HELP WITH STYLE

[holierthanthou]

ok.. so here is my ultimate question to anyone out there that wants to put in their thoughts....

As an artist my style has always been realism. I usually draw faces and realistic type s&!t...

Now as a tattoo artist on the rise and out of an apprenticeship.. I was told by my co/workers and stuff to work on doing solid, clean stuff.. before I get into doing the realistic gory faces that I want to do..

So my shop has me doing traditional type work and such....

I don't want to get ahead of myself.. and I know it's good to be well rounded.. but.... does everyone start here?? I mean did Mike Devries and Paul Acker start here?? doing names, tribal, and traditional work??

Input Please..

[kollin]

absolutely. You have to learn to crawl before you learn to walk. I don't know of any one that can tattoo well that didn't start as a b1tc4, then a turd, then an artist. I did it for a long time. Trust me skin has no qualities of a piece of paper. If you learn your basics from the ground up i.e. blends, washes, lines, stretches, and so on, you'll use the same techniques in portraits. It just wont be pretty if you get ahead of your self. Don't be a scratcher, wear the same size hat for the rest of your life because if you know it all you won't grow. This is what i heard growing up and I'm passing it on to you now. Besides I look at myself as a glorified apprentice. I'll continue to learn and grow, this is a super progressive career you've chosen, and a very disappointing one as well. You'll take a step forward and ten steps back your hole career. Anything I choose to focus on for a while will grow but three other aspects will suffer because of it.
Don't get frustrated, you'll want to give up, don't, tattoo for yourself and no one else, realize you'll be doing kanji and tribal your whole career. Look at it as a chance to practice learning curvature of the body and practicing packing solid color. It seems like the big dogs are doing exciting s&!t all the time, really we're not doing anything different than you are. We're just doing a different design. So keep at it don't loose hope, you have your whole life to be a rock star. Congrats on making it out of the apprenticeship by the way, mine was like dry butt sex with a sand paper reach around. Tattoo well turd don't loose hope!!!!!

[CRose]

Kollin hit it right on the nose... you will hit many rutts in your career ... I got in that rut a month ago... I decided to do a handfull of black and grey portriats, because I love drawing them... way harder than the big guns make it look. My first 5 tattoos were by Nikko.... I thought tattooing was easy because I watched him in his 2nd to 3rd year, doing better work than I had ever seen... you have to realize that they (Nick Baxter, Nikko, Devires, Gogue, Oneal) are freaks of the industry... They have a art abality that most will never have. My best advice is work hard and have insane amounts of determination, push yourself in every tattoo you do no matter what the tattoo is...who know you could be the next big name...but everyone starts with a s&!tty Kanji...

[Bunny]

Okay, I am not an artist and I guess that makes me an outsider somewhat, but I do have a story that I wanted to tell that I think is relevant.

I was being tattooed by Krooked Ken and my hubby noticed a book by the front window. He said to Ken, "You do Kanji here Ken?" in a joking voice. He was just ribbing Ken because Ken is know worldwide for his traditional work.
Ken's reply was, "I got a family to feed Taz!"

I think that pretty much said it all...LOL.

Ken went on to explain everything the guys have already said here, it helps with your lining and shading, etc. But he also added that because he is known for his American Traditional style, at any given week he may only do a few such pieces while the rest are other styles.

I just thought this might put things into perspective a little.
You are going to tattoo because it's a job you love but you also
will have to pay the bills and i know there are slow times. Whatever work
you get you should be thankful for and you should always try to be the best at everything you do. I know that is what I expect from every artist i go to!

If I am wrong here then someone please correct me.

Bunny

[travelingtom]

good story bunny, and they are all correct, you cant start at the top with out first being at the bottom, you must rise, and that is how you will get the respect and admiration that most of us work for, oh and the pune, cant forget that aaaahahahahaha. but seriously, the reason why scratchers hate on people that are kick ass, is because they are inpatiant and want to be great now. so they skip what they think they dont need, usually the sterilizing part. but keep strong and work hard, you will get there.

