THE FINAL SESSION

I JUST PUT THE FINAL SESSION INTO THE FIREWALL OF THE 58 RAG AND ITS NOW AT THE PAINT SHOP GETTING CLEARED AND WILL BE READY FOR THE NEXT STEP...

A SONS LOVE!!

CHECK OUT MY CLUB BROTHER BIG JAVI SEARGENT OF ARMS LIFESTYLE C.C. WHO RECENTLY HAD A TRAGEDY THAT BREAKS THE HEART LOSING HIS BEST FRIEND "HIS POPS" HERE IS A PORTRAIT DEDICATED TO THE MAN THAT TAUGHT HIM RESPECT AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A FATHER... PERRO NEGRO YOU WILL BE MISSED.

THE TOWN I LIVE IN

HERE ARE A FEW MORE FLICKS OF A MURAL THAT I PAINTED FOR THE MEZA MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS..

N.Y LOVE

THIS IS ROXX STAR FROM N.Y. HE CAME THROUGH TO GIVE HIMSELF A GIFT FOR HIS 30th.. LIKE I ALWAYS SAY." DON'T CHEAT YOURSELF TREAT YOURSELF"

Reader Eric C. emailed me this ad for aussieBum underwear.

From Engrish & Hanzi Smatter

The top two characters appeared to me as mirrored 决心 ("determination"). I have no idea what the reference of two characters below, 伐大, is about. 伐 means "[to] cut down", and 大 means "big".

Oh dear...

I think the model has unintentionally tattooed himself with "determined to cut down something big".


Update: I found a photo of the same male model via Google, who is he?

BLOODWORK: PROGRESS

Been working hard on the coming BloodWork book. Recently we received the “dummy” copy. This is a blank page mockup that’s done so we can better visualize the finished product. We mark it up with notes, ideas, and crappy drawings that may or may not be relevant to the actual book content.

You may notice the book is the length of an average man’s torso. Naturally, this means it’ll be difficult to fit this beast on a bookshelf, sorry.

And if it wasnt big enough we plan to do foldouts! I like foldouts… poster size ones.

If you have a sharp eye you'll have also notice a few rough image composites in the background. Imagine a book full of those composites as poster size prints. Whet your appetite? Oktober is just round' the corner.

Tricycles

Trip out on this custom 1939 Tricycle, a solid metal tear drop fender keeps the trike riding low and treats your kid to his first custom painted low rider.

The return of the Germans

These guys goes alllll the way back to my 3rd post on this blog!
Well they came back for some more and that was what they got.
It was good to see you guys again!

BLOODWORK: SLEEVES: FOLLOW UP SHOOT

Yesterday we did a follow up shoot for BloodWork:Sleeves at the Analog workspace. Got some nice Bay Area gems this time around. Scott and Tim sent out sleeves. Freddy hung out for the day, brought a cool sleeve along. Also, Chris had one of his clients fly in from Austin. Matt got one more in and I got my ass shot too… we all get ours in the end.

When the smoke clears, its looking like we’re going to have around fifty sleeves represented in the project. Dont quote me on that though as I havent actually counted up the total, but the subconscious is telling me its fifty…ish.

DEATH TO FALSE TATTOOING

That's right!! And that is what it says on the sweet sweet metalized Rock Of Ages Tattoo tshirt I got in the mail the other day! It was all sold out when we were in Austin but our friends made sure that I would be able to spread the good word! Thanks guys!!

shhhh...it will all be over soon!!

Jon, straight out of Shanksville, got his first tattoo and what could be more cool to get than a mean ass wolf wearing a plastic gold shanksville Bling Bling, howling at a bleeding moon?? Just asking because we couldn't think of anything!

How many gears can a butterfly have?

Steph came back for some more colour on her mechanical butterfly and roses sleeve. Almost there...

That time again

Hourglasses is one of those things that I have been asked to do a gizillion times and sometimes I don't even want to do them because I can't figure out a new way to do it but then sometimes it's just a fun thing to do again. This girl came from Switzerland to get her little hourglass and I think after a few hours of pain we were both pleased with the result.

Later that night went to see The Gaslight Anthem. Really great show!! Just what I had been wanting to see for a while. A good well played rock and roll show!

Miilaaaaaaaaaaaaaano!! She's a beautyfull!!

