much trouble transferring the skills into other facets and styles of tattooing.

[Jbeaufosho]

Man Len I know exactly how you’re feeling about your bro man. I just went through something really similar. When I was first starting my cousin asked me to do some shit on his knuckles. I repeatedly told him that at the time I really didn’t feel comfortable enough to do knuckles. Theyre not easy. He said over and over oh, I don’t care I just want you to do it. I don’t care I don’t care. And I’m like dude you should wait its on your hands it’s highly visible. Forever. Anyway stupidly I finally agreed. They didn’t come out terrible but certainly not good. Totally fixable they just need to be cleaned up. Anyway I’m progressed to a place where I feel totally comfortable with doing stuff like that now. So I called him up to set it up (for free of course) come to find out that motherfucker went to Eric fucking merril to fix my shit. I was fucking livid man. If it had just been some customer than fuck it I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. But that’s my fuckin flesh and blood man. And I know merril is well respected in the game and shit and from a technical stand point his work is pretty flawless but I fucking hate his artwork. My cousin already has a full sleeve of his goofy ass bullshit. It’s just stupid new school bullshit. It’s not fucking tattoo at all. I’m sure someone will have something to say about me hating on him. I’m sorry I just don’t want a goofy ass cartoon half cat/half woman on me. (This is the rant section, right?! Lol) anyway Len long story short I feel your pain man. I had to just bite the bullet. I told him I was dissappointed and left it alone. But yeah man that shit can be frustrating. I don’t think you’ll ever find another medium that you have to worry about someone else coming along and finishing your shit.

[Jbeaufosho]

The link doesn’t work. Use a site like http://www.tinypic.com or http://www.photobucket.com. Also I’ve never heard of stretching too much. Some inks don’t go in as easy as others. It probably has more to do with how your machine is running and your technique though. If a mag won’t get the job done youre doing something wrong.

[Jbeaufosho]

Snowing like a mother fucker! You lucky bastard. We’re supposed to get like 7 inches. And yeah we try to charge by the piece as well (or flat rate, as we call it) for most of the things we do. But bigger stuff goes to hourly rate.

Also shaggy, my mentor that I’m working for now, actually cut his teeth in the industry down your way at inksmith and Rogers. Lot of legit shops down there, I’ve been meaning to make my way down there one of these days to check it out

[Jbeaufosho]

Used to have to same problem. I couldn’t draw a fucking stick figure unless I had a picture in front of me. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. I can’t stress that enough. Bite other people’s shit relentlessly. Copy other people’s work you admire. If you have a particular style you want to focus on that’s even better. The more you copy other people’s stuff the better understanding you’ll have of how they’re supposed to be set up and eventually it will be second nature. I can do a lot of traditional without reference now and I do 100% originals all the time now. Some people that shit is comes naturally to. I know people like this but people like us have to work at it more. But that’s the key, hard work and practice. Nothing worth having comes easy. Keep us updated and good luck!

Ps just wanted to say: that being said I 100% agree there is NOTHING wrong with using refference. I use some sort of reference on like 90% of the tattoos I do cause I can almost always find someone who can do it better than me. It’s only really worth it to draw it yourself if you know you can do better than what you can find. Even if you wanna do custom shit its ok to use different refference for different bits and pieces. Anyway hope that helps.

[Jbeaufosho]

Yikes man. What a mess. I’ve actually heard murmurings that something similar may be going down in my home state. We make our own ink at the shop I’m at and I can definitively say that there really aren’t that many ingredients. Fear not the industry will survive regardless. My states tattooing laws are abismal (there is nothing that says anyone has to have any kind of liscensing. Any scratcher can open a shop. You just have to get it inspected by a dr. And they do. The level of quality from most of the shops is terrible. And that’s just sad considering ct has some seriously rich tattoo history) so some reform is welcome but they just go about it the complete wrong way. I absolutely agree that this type of shit should be left to the professionals! I mean wtf seems like a no brainer. You don’t see me pushing for law reform in the nursing industry. Why? Cause aside from cc/bbp and shit that involves tattooing I DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT BEING A NURSE. anyway I’m not familiar with the way den marks gvnmt works but were going to speak up at a meeting that will be held before the law is passed so they can actually get professional opinions. Anyway keep us updated Len. Let us know what happens.

[Jbeaufosho]

Thanks Len. Yeah initially I was thinking of using a 5 for the outline to give it a more delicate look. But my mentor talked me into a 7. I’m glad he did, I think the design lends itself well to the bold look. Thanks for the feed back peoples.

[Jbeaufosho]

Yeah unfortunately I do only take a percentage. I’ve worked my way up to 50 so half of whatever I make goes back to the shop. (Which I have no problem with but it does make my prices higher. And yeah shaggy our shop is pretty much exactly the same. All told tattoo took me around 2 1/2 hours so I normally would have charged 350. I charged by the session though. And gave them a break. 150 for outline 120 for fill. So I took home 135 on it plus tip. I live in Connecticut (us) so everything is fucking expensive here. But it seems like everyone is on pretty much the same page. Thanks a shit ton for the feed back. Shaggy where are you from/where do you tattoo btw?

Thanks also to Len btw for the international perspective! Much appreciated and actually not far off from what I charged.

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