Tribal Design and Tattoo Work
I consider myself to be an artist. Creative and unique like all artists - I always try and create an image/design that is going to make you exclaim: "wow!!" I try to stick to tribal design. Many of you out there have seen the mainstream tribal designs hanging on the walls of just about every tattoo shop across America... I try and shy away from this type of tribal (flash designs) because I want to create a design that is not only going to be unique, but be able to create a design that is going to hold meaning as well as being able to become part of your bodily movement... What do I mean by that? All my designs are created in such a way as to move as if they were part of your own muscle. My designs fit the contours of your body and moves with you in fluid tandem as you flex and/or relax your muscles. So not only will the design itself be unique, it will be unique because it fits your body like it was actually part of your body.
The Rose
This individual initially had a simple tattoo of a rose on her shoulder. She told me that she always wanted to do something to enhance that image a little - nothing too overbearing or that would drown out the actual rose itself - just a little embellishment. I drew a rough sketch of the exact rose design on her shoulder and went to work creating something that looked like this:
As it turned out, she actually thought that was pretty cool and wanted to have it skinned. I took her over to see Tattoo Mike at Chronic (Pacific Beach) to have the work done.
The Travis Situation
Recently, Variance Clothing was contacted about 2 tattoos (one already skinned and one that was just an idea) on his forearms. He explained to me - that even though he liked the way the original tattoo looked - he wanted to enhance the overall design just a bit.
I took a few photos of the actual tattoo, scanned it, and designed some enhancements of what could be added to make the overall effect more striking:
I decided to go with this as a final image for the tattoo enhancement:
...unfortunately - a decision was never made as to whether or not my designs were to be utilized so I do not have a photo of any final results
His other tattoo - (the idea) - was to have some Thai writing span across his forearm with a little tribal thrown in. I played with the lettering a little, but again, a decision was never made and so I left it as is:
My Tattoos
Below, you will find the designs that I originally created and later skinned onto my own body...
(...what better way to advertise my services?)
Before this design was actually tattooed onto the middle back area, it was primarily used as a "I was here" symbol. Later, as the sketch was manipulated, the idea to get this as a tattoo came into place.
On the left is the original tattoo design for my back.
I decided to mirror the image as you can see on the right (you'll find out why in a minute):
So...
Why is it reversed?
When this tattoo was finally skinned, there were two aspects of the whole ordeal that would scream their disdain...
#1: "Sunburn"
The fact that a sunburn was present slipped the mind - that is, until the tattoo began... But with gritted teeth and sweat, the punishment of being a retard was soon over and the tattoo was complete...
#2: "REVERSED!!!"
When the finished tattoo was checked out in the mirror - it was REVERSED...!!! I guess when the tattoo artist made the design copy (the one they peel off, leaving the tattoo design they will trace) - he accidentally reversed the direction of the copy and no one noticed until it was all said and done! Oh well... What can you do?
So, using that picture above as a reference - you see that partial tattoo of a dragon on the right arm? Here - let me help you out:
This design - isn't one of my originals... In fact - the "original" design looked something like this:
(I think the tail wasn't as pronounced either)
Basically - one day I went into a tattoo parlor called White Devil Tattoo (?) located above the popular Zanzibar Cafe on Garnet Avenue to have a look around... (It's been long since gone - this was probably 10 years ago) I remember seeing this tattoo and getting it right then and there...
Yes - if you're now thinking - "This was flash!!" - you're right... I saw it on the wall and disgustingly, had it tattooed on my right shoulder...
I think the design is actually pretty cool, simple but cool. But not wanting to take the chance to meet someone with the "same exact" tattoo out there - I went to Avalon Tattoo (the one on Garnet Ave) sometime later and had Randy (he can be found at Inu Tattoo now located on Hornblend St. in Pacific Beach) add the wing, the enhanced tail, and the tribal embellishments...
Later one night at PB Bar and Grill while I was sitting at the bar with one of the waitresses there - I came up with a partially surrounding tribal design around the dragon itself. I later had that skinned at - Avalon Tattoo in Pacific Beach. Unfortunately - the drawing I created while sitting at the bar was left at the shop - never to be seen by me again... (The tribal designs can be seen above around the dragon).
On my left arm is a much more intricate area of design - spanning from the top and side areas of my shoulder all the way to down to my wrist, with a smaller, unrelated tattoo on my hand finishing off the entire arm.
Lots of people ask me about the lettering in the first picture - mainly, what language is it, what does it mean, etc etc... Actually - it doesn't really mean anything, nor is it part of any language known to the human race - it doesn't exist. The idea for this phrase: "Ke'eiie Peii" was created from my love of fantasy and martial arts and as such - I created this phrase from my own imagination and gave it the meaning:
"The Strength of your Inner Spirit"
The tribal around the phrase which spans all the way down to my wrist further enhances that meaning by symbolizing a chaotic and powerful force that tribal creates by its design alone and reflects on the ideology that without your own personal, inner strength weakness will always prevail in your heart, mind, and body...
The serpent you see intertwined with the tribal was not my first idea (although it did come out FAR better than my original, half-hearted attempt at doing something with the single strand of tribal that made it's way sharply down my left arm):
The design on the left was one of my first ideas of what I could possibly do to enhance that single strand of tribal spanning my arm... I left it alone for a few years and then - I decided it was time to start thinking about it again... I remember one night at PB Pub, while talking to Jim from Black Rose Tattoo, we discussed the possibility of a serpent making it's way down my arm and ending at about the wrist area... Still, it was about another year before I actually went down there and made it happen... But I think the end result was pretty damn awesome...
Finally...
The left arm ends with a simple, but powerful tribal design on my hand...
It's easily one of my favorite tattoos:
(...tattoo skinned at Avalon Tattoo in Pacific Beach)
This tattoo was created to remind me of a drunk driving accident I was in during the summer of 2006 (I was actually the passenger to the drunk driver)...
When the airbag deployed - my hand must have been in front of me because the 2 fingers closest to my thumb were ripped apart (think of a chicken leg situation) and I received a pretty nasty fracture to both my index finger and my thumb called a "Comminuted Bone Fracture"... It's basically when more than 2 fragments of bone break off from the main part due to extreme force or other trauma... (I think an airbag deploying at point blank range satisfies the "extreme force category). The webbing of the finger area that was ripped apart was stitched back together, but the doctors told me that even though I would be able to make a recovery of movement to both the index finger and the thumb - (i.e. bending them and such) - there is a good chance I will never make a "full" recovery of movement...
Well - despite that opinion - I have fully recovered from that accident. (It took awhile though believe me - I couldn't even bend my fingers without enduring some serious pain for months on end and even months after that it was still pretty hard to get a full, tight fist...)
Moving on to my lower left leg we have a design that actually carries a lot of meaning...
This design, named: "Joining Bloodlines" is actually a representation of two family bloodlines joining together from opposite sides of the world...
The tattoo was skinned at PB Tattoo back in the day but was never finished meaning - I wanted to add more to it and just never got around to it yet... I'll be updating this picture when I do though so keep checking back :)
