It's been a crazy few days! I did my first realistic tattoo this week, it was hard! John helped me pick the reference photo, I worked from a black and white image so as not to get too confused...

It took me a long time but Vicky sat like a champ! John didn't sit in and watch me but he did check up on me every once in a while, mostly to tell me it wasn't dark enough at the start and then to tell me a few bits might be too dark at the end, but it turned out ok, I leant loads!!! We'll add more to it eventually so its not just a floating rose on Vickys leg, I'm so grateful she had faith in me and let me do my first realistic piece on her. I'm looking forward to doing more now, hopefully with less guidance but I know I still have loads to learn. The response has been very positive, a little overwhelming in fact!

Today I worked on a Halloween inspired piece that I've already started, its so much fun, I'm dead excited to finish it. Yesterday I worked on a sugar skull chest piece that I'd already started too, so far we've worked on the right side but we're going to extend it into a full chest piece now, so excited to do more, its going to be massive when its finished.

Tomorrow Jen and I are headed to the Tattoo Freeze convention in Telford, looking forward to a weekend of catching up with people, meeting new people and letting my hair down, its going to be fun! 

This morning I did a smaller tattoo, it was the Sues first tattoo and she wanted something small and girly so that's what we did. She was lovely and she was really happy with the final outcome, this is what makes tattooing worth while, seeing a happy customer!
I also managed to get a photo of Pauline's gypsy lady, its been in progress for a long time, Pauline has my first  tattoo (the purple rose) and its an extension of that, I've learnt loads from working on this tattoo and we're still going to add more so still more to learn...

Photo of the healed tattoo so far, thanks Pauline! :)

Yesterday I was excited to continue a tattoo I'd started just before Christmas, when Rachel came in she showed me how her tattoo had healed after the first session and it had healed unbelievably well, it was so bright!

Healed flower!

This is how far we got after a full day session, I re-lined some parts, added the leaves, coloured the top flower and got the grey on the skull, curious to see how it heals this time, I hope its just as well.

Thanks Rachel, looking forward to doing more! :) 

Todays tattoo...

Today was fun! I finished the Finding Nemo tattoo I started at the end of last year, on the first sitting I had one of those complete lack of confidence days, I really struggled, luckily Jackie was very patient and an amazing sitter (its on the inner bicep, not a nice area to have tattooed!). Jackie came all the way from Derby to get tattooed, 3 hours from the shop, it still surprises me every time someone travels so far to get tattooed by me!

Thanks Jackie! :)

First days back at work...

The first two days back after the christmas break have been good, I always get a bit nervous when I've had some time off and then go back to tattooing. Yesterday I got to start a fun full colour voodoo doll piece that ended up being way bigger than I originally thought, its huge! So its going to take me a little longer to finish but I'm excited about it.
Today I started my first proper black and grey piece, I was so nervous as I've not done a whole lot of black and grey work and the little bits I have done I've struggled to get my head round since its a different technique to colour. Today was the first time since my first few months that I actually felt sick about a tattoo and that I'd not be able to complete it... but I did! Well kind of, haha, its not finished as its going to be a half sleeve of moths and flowers and other stuff so today we mapped out the first few parts and I got to shade one of the flowers. Shading the flower was fun and I felt like I'd achieved something at the end of the day because it didn't go wrong and I learnt loads about black and grey shading, yey! Win win!
Tonight I'm relaxing a little bit, the last few nights I've been up late working on drawings for tattoos. Tomorrows piece is something I've already started so no rush on any drawings tonight and I'm looking forward to finishing it, hope we can get some good photos tomorrow as its such a fun tattoo!

New Year!

New Year, new start with blogging.... I was so bad at blogging last year, I've said it before but from today I'm going to try and blog everyday. I'm still a tattoo apprentice so I'd like to have a diary of the next year at least.
Here is a quick update of some of the tattoos I finished in 2012....

 

Erica's apple, I struggled with lining on this piece.

 

 

Kevin's sugar skull, completed over a few sessions (I'm still super slow!) this is a photo of the healed tattoo.

 

 

Libbie's birdbird, rainbow and emerald, loads of fun.

