July ⋇⋆✦⋆⋇Secret Sketches! + Tattoo Flash

Helloooo horned hercules beetle! How are you? I've got a fun mixed bag to look at today. Before we get into the art notes/explanations, let's chat a bit about what's been going on. 

In my previous secret sketches post I mentioned being especially excited and fond of that particular batch. I feel similarly about this one, because we've got some actual real tattoo flash! I'm also feeling that romantic life-is-changing feeling after coming out of a fairly depressive state for about a month. That's usually how this goes for me. There's a period of lows, followed by a period of growth and sort of a rebirth. I was really struggling and grappling with some tough changes coming up, but I have been working hard to be patient with myself and slowly pull out of that feeling at my own pace. I can say with some level of confidence that I've entered a much better headspace, and I feel excited about life (even if I know I've got some tough stuff coming up). I think this will inevitably ebb and flow, as all things do. But I'm ready for it!!

Dalton, who is a friend of mine I talk about a lot on here (because he is a kindred spirit and secret genius and the reason I ever started patreon--listen to the podcast episode I did with him here) recently recommended the book Bittersweet by Susan Cain to me, and I've been slowly listening to the audiobook on my morning walks, or car trips. This is a book that has helped me to understand this exact feeling of the intersection of sadness/happiness, death/birth, longing, "effortless perfection", and so many other things I felt but couldn't put into words previously. I would recommend this book or audiobook to anyone who is human. I want to buy the physical book just so I can highlight some things and return to specific passages! 

Okay, we're on to the art side of this now--but also, actually, one more thing. 

I want to say that I'm so appreciative of everyone being patient while I get more experience with tattooing, also understanding that I do this out of my home, so I'm extra cautious when taking on new clients who I haven't previously met. This is a big step for me to open up my home studio to new folks, and I also do unfortunately have a feeling that a lot of people might have an issue with me doing home-tattoing, even with proper education, experience and safety! There's mixed opinions about this sort of practice, so I have to approach this gently and it does admittedly make me nervous that I'll get some backlash on public social media. Just thought I would share my feelings of apprehension, even though I know it will be met with equal, if not more, excitement!

Image 2: Showing you how I make my flash, usually. I use an 8.5x11 inch canvas, since that's the size of the paper I print the stencil with. I make a 1inx1in grid and use that for size reference. If the client wants the tattoo larger or smaller, I'm able to resize it and provide them a few options. In this particular sheet we're going down to beetle town, with a female hercules beetle, a male hercules beetle and a cyclomattus stag. This one is in progress, and I'm showing the beginning sketches with one finished drawing. 

Images 3-5: Some actual finished flash sheets! I have one more, but I made it months ago and would like to change a few things before posting it. These will all go live with booking info sometime this month. Honestly I'd like to make a million more mushroom pages.

Image 6: A spotted porcelain crab I designed just for me, probably going on my left thigh. >:-)

Image 7-8: Business card redesign! (With some process on the second image) I'm not sold on the colors, yet....originally I had designed them to be black on top of a kraft card which is a crunchy natural brown with texture. But I've also been super into cream/black lately....but also my last name is Green! So wouldn't it be fun to use Green?? I'm having a hard time deciding. I want to get these done before I move because honestly most of the business cards I give out are to potential new friends HAHA. I just like to look professional and official. I kind of wish we all had business cards for social situation jut to get a quick glimpse of what someone was like at-a-glance. 

Image 9-11: ARDEN HIGH King Cheer page sketches baby!!! Just some hot gay people and some hot mean people and some hot cheer moments. Book one comes out in October, which is approaching fast and I'm VIBRATING because I cannot wait to see what everyone thinks of it!

That's it for now, but I'm sure I'll see you soon. We've got lots to talk about, don't we? :-)

-JG