Get your draw on..............

Oh Hello Bloggy bloggy blog! :)

Right, it has been a few weeks, I think! But I have been drawing away, trying to improve. I have also left my job in the pub. My lovely fiance and I are in a financially better situation at the moment where I can take time out of working to have a full time job of looking for an apprenticeship! :) Send out positive vibes for me pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!

I have been emailing lots of tattooists far and wide, with my drawings, most with no response, but I'm not giving up hope. Going to Belfast on Friday and when we return I'm going to start going to more local tattooists to show them my sketches. I'll hound them if I have to! Just even to be there one day a week, to sweep the floors, make the cups of tea, take out the rubbish, scrub the toilet, whatever it takes, I am prepared to do it! I might even look into speaking to some Belfast tattooists, we could move home! :O

I'm still trying to get better at drawing people and I think I'm getting there. But I feel I need to tackle a few more styles too.

I drew this one on the train on the way to Exeter. It was an experience.

Ok, so I only have three drawings to post, however, I am taking more time to draw these days. Which was something that I was advised to do. I would rather post a few great standard drawings rather than a load of of crappy sketches. I have been told that the days of mediocre tattoos are over. If you want to get into the tattoo industry then you have to have something that puts you above the rest. And that's what I plan to do.

Just for fun.....

Can you feel the love?

Tattoo anyone?

Before I continue. I am fully aware of how many people in the tattoo industry view people who tattoo from home without the proper precautions. And although I know I shouldn't use my machine, I'm not stupid, I'm well read and I have a knowledge behind what I'm doing. I am not the average 'scratcher' I'm not just doing this for a laugh, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life! And as at the moment getting an apprenticeship is virtually impossible, I am at a loss to understand how I am meant progress and gain a better understanding of tattooing. I eat, sleep and breathe tattoos. And for the record, I'm not making tattooing from my house a business, I want to be known for great, beautiful, amazing tattoos. I know I have to be patient but when the industry can be so closed off it's hard to keep fighting your way back in.


After that rant, yes, I'm still desperate to be a tattooist! Send out some positive vibes for me! :) But I'm still getting on with getting tattoos!

Recently had my rainbow filled in aswell as the unicorn! More recently than that I had the flower on my elbow done! I've no photos of it yet, but it's a pain like no other!!

I tattooed myself! :O

I let my house-mate tattoo me!

I tattooed this on my friend Charean. Big up Charean for letting my practice! :) it's her babys hand prints arranged to be a butterfly sort of shape, along with her name Zaniya Mae and below the date and time she was born. I'm very proud of this and so is Charean :)

Where have you been all my life?

Ok, after a rather long absence, I'm back!

I've no excuse for not blogging really, but then, I have to draw things so that there is something to post! :O

Here we go.....

I decided to drawing pencil for this one. I am pleased with it, I feel I'm getting better with the facial features. But I still love the contrast that you get when using pen.

I did this doodle in work and it was the smaller version for the previous picture.

I had the idea for this drawing on the plane on the way to Belfast, and I gotta say, I am pleased with it. There's something very honest about an anatomically correct heart. I might draw this again in black and see what happens, or maybe red would be more fitting?

I drew this while watching Romeo and Juliet. Lots of iconic and religious imagery going on. Although this sketch isn't very detailed, I wanted to first get the shapes and proportions correct before I tackled the finer details. I'm still to re-draw this image on a larger scale.

Again, drawn while watching Romeo and Juliet. Just a quick sketch of the sacred heart which appears a lot in the movie. I'd like to try this but with the anatomically correct heart in there.

I think there is something missing in the sketch. Maybe some more roses? But then when designing tattoos, I am very aware not to add too many thing to the drawing or it looks cluttered. You and always add if you need too, but you can't always take away!

Eye, eye! There's something great about drawing eyes. Everyone has them, they can show our emotions without having to say anything and they are so different from person to person. I've been trying to improve drawing eyes for a long time. I've felt that the ones I draw lack a certain realism.

Looking at how other artists approach drawing eyes is really helpful. Like Kat Von D. I've been 'following' Miss Von D on twitter for a while now and her drawings are amazing! Observing what she has drawn gives me ideas for how I can approach what I'm going to draw. So a big big thank you for that, Kat! And I apologise for trying to talk to you on twitter when I'd had too much wine! =/

Another artist I'm totally loving right now and have admired for a long time is Terry Bradley. He is a Belfast-based artist and he totally rocks! His work is mainly paintings of people. And if his work shown me anything it's that it doesn't always need to be exact, that it can be from your perceptions too. He has no formal art qualifications and he has become very successful. So if anyone needed proof that you don't need to go to university to be an artist then there you go. Wish I'd known that! :O