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I'm in a time of transition again.
I've been noticing for a while that the shop I was working in is a little slow on walk in business.  This is partly deliberate - the owners wanted the shop in a more residential area, with a different feel to many of the tattoo shops you see downtown. 

It's also become clear that there is a clash of values between myself and my boss.  I've mentioned on here before that I'm a Christian, and many of my clients are too.  As a result, we often talk our faith and political outlooks. 

While it's certainly not been my intention to offend anyone, some of these conversations seem to have had that effect.  It's important to me to provide a place for my clients to speak freely, regardless of what's going on in their lives.  So, now, I find myself making the decision to leave the environment I was in, where that wasn't possible.

Right now, I'm looking for potential shops to work in.  I had an interview on Monday at a successful studio that's just moved to Mississauga.  I'm waiting to hear back from them, and I have an interview on Friday at another Queen Street studio.

I'm not really sure where this is going to end up, but I know it's going to be good.  I have been holding off on appointments for the first couple weeks of March just so we can get a better idea of what's going on.  What's for sure is that by the end of the month I will be established

I'll keep you up to date.
 
 
So, winter is always a slow time for tattooing.  At Christmas, everyone's spending money on other people instead of themselves.  In January, everyone's spent their money.  Plus, no-one is really thinking of getting a tattoo when it's so cold out that they can't go show it off.
But winter is an excellent time to get a tattoo. You don't have to worry about the sun while it's healing.  Unless you're really into swimming, you can more easily avoid the pool during the cold winter months.

Maybe that's why February starts to speed up. 

While I've been in the shop one or two days a week over the last couple of months, this week I'm in four days, most of them with more than one appointment.  It's nice to be getting lots of work again.  I'll post pictures when I get a minute's break from actually tattooing.  In the meantime, check out the gallery.  I've added some pictures from the last couple months that I didn't put up yet. 

And don't forget to drop me a line if you want to get something yourself...
 
 
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Lettering is a HUGE part of tattooing; it always has been.  At least 50% of my clients want some lettering in their tattoos, and many choose to have lettering as the sole element in their design.

Recently, I've found that I'm wanting to move away from using computer based typefaces so much.  They're perfect for smaller pieces, where legibility is the key, but they can be a little limiting, and if you're not careful, you might choose a typeface that ends up as the next Comic Sans or (possibly worse) the next Papyrus.

BJ Betts is a legend in the industry.  Most custom artists will have one if not all of his Lettering Guides 1-3.  So when I was wanting to work on my custom lettering, I had no question as to where I would look.
Betts looks at the art of custom tattoo lettering in a whole new way.  Here's what he has to say on the matter in the introduction to his second Guide:

 “I think, looking at a name or a character that you'll be tattooing, you should approach it as an illustration, versus a typefont. “Draw” the name, instead of “writing” it, if that makes sense. Draw the lettering as if you're drawing a heart, panther, eagle, whatever.

People say their handwriting absolutely sucks. I say draw that name, don't write it if your writing sucks.”

It's a whole different approach, and it makes for great results.  I drew the piece above for a friend's scrapbook.  I feel much more confident now in my custom lettering, which is invaluable when you work in the way I do.

Do you have a piece that you want me to create with custom lettering?  Drop me a line!
 
 
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It's that time of year again.
I went to Yorkdale Mall the other day, and was horrified at the worsening crowds.  Walmart was even more hellish.  Nowhere to park, enormous lines at the cash.  And that's if you managed to figure out what to buy for that special someone.

It's always a problem for me, coming up with gifts that are really different, original and meaningful.  Beth has no problem with it.  She always gets me the right thing, but I just don't have the right kind of brain for that kind of thing.

I had an idea for people like me.  Why don't I do gift certificates for tattooing?  It's the perfect gift for the person who has almost everything.  Or the person that has nothing but wants a tattoo.

My philosophy for tattooing is that tattoos should be custom, unique creations designed especially for the person wearing them.  If you have a loved one that wants a tattoo like this, why not give them a gift certificate?  All certificates include a free consultation to make sure that the piece will be exactly what the recipient of the gift certificate wants.

I'm also doing some special deals on these certificates up until Christmas.  You can see the December certificate prices on the homepage.  Just drop me a line to let me know what you want.

Happy shopping!
 
