Noel.

Frozen Christmas

This flash sheet was inspired by David Attenborough's incredible Frozen Planet TV Series, and of course the festive season surrounding us at this very moment. I was torn between drawing this polar bear and cub over an emperor penguin and chick; I love penguins but these dudes above look fitting in my Christmas display. I'm sure I'll get the chance to draw an emperor penguin one of these days.

I did this in Crayola and Staedtler felt tip pens, and a black gel pen. I haven't really used felt tips for ages (I'd say the 90's) and it was fun, fun, fun. I'm gonna do a lot more pictures in felt tips so watch this space.

Merry Christmas everyone! x

D.O.B.

16th Oct '09

Oooo, 'this looks familiar' I here you say! Well head on over to a previous post of mine titled Mark's Child, and all will be explained. Mark wanted this version to almost mirror the other design on the inside of his opposite arm, but first a few changes needed to be made. I like how this design is soft with gentle angel wings and the red touch's really give this tattoo a peaceful look.

I did the lettering completely by hand this time around because:

a)numbers were not included in the font that I downloaded

b)I wanted to see if I could do a decent job of lettering. 


I'm real happy with it anyway and I would love more opportunities to do lettering!

Laziness.

Sloth

The 7th and final deadly sin. The punishment in hell for being slothful, is to be thrown into a pit of snakes. I don't really see any connection between laziness and serpents, but it makes for a badass tattoo design. I think people who sit on their backside all day should be punished with slave labour for eternity. Too far? So, next for my boy Mitch is a flash sheet of 'fill-ins' including bugs, beasties and undergrowth.

Deadly!

Rose Desire-Belle.

Burlesque Lady

Once upon a time...

... I conversed with a friend about designing a burlesque inspired tattoo, the image you see above is the final design. 

THE END.

Oh wait, I've missed out the middle of the story. Well, let me start with saying that it was an epic journey of immense proportions. Hours, days, weeks and months of hard work and determination, including blood, sweat and tears, have been put into this. I hope it shows. 

Then I say to myself, 'Stop being a Moaning Myrtle Darren. Be grateful to those who trust you to design them something they are willing to get inked into their skin for the rest of their lives.' Enough said. I thoroughly enjoyed designing this, for me it's my personal benchmark, gotta' keep pushing myself.

So... a Burlesque Lady for a lady who is undoubtedly burlesque. Visit the website of the lass I designed it for here!

Find Me On Facebook.

HERE!

x

Extraterrestrial.

Space

'Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.' - Captain Kirk.

Sorry, I got a bit carried away there. I designed this for a Firefighter, a friend and most of all, a comic genius. He loves all and anything to do with Aliens, Space and the Beyond. I won't go into any detail of what the image means... you can work it out for yourself. I loved designing this, I think E.T would be proud.

'I'll be right here.' - E.T. says this as he points to Elliot's heart!

241.

Key To My Heart

I painted this delight for a lady called Emely. It's to cover up a 'blob' on her foot. I like it, it's cute.

Chrysanthemum

This delight is for the same lady. If I remember correctly, this tattoo is going on her back towards the bottom. I love this one, it'd look sweet on a t-shirt...

Until next time fellow Bloggers x

There's Something In The Sky.

Falling Crow

There's something in the sky

Falling to the ground

.

It's shadow growing bigger

We're waiting for the sound

.

But I don't want to look

Death pains me don't you know

.

I'm feeling great sorrow

For the lonely Falling Crow

x

"CALL ME LUCILLE".

Burlesque Heart

My dear old friend Lucy wanted a burlesque style tattoo designed, so I jumped at the opportunity. I worked from a sketch of hers (she's pretty good with a pencil you know) and stayed within her guild lines, but added my own Crisis magic. To me it works as two objects; a feather fan with an image in the centre, or a showgirls mirror with the reflection of the dancer in action. Either way I'm happy with it and so is Lucille. 


Check out her blog here, it's really cool, she's famous you know!

Mark's Child.

Seth

This design was done for a guy called Mark, not Seth. In fact Seth is the name of Mark's child. Mark was an old friend of my younger brother and he found out about me and my designs via my Dad. Okay... I need to slow down I'm confusing myself now, too many relations going on. Anyway I loved designing this, black and grey work looks so sick (not the vomit variety). Mark had it tattooed almost immediately at Raw Bodycraft in Nottingham and he say's that it 'looks amazing'.

