Japanese Tattoos on an Autumnal Theme

Seems to be that without trying deliberately, the theme of tattoos in the studio this week have all been very autumnal - koi,maple leaves, reds,oranges and rusts... wonderful!

Sakura Geisha and Koi with Maple

The beautiful geisha pic above is a tattoo I did on the lovely Linda a while back - the tattoo was done over a few sittings - partly because it is so detailed, especially the kimono fabric, and partly despite the fact that Linda is something of a trooper, it really is no fun having your ribs tattooed!
She'd booked herself in for an hour this morning - so we started on the background - which as you can see from the photo will be covered in pink sakura and possibly a few sumi grey branches - but not if that's going to look too busy.
The sakura look quite harsh because they've just been done, but the idea is that with their pink outlines they will 'sink' into the background once they settle down, leaving the geisha to remain in the foreground as the focus of attention.


This afternoon was spent doing a couple of hours on Michaels koi and maple sleeve. The first colour I put in this tattoo (in the maple leaves at the top) came out a little faint - but we've resolved that and the next lot of colour and shading in the koi have come out great - so it's onward and upward - just as koi should be!! I'll leave the maple leaves for a little while before skimming back over them to 'soup them up'!
I'm in the process of designing the inside of this half sleeve - with a large scrolling chrysanthemum flower and some loose petals floating in the water. The flower will be oranges into golds and yellows, sticking with the hot/autumnal colour palette against a background of sumi grey and black.
Talking of the background - I'm thinking of making it really dark - so the grey and orange koi, red and orange maple, and golden chrysanthemum will really stand out against it once it's all settled down.
Till tomorrow then - when we should be seeing a sakura geisha sleeve with fire and the aforementioned zombie ice cream!

Japanese Koi Carp Sleeve Tattoo

A couple of weeks back I forgot to photograph the start of Alby's sleeve, as I'm not quite into the swing of this blogging thing just yet!
I posted the design anyway - but this time - yey! - remembered to do the digital camera thang and here you see it.
This was sitting number three - by the time we're done there should be six or seven koi (I don't like many even numbers but six is fine for some reason....), and they will go from brightly coloured at the wrist to the wee sumi grey one at the top.

Albys lovely wife is in on Tuesday to start some Art Deco daisies and writing on her calf, in memory of her Gran.

This afternoon I'm finishing the design for a coverup which will involve covering most of the clients upper arm with Tibetan style flowers - mainly peonies. (What is it with people from Dundee getting peony tattoos anyway - and that's not a complaint!). Will post pics of that once it gets started cos it's a pretty drastic change from the existing tattoo!

Have been at it again. Was on the way to my studio, innocently seeking out pink gift wrap to make origami fans (for a website photoshoot,as it happens). Found yet more pink and geisha-covered stationery. Since 'everything more pink and sakura-covered than everything else' is my number one design rule - it just had to be done. I'll consider them inspirational materials.

This lovely fishy design is part of the plan for 2 sleeves. Sleeve number one has five koi swimming upstream, going from full colour at the bottom, to the sumi grey you see pictured at the top. In keeping with the Japanese story, once the koi are complete, there will be a dragon on the other arm. I've just started this tattoo, today was sitting number two - so expect some pictures of the actual sleeve materialising in the not too far distant future.

I was supposed to be tattooing again this afternoon, adding flowers to an existing foot tattoo - but my customer has really bad flu symptoms (scream 'swine flu' everyone!) - so we both agreed it was better all round if she didn't come in.

Going to get on with chipping away at my enormous drawing list for a bit, then this evening either start on the aforementioned origami fans, or continue painting some more of the modelling clay blossom I'm making to decorate the frame of one of my geisha paintings. A lot more on those babies soon too...