female tattoo artist - resonanteye

I am sometimes shaky, I am often confused by fonts, and although I have done thousands of tattoos with text in them, I still struggle with the forms and shapes. I owe the little I DO know about lettering to B.J. Betts, who is well-known in tattooing as a real expert on this stuff- he has some books out, if you are a professional tattoo artist you should keep your eyes peeled for them and buy them. (but if you work in a shop or have been around a while you already own all his stuff…)

I learned to do lettering before I ever heard of his work- the way I learned was through calligraphy, and through sign painting. A combination of those things and Betts’s work has formed my meager abilities.

Here’s a walk through on drawing this stuff. If you’re a tattooer you will naturally make the proper adjustments to the text as you go in order to make it applicable to skin, so I won’t be explaining the precise tech needed for that. If you just want to add a tattoo to a painting, a drawing, if you are not a tattoo artist you can use this how-to to make script lettering … or if you are doodling reference for your tattoo artist to build you a tattoo from, you can do this to give them an idea of what you’re after.

This is a step-by-step for script, cursive lettering in a slanted style in which the letters are connected.

I will post a separate one for block or stylized lettering next.

My tools:

Liquid acrylic ink,

fountain pen

(with round nib- just what I prefer)

colored pencil

(for beginning sketch/marking symmetry)

standard black #2 pencil

tracing paper, paper that is easy for ink lines

(I am using a scrap of srches hotpress here)

The rest of the steps, after the jump.

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on learning to tattoo.

6th of January 2012

In apprenticeships, deep thoughts, DIY, dos and donts, ethics, female tattoo artist, health and safety, how-to, learning, questions, step by step, tat zap wizard, Tattoo, tattooing, tech, you,

I get a lot of people asking me how to get started, wanting to show their art and find out if they should try to be tattoo artists.

They will ask about apprenticeships, teaching, equipment, schools, kits, “practicing at home”, “teaching themselves”, and all kinds of other stuff. I took the time a while ago to write up an article explaining how to get into tattooing the right way, how to learn without fucking people up, and how to find a decent place to learn from.

I hope this helps someone decide to go the right path to tattooing, and helps others decide it’s just not worth that much to them.

If you really are dedicated and persistent, if you really, really mean it, then you will eventually get there.

Unless you take shortcuts. Don’t take those. Do it the right way, even though it’s harder at the start.

I don’t review portfolios or teach anyone; but if you have more questions after reading this article, feel free to email me.

“The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.”
– Leo Tolstoy

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Tulip!

19th of December 2011

In clients, coverups, female tattoo artist, flowers, pictures, Tattoo, tattooing,

I had the chance to do a purple tulip today.

I LOVE these flowers. So much. She had a few stretch marks- she has been losing weight. Right now, in this picture, the tattoo is fresh and so they appear raised a bit, but when it heals they will be barely noticable. Stretch marks are easy to cover with tattoos, as long as the tattoo subject itself has some texture- like a flower, a branch. Something with varying contrast and color.

She sat like a champ, and her friend (one of my regulars) brought me some chocolate-marshmallow-peanut fudge stuff which is AMAZING. After this I did a smaller piece on a good friend.

What a great day.

skellytons and candy, it must be halloween!

29th of October 2011

In artwork, clients, female tattoo artist, graywash, joke tattoos, pictures, tat zap wizard, Tattoo,

some tattoo work from today. so, so fun. color and black and grey, from one extreme to the other.

Franky!

9th of October 2011

In clients, conventions, female tattoo artist, geek, pictures, tat zap wizard, Tattoo,

did this at the Portland expo today.

skinny women are evil, fat women are lazy. (or, SEA CREATURES UNITE!)

5th of October 2011

In 911, complaints, deep thoughts, dos and donts, ethics, female tattoo artist, politics, posts with links in them, true stories,

I don't care if you're skinny and covered in shag rug. I love you anyway.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff addressing the lack of larger or fat women in advertising, as symbols of beauty. It’s good in a way to see more of this, because the focus on one body type in media can be really disturbing. The implications that anyone bigger than the models is sick, lazy, or unhealthy; that fat women are all ugly, these aren’t right and need changing. I really think it’s good to raise awareness about body image, and to show women of all different sizes as beautiful and feminine.

That said, I also find it disturbing that many of these essays portray thin women as “anorexic” “unreal” and “nonexistent”. Look, I do know that the use of photoshop and the like has made images of impossible women pretty damn common. And yes, a lot of celebrities have eating disorders. But this isn’t always the case. By portraying thin women as unhealthy, sick, or unreal, you are continuing body shame. You are doing the exact same thing to other women that media has done to you, and it’s just as rotten.You’re continuing the cycle of abuse. Yes, you. You were hurt, so now, you’ll hurt others. For shame?

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