The homies Oh, Vince, and Jesse came through and worked on the sleeves we started a few back.

I always love working the Buddhas in a piece. The word “Buddha”  translates to  ”the awakened one”, and it’s no coincidence the Buddha and Jesus always have the same look on their faces! The big homie Oh began the reworking process to his arm and started with a ruined korean sculpture  version…..

Big Vince came in a got his Buddha on his outer left sleeve a while back, and decided to add this in his bicep….

the geisha with the classic Doh Demon speaking to her. This piece still needs a final run through, big props to Vince for sticking through a tough spot!

And big Jesse came to finish off his Aztec serpent, inspired by the great Julie and Boris illustrators. 

Studying by far is critical in any process. I just came across a new book, THE DARK NIGHT production and full shooting script by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan. It’s been out already for some time within studio and digital libraries, but flipping through it is trully inspirational.

Behind the layers of rethinking and planning, this book shows you the begining concepts to creation, and most importantly the script. It contains the entire movie dialogue, uncut, and if you know the true history behind Batman, your able to see how the Nolans geniously twisted each character.

besides the final outcome movie that everyone tripped on, seeing work that made all that possible is always a reward.

Don’t sleep, check out this book!

Big Mike gave me the honors to begin his left sleeve. He decided to express his relationship with the world on his arm, we still have another intense session to go.

Big Site gave me the honors of his photography with this shot. My desk cluttered with shit. My mind cluttered with shit. He always catches me in the most stressed situations. And seeing this clean shot makes me laugh cause all the other bullshit is cropped out!-BUT within the mess there is peace. I was questioned twice today -1. when does the realist, raw creativity happen for me?- I thought about it and it always seemed to be when I am mentally, emotionally, and physically at a collapsing point. The work itself becomes the liberation, tattooing for example (especially at conventions), is total chaos all up to the point of actually tattooing. 

Take a look at this photo- another Site raw, the look on his  face says it all! This was at the Ink n’ Iron LBC convention. One thing Jose says you got to remember-focus. And  of course this man is the one who pushed me pass my limits, and I end up like this…

..it seems like all the right people have seen this movie, and it is most definitely something YOU got to watch. “Revolver” by Guy Ritchie, introduces your worst enemy in a way you can swallow. The worst enemy of course, yourself. So me being the young n dumb kid, asks all my big homies what they do in those dark moments, Bobby says he runs, Art says he prays, Lucky says he surrenders, and Jose says focus. Which answers question 2. What are you working on that’s so overwhelming and how do you deal with it? I run, I pray, I surrender and I focus…to my fellow artists, stay focused, suffering is necessary , and this war has just begun.

It’s crazy to see consistently more and more people are dedicating their bodies to the spiritual themes of tattooing. Angels, Jesus, Mary, Buddha just does not stop, and I think says alot about where people’s souls are at. Tony, came through and finished off his upper portion of his back with the holy spirit and some angels.

Leonard came in an started his religious sleeve off with Bernini…

and Ilu began her upper sleeve with a guardian…

….this was apart of the Religious Flash set charcoal series I did last year, I thought is appropriate. The focus behind this piece was to create some sort of balance with the wings, specifically eagle wings. Sometimes trying too hard to search for something makes you miss the things that are right before you. Trying to innovate on every tattoo can sometimes be in that sense, and it was a trip when I read about DaVinci–before he painted angels, he actually dissected and analyzed different feather alignments from dead pigeons, crows and eagles in order to paint wings—shit beats the hell out of google.

The big homie Buyo came through to make a quick pit stop–we started working his right upper sleeve-corruption, women, and a broken Los Angeles, still have a few sessions to go. Buyo is a westside native-born in raised in Santa Monica, Buyo is a struggling artist in the music industry, on the rise to make it doing what he loves-check out the pics below, you might recognize him in quite a few videos, don’t sleep on Buyo!

Stay posted, Buyo’s performance schedule is crazy, hustling his way to club after club, from here to Texas. Whoever said rapping was eazy?

Thanks goes out to BUYO.