Thursday, 1 August 2013

Upington Random Tattoos 6

Welcome back,
this week there is a large piece as well as a few smaller ones.

This is session 2 of 3 and now just awaiting him for the guts for the final session. Each session so far has been roughly 3 hours, but on a skinny guy with hardly any skin on his back his reluctance does make sense.
A small fairy with a very light shade of pink.

'Remember who you are' a quote from lion king with a 'tribal drawing' of Simba. A little bit of brown shading just to bring it to life.
Fine calligraphy on the inner bicep.
Celtic knot / cross, this is still a very very fresh shot, so the ink still has to settle but something that is bound to look awesome once fully healed.

Thursday, 25 July 2013

Random Upington Tattoos 5

Welcome back,
4 Fresh tattoos and 1 Cover up, not bad for a week's work.

A tribute to an ex boyfriend who died in a motorcycle accident. Just a few initials with a simple tribal.
She loves black tattoos and use to be a gymnast, over a few drinks and ideas we decided what we are gonna go for, this is what we ended up with.
Butterflies! Simple pretty butterflies!
I never liked Maori styled tattoos until I ended up with this piece, the entire design changed my mind, all I had to work with was a photo of a similar piece and had to redraw most of it by hand. This piece took about 5 hours to complete.
A 4 hour cover up on a chest, this man has some cojones he sat for it all in a single session,
with these two koi tattoos covering the prior lettering, 
which was hell to work on.

Thursday, 18 July 2013

Random Upington Tattoos 4

Welcome back,
a week of fresh ink and fine ink.

An abstract fairy missing a few lines, basic, but pretty.
A second matching in style tattoo to follow the prior fairy around.
'I saw you wearing a crown', that phrase is the tribute to her grandfather.
The initials of her daughter, with some simple lines running around the design.
Stars, but there is something different about that one... Ooooh colors!

Thursday, 11 July 2013

Random Upington Tattoos 3

Welcome back,
This week has pretty much all fresh ink, besides one cover up.

Plain and simple, fine lines with delicate stars, yet the potential for expansion is there.
A good friend had a crappy old spider and decided to bring new life to it, we decided on a tarantula cover up, since he started keeping spiders a while back. Bright colors and fine lines make any spider stand out.
Calligraphy is one of those things that seem to be in style, 'Ti Amo' might be something foreign to most of us from Africa, but it seems the Italians get it.
A Yin Yang gone different with a few lizards, this is the kind of tattoos you do not do often enough. The creative one ;)
The popular stars once again ready to for any occasion.

Thursday, 4 July 2013

Random Upington Tattoos 2

The one thing I enjoy about this area is the diversity of people you get around here with all their tastes. Here are a few of those.
Probably one of the most painful areas, but someone who can sit for that level of pain with that amount of colors can really make me smile ;)
I am not too much of religious zealot but I have to admit I love some of the art you can do with a religious tone, this though was only a fix up.
A very fresh bit of ink, on the inner and outer bicep running around the arm. Solid black work with some shaded calligraphy, an original fun piece.
For the corporate souls there is always the option of heading the UV route, round here it is not visible the moment you traverse the scene with black lights and shady corners that is when this tattoo will peek out.
A good friend of mine decided he wanted a little something to compliment his one arm already with a bit of "space" theme on it, and we decided to go for a colorful rocket on his inner bicep.









The one thing you can learn from the amount of fix up tattoos is simple, do your research before you get tattooed. A crappy tattoo will sit with you until you find someone who can actually fix it.

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Random Upington Tattoos

After being away for a while, I returned to Upington to find the masses craving some ink.

This design has been shaded and coloured just to give it a tad more modern feel.
If anyone loves tattoos this much, and their skin is that difficult it becomes a challenge. Taking about 90 minutes to get this ink in.
A Joburg cover up that was spiced up, and modified, this is why you always ask to see some of your tattooists prior work.
A few badly drawn stars that I had to just fill and try to fix up.
This was just a tad of a fix up but after 45 minutes good as new.












So it was fix up and cover up haven the past few tattoos.
See you next week.

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

More Umhlanga

After a while, I realized some people are open for something else, but if they are set on text, nothing will sway them.

A few letters that symbolizes each of her toddlers.
 The most popular Bible verse, inked again.
 A crucifix with a slight twist to it.
 Presenting... Andy Cap!
Inking his son's name.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Cool Inc Expo 2012

Well being from the middle of nowhere, few things appeal as much as going somewhere to find like minded people who also love their art and ink, so I went off to Cool Inc expo a.k.a Johannesburg Tattoo convention.

Personally I feel that the best artists in South Africa is found in Cape Town, but seeing a few of the newer studios that opened up in Gauteng was also something quite interesting.

There were a few studios from the Capetonian scene as well, Moog Mushrooms was there, Mr Lucky ( Milo ) and a few others.

From Gauteng the majority of studios showed up here are a pics of it, hope you enjoy.

The awards were made by a local sculptor from Pretoria and looked amazing with the bullets and ape like skull motif.
What would a convention be without a proper suspension? This was the first 4 person suspension done in SA, it lasted about 30 minutes. It is something I would still love to do.
Some of the fellow ink & art addicts, with a flow of constant music, exposure to a plethora of tattooists and a great people to mingle with overall.
 Need I say more?
One of the many bands to enjoy, they had a wide variety of musicians and definitely not all in my rock solid taste though I did end up liking a few bands more than I should have.
Johann van der Walt after being let loose on an innocent bystander.












I hope you enjoyed a few of these photos.

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Umhlanga

When I arrived in Umhlanga it was a new experience, every last things was different, the abundance of humidity, the people, the architecture and even the culture. I can now see why so many people refer to it as the 2nd Indian capital.

The one thing that does seem to stay consistent is the general love some people have for calligraphy.
 Yep, I was right...
 Ask no questions, here no lies.
 Still not sure what it says...
Finally something else, a few nautical stars!













See you guys next week.

Wednesday, 8 May 2013


When I got down in Durban, Umhlanga to be precise we started getting the studio up and running, this is what it looked like painted, with some flash art and paintings up.

I loved the colour scheme and the view!




This chair came from 1940ish... It is a small sturdy chair with a lovely hydraulic  foot pedal.
Interesting airbrushing that was done one it and moving it required the hulk in a bad mood! That little thing weighs more than I do.

Definitely something that gives any studio that extra flair.
This is the one thing I will not forget about Durban, their garden they have is one of the greenest gardens with a diversity in plants that I have never seen before...
The architecture they use in their gardens are as English as pretty much everything else there.

I love the way everything is mixed with a flair of all the green!
A pretty little hidden bridge completely under the foliage.
A little stream in one of the exhibits I can definitely see me crafting my own little place with a bit of this in it.
A little bit of everything squeezed onto a single image.