 

 

Dan's Owl and roses, again completed over a few session and again this is a photo of the healed tattoo.

 

 

Paul's piston, he brought me the Jeremy Miller piston tattoo as a starting point, I had loads of advice from John on this one and learnt loads.

 

 

 

Kacey's cute owl on her inner bicep, it was my first inner bicep tattoo, not the easiest area to tattoo but Kacey was really hard, didn't move once! This is a photo of the healed tattoo.

 

 

Kacey's russian doll, on her other inner bicep, shes really hard!

 

 

Vicky's claddagh, this was a hard day, I cried with frustration at this one but we got there in the end.

 

 

Deb's first tattoo and my first foot tattoo, she was really hard! Feet are not the easiest area to tattoo, there's nowhere to rest your hands!

 

Lianne's lily for baby Lily, this was loads of fun, its on her forearm.

 

 

Caroline's cute sailor cupcake! Loads of fun again, she was really hard too! We've still got a pirate cupcake to go on the other foot, this was easier than my first foot tattoo but still not the easiest area to tattoo.

 

Sorry for the crop on some of the photographs, I've taken some from my Instagram (follow me @michellemaddison!), looking forward to tattooing in 2013. 2012 was a little bit of a crazy year, I didn't expect to progress as fast as I have with my tattoos (or get anywhere near as much attention as I have, its been a bit overwhelming!), I still have a long way to go and loads to learn. This year I hope my confidence grows and I want to have a happy 2013. Thanks to everyone who has been supportive, positive, liked and shared my work, I really appreciate it! And massive thanks to everyone who has let me tattoo them while I'm still learning, happy new year everyone!  

 

Instagram

Oh and I'm on instagram, follow me @michellemaddison !

It's been ages since I've posted...

It feels like I've done loads of tattoos since then! I'll share the ones I have photos of and try to tell you a little bit about them, there's a few bigger pieces I've started that aren't finished yet or that I don't have photos of. I've also finished two new pencil drawings (it's hard making new art on paper when all I think about is tattoos!) and I have another new piece in progress! All I can say is the last few months have been up and down, I've been stressed and tired and happy and excited, I can't wait to see what's going to hapen next!

This is Kayleigh's My Little Pony, hairdresser stylee! It was a long day and she came all the way from Wales to get tattooed by me, stressful but fun and after this John decided I could try using a rotary tattoo machine for shading, I'd been using coil machines for everything up until this point.

This is Viki's bookwork, we named her Audrey, another long day!

This is Lauras pumpkin carriage, she came from Scotland and is also a tattooist! So I was really nervous, but we got there in the end, mega long day.

This is Sues heart lock, Sue had the twitchy leg! But when Sue came back for the second sitting she was fine, she sat so well and my lines weren't as wobbley as I thought they were after the first sitting, I feel like I learnt a lot from this tattoo! We're going to add a key soon :)

This isn't the best picture (it was half healed!) but I stole it from Lyndsay who has the tattoo, her roses and butterflies, took two sittings and she sat amazingly well both times.

This is Gemmas butterfly, the photo is photoshop stitched together because it wraps around her leg quite a bit, this was fun and Gemma sat really well.

Gails Maneki Neko, long day because we kept getting stopped but we got there eventually, Gail was so chilled and didn't whinge once.

Sarahs Pegasus, it was her first colour tattoo, another long day!

Claires rose and moth, so much fun, Claire sat so well and now she's letting me work on the rest of her arm, I'm so excited to do more!

And this is the start of Sarah's butterflies, we still have background to go and I can't wait to get it finished. Although John has never really stood over me and watched everything I did (he's always been about if I need him though!) he pretty much left me completely alone with this one, it was a little bit scary but I did alright I think!

So I still have loads to learn and I think its always going to be that way, at the moment it's mostly been starting larger pieces and trying different needles. I'll also be doing some smaller tattoos and drawing some of my own flash. I'm still super slow but speed will come with time, I am getting faster though! So greatful to everyone that has sat for me so far, everyone has been really patient and I couldn't ask for anything more.

Right, so new drawings...