[conorblue]

i love doing crazy color pieces with weird perspectives and what ever...but i'm lucky if i get two a week like that, while the rest want a tattoo on their foot the size of a quarter, etc. You have to be able to work the basic elements of a tattoo....Line, Color, and Shade, contrast, solid color,etc. Where as a lot of more abstract work, doesnt rely on that as much visually, and may look good immediately, but those basics are the foundation of the tattoo and will keep it looking good over time.

I hate kanji...but they take ten minutes and make coming to work worth it on slower days. And although its the same old thing to me, its really important to the client, so dont limit yourself by trying to do just one thing. approach all your tattoos with your realism sensibilities, and that will truly test you as an artist.

[Joey_Chiaroscuro]

I have been apprenticing for a year and it took me a bit to realize how IMPORTANT a solid foundation is to build off of. The more I learn, the more I respect it. What made me realize it is seeing artists that have been "tattooing for years" with no progression. Seeing the s&!t work they put out. Seeing the artists that just don't give a f@#k. By seeing this, it started more of a fire inside to strive. No cutting corners... no easy way out.... I said to myself, I am going to make my traditional, tribal, kanji, even beavers holding canadian flags on random flash sheets the best that I can make it!
I know one day when am ready to open the suitcase overflowing with ideas it will show....

[Philgarrett]

To quote Clint Eastwood..... "A good mans got ta know his limitations"....

Stick with things you know you can do, then slowly branch out to other areas... and remember two important facts in this industry....

1-those mundane tattoos pay the bills
2-those mundane tattoos teach you how to do the non mundane tattoos

[holierthanthou]

Thanks everyone.. I appreciate the responses. It makes me feel a bit better.. and realise that it's basically the same everywhere.. just the stuff we see in mags and all it's like "who does that stuff day in and day out - Wow?" but I do have to work my way up to it.. and I do see my work progressing and getting cleaner and tighter.. I guess I don't mind being a turd right now.. LOL.. I just needed some inspiration from you all.. I keep hearing from people that have come a LONG way that just one day something clicked and they found their own style.. Sometimes I beat myself up cuz I'd LOVE to be like Devries, Acker, etc someday.. but when I think about it those dudes were drawing s&!t from like age 1.. as soon as they could pick up a crayon or what have you.. I can only blame myself for that stuff... I suppose anyone could be sick if they do stuff like that from an early age.. I was always into Art.. but never as much as I am now.. and I guess what it boils down to again as I've said before in these forums is I resent myself for not starting this, or finding the tattoo industry in my teens rather than later 20's.. but on the other side of that I guess we never stop growing in this industry.. and even Acker and those dudes will learn a crap load more as they progress on..

Ok done babbling..

Thanks again all.. I love this forum.. when I am down and out I can come here and gain some great insight..

[inkmunky]

i can't speak for either Mike D. or Paul A. but i do know the guys from Deep Six and i can give you some insight on where they started up, the guys there have a pretty rocky history which is no big secret in the industry.

Mike Hill and Paul both worked at a small street shop in a s&!tty ghetto ass area of philly, so no doubt they were doing "name jawns" and other crap. The reason they got better is when they had their technical skills down they started tattooing their friends doing what they wanted to do and trying new things. There's a regular at the shop that has a lot of Pauls first tries at realism. they are nothing like they are now, a lot simpler subject matter with signals in the tattoos of a hard understanding of what was going on. Fortunately this cat has so many pieces from paul from back when he worked in that small ghetto shop that you can see the development he took to get where he is today. Like a lot of other people he started off with black and gray realism before he went to color.

but in a nutshell, no paul didn't just start out doing what he wanted to tattoo, he worked hard at what he did, and even for the first couple of years him and the rest of the crew were written off as non professionals and "deep sixed" (hence the shop name) from a bunch of conventions before they worked their asses off and showed everyone else they weren't just playing around.