yep i am always lagging… haha… i had 2000 buttons to get bagged (more like my assistant bagged them, thanks rachael!), stickers to cut out (by hand because kinko’s stopped using their cutters to do it because they say it gums up the blades…), had shirts made, die cut stickers, did the layouts and printed out new pages for the porfolios and what not…. i have been a busy boy! i have a lot of conventions and guest spots coming up so my web updates have been lacking…

here’s a few shots from pieces you missed over the week, and a few that i drew since i have been here at steel city tattoo in PA…

here’s the finished product of a dragon half sleever i started a while back… pretty awesome to finally see it finished! the colors are a bit washed out from my lighting but when it’s fully healed i will get good clean pro shots done and post’em up here and in the galleries…

this is a rib piece i started a few years back and it looked cool black and gray but the client decided to add some red to the letters and roses in an effort to make it pop out a bit more… i think it was a great idea! it really compliments the subtle grays and a little use of color never hurts!

so this is a cross section from a  full back i am working on… you haven’t seen the whole thing yet… i did that on purpose… you like when i tease you like that don’t you?? i bet you do… perverts…

finished this one up the other day… did all the color. the blacks were already healed you know, so the pics always turn out crappy… like i said earlier, i’ll get shots when it’s healed and post them up so you can see it in all it’s glory… the quote that’s on there is from a tiger army song “like a candle, this gift, my life, it burns away”… you’ll see it all when i post better pics…

a sweet traditional hinge i did on a guys ditch… total fun and knocked out in an hour!

the shading on the day of the dead wedding couple… black dress and a ton of detail! fun fun fun!!! it is gonna be color so stay tuned for that… also we’re gonna frame it in with a bunch of roses and such… gonna be awesome!

another sweet day of the dead piece i started on the lower forearm to match into a day of the dead upper arm piece i did… gonna tie it in so that it looks like we did it all at once… should be pretty awesome! stay tuned for more on this one!

here’s a section of a full sleever i started a month back… it’s gonna be epic! this is one of the skulls…

this is a california poppy (hard to tell because it’s not colored yet) and is right next by the skull above… there is another element in the sleeve not pictured but i will show you that when we shade it… it would be a bit confusing since it’s just lines… you’ll see…

here’s where i am right now! Steel City Tattoo in Bethlehem, PA… i’ll be working here as a guest for a spell and working the Skindustry Expo in Lehigh Valley this weekend… if you are in PA, and reading this, and want tattooed… come see me or call the shop! i still have a few spots i can squeeze you into… if you aren’t familiar with Steel City, check their website out HERE…

here’s a fun little rotted out zombie heart with a butcher knife through it that i should be doing while i’m out here… i like all the little maggots and what not…

here’s a sweet little bat winged vampire skull with a stake through it’s head i am gonna do at the convention… gonna be on a foot! we’ll knock it out all in one shot and hopefully get to show it off a bit…

here’s something i drew just for fun yesterday while i was bored… loosely based on drawings by Charles Dana Gibson who’s one of my favorite illustrators… i didn’t have any reference in front of me, i just drew it from memory of his work… i love his stuff… i have a few paintings started that are in homage to him, but in my creepy way… you’ll see those later…

and finally, here’s a pic of some of the swag i made for this convention… shirts with the PA keystone on it and some crossbones… die cut stickers… button packs… vinyl stickers… this shit takes time!! but they look awesome!

that’s all for now… stay tuned for pics of stuff i’m working on while i am here in PA!!

turk

so this is the first time i have had the pleasure of having wi-fi on my flight, and so i thought i should try it out by doing a quick update! there are a few rad tattoo pics that i should show you but that would entail me getting out my USB cables and then loading the shots and then doing all that crap and frankly, i am too crammed to get all that business right now! i don’t have much battery life on my laptop right now either because like a dumb-ass i didn’t charge it up last night… so i am just doing a quick post to let you guys know that i will be doing a post when i am in my layover in detroit… so stay tuned! in the meantime i will share a video of a masturbating dog that my buddy Parker dog-sits from time to time… he showed me this video and i was dying! you have to see it! the link at the end of the video is Parker’s clothing company! you should go check them out he has some great stuff on there! you can CLICK HERE too to be taken straight to it! enjoy the video!!

how rad is that!?!?

he skates too!!