I did these two ladies with pencil on bristol board, I stole the photo from Lyndsay who brough them as prints. I'll try to get good photographs of them on there own. 

I feel like I say this everytime but I'm going to attempt to blog more, I'm not keeping as good a diary as I probably should!

I'm so tired...

Got back to York tonight at a good time, normally I don't get home till after 9pm on a Saturday. Last week the exhibition was on and when I wasn't at the shop I was working on stuff for that, this week I've been worried about the tattoos I've had to do and not slept much at all. Even though I have drawing to do I'm taking tonight off, I'll be drawing most of tomorrow on my only day off so I don't suppose one night will matter much.
I did two tattoos last week and two tattoos this week, last week was the twitchy leg tattoo and I did my first tribal piece, this week I worked on Pauline's rose tattoo some more (she now has the outline of a full on gypsy lady face with roses and butterflies) and got to start another larger piece on Dan of an owl. Leaving tattoos as just an outline is really hard because I know my lines aren't good enough, all three tattoos that I've had to leave as an outline have stressed me out no end, I hate the thought of anybody seeing them how they currently look, I can't wait to finish them all! Next week I have three tattoos booked in, I'm hoping to get at least two of them finished, the other is probably going to be too big and will need a second sitting, I'm so slow! I know I'm only going to get faster with practice and I can't be too harsh or impatient with myself, I'm still only at the start of it all.
So it's not even 10.30pm and I'm thinking I'm going to crawl into bed, yep thats what I'm going to do, night all :)

Exhibition this weekend...

Here is a link:
http://against-the-grain-artshow.blogspot.co.uk/
If you're about join us for drinks and arty fun times, this Friday and Saturday in York :D

Today was hard...

First tattoo in two weeks, I was a bit nervous! Happy with the design, excited to tattoo it and Sue (who I was tattooing) loved it too, unfortunately she had a really twitchy leg. I was my first really twitchy tattoo and I found it hard and stressful, I'm just an apprentice after all and I really struggled with my linework. She kept apologising but she didn't need to, obviously these things happen, legs are twitchy, thats part of tattooing, people move and hurt and ache. We didn't get finished so she's back in a few weeks and hopefully I'll be able to sort out some of my lines and finish the colour, today I feel dissapointed in myself for not doing better. It was a good learning experience though and had to happen sooner or later and apart from the twitchy leg Sue was amazing, I'm looking forward to finishing it, I just hope I can do a good job for her.
Should I be so honest about how I'm feeling and what I'm going through while I learn to tattoo?! I don't know but I'm going to do it anyway this is my apprenticeship diary!

It's been a while...

I've not posted in weeks, but since I'm sat at home ill (I was actually sent home because nobody at the shop wanted to catch my horrid cold!) I thought I'd try catch up.
Here are pictures of all the tattoos I've done up til now...

No. 2: Phillis the bee, I found this one so hard, at the time it was too big for my skill level, there were a lot of tears that day!

No 3: On one of my besties, it was her first colour tattoo, there were so many lines and any apprentice will tell you lining is so flippin hard, hahaha :)

No 4: I struggled with the cherries, once again there was tears!

No 5: I feel like the feather was a turning point for me, I'd been so stressed and nervous with all of the other tattoos and with this one I was really excited to do it. I was still stressed and nervous but it all finally started to become fun!

No 6: Morris the Moth, I was excited to tattoo a moth!

No 7: Max Power the stag beetle, I was excited to do this, although its not typical stag beetle colours John helped me pick colours that would make it more interesting.

No 8: This horseshoe and rose took a long time, I was attempting black and grey, trying new needles and new colour combinations, it was a long day but Paul sat like a rock!

No 9: This is Mike the snail, I had a stressful morning because I had some things to sort out with the design but we got there in the end, this was the first day I was mostly on my own and it was terrifying!

No 10: I was so excited to do the crown and Emma loved the drawing.

No 11: Pencil the wasp! This day also started out stressfully but we got there in the end, Mark was a star and it didn't take me forever to finish, maybe I'm finally starting to get a little bit faster.