As some of you know I was trying something out on this years Milan convention. It worked out pretty good and it was really really nice not to have to draw early in the morning or waste time doing the day on redrawing stuff. That meant that I actually had time to take a look around and buy stuff and say hello to people...well at least more than usual. I guess I will try this out again next year.
I think I have decided to go with my plan from last year on London for this year as well.
So here is the result from this years Milan Experiment. If you want to see more then go to my wifes blog and see her report on this event. She had made this cute hat for Sunny Buick.

I forgot this guy last year so he was the only one who had an appointment. Thanks for waiting a whole year!!
It is also another attempt to take Bobby T out of the game with this super realistic portrait of my customers mom.

I didn't get one good picture of this one so I had to photoshop the crap out of the picture. Sucks! I have been wanting to do a sealion for ages. It looked really good in real life!

So that was it for this years Milan convention. Good times were had. It was good to see some of our once-a-year-friends again and also some of our friends that we are lucky enough to see more than once a year. It was a pleasure to share booth with my good friend Chriss Dettmer and it was good to have my other homie Hunter S just around the corner.
To end this report I wanna show how friggin' awesome Crash's (editor of Tattoo Artist Magazine) daughter, Raven is!! She rocks and with her brand new Uncle A shirt she is now one of the cool kids!! Yeah!

THE WRIST

THE WRIST IS PRIME REALE STATE WHEN YOU WANT TO GET SOME THING MEANINGFUL... ITS A POPULAR SPOT FOR PEOPLE TO GET THEIR KIDS NAMES.

THE SKETCH

HERE IS AN IDEA OF WHAT WE HAVE PLANNED OUT FOR THE UPPER SECTION..

MARIOS AUTO WORKS

CHECK OUT THIS HELMET, SEAT PLATE AND GAS TANK . CUSTOM PAINTED BY GREG DE ALBA AT MARIOS AUTO WORKS IN THE CITY OF MONTCLAIR. WE ARE KEEPING THE TRADITION ALIVE BY SUPPORTING THE CANDY FLAKE LOW RIDER MOVEMENT EVEN ON OUR HARLEYS.. CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE www.mariosautoworks.com GOING TO POST MORE PICTURES OF FUTURE COLLABORATIONS WITH THEM SO STAY UP..

Satan is real!

It has been a while...and it will be a bit longer before I will have you guys fully updates. There is a bunch to tell and show from Milan and some great guests and customers at the shop.
I am hoping that this can buy me some time. I promise to try to get you more up to date in the next couple of days! Promise!!

Today I did my second portrait even...well reall portrait. I have done some semi real ones before but this was my second black and grey kind of portrait. It was just supposed to be Hank Williams and a bit of extra stuff but ended up a big piece.




Now I need to chill a bit with the wife!

PRAY FOR US!

ROB K. CAME THROUGH TONIGHT TO GET PRAYING HANDS TO ADD TO THE PORTRAIT IN THE MEMORY OF HIS FATHER..

WAY OF THE WARRIOR

HERE IS A FLICK OF A BACK PIECES THAT I JUST STARTED... HE WANTED TO STAY TRUE TO HIS ROOTS SO WE WENT WITH AN IMAGE OF A WARRIOR FIGHTING A SERPENT.

THE HUSTLER 58

CHECK OUT ONE OF THE LATEST MURALS I'VE BEEN WORKING ON... THE WEATHER HAS BEEN CRAZY THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS BUT I HAVEN'T LET THAT STOP ME FROM GETTING IN A COUPLE OF SESSIONS. THIS MURAL IS ON A 1958 RAG TOP IMPALA THE FIRE WALL HAS BEEN COMPLETLY SHAVED AND MOLDED GIVING ME NICE SIZE CANVAS TO WORK WITH...

STAY POSTED TO SEE THE FINAL SESSION.....

From www.rankmytattoos.com:

I'm Robert (aka. iluvchickswithinks81), I got these Chinese and Russian characters at Hardcore Tattoo, also the tribals on my shoulders that go up onto my neck, my last name inside my arm in old english lettering and last but not least my nipple pierced.




Robert's back is covered with random characters. All of them are poorly done and some of them are not even correct. I have yet seen the Russian characters he is referring to.

This is absolutely shitty tattoo work.

LATEST ADDITION

CHECK OUT THE LATEST ADDITION TO ALBA'S COLLECTION. SHE WANTED TO GO WITH SOME SCRIPT TO ACCENT WHAT SHE ALREADY HAD ON HER WRIST AND KEEP IT CLASSY...

from: Nick B.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 9:56 AM
subject: Tshirt query

Hi Tian,

I've been wearing this shirt for years. Having just discovered your site I'm now a bit worried...