For the birds... 11/16/2009
 
I've been tattooing a lot of birds lately.  And I'm not saying that I've had more female customers than male, either. 
It just seems that I've had a lot of requests for tattoos of our feathered friends in the last few weeks.

When I first got interested in tattooing, one of my major inspirations was the work philosophy of Dave Berwick, of Physical Poetry in Leeds.  All of his work is custom, and there is no flash on the walls.  He believes that all tattoos should be unique to the wearer. 

Now that I'm working as an artist, I have the same passion for custom work.  The shop that I work in is also custom-only.  Which means that just because I've been doing a lot of bird tattoos, doesn't mean that they're all the same.  See for yourself:
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I did these two birds a couple of weeks ago.  She already had some text on her high ribs: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
She wanted two swallows to go just below the text, one on each side of her ribs.  One had to be green, and one red, to represent the struggle between good and evil.

I went with an old school feel, but I think that the colours bring it a bit more into the new school.  They're also fairly big - nearly six inches tall.
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This is a work in progress.  The finished piece will stretch across his whole chest, and onto his upper arms too.
The theme is life and death/good and evil.  When he first came for the consultation, to look at what I'd drawn up for him, he was about to tell me that he changed his mind on having the owl, but he said when he saw the drawing that I'd done, that he decided to get it.

The phoenix was much more difficult to work with, because it's not real.  Putting it next to a real bird presented some challenges.  I dealt with it by making the owl look less real, and by giving a similar shape to the feathers on both birds.

When this client comes back for the next session, we're on to the next part of the tattoo - a heart that's been ripped in half then sewn back together. 
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The client in this picture emailed me to say that she'd been looking for a Christian tattoo artist for a while to do a piece for her.

As she wanted a bluebird, I went with the old school tradition, because I think it lends itself really nicely to the colours on this bird.  It was also really important to her to have the heart in there, as this tattoo is in memory of her grandmother. 
I feel like the vines give the whole thing some movement.

So there you have it.  Five birds, each designed especially for the client.  Each tattoo entirely unique to the person that has it.

If you want something absolutely unique to you on your body, just let me know!  Don't forget that we now offer gift certificates, and that we have some amazing deals on at the moment.  Check out the homepage for more details!
 
Recent work... 11/05/2009
 
Well, I've been in the shop for a month now, and I've been quite busy.  I'm loving the atmosphere of working with a bunch of other artists.  It's so creative there, and there's always someone wanting to give their input or just inspire you with a piece that they're doing.

Beth (my wife) suggested that it would be a good idea to put some recent pieces up here every once in a while, and say a couple of things about why they are interesting, or what I really enjoyed about them.
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This was the first piece that I did in the shop.  The guy had already got a tattoo of a scorpion a few years ago, and had been wanting to get something more, when he was involved in a cycling accident.  He had very seriously broken his femur, and the break was repaired with a huge metal pin.

He decided to tie the two things together, by getting a tattoo that not only showed the damage to his bone, and the repair work, but also that appeared as though the scorpion had ripped out of his leg.

He sent me x-rays of his leg as it is now, so that I could make the pin more accurate.  The next day, I also added scorpion tracks running around his leg, over his back and down to the scorpion.
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A friend of mine asked me to work on a piece for her in memory of her mom, who passed away a couple of years ago.  She wanted the piece to be based on an illustration she had found, but she needed some changes made:  There needed to be two children playing in the tree, the boy on the branch had to have straight blonde hair, like her brother, and the girl on the swing needed wavy brown hair, like her.

The tree also has a heart cut into it, with the dates of her mom's life. 

I really enjoyed doing this piece for a lot of reasons.  The time we spent working on it was quite emotional for my friend, and I am really pleased that she ended up with this result.
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I got an email a few weeks ago, from a lady in Germany.
She told me that her husband would be in Toronto for a few days to attend a conference, and wondered if I might be able to fit him in for an appointment. 
It just so happened that I had a cancellation on a day that he was free, so we started work on the design.

He already has a number of tattoos, and he told me that he got all of the others when he lived in San Fransisco while studying there.
He felt that if he got any tattoos at home in Germany, he wouldn't be able to stop getting them, so he decided only to get them when he travels.  He was very pleased to find a Christian tattoo artist here too.

The piece is a representation of the Archangel Michael - a warrior angel.  I particularly like the depth of the shading on the wings, the unwavering look on his face, and the white highlights on the sword and the sheath. 
He is very pleased with the piece, and has invited us to his home in Cologne, where he is already lining up people to get work done by me when we visit!

