Giant Skeleton Sculpture

This giant skeleton sculpture was created by Gino De Dominicis and is being displayed in the Palazzo Reale in Milan.I don't understand this kind of art, and what is the purpose behind this, because is obviously that this is not useful or beautiful at all. - Via Woostercollective

To Ink or Not to Ink

that is the question. And the promised topic of this article.
Okay, we all know we're in this business to make money. And of course we love to create our art. We love the satisfaction of crafting a beautiful piece of Body Art that makes the client happy.
But what about those times when a client wants something that we just know they will be unhappy with in later years?
What do we do with requests that violate our personal values?
What do we do with requests for ink on body areas we just don't care to visit?

Is "the customer always right"?
Do we have a responsibility to save our clients from themselves?
Do we have a responsibility to the Industry?
To our own art?
To our paycheck?

I think that these are important questions for every artist to answer. Not because there is necessarily a right or wrong answer to any of them, but because we owe it to our clients, our art, and the industry to at least examine where each of us stands on these questions.

I'll start off by admitting that as a "by appointment" custom artist I don't face the "walk-ins" that many artists working in busy shop locations have to deal with. Although I do get business from my website, most of my clients are referrals who have already seen my work and are interested in the kinds of work I do.

Still, from time to time I have to face these questions. Nest week I will be doing the second sitting on the client pictured in the previous article entitled Tattooing Darker Skintones.

This client is quite insistent on having color in his tattoo, even though it is not the best choice for his skintone; even though he already has a tattoo in color that he is unhappy with. When he described the older tattoo to me on the phone, I was expecting a mess. He was very unhappy with the tattoo and the artist. When I saw the tattoo I was nonplussed. It may have been a little too fine in detail, but otherwise it was a well executed piece of flash, the colors layed in smoothly with no drop-out. In discussing the tattoo with him, I discovered that the artist had been responsible and knowledgeable about not using midrange colors (he flat refused the client's request for pink and orange in the design), and did his best to dissuade the client and explain the color problem on dark skin. In the end, I believe the artist made a reasonable compromise between what the client wanted and what he believed would work best from an artistic and technical standpoint.

So the question for me this Saturday will be, to "Color or Not to Color"?? I think this would be a beautiful tattoo done only in Black and Grey. I will do my very best to make the client see and accept this. I will try hard to talk him out of adding any color when the Black and Grey is finished and I can show it to him to illustrate my point. In the end, in this case, I will do as the client wishes. If he insists on color, he will get it. Green, some red and blue. I will do this hoping that my bold lines and large spaces will hold up under the addition of color better than his other tattoo, but knowing it would have been a better piece without color. I will do it even knowing that there is a good possibility that in time (perhaps as soon as the piece is fully healed) he will be unhappy with the color.

I'll go with what the client wants within reason, because it's his body and his ink. He's the one who will live with it, and hopefully, he'll come to love it, regardless. Hopefully, he won't talk about it and me the way he did about the previous artist. Hopefully.

Before I do his color however, I will take photos of the Black and Grey design. I'll also take photos of the colored piece, and I suppose they'll go in my little Color on Dark Skin album as one more example.

What about the client that comes to us with artwork by a friend that is unsuitable as a tattoo? If I can't create something that both of us are happy with, I will politely suggest that the client find another artist. For me it is important that I simply don't do work that I wouldn't want in my portfolio; that I wouldn't be happy to claim as my work.

Wellll....maybe not. As for subject matter; I don't do hate. No swastikas, Nazi, or other poison.

Also don't care to tattoo genitalia. Male or female. I'm no prude, I just don't care to have my face that close to a stranger's stuff.

In a multiple artist shop, these things might be a matter of personal but not shop policy, and the artists could just pass around the client that they don't care to do. For a one-artist shop, turning down work means the loss of income. I'd have to say that the two examples above are not common requests for me, so it's not really a big consideration, but in those two cases, money is not the issue. It's where I stand. Period.

Will I do that "cute " little butterfly, that overdone tribal butt-antler design or fairy or armband that a client has his/her heart set on? Will I do some of the great flash that artists are putting out these days? The Biomechanical or skulls and reaper monster stuff that is not my forte?? Yes. I do need to support myself...somebody's gotta bring home the kibble, and I sometimes have to do designs that I may not like, but still have the responsibility to do the best technical job I can.

In my opinion I do have a responsibility to the client, my own artistic integrity and personal values, as well as to the Tattoo Industry as a whole. High quality ink from a clean and professional artist is no less than a client deserves. Ink that I'm proud to call mine to and to represent in my portfolio or other venues is important to me, and reflects well on our growing industry.

Although this is my business, my job, my source of income; I hope my need will never overcome these responsibilities.

