Tribal Designs

Mga tribal designs na ginawa ko para kay ariel ng cruz creations tattoo. sarap laruin ng designs na to. parang kabayaran ko ito sa kanya bilang pasasalamat sa free education ko sa kanila para maging isang tattooist. exercise ko na din ito tungkol sa tattoo designs. madami pa akong dapat matutunan pero i'm getting there.

i did my second tattoo last week on nancy. thanks nancy for letting me practice on you. medjo nahirapan ako sa second tattoo na ito dahil ninerbyos ako. nanginig ang aking kamay sa kaba pero binigyan pa din ako ni nancy ng b+ na grade. akala ko c ang grade ko pero hindi. sabi nya e mas worse ang second tattoo na ginawa nya noon. post ko ang picture soon.

Paru-Paro

matagal ko nang ginawa ang paru-parong ito. isa sa mga una kong projects nung bago ako dito sa america. cubist ang style. nakita ito ng aking pinsan na si david sa aking website. nagustuhan nya at kinumisyon nya akong gumawa pa ng isa. i still enjoy doing these types of art. basta't tungkol sa drowing ay ayos sa akin.

ika nga ni man ray ay wala kang dapat masamang tinapay sa mga nag dro-drowing kasi never silang makasakit ng kapwa. di daw gaya ng mga engineers o arkitekto na kung pangit o mali ang design ay maaring mag result into a disaster.

ang sarap magdrowing! sana makatagpo ako ng isang bilyonaryong aampon sa akin at sa aking pamilya upang magdrowing na lang ng magdrowing habang buhay.

eto yung luma...





















at eto naman yung bago...

Painter

pinag mat-alan ko itong painter software dati pa. problema ko wala akong pambili kaya pinirata ko na lang. galing ng mga brush textures nya. parang totoo. narito ang sampol. gamit ko ang wacom pad at painter 8.

Cholo's Eyes

I met cholo at the cow palace tattoo convention. he got his eyelids tattooed at that event. he's a super nice guy. thanks for the pic cholo.

The Emperor's New Clothes

Bawal Ang Mangga

a new and foreign virus arrived in North America via New York

Foreign rabbit virus contained in four states. At press time in late
August, the Department of Agriculture's Foreign Animal Disease
Diagnostic Laboratory

SARS, the Ebola virus, and mad cow disease wreaked

Samples of pandemic flu virus found in
3 foreign warehouses of shipper

this mosquito-borne virus had only been found in
parts of Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East

and no foreign virus types were detected in the United States

When the deadly SARS virus struck China

Filipino Tattoo Flashes

here are 2 sets of flash that i did. one is a set of philippine flags, suns and philippine maps combined. a lot of pinoy tattoo enthusiasts want this. a sign that filipinos doesn't like losing their sense of pride. they may be american citizens but that's only in paper.

i remember when i took my oath to become a us citizen. they want me to swear and take out any kind of allegiance to my former country and beliefs... i raised my right hand spoke what they want me to speak and forget everything afterwards. haha. that's bull. you cannot take my 30 years of experience being pinoy in an instant. sorry i cannot eat your stupid burger all my life... i still want RICE and something to go with it!!!

the next one was based on ariel's (cruz creations tattoo) suggestion. i did a set of pinoy warriors from lapu-lapu to sakay. i don't see anynody having this yet. not sure why.

My First Tattoo Victim

yelow boys en gels,

kennedy said i did a good job for my first tattoo. it wasn't easy as i thought. now i have more respect for tattoo artists.

my first problem was keeping the lines straight. keeping your lines straight is one of the basics and the most important. this is the first thing they look for in a good tattoo. good thing billy recommended that we buy a pig skin first for practice. we went to a vietnamese market and they gave us the pig skin for free. if we didn't do this kennedy might have killed me.

the tattoo machine was heavy plus it vibrates and it will take me more practice to get used to it. add my tension to that and that equals crooked lines. it took me 3 hours to do my first tattoo. we did three stencils before putting it in the right place but we were happy with the result.

i guess you noticed the kennedys... john, jackie and robert are the name of kennedy's (my friend) children. jackie and robert was an existing tattoo on kennedy's arm. we just added john to it. he was born recently. we tried to match the lettering style from the existing tattoo and i guess it came out okay for a first time.

it was a coincidence but guess what kennedy's wife's name is? - caroline. haha.

thanks ken for letting me use your skin!

Tattooed Designs That I Did

here are some samples so far of the designs i did that got tattooed on skin. tattoo artists are ariel, billy and nancy from cruz creations tattoo where i'm having my training and darius from underground tattoos both from san jose, california. it excites me to think that my designs will be permanently on people's skin. a lot different from paintings because your canvas are humans.

i tried selling my flashes in shops in hayward 2 weeks ago with no luck but one of the tattoo artists i was trying to sell my flashes to said that i was doing the right thing making flashes first before tattooing because he said that a tattoo artist must first develop his drawing style before using the needle. he also acknowledged the flashes i did. he has not seen any filipino flashes in his 15 years of tattoing. so that's nice to hear.

i used to think that tattooing should be the same as drawing but it's not. there are lots of different rules you have to follow in tattooing because of it's limitations like you cannot use too many lines because if you do, lines too close to each other will close out in time. in tattooing... bolder is better.

i'm also learning a bit about the japanese style through billy and some alibata through ariel.

thank you billy, ariel, nancy, robert and darius for your generosity.

