what are your thoughts on this?

[Our Endless Days]

Flash Paintings by Quyen Dinh

i came across this chick's tumblr and found it pretty fucking lame. maybe i'm picking hairs here, but after reading a little bit of that interview, and her about me, i was instantly turned off by what she's doing. i just find it lame that someone is trying to make money off of their art flash and looking to become a tattooer to supplement their income.

[fuckhead]

Who honestly cares? Just another entry in the recent history of people trying to bite TRVE TATTOO CULTURE MAN. Buy it or don't, but I bet a lot of people who do go for this stuff get tattoo "inspiration" from Pinterest.

[Tight-Lines]

Its kinda weird that she just draws flash and doesnt tattoo from what I can tell. Seems bizarre.

[Scott R]

Its kinda weird that she just draws flash and doesn't tattoo from what I can tell. Seems bizarre.

as bizarre as stabbing your self with ink less needles in preparation to be tattooed?

[Colored Guy]

I have no problem with what she's doing and there are probably countless people who have done or are doing the same thing.

I'd rather have someone tattoo me who is an artist first and foremost. She can always pick up tattooing down the road if she chooses.

BTW, she has captured that old-school style 110%.

CG

[Kev]

* Clicks link, sees Star Wars "flash", closes link

It's okay, I think tattooing is going to live.

Three years ago, when I started getting serious about my art, I referenced a lot of flash. I still paint a few 5x7 pieces that are based on flash. But those are practice now for bigger liquid acrylic pieces and designs. Part of that practice is trying to get them as close to the originals, color and shading-wise as possible for mechanical reasons. What I see in that Tumblr is someone who's copying other people's takes on traditional tattoo flash- I don't see a solid design in there that doesn't have some kind of gimmick- handlebar mustaches, Angelique Houtkamp riffs, and hipster tricks. Who knows, in three years it might be a different story ;)

[TrixieFaux]

My thoughts are she may not being going about things the right (or accepted?) way...but she will either sell her flash or not; she'll either become a tattoo artist or figure something else out, and tattoos will continue to be made, both good and bad. Her flash paintings (some of the ones below the Star Wars) look kind of nice. At least she's a decent artist. Everyone needs to make money somehow...I can't blame her for trying.

[Our Endless Days]

The thing that I find lame is that she said in her about me that she will draw up stencil for $20 for you to then take to get tattooed, not to mention what @Kev said about her biting people/ideas.

[Kev]

She does describe herself as "self-taught", so I'm guessing she's not asking established (or good) tattooers if she's doing it right. The tattooed versions of her stencils are pretty bad - those tattooers are not the ones she needs to talk to. Second post down on that Tumblr, she's tattooed her own ankles/feet.

[Tight-Lines]

as bizarre as stabbing your self with ink less needles in preparation to be tattooed?

That's not bizarre.

[MsRad]

it looks like she does tattoo (i didn't read all the posts in this thread, so sorry if i'm captain obvious right now.)

[tatB]

"***Note: I am not currently tattooing professionally. Many of the tattoos you see on my blog are of other artists."

but the caption of that photo makes it should like she tattooed her own feet.

[BoMcConaghie]

Not sure what the problem is. Is it because she is taking the sacred art of tattoo flash and trying to sell it? Isnt that the whole fucking point of flash? Is it because she isnt a tattooer? Or because she wants to be? In my opinion she is doing it right. Learn to draw tattoos, understand the language and then learn to tattoo. Way too many people are doing it the other way around.

[Our Endless Days]

Not sure what the problem is. Is it because she is taking the sacred art of tattoo flash and trying to sell it? Isnt that the whole fucking point of flash? Is it because she isnt a tattooer? Or because she wants to be? In my opinion she is doing it right. Learn to draw tattoos, understand the language and then learn to tattoo. Way too many people are doing it the other way around.

as far as i knew, i thought the whole point of flash was that it was painted for people to pick tattoos that they wanted, not necessarily to be sold. also, as i mentioned in my initial post, she said in an interview she's looking to primarily sell art and tattoo to supplement her income. i don't know. shit rubbed me the wrong way. guess i see it a little differently.

[RoryQ]

@Our Endless Days

I'm a bit surprised by this thread. I don't mean this in a confrontational way, but how is what she's doing that different / distasteful from what you do with your own blog and tumblr feed?

She has a business which arguably rides on the coat-tails of the tattooist industry, but at least she does appear to be running a legit business and features her own work. She may or may not tattoo.

You have a blog and a tumblr feed that essentially hosts the work other of tattooists but don't tattoo yourself (as far as I'm aware).

Why object to what she does and not your own sites?

[Our Endless Days]

@RoryQ

I see where you're coming from, but I just felt like this person was doing this more as a means to make some quick cash. i could be completely wrong, but that's just how it seemed after i read the interview she posted. i'm probably making too much out of this.

[BoMcConaghie]

you are.

[MsRad]

her work reminds me of this female European tattoo artist who drawings/paintings i see everywhere, but who's name i can't remember.

i guess this was sort of a useless post : /

[RoryQ]

her work reminds me of this female European tattoo artist who drawings/paintings i see everywhere, but who's name i can't remember.

i guess this was sort of a useless post : /

Angelique Houtkamp maybe?

[MsRad]

Angelique Houtkamp maybe?

YES! thanks!

[ThaliaCamille]

@RoryQ

I see where you're coming from, but I just felt like this person was doing this more as a means to make some quick cash. i could be completely wrong, but that's just how it seemed after i read the interview she posted. i'm probably making too much out of this.

Anyone who has ever tried to become a full time artist by doing $20 commissions and selling prints on Etsy will tell you it's certainly not "quick cash". She's doing what a lot of people would like to do, which is make their creativity their job. Nothing wrong with some of her output being tattoo-related.

[sbrookins]

@Our Endless Days I don't think this lady has much of an idea of the level of commitment it takes to be a great tattooer quite yet. She's just getting her feet wet, and once she realizes the amount of work it takes to even get decent, she would probably change her tune.. She's in her mid 30's, so she's probably somewhat set in her ways, and definitely late getting into the game, so her mindset's probably not in the right place yet.. but there will come a time where she'll realize what she has to do, or maybe not, and she can call herself a jack of many trades and a master of none..

just as a sidenote, her bio rubbed me the wrong way also, but maybe just because she seemed to come off a little pretentious. Just my two cents though.

[sbrookins]

Also @Our Endless Days your blog has put me on to more awesome tattooers and dope flash than I can count, so thank you for that. There isn't really that much of a parallel between the two blogs as far as I can see :)