Quick, Easy, Fun Windows Prank

If you don't have to much programing knowledge, but you still want to have fun with a friend if yours and his computer you can do this quick, simple and funny prank.Basically you will learn how to set the computer to shut down if someone click on an icon.So let's see how to do this, because you don't need to be a nerd to to this.The fun part is that you can even fool a nerd for some time with this ..

The Palm Jumeirah Sub-sea Tunnel

Dubai projects continue to amaze the world.Now I'm again amazed by this project, a sub-sea tunnel.The 1.4km sub-sea tunnel project on The Palm Jumeirah is approaching completion with the waters of the Arabian Gulf now entirely submerging the tunnel.

The 38m-wide tunnel connects the tip of the island’s trunk to the crescent and will ultimately provide transport access for those wishing to visit more than 20 five star hotels that will be located on the island’s breakwater. The entire project is expected to be completed in May 2007.

See other amazing dubai projects.

Beautiful Tattoo

I'm not a big fan of tattoos, but today I've found this picture with this awesome tattoo and I can say that this tattoo is something really really cool.Now I'm thinking to make something like this, but I'm not decided yet ... anyway I'm sure that I'm not the only one who like this tattoo idea.

Blind Date with a Crackhead Women

This video is totally hilarious.In a few words a guy that looks like a geek has a blind date with a black women addicted to drugs.Finally the guy will fall in love with this women. This is a must see.

Top Secret DrumCorps

This is the wonderful Top secret drum corps from Basel Switzerland. This is there new show that was preformed at the Basel tattoo this year.If you want so see something really amazing and you don't have the patience to watch the full video ( 5:52 minutes ) then you should skip to minute 5:00 and see just 52 seconds that personally I love to hear, and see. - Enjoy !

Theory of Evolution - South Park Version

For years many people tried to find out more about the evolution, and today we have several theories.Today I've found a short hilarious clip from a South Park episode where they game a very funny explanation of evolution. Enjoy !

Interesting Historical Myths

Many well-known historical "facts" are myths, with no basis in fact.This is because people always tend to exaggerate things, and always add something to spice up the story.Let's start with the following misconceptions...
Walt Disney drew Mickey Mouse

One of the world's most famous fictitious characters, Mickey Mouse, is credited to Walt Disney. However, Mickey was the vision of Disney's number one animator, Ub Iwerks. Disney, never a great artist, would always have trouble drawing the character who made him famous. Fortunately for him, Iwerks was known as the fastest animator in the business. He single-handedly animated Mickey's first short film, Plane Crazy (1928), in only two weeks. (That's 700 drawings a day.) But give some credit to Disney - when sound films began later that year, he played Mickey's voice.

Napoleon was a little corporal

Some people believe that Napoleon's domineering ambitions were to compensate for being so physically small. Not so. True, Napoleon was called Le Petit Corporal ("The Little Corporal"), but he was 5 feet, 7 inches tall - taller than the average eighteenth-century Frenchman. So why the nickname? Early in his military career, soldiers used it to mock his relatively low rank. The name stuck, even as he became ruler of France.

Edison invented the electric light

Thomas Edison is known as the world's greatest inventor. His record output - 1,093 patents - still amazes us, over a century later. Astonishing, except for one thing: he didn't invent most of them. Most Edison inventions were the work of his unsung technicians - and his most famous invention, the electric light, didn't even belong to his laboratory. Four decades before Edison was born, English scientist Sir Humphry Davy invented arc lighting (using a carbon filament). For many years, numerous innovators would improve on Davy's model. The only problem: none could glow for more than twelve hours before the filament broke. The achievement of Edison's lab was to find the right filament that would burn for days on end. A major achievement, but not the first.

I've found this historical myths here.If you want more, you can check the whole list, that has 20 myths.

Funny AXE Towels

As you might know AXE team always made something interesting, that catch you eye.Now they came up with another interesting an fun concept of towel, just look at this two pictures. - Found on coolz0r

Prank - Sex Obsessed Nun

I saw this prank at TV some time ago and I love it.Today I've review it on YouTube, and I had a lot of fun, and I think you also should have a lot of fun.So hit the play button, and enjoy.

Unbelievable Graphic Art by Rob Gonsalves

This artist blown my mind with his works.Extremely imressive retouch technique, amazing effect of visual illusions, and perfect pictures.These images made me look at them and try to understand them, because as you can see there is more than a simple image.Take a look, is just pure art.

Rob Gonsalves is a Canadian painter of magic realism.He was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1959.He won the 2006 Governor General's Award in the Childrean's Literature - Illustration category for Imagine a Day.For more amazing images go here.

Boomshine - Relaxing Game

If you had a hard day and now you need some time to relax, this game is a good choice.The music is just selected to relax, colors also contribute to your relaxation, and all the game is designed to make you feel good.Just try it, press the image to begin the game.