More black and grey work, yes please!

The Face Of Death.

Geisha

The face of death, the face of a Geisha, faces. Faces are so popular in the tattoo world, fans of ink love them and so do I. They're just so interesting and personal, and I think that we can connect with faces and emotions more than any other tattoo imagery. The 'Geisha' tattoo has been done hundreds and hundreds of times over, but I couldn't resist. Now, all I will ask is that you don't mistake my 'Geisha' for a 'Geisha Girl'. She is not a prostitute, the only thing wrong with my 'Geisha' is her inability to live (it's true, look at her face).

With that said, make like a tree and leave!

A Cartoon Wedding.

Wedding Invitation

I was commissioned by my bestest of best friend's sister Sarah and to be husband Dan, to design their wedding invitation. They wanted the design to be a caricature of themselves (huge smiles, huge heads and crazy body proportions). By the way they're not holding red/orange swans, the animals are called Scarlet Ibis... research it if you don't believe me. They love the design and I can't wait to see it in action.

All the best for the future guys!

Eye In The Sky.

All Seeing Eye

The 'All Seeing Eye', or as it's also commonly known, 'Eye Of Providence', is an image that I have been wanting to design for ages. It's such classic. As a symbol it echoes throughout history and religion, so it had to be done innit... did I just write 'innit'? I love how the Purple and Turquoise work together, I think I'll be using those colours as a team more often. This is for sale along with the 'Pirate Ship' design which featured in my first post on here.

Buy my shit (not my poo)!

The Groom.

The Groom

And then there was 'The Groom'. This is the second installment for Sarah, the first being 'The Bride'. Sarah wanted me to pretty much flip the original and alter it to become a male version of the female design. I had to change the face a couple of times before we were both happy with the outcome, but apart from that it went smooth... like something really... erm, smooth?

It's been great designing tattoos for Sarah and her husband Sam, I hope they come back to me in the future. 'Back To The Future' - amazing films... going off subject a bit there, OH!

Love Is Patient.

Crest

This tattoo design is for Sam, Sam is Sarah's husband. I designed 'The Bride' for Sarah which you can see in the January section of my blog. The lettering is taken from a reading that was read at the couples wedding, and Sam wanted a colourful edge/border around it. For a while I was struggling with what this border could be (seriously, I didn't have a clue), but eventually I came up with the idea of a leaf crest border. I liked the idea of it looking regal and strong. I love the colours on this design - colour bleeding tips seem to be my thing.

Yea man, happy with that, next please!

Happiness.

Le Bonheur

This is Helen's tattoo (Helen, as in Ruth's sister), still healing, sore and swollen. It's my design and it was done by Lee LWB at Bodycraft in Nottingham. You can see the original design on my Facebook page, Lee has done an amazing job. He has inked the majority of my tattoos and I keep going back to him because he's proper sick. His lines are perfect. Helen is really happy with her tattoo and she mentioned possible future plans for more art on her skin... I think the addiction is seeping in.

Love seeing my designs replicated so well!

Japanese Calligraphy.

DLP & Crisis (kiki)

Looking through my copy of 'Tattoo Sourcebook' (which isn't the greatest tattoo book I must admit), I came across the Japanese symbol for 'Crisis'. But before I confuse you, on the image above, the symbol for 'Crisis' is the small one in the corner of the ripped paper. The large symbol (DLP, my initials) is of my own design, and I've been using it for years to sign my artwork. I'm currently using this image for my Facebook page logo.

How I created this image: I ripped the edges off an A4 piece of watercolour paper, painted on my DLP symbol with black watercolour paint using a japanese paintbrush, penned on the 'Crisis' symbol with a thin tipped marker pen, placed the image onto the back of a brown envelope, scanned it in and VOILA.

Sickness!

Green With...

Envy

The Seven Deadly Sins. This is number six in my series of the seven, and Sloth will be the last... coming soon. Check out the others on my Facebook page (do it, do it now). These designs are for my good friend Mitch, I think I'm designing a flash sheet of 'fill-ins' for him as well. This will include things like roses, undergrowth and bugs etc...

Dope and Dark, the way I like it!

A Painting For My Sister.