if i get a dog someday… he better learn how to skate! (and beat off, hahaha)

turk

so you may have been wondering why there hasn’t been a new post in a while… there’s no good excuse, actually… been lazy? haha got a lot going down looking at locations for a full studio and working on artwork and practicing a lot for a few shows we have coming up and probably most important is i got a new phone… this is the first update i have made since the new phone. had to figure out how to sync pics to the computer and so on… it has picasa and all that so i might be able to figure that out too… but that’s for another time…

here are a few pics of things i have been working on lately…

this is a memorial piece for the clients dog, Havok… it’s on the back of the leg and we have one more session to go and it will be all color and fancy… i’ll post the actual picture of him when i can show the finished tattoo and you can do a side by side comparison…

01100101001010010101001010010100101001010101001110110100101010101011010010010100001101010010100101010010… this is a robot piece i did on my buddy as a tribute to his mom… Michele with one L… that’s how i remembered to spell it right! haha… though halfway through lining the robot (the letters were already lined) he stops me and asks “dude, you spelled the name right, didn’t you??” hahahaha yeah dude, i got it… way to check after the damage would have already been done!

here is the colored version of the piece i posted a while back… this piece, if you’re just tuning in, is based on an Edgar Allan Poe poem titled “Alone”… one of the lines in the poem reads “and all i lov’d, i loved alone”… i made a victorian style coffin shaped frame that holds a human heart… mourning flowers surrounding it… stuff like that… i love this piece!

some inner arm madness from the zombie virgin mary sleever i am working on…

he’s got a little tattoo on his arm, hahahaha… we start color on this piece the next session… i am way excited!!

here is a one shot neck jammer i did on a guy from the UK… he wanted to get tattooed by me at the london convention but i was already booked up so we snuck him into the schedule while he was out in LA on business… super rad guy and sat like a champ!!! as you can see it is a pocket compass with some rose and leave action… a banner that reads “forward” and he rquested the compass needle point to west with a little bit of south but not so plainly southwest, which symbolizes his goal of moving to the US. awesome!!

here’s a snap of a big day of the dead themed sleever i am working on… you’ll see more as i get to the color… which should be the next session? i can’t remember… i don’t even know how i remember all the stuff that i have to do… haha

this piece, which i will show more of when the other elements are complete, is awesome… all black and gray on the whole leg from the knee down… this image that i showed is based on that image of when jesus is holding that guy up… you know the one i am talking about? well we did that but with a silhouette demon holing him up instead… awesome! more to come when it’s all done…

believe it or not, this piece i started here is a cover-up… of a BONG! hahaha there was a pretty silly bong tattoo right here that was done by a friend of mine like 10 years ago… he asked me if i could fix it up and i was like… uh… no. hahahaha… but i did offer to cover it up, and this was the result…. we’ll color it next time… we did his foot in the same session too… i didn’t get any pics of that though…. there are some on my facebook… are we friends yet?

this is a shadowbox i made as a gift for my friends birthday… an actual photograph of a man in a coffin with it’s original paper frame that i painted and splattered and hand painted the lettering that reads “memento mori” which is latin for “remember you must die” then i had cut some grapevine and wound them together with gold wire… set it in a shadowbox and there we have it… sometimes i hate getting rid of stuff like this but i made it specifically as a gift so it was a bit easier… i already had someone offer on the Ouija bard one i made but i am still attached to it… i’m gonna make more awesome shit soon though so don’t worry…

here is a sweet piece i did on the side of a calf… i took a few other pics but they are super blurry so this is the only one you get! a fun piece on an old friend and client which is always awesome because i get to do what i want with no resistance! those are the best clients… i got clean shots on my good camera so when i update the galleries you will see better pics… stay tuned…

here is a piece that i FINALLY got to color… started this one over a year ago, maybe more… but we had so many other little projects to work on that this one got put aside… also i think she was not looking forward to the rib pain… either ay it is finally done and colored and i am happy to see it all come together…

and

here are a couple pieces i did on a guy the other day… a compass and a broken pocket watch on the front shoulders, where they meet with the chest… we did both of them in 3 hours total… it was like an hour and 40 minutes for one and an hour and 20 for the other… pretty awesome stuff! i love doing one and done pieces because i get the instant gratification of seeing it start to finish! i have so many big projects going on that i don’t always get to see that…

anyway, that’s it for now! got a lot of stuff to work on this week so stay tuned for pictures… also i will be heading out to PA for the Lehigh Valley Convention in just a few weeks so stand by for pics from that as well! oh and the band is playing soon in san diego at the Radio Room… if you are local, you should come down and check it out!!!

TURK