Apprentice Drawings

[Dustingormley]

I've been drawing up some smallish designs. I'd be interested to see what other apprentices are drawing and planning to tattoo.

[CultExciter]

Good for you for working it all out. To be quite honest, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, it looks like you're just starting to figure out some of the basics of drawing for tattoos. I'd spend some time tracing stuff. Seriously. That SJ rose you see on the wall. Trace it 100 times. That way you know it by heart. Repeat. On whatever subject matter you like. Nothing too big. Just things to get your understanding down.

I would hesitate to do any of those as tattoos just yet. That whole crawl before you can walk thing. I started in the same place, and not too long ago at that. While I have a fine art background, learning to draw a panther, or oni, or rose, or swallow, or dragon, or whatever...it takes a lot of practice to do so correctly. I'm still figuring it all out...much like the rest of us.

[Fala]

I think the aesthetic of tattoos is so interesting - what is done, why, how it will age, and everything in between. It's a whole different media/art form, and has it's own set of rules. I don't know those rules, but also coming a fine arts background, I get the rules intuitively and understand that it must take an immense amount of time to learn how to draw (not even tattoo) well enough to be tattooing what one has drawn. It's pretty cool, and I dig that there is still an apprentice system out there.

[ApprenticeLife]

Picture 1: This is style I draw for my first 20 tattoos (I've done 12 so far)

Picture 2: This is what I draw with NO clue how to tattoo it yet ;)

[Dustingormley]

Thanks for the input everyone. I know my drawings are not top notch yet, but i'm working on it everyday. After 6 months of being in my apprenticeship I've been able to tattoo a few friends, myself, and a pof. I've noticed after doing these tattoos I understand what i'm watching a lot more when i'm leaned over my mentors shoulder. It's a struggle everyday to draw and get better, but it's worth it. I can see the progression of my linework and my understanding of using a shader.

I freakin love being at a shop and doing the damn thing. I think what I actually like most about it now is the pushing of the machine and just actually working on the tattoo. It's a great feeling. Anyway if you guys have any critiques i'm all ears! :cool:

[Graeme]

I would say that technique aside I'd be really bummed if any of those were on me, but the truth is if you showed me your drawings I'd refuse to be tattooed by you so it's a moot point. @CultExciter offered you excellent advice above. Those people would be a lot better off with some simple Sailor Jerry flash because at least it would be drawn correctly. Trace classic flash. Take up drawing from life to understand how things work and go together. Always use reference. Traditional style should be about taking objects and distilling them down to their essence: look at Scott Sylvia's roses. They're simple but they fully capture the elegance and beauty of a rose. Work hard to draw like that.

[Dustingormley]

I would say that technique aside I'd be really bummed if any of those were on me, but the truth is if you showed me your drawings I'd refuse to be tattooed by you so it's a moot point. @CultExciter offered you excellent advice above. Those people would be a lot better off with some simple Sailor Jerry flash because at least it would be drawn correctly. Trace classic flash. Take up drawing from life to understand how things work and go together. Always use reference. Traditional style should be about taking objects and distilling them down to their essence: look at Scott Sylvia's roses. They're simple but they fully capture the elegance and beauty of a rose. Work hard to draw like that.

Thanks for the advice. you're all right about my drawing, I need to step it up in a major way. I suppose it doesn't come as naturally to me as it does most artists. I'll start more life drawing and simple jerry flash.

[Synesthesia]

I suppose it doesn't come as naturally to me as it does most artists.

Hardly anyone is naturally good at anything. Someone who's observant or has a lot of manual dexterity might be more INCLINED to be a good artist, but it still takes tons of work. You don't see all the time someone puts into improving their art, so you assume it comes easy to them. I've been making art for fun since I was about 11 and decided I wanted to be able to draw pretty pictures, and I'm FINALLY, 13 years later, getting to the point where I look at something I made and think "Hey, that's not too bad." And I'm not even doing it as a career, imagine how much more work it takes for a professional artist with higher standards. In my opinion, being able to draw well is the foundation for a good tattoo artist so you can never excel without mastering that first step. Practice, practice, practice...

[ApprenticeLife]

I drew this today. I realized I haven't participated much lately and my apprentice tattoos don't totally fit the style of the site, so I don't share those often. Figured I'd show y'all what I get down on in the 2 minutes I have that aren't occupied with work. Had to get a second job to fill my days off, so life is intense. If the apprentice life were easy, every jerk would do it ; )

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[SeeSea]

Don't worry if you don't think your style fits the site - the site is heavily weighted to certain styles but that doesn't mean that's what the site is about. Share all you want!

[Dustingormley]

I drew this today. I realized I haven't participated much lately and my apprentice tattoos don't totally fit the style of the site, so I don't share those often. Figured I'd show y'all what I get down on in the 2 minutes I have that aren't occupied with work. Had to get a second job to fill my days off, so life is intense. If the apprentice life were easy, every jerk would do it ; ) [ATTACH]12986[/ATTACH]

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Dude I know what you mean. Spare time is few and far between.

Looks like my first tattoos were total crap. Luckily most of them were on myself. The good that came of that was having a slight understanding of what those needles were doing, so watching my mentor afterward was more beneficial. I've done a few more now and am really trying to buckle down and get this technical stuff down. 7 days a week working, drawing, reading, tattooing, and asking questions.

[LongLegs]

Try using thicker outlines on your trad work, and work on one line passes.

[colejones]

Quote Originally Posted by ApprenticeLife View Post

I drew this today. I realized I haven't participated much lately and my apprentice tattoos don't totally fit the style of the site, so I don't share those often. Figured I'd show y'all what I get down on in the 2 minutes I have that aren't occupied with work. Had to get a second job to fill my days off, so life is intense. If the apprentice life were easy, every jerk would do it ; ) Attachment

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Dude I know what you mean. Spare time is few and far between.

Looks like my first tattoos were total crap. Luckily most of them were on myself. The good that came of that was having a slight understanding of what those needles were doing, so watching my mentor afterward was more beneficial. I've done a few more now and am really trying to buckle down and get this technical stuff down. 7 days a week working, drawing, reading, tattooing, and asking questions.

Guys busy is good. It is a credit that you have perservered with the effort. All the best. I am not an expert but I like the drawrings

[lulejojo]

I think your doing a great job :) Spending time drawing and coming up with your own designs in my opinion is key. I look for unique tattoo's and most tattoo's out there that are mainstream (infinite symbol) are overused, so I end up doing my own drawings and am pretty happy about them. So hats off to you for stepping into the world of tattooing! :)

[Dustingormley]

5 + years later update. What an absolutely wild ride tattooing is. 

[oboogie]

Cool to see an update five years on. Well done for keeping at it!

[Tribaldude]

Looks good. Keep at it.