So, there's a few of the pieces that I've been working on.  Everything I do is custom designed for the person that gets it, so every tattoo is unique - you won't see anyone else with the same one you get.

If you are interested in getting some work done by me, check out the contact page, and drop me a line!
 
Revolutionary 09/02/2009
 
I've been asked by a good friend of mine to write an article for a magazine in the UK.  It's aimed at youth and young adults, most of whom are not Christians.  The aim of the magazine is to show what it really means to be a follower of Jesus.   Here's what I came up with; let me know what you think...

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I've had quite a few jobs.
I've flipped burgers at McDonald's.  I've poured pints in a nightclub.  I've stacked shelves at the Co-Op.  I've even made the perfect espresso at Starbucks.  
But that's all behind me now.  I'm all grown up.  I have a wife and a daughter.  So I work in a steady, sensible job.  You know the sort of thing - get older, settle down.  Can you guess what I do?
 
I'm a tattoo artist.
 
So, how did I end up doing this, you ask.  Well, the funny thing is that I believe God gave me the idea.
See, I'm not only a husband and a father.  I'm not only an artist.  More than anything, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ.  A Christian.  Some years ago I made a decision to trust God with my life.  I asked him what He wanted me to do.  And the strange thing is, that I ended up as a tattoo artist.
 
For some people, that might sound like something God would never tell someone to do.  Isn't even getting a tattoo against the rules for a Christian?
 
The thing is, though, that Jesus isn't about rules.  In fact, he's totally against them.  
When Jesus walked on the Earth, he broke pretty much every rule that the religious leaders of his time held to be important.  He healed people on the Day of Rest.  He chose followers who weren't considered clever or holy enough to be Holy Men.  He even hung out with criminals, tax collectors and prostitutes.  The outcasts of the day.
You know why?  Because Jesus cares about relationship.  He wants to know us personally.  Even if that challenges what we might think about Him.
 
And that's why he led me to be a tattoo artist.  Not because he thinks that tattoos are right for everybody. And not only because He wants me to enjoy the creative gifts He gave me. But because as an artist, I get to talk to a lot of people, one on one.  I get to form relationship with them.  I get the opportunity to tell them about how Jesus has changed my life; about how he changes my life all the time.  Not only that, but the fact that I am a follower of Jesus and a tattoo artist challenges what people think of Him.  Which is what He wants.
 
And maybe, just maybe, because I love tattooing.  And God loves me.
 
Catholic Imagery 07/23/2009
 
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Matt makes an interesting point here.
You're right, I'm not Catholic.  So why would I get a whole bunch of Catholic imagery tattooed on my arm?  Well, I think there's quite a few answers to that.

Firstly, I'm a Christian.  Personally, I don't like to get involved in denominational splits - I believe that all Christians are part of the Church - that is the Body of Christ.  That means that despite differences of opinion when it comes to doctrine, we are all part of the same Church.
I know for a fact that I don't agree with everything that everyone at TACF believes.  But that doesn't mean that I won't meet with them on a regular basis. 
When Matt (and Rob) ask why I would want to get my whole arm done in something I don't believe in, they are missing the point that it's not that I don't believe in it.  In fact, I do.  There's just a few things that Catholics focus on that I don't.  But more on  that in a minute.
I don't want to get into a long theological debate, because I have a better place for that.  But I do want to look a little at why I would get tattoos of Catholic images.

The imagery that I am talking about is, in every sense of the word, iconic.  You see a picture of Jesus with the Sacred Heart, you know it's Jesus.  The images are very obviously religious.  And that's a major reason for me to get these tattoos.  I've talked on here before about how many Christians disagree with tattoos.  Although I'm not about to make people change their mind on that (unless they try to get me to change mine!) I do feel like it's perfectly acceptable within my belief structure to get tattoos.  Although I note that much of the opposition I find within the Church to tattoos is a result of different interpretations of scripture, and of different revelation,  I also believe that a great deal of it is the result of Religious Spirits.  Again, my other blog is a better place for a detailed discussion on Religious Spirits, but here's a quick rundown of what I believe about them:

Jesus came to set us free from slavery to the Old Law.  That doesn't mean that we don't follow it any more, but that it isn't that that saves us.

A Religious Spirit is a spirit that comes to try to tie us to tradition and law in order to stop us from focusing on Jesus.