All I can say is a massive thank you to everyone who has let me tattoo them so far, you've all been amazing! I'm very grateful to everyone that's shared or blogged about my tattoos and I honestly don't know what I'd do without John and Jen looking after me.

At the moment I'm finding it hard to keep up, I'm still an apprentice so looking after the shop, John, Jen and their enquiries comes first, then I can think about drawings for tattoos, tattooing and answering my own enquiries. There have been a lot of early morning starts and late night finishes for me over the last few weeks, which is probably why I'm ill now, I'm completely ran down. I know I'm not the only apprentice going through this right now and I'm not whinging by any means, I love my job! All of this hard work is eventually going to be worth it :)

I did a real tattoo!!

Hahaha, an actual tattoo on an actual person!
The person was one of my best friends (Pauline Carney AKA Enola Autumn) and she sat so well, especially since I wasn't at my most confident and it took me a good few hours.
I did it last friday and I should have blogged about it last week but I was completely frazzled, it's taken me until now to have the time to do it. It took me a long time to do that first line and although I have a long way to go and need to improve my lines a lot, once I'd settled into it the linework was the most straightforward part for me. The shading was completely different to the pigskin, the ink didn't go in anywhere near as quickly and I was concerned I was going to make the whole tattoo too dark! I was also worried about over-working and blowouts, since these aren't really issues on the pigskin, but I did alright, John kept a close watch on me and helped me through. So here is a photograph of my first tattoo...

We're going to do a lot more to it yet, it's going to end up being a full gypsy lady head and shoulders with roses and butterflies, but this is it for now. I know I still have a long way to go and so much to learn but this is a start. Thank you so much Pauline and John, I don't know what I'd have done without you :)

This week I got tattooed myself, by Jen who works at the shop too ( http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002099961656&sk=info#!/talloola), she did some lovely flowers and a ladybird on my foot. It was agony! I give in before she'd finished, foot tattoos really hurt, so we've still got some leaves and background to finish in the future. My foot is currently swollen and sore, it's gone down since yesterday when it looked like a balloon but I still have a very fat foot and ankle today. It's going to take a long time to forget how much it hurt so that I can eventually get the other foot tattooed! :D

Pigskin colour blending...

So I'd been practicing colour blending through some tribal patterns last week on the pigskin, I finally decided (with a little push) to try colour blending on a rose design and this is what I managed...

Still a long way to go but it's a start! I've been colour blending blues today, the problem with the pigskin is that the lighter colours stain the dark colours straight away and you end up with a washed out looking tattoo, the reds weren't too bad but the blues today were terrible, I'll be trying the blues again tomorrow...

Standing watching John tattoo today made me realise what a crazy and awesome job this is, making permanent art on people skin, its amazing! I can't wait :D

Also today I've been talking to another apprentice (hi Alicia!) and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one going through the things I am, its nice to have someone else to talk to about the learning process, we can swap tips and discuss things we're finding hard, it makes me feel less crazy!

And finally I'm looking forward to this weekend because I have some time off, I'm going to a wedding (nothing to wear, eekkk!) and then next week Chris (the bf) is getting tattooed in Hull and I'll be going with him, so it'll be tattooed, wedding holiday fun for me, yey, can't wait for the break! :)

Waahhhh...

So I've not posted in a little while, I've been on a bit of a downer since getting back from the Tattoo Tea Party. I met some amazing people there, I even met some tattoo artists that I've been following for years now, I was a little star struck, hahaha
It was such a fun weekend and then driving back on the Sunday made me realise I've got such a long way to go and it was overwhelming. Because of this I've considered stopping the blog just because I don't feel like I have time but I really want some sort of record of my apprenticeship. It's not easy, its really flippin hard, and I don't want to forget where I started.
The sketch a day was murdered over the tea party weekend too, so its just become a sketch as often as I can situation. I'll try to get some of them posted soon but being without my scanner and pc makes it difficult.
Today was one of those days when it hit me how much everything has changed in the last year. If someone had told me this time last year that in a year I'd be apprenticing, meeting artists that I'd followed for years and living miles away from Chris I'd probably have laughed at them. It's strange how things turn out...

