The Human Canvas - Ink!

"Ink"

Well... sumi, the kanji FOR ink.

Or at least - a close approximation, anyway.

There's a proper brush stroke involved, 

which I'm SURE I didn't follow.

This session involves 

my friend John, and it's meant 

to recreate - in a way - what happened when 

I got MY first tattoo.

 

When I left home,

off to the Navy, my arm was bare. 

An empty canvas - though I hadn't started 

using that term yet.

When I came home on leave, 

after getting a small clown head on my shoulder, 

I kept my shirt on for like - ALL the time. Well, all 

the time I was around Mom, anyway. At some point, 

maybe 9 or 10 days into my stay at home, 

I ran out to answer the phone...

 

More to the point, 

I ran out to answer the phone without a shirt on.

While I was talking to whoever it was, 

Mom starts pointing 

at my shoulder.

 

"IS THAT REAL???"

 

"Um, hey Susan... I'm gonna have to call you back."

She said - pointedly, 

"GO... SHOW YOUR GRANDFATHER!"

He saw it - and laughed. 

"Heh-heh-heh. A clown. Heh-heh-heh."

Every so often I'd come home with another. 

And that's all they'd ask. 

"Is that another?"

 

Back to this session with John.

In all honesty, I DID do this at work.

I was keeping an eye on the clock, but

I was told that one of my on-air announcements

would be covered (THANK YOU MATT GUILHEM!)

so I could concentrate on the drawing.

 

Despite the (apparent) detail

and wonderful blends on the fish, this

went RATHER quickly. The colors used to

create the fish were simply a red - pulled out

and (subsequently) blended with a yellow.

PLAIN and SIMPLE.

Really.

 

It's the same blend as my newly found love for making

little Sharpie flames.

 

Some detail with an ultra-fine...

 

...As well as the fatter fine-line.

 

And I now enjoy extending the fins

with a series of dots. This adds another color,

as well as some nice detail that takes only

an additional 15 seconds or so.

This next pic (thank you Mike Munoz) shows

all the colors used

on this piece.

 

 

What? Only three?

 

That includes a rendering of

the symbol FOR ink. I thought it'd be clever

to ink someone with... ink.

 

 

That SHOULD have been my stopping point,

but I wanted to add a sense of water, though really

just trying to extend the piece slightly below the

length of a short sleeve, so his Mom could

"accidentally" see it.

 

I mean - this was the point of it all.

Have his Mom get a glimpse...

And react.

 

Then only to powder it down,

giving it a bit more of an "in the skin" look.

It's subtle, but there IS a difference.

 

And mission accomplished.

His Mom reacted... I mean... she RE-ACT-ED!

Perhaps even more. He had a hard time getting her

to "accidentally" notice. When she DID though...

 

BOY! 

 

He grabbed a gameboy (or some similar device)

which, to begin with, she didn't like him being on.

Add to this - when he reached FOR the device,

his sleeve rode up. Just a bit.

Enough though.

 

 

Her face started "...twisting with rage..."

 "contorting with anger." She could BARELY even

speak.  John and his brother (who was in on the joke)

by this time were laughing SO hard that they just HAD

to spill the beans. John said, "...Um, before I got

kicked outta the house."

 

MIS-SION AC-COMP-LISHED!

 

Thanks John for the canvas.

Thanks to Mike for snapping the shots,

and thanks to Matt for covering my on-air

responsibilities for a minute so I could

draw on someone.

 

BOY has this place changed!

 

Thanks to all involved in that as well.