First Tattoo Volunteer

Kennedy is my first human canvas. i'm going to tattoo him this afternoon at the shop. I've worked with kennedy for 9 years and i designed two of his tattoos. i was the resident artist in the company where we used to work so i guess that's the reason why he trusted me. i was nervous but after seeing the tv show inked last night, i relaxed a bit because the apprentice in the tv show was a 14 year old so i thought if he can do it i can too.

i've used kennedy in some of my paintings. see picture.

i haven't decided yet what kind of tattoo i'm going to do. kennedy is a super cool guy. astig pero malambot ang puso so i was thinking of an image of a heart with wings or a bleeding heart.

Alay Kay Nanay

hay naku. kung pag-uusapan natin ang tungkol kay inang ay madaming kwento at napaka kulay.

leonila castro po ang ngalan ng nanay ko. 78 years old. lumaki sya nung panahon ng hapon. tumira sila sa tubas, quezon. ang tubas po ay isang liblib na lugar about 6 miles from unisan, quezon sa bundok peninsula. noong 40's ay napaka rangya sa puno at wild animals ng lugar na ito. maswerte si nanay dahil nadanasan nya ang buhay na walang elektrisidad, walang running water... sa madaling salita po ay parang buhay tarzan. puno ang kwento nya ng tungkol sa mga baboy damo, wild deers, mga naglipanang unggoy sa paligid na hina-hunt para kainin. sa discovery channel ko na lang nakikita ang mga ito. natatawa nga ako dahil minsang may pinalabas sa discovery channel tungkol sa isang tribo sa south america. nagha-harvest sila ng some kind of tree trunk na ginagawa nilang parang harina para ma-bake at kainin. alam ni inang ang pangalan ng kahoy na pinanggagalingan at ginagawa din daw nila ito noon. uraro daw kung tawagin nila. a kind of palm tree.



hindi naabot ng hapon ang tubas dahil ito'y masyadong liblib para sa kanila kaya safe sila ermat sa tubas.

bago ang tag hapon ay valedictorian si ermat sa local school at madalas syang mapalaban sa mga regional school contests.

typical cinderella story po si ermat dahil after the war ay napangasawa nya ang anak ng pinakamayamang pamilya sa lugar namin. si erpat po yun. madalas namin syang biruin na gold digger ngunit di totoo yan dahil labintatlong supling po ang niluwal nya wid my erpat. waw! what an achievement. e si misis isang anak lang e suko na ata. hehe.

ang taguya naman kay erpat ay sa tinagal-tagal daw namalengke ay tinapa dn pala ang makukuha. masakit ang taguyang ito para kay ermat ngunit alam nya na madami lang naiinggit sa kanya.

artistic po ang family ng ermat ko. mga tiyuhin ko ay pulos musicians at comedians. siguro dyan ko nakuha ang pagka mabiro ko.

alam ko ang nakita ni erpat kay ermat. bukod sa maganda sya ay matalino, matapang at mababait ang mga ka-pamilya. napansin ko po yan kay erpat. ayaw nya sa mga pamilyang mandarambong. di nya pinahahalata ang diskriminasyon nya rito pero pansin ko po ang bias nya.

walang tumbas ang utang ko kay ermat. ang kabayaran nito sa tingin ko ay ang magpalaki rin ng bata gaya ni miro pero kung napansin nyo ang letrato sa taas ay sya pa din madalas ang nag-aalaga kay miro. wala na akong lusot.



yumao na si erpat kaya si ermat ang pinuno ng pamilya namin. kung tawagin namin sya ay 'the matriarch' o 5-star general. sya ang konsensya ng pamilya. madalas rin syang magbigay ng matatalas na opinyon pero pag binalanse natin ay masasabing nasa tama sya lagi. opo napaka balanse ng kanyang isip at oras na mag desisyon sya ay nakakasiguradong sa ikabubuti.

si ermat ang sentro namin. labingtatlo kami lahat at super close kami. syempre kasama din dyan ang inlaws at mga pamangkin at apo. sya ang nagbigay ng pundasyon ng isip sa aming magkakapatid. madalang sa obserbasyon ko ang pamilyang magkakasundo. well... exception kami dyan. all for one and one for all po kami kahit ang lalayo ng mga personalidad namin. siguro ang pagkaka iba-iba ng ng personalities namin ang nagpapayabong sa aming samahan so maiimagine nyo kung paano kami harapin ni ermat.

so ang section pong ito ay iniaalay ko sa aking ina. homage kumbaga. salamat nay!

Kumpirmado!

binalikan ko nung hapon ang mga inakay na insekto at opo na-confirm ko na ladybugs nga ang mga inakay dahil nakita ko ang kanilang ina na pagala-gala sa malapit na sanga.

ngunit meron pa akong nakitang ibang langkay ng mga insektong inakay. kulay itim naman so 'di ko nanaman sure kung kasamahan nila ito. kumuha din ako ng ilan pang letrato. eto...

Baby Ladybugs

di ko sigurado kung ladybugs nga ito pero mukang. kita ko kaninang 11am sa apple tree sa labas ng bahay habang pinapasyal ko si miro. nagbubusisi na sya dahil sa boredom but i managed to take a few shots.

Back Piece

i sketched this for somebody's back. my reference is a boris vallejo artwork. just tweaked and added some stuff. i'm not really a boris fan because i find most of his compositions stiff because of his models. he doesn't play too much on his models so most of his stuff are obviously posed. just my 2 cents.

the client already saw this while i was sketching and he really liked it. i don't know when ariel will do this.