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!