The Human Canvas - A Koi Discovery

So...

I do a lot of koi.

And that was the reason for this one.

We wanted something I could do confidently, 

and (fairly) quickly.

She said she wasn't a Butterfly kinda gal.

And wasn't in the mood for a dragon.

The idea was to have 

something her co-workers MIGHT think 

she would ACTUALLY get... 

If she t'were to tat.

As confident as I am with koi though, 

after adding the whiskers, I thought the face 

was a little short.

And since there was already a black border, 

it made the extension a bit dark.

But then I realized the darkness created a bit of depth. Almost a "bottle-nose," like on a dolphin.

As simple as this discovery seems, 

it's really something that can be employed 

with future canvas sessions - only on purpose.

Meantime - happy with this one, 

and with this discovery of creating shade, 

and depth,  I don't feel like this one is 

"simply another koi."

Thank you J.

You KNOW that anytime I'm in Boston, 

I gonna hope to do this again, 

right?

The Human Canvas - Which King?

WITCH King.

The Witch King of Angmar.

Head of the Nazgul. Chief amongst the ringwraiths.

And the next Human Canvas.

Okay. 

MIKE was the Human Canvas here. 

The Witch King was simply the latest subject matter.

The first time Mike was a canvas, I altered one of his tattoos. 

A tattoo which had yet to be detailed and colored.

You can see just a BIT of it below.

And then the completed version.

 On this next one - again - it was a tattoo outline only.

Some horns were added, and the goatee was 

extended and split. Then the flames. 

A (simple, yet) new technique I'd been using to great effect. 

So then - on to that witch-king.  He had it in black 

ink only, and was always wanting a bit more. 

That's where I came in.

We had plans for making it wrap around, 

tying in with his other tattoos. It woulda taken a bit 

of time, but this was image number 300, and it 

should HAVE been a cool one.

A castle then had to be discovered...

...shaded...

...attacked by a dragon...

...and set on fire.

After that it was a 

matter of trying to add some 

color and depth to the witch king. 

Slowly adding shades until we get some life going.

To tie in the clover, 

it was gonna be an Irish flag, 

but this is where we ran out of time.

Mike was being wooed, and had to leave.

That is, 

a Woo was on the phone for him, 

convincing him he had to leave.  I stuck 

in some more flames rather quickly to sort of 

fill some space, but really, number 300 is one 

of very few that never got to a finished point. 

Too bad, as it was going somewhere cool.

Still though - happy with the results we DID get, 

and am thankful for the canvas.

The Human Canvas - In the Recesses of the Vault

Actually, it's in 

The Vault Martini Bar.

 Down the stairs and to the left.

Though where we were stationed, 

I think that WOULD be the definition 

of a recess.

So here's Tiffany. 

Someone who became 

a friend just about the time 

she was gonna go away and become 

a Banana Slug (UC Santa Cruz).

Another puzzle piece. 

This was done a few days 

before we got into April, and I was 

sort of gearing up to do a LOT more. 

Add to that she has a brother on the spectrum, 

purple is her favorite color... it went from there. 

That is to say, we didn't STOP there.

I kept adding flowers below the puzzle piece...

Pull back for a quick shot...

Then add another flower above as well.

Add a few trailing across her back...

And then stop for a few flex-shots.

After that it's just 

a matter of adding a BIT of black...

...Making these flowers pop JUST a bit. 

I like how this one turned out. Kind of ordinary 

flowers laid out to make me think JUST a bit of Hawaii, 

and her recent trip when she got a tree of life in henna 

on her arm. I thought I might do a tree of life when I 

finally got the chance to ink her up. Didn't work 

out that way, but we were both 

happy with the results.

Thank you Tiff!

The Human Canvas - Dia De la Moreno

Despite my tendency

of generally publishing these

sessions in the order they happened,

this is the only one I have together,

beyond a brief narration.

 

 

 

We'll get back to
proper order soon enough,
but meantime, here's Karen once again.

She's been a canvas several times now,

with more sessions in the future.

 

 

We have a REALLY cool

Cheshire Cat planned, but that's truly

one that I'm gonna have to play with a bit

before putting it ON someone.

 

 

So a "Sugar Skull" is

another design we've talked about a bit.

I've done one miniature one ONCE before,

and a kind of spur of the moment one at a bar,

which I ended up not being happy with.

 

I'll be including that one in the near future.

 

 

So this session with

Karen gave me a chance for

a bit of a reprieve. Also - a chance

for a bit of practice, if you will. This session

was a day before heading out to Boulder, where

 I knew I'd be doing at least one more. I ended

up doing a couple... one of which is amongst

my favorite pieces to date. Of any kind.

We'll show that one in the

near future as well.

 

One of the nice things
about doing sugar skulls is that
there are no rules. No real rules anyway.
There are a few basic ideas, I suppose, which
tend to show up in various representations,
but beyond this, the rest
is your own.

The nose on this one
is an upside-down heart.
Karen likes anything heart-related,
so this was easy enough
to work in.

The real "practice" was
not so much on the image itself,
but rather the order in which to draw.
This is only important in that I tend to lay
my hand down as I draw, and this causes smudges
and smears if I'm not ready to cover it
with something as I go.

We could call it done at this point,
but after stepping back for a photo-opp...

...I decided it needed a bit of "flash."

Nothing complicated,
but if I surround the skull
with another color or two, the negative
space becomes a color I couldn't have drawn.

And really set it off
once I accent with a bit of black...

...And then step into
the sun for a couple more photos.

 

Oh yeah.

The signature.

I don't always do it, so it's easy to forget.

 

 

But not on this dia.

Thank you Karen. We'll see you again REAL soon.

And thank you, reading right now.

We'll see you soon as well.