Beautiful Nature Pictures

Today I was outside and I saw little signs of spring.Some flowers, more green, birds, etc.And then I've thought, that we have so much beauty around us, but we don't even look to see it.Now when I came home I was watching at some pictures and I've found other beautiful nature pictures, that made me feel relaxed an calm.Suddenly I've had an idea, - "Hmmm ...why not make my users feel the same feeling." , so I've made a selection of beautiful nature pictures.

This is My New Project

Some of my loyal readers maybe saw that I've post rare these days.Now here's the explanation of why I've posted to rarely.I've decided to start a new project.This project is named Fresh Home.Here you can find ideas, products, and specially inspiration for your home. I invite all my readers to take a look at my new blog, and if you like it you can add it to your RSS reader.If you also have a website I would appreciate if you can write a few words about my new blog.

You can leave here a comment, suggestion, material, criticism, anything about my new blog Freshome. - Remember is Freshome with just one H, that was the only domain I could get.

I'm very proud of this project and I'm gonna invest some time in, stay with me.

Thanks

Short Funny Pictues Dump

"Nice ass"

I want to take a break and PLAY !!!

If one of them fall ...

Look look ... what a fish ...

No comment.

So fluffy typing.

"Employee" of the month

Hand Feeding Hummingbirds

Today I've saw some people feeding pigeons, and on the internet another woman who feed hummingbirds, and I've thought that you don't see something like this everyday, and let's post on my blog for my readers.

Interesting Secrets

Surfing the internet I've found a lot of secrets that are really interesting, and not to many people know about them.Let's see some interesting secrets... in ( ) I've made some comments.

• The most common name in the world is Mohammed. ( Strange ... )
  
• The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. ( And still so little )
  
• TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard. ( I dare you to find another one.. )
  
• People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze,your heart stops for a millisecond. ( That's something new for me )
  
• It is impossible to lick your elbow. ( Trust me ... don't try )
• It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky. ( So ...they can't see the birds ? )
  
• If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.
• If the horse has one front leg in the air,the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.
• If the horse has a all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
• A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
  
• American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class. ( So that's the American Economy secret )
  
• Butterflies taste with their feet. ( That's why butterflies don't wear snickers )
  
• Elephants are the only animals that can't jump. ( Good Bless )
  
• The electric chair was invented by a dentist. ( From a master of pain ... )
  
• The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet. ( Just 30 ? My heart can do more ...:) )
  
• Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.( Killlll them all, before they conquer the world )
  
• Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times. ( Still wearing them ? )
• The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
  

A Drunk Squirrel

How many times did you saw a drunk squirrel ? For me this is the first time, and this scene is very funny.She eated to much fermented pumpkins, and now she's drunk.

$205 million in U.S. cash - How they look

I'm 100% sure that this is the first time when you see so much money.These money where confiscated from methamphetamine producers in one of this city's ritziest neighborhoods, they said Friday, calling it the largest drug cash seizure in history. Mexican officials said the cash seized was mostly in U.S. $100 bills and weighed at least 4,500 pounds.Now at least I know how they look, and if I'm gonna have them I'll need some space. :) - Read the full story

Your Chance to be a DJ

Pepsi came up with an interesting game named Move the Crowd.In this game you are a DJ and you have to make the crowd feel good, combine sounds, and create good music, so your guests can dance all night.To play this game from Pepsi go here.

Spyder Roadster

This beautiful bike is called a Spyder roadster.It is built by BRP under the Can-Am brand.The Can-Am brand is BRP's wheeled vehicle brand which includes all-terrian vehicles and Spyder roadsters.The Can-Am brand stands for a connection between performance and agility and balance of style an strenght.The Spyder aligns perfectly with these brand attributes.The first Spyder roadsters will be delivered to selected authorized North American Dealers in the fall of 2007.The MSRP will start at 14,999$, and European prices will be communicated at a later date. - You can find more about this "toy" on their official website.

Amazing 5 Years Old Rapper

I want to tell you that you will be amazed by this child.He is just 5 years old and he can be a great rapper, he has everything, voice, dance, attitude, is just a little perfect rapper.I don't want to think where this child can be in 15-2o years.You must see this, is simply amazing.

Tattooing Darker Skintones

Having a light olive complexion myself, and an even darker skinned daughter, I've given alot of thought and had some experience with tattooing color on a reasonable variety of skintones. Lately, as my client base has broadened, I have had the opportunity to work an even larger variety and ethnicity of clients and I believe it is a topic worth covering here. It is an interesting problem for a couple of reasons.

1st, as the artist, we must take into account that we're not painting or drawing. Tattoo pigment does not lay on top of the skin like any colored medium you apply to any other surface. Tattoo pigment is injected into the skin, therefor the colors, (even black) are going to be affected by the natural skin pigment.