Wellllll, as you can see I've still not posted any of my sketch a days, also I'm the most inconsistant blogger ever, especially lately! I'm too busy!! Hahaha
Today I've committed to a group art exhibition in York in May, so I'll probably be giving up sleep pretty soon just to make sure I get my artwork ready in time.
I've been tattooing pigskin for the last few days as well, yesterday was one of my own drawings in black and grey, today some tribals, tried out a 3 round liner today too.
We get a lot of customers that are wanting to get into tattooing and it's hard hearing about their own struggles to get an apprenticeship. It takes me back to when I was looking and makes me feel greatful for the opportunity I was given, it took me a year and a half to find an apprenticeship (a real apprenticeship, some people really do like to mess you around!) and I spent the whole time working on my art. So if you're stuggling right now trying to find an apprenticeship and feeling like you're getting nowhere don't give up, keep working on your art and drawing, take critisism constructively and if anyone is rude to you just remind yourself that one day you'll be able to show them what they missed out on...
Right, now this weekend is convention time again and I'm really looking forward to it. It's the Tattoo Tea Party in Manchester, it's new and should be so much fun! So if you're in Manchester this weekend get yourself to this http://www.tattooteaparty.com/ and come say hi to the Nemesis crew :)

Feeling better but a little ranty...

My headache has finally settled, whoop whoop, must have been some sort of head cold, finally starting to feel alive again!
I've been on the pig skin all week, the last two day have been working with greywash and different shapes and sizes of magnum needles, it's been interesting, still a long way to go, more practice ahead tomorrow....
And I was just about to have a massive rant about how people treat other people but then thought better of it, I had a post all typed out and everything! But someone wise once told me that it's best not to have an opinion in a public forum, you never know who you are going to upset and I think that is really good advice. So for now I shall remain opinion-less, I am getting quite good at keeping them to myself lately... Goodnight :) x

Headache...

Escaped from the studio early today, I've had the worst headache since yesterday and even with painkillers I can't seem to shake it :( Left the studio at ten past six for an early stress free night and I still feel guilty, I feel like I should have stayed and practiced more but I know that sometimes you just need an early night. I'm off to the optician to get my eyes tested tomorrow incase it's due to eye strain...
Other than that, I started my 'sketch a day' again yesterday in my lovely new sketchbook, when I'm back in York on Sunday I'll get everything scanned and posted on the Sketch a Day page.
Now if I can just get a decent nights sleep I should be feeling better tomorrow and able to tattoo some more pig skin...

Weekend and sketch a day?!

This weekend was fun, the convention went well and we get to do it all over again in two weeks for a two day convention. We got back so late last night that I was given today off so I've managed to get some sleeping, shopping, washing and other boring things done that I can never manage to do when I'm at the studio. I've picked up my pigskin ready for tomorrow, more lining ahead and I'm going to work on shading as much as I can this week too.
I decided today that I would start the 'sketch a day' again, I want to try to produce at least one finished (as much as I can) drawing a day rather than letting my half finished work stack up. I'm going to get a new sketchbook tomorrow for a fresh start. I draw everyday anyway but I get so many ideas its easy to put things aside to work on new things and before you know it there's a load of 'ideas' laying around on my carpet and nothing to show for it, my thought is that a 'sketch a day' sketchbook will bring some focus to my over crowded brain. Heres to hoping anyway....

Not posted in a few days...

I've been too busy!! All I can think about is tattoos and my line work and how my line work compares to other tattoos and how my line work is still not on living skin yet and that its going to be completely different again when I do start on it... But other than that my lines are getting better, they aren't going to be amazing for a long time but I know it'll come with practice. My left hand middle stretching finger still hates me, its got a right swell on, I can't wait for it to get strong so it isn't swollen and achey all the time! I had some nice piggy today (didn't think I'd ever say that!) it was fat and soft and beside some little cuts it was quite nice to tattoo, the last few days worth of pig skin have been tough and thin and horrible for practice.
Convention time again this weekend on Sunday so I'm taking Saturday off as a chill out and driving day, I hope its a fun one :)