i practiced twice on pigskin as i've shown here in my blog. i did good on practice but i know it's still different in actual tattooing and i had doubts when i was about to start doing her tatttoo. the main thing i was concerned about was the scary fact that once i pricked her skin, there's no turning back. i cannot erase it or undo just like in photoshop. second thing was that i had to make my lines straight just like in practice. third thing i was thinking about was the pain that i'm going to inflict on her.
i had to erase all the fears in my mind and get the job done. nancy plew from cruz creations tattoo helped me do the set up but she cannot help me do the actual tat. i had to do it myself. it took about an hour for the set-up because nancy had to guide me step by step because i wanted to learn how to set it up the faster way. some guy in the next booth heard nancy explaining things to me and my wife overheard his reaction... he said wide eyed, is this guy going to tattoo somebody?
all my fears vanished when i finished the outlines. the fear on the guy in the next booth vanished too. i did good on the outlines and i knew coloring was easier. it took us 6 hours to finish the whole tattoo and i was really exhausted and hungry by the time we finished. i know tracie must be tired and hungry too. another lesson learned was that never tattoo on an empty stomach.
tracie just emailed me the picture of the tat after it's healed. it looked great but i missed to black out an accent on one alibata character but this can be fixed easily. tracie's husband will be my next client.
thank you ariel cruz for letting me use your shop. thanks billy truong, kenya and of cource nancy plew and ariel for having the patience to teach me about this artform.
16 comments:
it is beautiful, Mel! thanks for sharing. i'll keep this in mind when i get one.
leny strobel
Mel,
Great job! I didn't know you were tattooing. I'd like to have lunch with you to talk about it more.
I was with Tracie and Rene in Hawaii last summer and we were talking tattoos because of all my traditional Philippine ink. You can check it out at www.orpilla.com.
Call me.
Very cool story Mel. You never forget your first time. Now that you've crossed that path, there is no looking back. I'm sure by this time next year, you will be on your hundreth tattoo, with people standing in line. Keep up the great work! See you soon.
LOOKS AWESOME! very brave..JT Murphy
Really nice! I bet you were nervous, tired not to mention hungry butproud of the outcome. I would have! Kudos to Tracie for being bold. Her tattoo was fancy and huge. I can imagine the pain she bore during the six hours. Anyway, continue your new art. Bagay talaga sa yo! Love to Milette and Miro!
Mel, si Bubbles nagpatattoo sa boracay - very amateur lang at yon yatang naeerase after a while. grabe yong sa iyo, 6 hours! hope you have more clients and next time, eat first. nice design.
love,
ate
padre! superb work! you never seize to amaze me. i noticed in the design letters and is it numbers? what does it stand for? (BAANTSEEE or BAANTS333)
it's really a great job, padre!
thank you leny. i'll get a whole pig for practice for you :-)
yes mel. you showed me your tattoos at fetterly. traditional filipino tattoos. were they done by apat na alon? they're quite famous in the tattoo scene.
nice website! i added it to my favorites. i'll check into it more. thanks!
thanks chris. it took me a while to really decide to do this.
thanks murphy. any new paintings lately? let's keep in touch.
salamat malu. sabi ni tracie apat na daw nak-a nya ba't pa sya masasaktan :-)
pag-uwi ko papipilahin ko yung mga tambay sa amin. haha.
sister! kataka-taka at naka comment ka dito. haha. henna tattoo yung kay bubbles. thanks!
salamat pareng marb. alibata yun. apelyido nya ang meaning.
Mel, ang galing! I knew it, though. And I'm even gladder tracie herself liked it. I knew that, too. my brother and i were tatooed as a kid by a totooer in our neighborhood in manila. his is still there, mine is not anymore.
Oscar
nice work mate. im just about to start myself and struggling to work out what is the best set up for starting out. Im gonna be spending time practicing on pig skin first. any advice?
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