I made one more category in this blog just for lettering tattoos (here)
Please take a look and enjoy!
Lettering. I always had a hard time to do ’em. When I had my shop back in Tokyo, the apprentice at that time Harley (his Instagram here) was in charge for his natural talent in handling them.
Obviously, after he had finished his apprenticeship I had to push myself to keep it up.
Once seeds are planted, customers will come back trusting the style.
Just like Tribal tattoos for me. I pushed myself to improve them, ‘cuz in all the shops I used to work, most of other tattooers were not keen on doing it.
If there’s a chance to “sneak in” into a shop palette…why not.
Like I said, when the seeds are planted, you gotta improve and push the envelope.
Lettering tattoos are the same. For me, it isn’t any longer just something to add under or on top of a drawing or a picture. It became one of the “main dishes” of the menu.
And since I moved here, I can say that I feel more and more comfortable doing them.
Maybe because I’m back on a environment of Western scripts?
I guess I have this advantage from the average Japanese tattooer. Being raised first with Roman characters in school gives way more familiarity with the subject.
In other hand, Japanese kids are raised learning to writing in Sumi and brush. Points to anyone wanting to improve their skills in this style of drawing. Just like the one’s I’m recently doing.
Last convention in Dortmund (here) I had the opportunity to buy 2 more books from Big Sleeps himself.
American tattooer specialized in lettering/ script.
His books are a great source of inspiration. And, they are hard to DE-codify.
And that’s the beauty of it. Looking, feeling, thinking and mostly drawing and drawing…
Yes kids, it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock’n’roll!
Or, if you wanna write down your history!
The 2 small photos above, are a sneak peak of a lettering drawing I’m making for a friend. Bellow the books from Big Sleeps.