Kitsune tattoo in Brooklyn
Hi there,
Come inside. I have the candles going, music flowing, and a stencil of what-the-heck-I’ve-been-up-to since we last hung out ready to go.
I’ve been working a lot, and also not a lot. I’ve been trying to alternate my working schedule to figure out how to better manage a work/life balance and instead of being responsible…I fell off. It’s a lot, a lot has happened. but I don’t want to complain. It feels a lot like working out for the first time. Clunky, going into it a little awkward and self-conscious. But new things don’t have to be bad and I have to remember that. New things can be great things. I don’t like change, if you can’t tell.
As far as my art outside of tattooing that’s also been put on the back burner. I hit a big wall in November. I spiraled. My mental health wasn’t very good. I had a moment of “oh my god all I do is tattoo and draw who am I outside of this?!” and I just fell apart from there. But I’ve come back around. I have decided it’s okay to be an artist again. It’s just a lot of pressure. I’m sure any other creative folks with creative-facing jobs understand. I also decided I needed some outlets outside of artwork to get back in touch with me again. I am slowly getting back into yoga and exploring some other activities that get me outside of my head and into my body.
Aside from the personal stuff, let’s dig into some tattoo stuff!
I did a Kitsune tattoo last weekend and I had an amazing time. I had a bit of a late start to it but we managed to finish before 10pm which is always a win for me. I didn’t ask the client permission to write about them on here so I’ll keep it anonymous. I will just dive into a short bite of what my day looked like.
The design was fully fleshed out with colors, values, and line work prior to client arrival. If you’ve never worked with me before, I like to have everything mostly finished and thought-out for when you arrive. I don’t like guessing, I don’t like not-knowing. Problem solving is fun, but not when it comes to my work. I leave that for the paper. It’s stressful to get and do a tattoo. No need to make it harder on us both.
After going through a couple of size options, and landed nicely in the middle, I adjusted some of the proportions on the face of the fox. Since it was a full-bodied Kitsune on the upper arm and we successfully avoided hitting the elbow had some minor wrapping, the face was a bit smaller than I liked. Being that tattooing is a living-art. It will age. So I adjusted some of the proportions of the face without sacrificing any of the style, and placed the stencil. At 3:11pm we were ready to roll.
The actual tattoo process was easy. My client had incredible skin. It made for quick work. Sometimes…I feel like that guy in silence of the lambs. Just drooling over some skin. Truly, psychopathic thoughts if it wasn’t apart of my job. I should make an IG reel about it.
All in all it was a fun day in at my studio in NYC. I can’t wait to chat with you again soon.
