The Human Canvas - And if the TURTLE Didn't Scare Ya...

What about elephants?

Yeah! ELEPHANTS!!!

 

I'm pretty sure this was by request.

I'm also pretty sure that it stayed on longer than

many of the others have. I know she showered.

Some weird kid-skin thing?

Anyway...

 

These several quick sessions

were on a recent trip to Boulder.

ChoCho got the first a couple of days later.

July 4th, 2013.

 

He always kinda pictured

a bit of red going around his real tattoo.

 

 

Well, that's easy enough, but...

 

I've REALLY come to enjoy

this little flame-technique I've picked up.

Absurdly simple, but it has a nice effect.

 

And to take it a BIT further...

 

Next came Charlie.

I gave him a kind of a grim reaper

last year,  and I didn't realize that THIS year he'd

been waiting in the wings. Didn't wanna leave the cookout

until he got a seesion in.

 

COOL to hear this and HAPPY to oblige.

Charlie's amongst some of my favorite little people.

 

Maybe only three

layers of color in here, a bit of black...

 

...And done.

Thanks again, Charlie.

 

Next on this 4th of July,

I ended up at the feet of a rather leggy

Captain America. We usually call her Tracy. 

The focus is down here though. If boots and feet are

your thing, stick around!

Tracy's gonna get SOME sort of

wave for one of her next tattoos. Not what I

put on her, mind you, but I DID appreciate

the chance to play.

 

 

Just kind of wrap around the ankle...

 

...then just let it flow...

 

...With layer...

 

...After layer.

 

Then it's a matter of posing this foot

with the shod one.

Have her point her foot - because she can...

 

 

...And zoom out to catch that calf - because I can.

 

One more way to position it, and...

I... have... NO.... idea...

Why I didn't zoom out for a calf-flexed shot.

Sorry.

Meantime...

Thanks again to Lola Sunshine,

thanks to ChoCho, thanks to Tracy, thanks to

Julie (willing, but had to run), and thanks to Laura

for this next shot that lets me say thanks to

Charlie once again.

And now,

for the rest of you,

thank you for your patience.

 

God Bless America.

The Human Canvas - Do turtles... FRIGHTEN YOU???

Do they? 

DO THEY???

If so, read NOOooo... further.

If not...

Well, then join me.

C'mon a little closer, wouldja?

I was inspired to do some sea 

turtles by a friend who never received the drawing. 

Yet. 

Jen.

So folks, once again, here's Shaelyn.

(((Anyone else out there 

have trouble drawing reptile frickin' feet? 

Well, in the case of the sea turtle, just draw a turtle 

and give it wings. Problem solved!)))

Anyway,

While plenty O' sea turtle 

is a beautiful murky, brown-black, 

WELL worthy of the pen, there seem to be a 

bunch out there with some bursts of vivid color. 

Like many of my flowers, fish, and serpents of one 

sort or another, this gives me a chance to play 

with a bit of simple layering...

Some pink...

...A light purple...

(((There was an even darker purple pictured here, 

but it was shot from another angle and the 

jump-cut (as it were) was rather startling, 

and thus removed.)))

...Then it's just going back in and re-discovering areas...

And giving just a BIT of black.

Now Go in with a touch of a background 

for this little fella to be 

flying (swimming)

through...

And then, once again, a TOUCH of black. 

To define... And pop just a bit.

I've learned lessons

on this.

Done.

I actually didn't get any 

pics with Shaelynn looking over her shoulder. 

Bummer, as this was a cool tattoo strutting around 

Pappy and Harriet's on a REALLY cool night.

My birthday.

July 28th, 2013.

Thank you Jamey, Tish, Corrine, 

and of course Shaelyn.

The Human Canvas - Turn the other Cheek, Treebeard!

 

Turn the other cheek? And Treebeard?

We'll get to that.

Meantime...

 

 

To start, we knew we wanted a tree.

An oak, perhaps? Anyway - something deciduous.

 

 

This gave me a chance

to play with smudges and smears - kinda letting

the drawing find itself.

 

No REAL rules or picture to follow.

Just let the pen drag and lift when it wants to.

Then ya get a trunk. 

 

Especially when you add a couple layers of color.

 

 

The other thing we knew,

beyond wanting a tree, was to have the roots become

a bit of an arm band.

 

 

After adding the

final layer of blue - the darkest you see - I decided

it ended up with just a bit of a Tolkein feel. Something that

may end up on a calendar or Middle Earth

art book or something.

 

So... Treebeard?

 

Well, we got Treebeard

directly from Tolkein, or indirectly

via Peter Jackson.

 

 

Treebeard was an Ent.

He may have even been the oldest of the Ents.

The Ents were, in essence, shepherds for the trees. 

And, as Orcs had no particular respect for trees, Ents

held no particular kindness toward the Orcs. Long, long

ago, there were actually Ent-Wives as well, but had been

driven away by Sauron. Saruman, while under the

influence and ally of Sauron, destroyed SO many

trees that, well, the Ents becam a major force

in the defeat Saruman.

 

So that's PART of the reason for

the Treebeard reference. Also, Jason here

didn't have a beard when I saw him last.

 

He didn't have a tree either.

Treebeard.

 

And "Turn the other Cheek?

Well, I think the first photo you see on this

entry looks a BIT like a butt. That's all.

Go look again.

 

More Human Canvas on the way.

 

Oh! And don't think the

bad jokes vague references won't continue either.

But these references DO get me some accidental traffic

from people Googling Tolkein stuff.

The Human Canvas - Even MORE Flower To Ya!

This post actually comes from last October... 

Maybe November. 

I had kept talking about drawing on her, 

Kailynn, but it kept on not happening...

I had a piece KINDA worked out 

for her, but on the evening she was at the house, 

she stuck out her arm and said, "What can 

you draw on a hand?"

A HAND?

It's a TINY hand, TOO!

Well, fresh off a trip to Kentucky, 

where I did SEVERAL flowers of various kinds, 

this is what I saw. Something to occupy a small space.

AND play with a bit of color.

Careful now, don't muddy it up TOO much.

Well, that filled the hand. 

Move up the arm JUST a bit with a 

stem-ish representation.

And once ya get permission 

to go further than just the hand with that stem, 

take it even further with a vase.

Done?

No.

Okay. Add a bit of shadow...

THEN done. 

I have to say, I kinda frowned as 

I stared at it the rest of the evening. It looked kinda 

funny upside down.

But... 

Right side up, for a picture, I think we WERE happy with it after all.

Thank you Kailynn. 

And thank YOU for being next!