2nd, and perhaps the bigger problem, is explaining to/convincing the client that has her heart set on colors if/why her color/style choices are unsuitable.

When considering what colors are suitable for a particular skintone the simplest mental formula to use is the darker the skin, the bolder the color. It is impossible to estimate the variety and range of skintones we might be dealing with, so if we use generalities, we will be dealing with:

Very Light (0% to 10% skin pigment)
Medium-Light
Dark-Light

Light-Medium
Medium-Medium (50% skin pigment)
Dark-Medium

Dark
Dark-Medium
Dark-Dark (90% to 100% skin pigment)


If that sounds difficult, just imagine 3 shades each of Light, Medium and dark skin. Get it?? Of course there is a wide range in between each of those shades, and I doubt that either 0% or 100% skin pigments exist, but the percentage scale seems the best way to approach the problem. Another way to visualize was suggested to me by a wonderful ad for Mom's (Millennium) Inks in a recent trade journal. When considering colors to use imagine that the client's skin is a sheet of tinted semi-transparent plastic in the client's skintone. Imagine that plastic laying on top of your color choice. How does it look?? crisp and clear; unaffected?? (Lighter skintones) Or dark and muddy; muted?? (Darker skintones)

On very light skin a wide variety of colors will show through the healed dermis. It is possible to get crisp, clean colors in every gradient. On very dark skin it will be impossible to have any color at all show up with any reliability. I have found that even the black I use most often (Kuro Sumi) is not always reliable on very dark skin.

On the medium skintones choose golds over yellows; dark oranges,greens and blues over bright oranges, greens and blues; and watch out for magenta, purple, and pink. These colors are pretty much a crap shoot on medium skintones unless you are very accustomed to working with, and adjusting these colors to the particular skintone in question. On medium-dark skin, avoid them like the plague. Stay away from colors that are already kinda "muddy" like olive greens and yellow ochres. And what about white? White will usually show up in this pigment range if you are working with a reliable white (I use Starbrite, Moms opaque whites and Intenze Mixing white), and if you lay it in well. Keep in mind that on the darkest medium skintone, your white will appear less vivid and have less "pop" than you might like, but should still do the job.

On the darker skintones seriously consider black/grey work as a better choice not only for your artwork, but for the client's long term happiness with her piece. Absolutely avoid yellows, oranges, light and bright blues and greens, and white. Midrange colors like the pinks; muddy colors like purple, magenta, olive greens are a no-go, too. Red, green and sometimes blue are the only colors you can reliably use on the darker skintones. Remember that no matter how good color looks right after you do it, once the tattoo has healed and the pigment is fully integrated into the client's skin it will look muddy and dark in this skintone range.

Black/grey work is another area which is affected more than many artist's and clients understand when considering a style of tattoo on darker skintones. It has been my experience that the general rule the darker the skin, the bolder the color, holds true here as well. The darker the skintone, the more detail you will lose doing black/grey work. Consider bolder lines, darker shading but perhaps less shading. Leave more negative space. In the very darkest skin consider hard edge or tribal type work.

Now on to the hard part. A client walks in your door. Immediately you have an understanding of what will work for her in style and color, based on your perception of her skintone. What she wants is absolutely unsuitable for her skintone. What do you do?? How do you handle it?? How do you explain to her why her ideas are unsuitable in a way that she will understand and accept your professional opinion, rather than go find a less experienced or uncaring studio in which to get what she wants?? (And end up dissatisfied, but too late.)
I now use the Mom's Ink ad description (as above) to explain to the client the why and how of the inappropriateness of her original choices. I go on to animatedly describe my interpretation of her design and how perfect it will be and how much better it will look not only immediately, but through the years. Most clients will accede to my experience, as they are referrals from other clients, and have seen my work and come to me with a sort of built in trust. But what if she is still waffling - still has her heart set on her original ideas or something close to them? I show her what her choice will look like. If I have them (and I do; (they are in a small album all to themselves, and not on public display), I show the client some pics of tattoos that I did either before I knew better (admit it...we all have them) or at the insistence of a client. I let the client see how her color choices will look, when healed.
If that doesn't convince the client I have a decision to make. Will I do this tattoo?
But that, my friends and readers, is a topic for another article.

His Father is a Graphic Designer

In these day's you can find on the market all kind of products that allows you to play with images, but the leader on this market is Photoshop.These pictures where made in Photoshop, and I can say that they are pretty funny.They where made by the crew at www.crazymeanbaby.com, a site which is temporarily offline. Have fun ..










In these day's you can find on the market all kind of products that allows you to play with images, but the leader on this market is Photoshop.These pictures where made in Photoshop, and I can say that they are pretty funny.They where made by the crew at www.crazymeanbaby.com, a site which is temporarily offline. Have fun ..