Please tell me it doesn't say something stupid and make me look like more of an idiot than normal.


Thanks!

Nick

(ps: keep up the good work! :D)



Alan and I had a good laugh at this shirt and here is what Alan said:

Well, I'll tell you what it says, and you can decide whether it is stupid or not.

From what I can tell, the text on the T-shirt appears to have been cut-and-pasted from the warranty information for an IBM Japan (now Lenovo) computer.

I can tell this because the phone number 0120-20-5550 on the shirt is that for the company's Japanese support center.

Also, just to the right of the neck of the shirt, you will see ＢＭサービ, which was obviously cut from ＩＢＭサービス・センター (IBM Service Center).

The Japanese text itself says things like: "In the case that a malfunction should occur, only repair service will be offered." or "We do not accept orders by FAX."

The text is incomplete and overlapping and hard to read, so it is pretty pointless to try to read much more than this, but I think you get the point.

I don't know, but it might have a certain Japanese computer geek allure, although I have no idea if that is up your alley.

from: William P.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 11:43 PM
subject: Tattoo Help

I got this tattoo years ago. It's supposed to be the Chinese character for smooth. I'm just wondering whether or not that's what it means.

Thanks,
Will




滑 means "[to] slip/slide" or slippery".


Update: Reader Traveler was unsatisfied with my entry and offered an addition of his own:

Tian, I love your site. Though, to toss in a friendly comment, IMHO you often respond to inquiries with just a simple explanation of what some character means. Without delving into the writer's real, unspoken question: "Yeah, but does this make any sense as a tattoo?"

So, if I may humbly attempt to give this poor defaced person some extra context to help understand what he's done to his arm :

The character with meanings of "slip/slide/slippery" is perhaps the closest one could get to a single character meaning "smooth" – but just in the literal sense of "non-rough (surface)". Unless I'm mistaken, it carries no Chinese/Japanese meaning equating to the English slang meanings of "smooth" - sophisticated, cool, polished, urbane, etc. - which I would guess is what Mr P had in mind.

Often, you also (kindly) decline to comment on the artistic merit of the tattoos you present. But, assuming that Mr P would bravely want to know:

It's awful. Just hideous - yet another hack job by an "artist" who simply has no idea how a character is properly constructed.

So, assuming Mr P really wants to know whether his tattoo makes any sense or not: No, from the perspective of a Chinese/Japanese reader, it's both meaningless and ineptly drawn. That said, from the perspective of people who don't read Chinese/Japanese - presumably the majority of this tattoo's "audience" - well, I suppose it may be just fine. Mr P can tell people it means "smooth", or "smooth operator", or "Ninja samurai dragon honor", and that it's an expert artistic rendition by Shaolin calligrapher monks... and few will be the wiser. In that sense, he can go forth and feel comfortable with it!

from: Richard K.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 9:21 PM
subject: hanzismatter submission

I am writing this with my hands over my eyes, peeking through my fingers to see if I get the answer ... I got this tattooed on my back in retaliation (yes, a permanent mark in a fit of spite) for an ex-girlfriend's own tattoo of some trampy "angel" that spanned from shoulder blade to shoulder blade. Even if this tattoo means "homosexual lover" it's not as bad as the cracked out Tinkerbell on her back (at least that's what I keep telling myself)! Help me out, because I'm eager to know if this is what it says it is. If not, I have to get it covered up with a giant penis or a hamburger or something else somewhat less ridiculous.

Should add that I expected it meant "to give love".

Thanks!

Richard K.



Since 与愛 has almost no meaning in Chinese, I asked Alan to see if he can dig up something in Japanese. He replied they have no meaning in Japanese either.

Happy Valentine's Day Singles Awareness Day!

POR VIDA

GETTING A TATTOO OF A BROAD WHETHER IT'S OF SOMEONE YOUR WITH OR JUST TATTOOERS CHOICE DAY.. IS ALWAYS A GOOD LOOK AND DOESN'T HAVE TO BE TASTELESS..

XXPLOSIVE

LAST NIGHT WAS THE DOWNTOWN L.A. ARTWALK AND IT GOES DOWN THE SECOND THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH SO COME CHECK US OUT AT THE LAST LAUGH. HERE ARE A FEW FLICKS OF THE TATTOO I DID ON ESTEVAN. I BLASTED HIS ICONIC L.A. HANDS IN HIS INNER ARM ....