Jesus is the centre of my beliefs, as He is the only way to the Father.

I don't want to let anything else become the focus of my faith; be that tattoos, what songs we play at Church meetings, whether I should wear a hat into a Church building, or anything else that isn't absolutely essential to following Jesus.

So here's the thing.  Beth (my wife) thinks that I was put on Earth to challenge Religious Spirits.  I think that there's probably more to it than that, but I do believe that part of my calling to be a tattoo artist is to fulfill that.  By tattooing religious images on myself, I think that it challenges conventional thought about what it means to practice Christianity.

Like I said at the start of this post, Catholics are Christians.  Certainly some of their doctrine is at odds with mine - I don't pray to Saints, for example.  But the picture of Jesus on my arm represents the same Jesus that I sing to and pray to and trust and follow.  Just because the image came from the window of a Catholic Church building doesn't make it any less relevant to me.

Right.  Theological post over.  Thoughts, anyone?

 
Tattoo Tales... 07/19/2009
 
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I found this on the Reuters website.  An interview with a tattoo artist from Portland, Oregon.  it's a pretty interesting article.  Most of what the guy says is fairly obvious, I think, but it's always good to hear insights from people that have been in the business a long time.
A couple of things stand out to me from it:

How do some of these artists get such great media coverage?  What Reuters shows of his work is pretty good, but I know artists FAR better than this.  What makes him so suitable for fame?  So primed for international glory?  Answer: writing a book.  It seems that Jeff Johnson of the superbly named Sea Tramp Tattoo Company has written a book about some of his experiences in the tattoo industry.  It seems to have been inspired by the fact that you hear a lot of interesting things from people of all walks of life when you are tattooing. 
I've touched on this a bit before, in terms of enjoying tattooing friends because the conversation is usually so easy.  But there is a huge advantage to tattooing people you don't know - you don't know them.  They might be interested in some weird martial art that you've never heard of, or be a concert flautist.  Perhaps the girl that you expected to be a skateboarder is actually the head of a Masonic Lodge who teaches Irish dancing in her spare time.  Tattooing puts you in the company of a huge variety of people from all walks of life.  And not only that, you're sat down with them for large chunks of time. 
I think that often the process of talking to someone that you don't know about what's going on in your life can be very therapeutic too.  Perhaps that's sometimes the reason that people get tattoos - it gives them someone to talk to.
If you've got the wherewithal to write a book, then you're probably going to have a lot to say after 19 years in the tattooing business.  The book, by the way, is supposed to be excellent.  If anyone fancies buying me a copy...

The other thing that I noted in the article was Jeff's final comment about tattooing more intimate places on a woman's body.  His take on it is that it's like being "a bouncer at a strip club - you just don't see anything anymore".
I'm not entirely sure about that, although I have heard the suggestion from an artist I know that it's like being a doctor - that there's a professionalism about it that removes the sexual from the situation.

I don't really know, and I'm resolved not to tattoo certain areas of the body.  I took good advice from my good friend, Jean-Pierre Rioux, who said that you shouldn't do anything that you feel uncomfortable doing, certainly don't do anything that your wife wouldn't feel comfortable with you doing, and always make sure that you have someone else around if the area is a little questionable. 

But more on that another time - I'm off to write down some stories of people I've tattooed...

 
 
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See this picture of Jesus?  That's what my new tattoo looks like.  Some of you might have seen it.  It's on the inside of my upper left arm.
It doesn't quite look like this yet, because it's only outlined right now.  I'm getting it coloured tomorrow night and I'm rather excited.

Above that tattoo, right at the top of my arm, I have a big sacred heart, a mix of old and new school styles, with a banner that says deeper than war.  I'm wanting to build up a sleeve eventually, filled with Catholic style imagery.  I think I want to finish it off at the wrist with a realistic looking rosary wrapped around my arm, but I'm not sure yet.

My question is: what do you think should find its way onto that arm?  I don't think I want Mary on there, but I'm open to reasons that I should get that.  There's loads of stuff, but I want to keep it on a fairly classic theme, lots of colour, pretty old school in style.  A bit kitsch, but not too tacky.
I think once it's done, the background spaces will be filled with rays of light and bits of stained glass.  The elbow will probably be very little work, more gaps in the background.

I need lots of good ideas for this arm.  You can write your suggestions below.  Have fun!