A Study Of Cherry Blossoms

This painting is for my little Sister Jasmine. I think she's having her room decorated soon and she wanted to have a painting to go with the style and colour theme. I masked off the white sections with masking tape (Obvs...), then applied a thin wash of a creamy brown watercolour. I then painted the rest, straight to canvas (by this I mean no pencil line prep) with acrylics, in a pretty quick care-free fashion. I then removed the masking tape and thought to myself, 'That looks sick, but it's missing something'. So I rummaged through some material and ribbon which my girlfriend has, and shebang, it's complete.

D'wanna canvas done by CT, gimme shout-outs lol!

Blue Tit.

Blue Tit

I designed this tattoo for my beautiful girlfriend Ruth. She wanted a tattoo of a Blue Tit for quite a while, but because I was working on paid commission work I didn't get round to this until recently (I'm not going to charge my girlfriend). I'm really proud of it and I didn't think I could pull off realism. It's made me want to paint a massive collection of wild birds... I'll get round to it one day.

Hope you love it Bobs!

My Tools.

Okay I've got to admit, I'm very OCD, but this image below is staged in my defense. To be honest I don't normally lay out my tools in this fashion (they're just neatly packed away somewhere). I've just done it like this to show you my essentials.                         

So, from the top: the crisis folder (full of 'all sorts'), three portfolio's, apple macbook pro, ipod, ct stamp and ink pad, 2 sets of watercolours, paintbrushes and holder, pencil case (made by Ruth), 5h/hb/h pencils, uni-ball gel impact, uni-ball signo, ruler, compass, rubber, sharpener.

I cleared the table of my tools to show you two different projects unrelated to tattoos, well... it's my blog so I'll post what I please. The canvas is going to be a painting for my sister, I'm thinking some sort of study of cherry blossoms? The caricatures are for a wedding invitation, very far from completion.
                                                                        OCD rules!

Treble Clef.

Treble Clef

I was asked to design something I wouldn't normally draw or even consider designing. It's not that I don't like the idea, it's just something that has never been on my 'must draw' list... but I loved designing this. It's opened new doors for me (not literally, I can open my own doors thanks). I always like the chance to do Black and Grey work too, because it really makes you think about shading and contrast, so cheers Martha.

Spread the word, CT is here waiting for your requests!

The Angel of Amsterdam.

Darwin's Mistake

Three monkeys sat on a coconut tree,
Discussing things as they're said to be;
Said one to the others, "Now listen, you two
There's a certain rumor that can't be true
That man descended from our noble race;
The very idea is a big disgrace.
No monkey ever deserted his wife,
Starved her babies and ruined her life;
And you've never known a mother-monk
To leave her babies with others to bunk,
Or pass them on from one to another
Till they scarcely know who was their mother;
And another thing you'll never see,
A monk building a fence around a coconut tree
And let the coconuts go to waste
Forbidding all other monks to taste;
Why, if I'd put a fence round the tree
Starvation would force you to steal from me;
Here's another thing a monk won't do
Go out at night and get on the stew
Or use a gun or club or knife
To take some other monkey's life;
Yes, man descended — with all his fuss,
But, brothers, he didn't descend from us!"

I discovered this amusing poem whilst reading through my copy of 'Tattoo Darling - The Art Of Angelique Houtkamp'. I'm not a religious guy but the Monkey in this poem makes a lot of sense (he's wiser than me). I also have 'Tattoo Mystique - The Art And World Of Angelique Houtkamp', which is equally as interesting. Her work is incredible, it's so clean and it has a definite style running throughout - I'm still searching for mine... us artists are never happy with our own work. 

http://www.salonserpent.com/

Check the Angel out, she is Da Bomb!

Chirst The Redeemer.

Christ The Redeemer

Nope, it's not a tattoo design but I thought, 'You know what, I might as well post this because A) it looks pretty sweet, and B) ... well there is no B)'. There used to be a proper lame picture in this frame (little rhyme there) and my Mum wanted me to paint a picture based on the amazing statue of Christ in Rio De Janeiro. I painted this with watercolours and it only took me about about 30 mins. I'm really happy with the rough, slap-dash finish.

If I paint anymore pictures in this style, be sure to check them out!

The Bride.

The Bride

Sarah wanted me to design her a Manga/Anime style tattoo of herself in her wedding dress surrounded by roses. I really enjoyed designing this because everything went smoothly and personally I think it looks sick (there's that word again).

A very happy customer, she also mentioned that her husband might be interested in getting a tattoo design by Crisis Tattoo!

Victorious.

http://victorkensinger.blogspot.com/

Victor Kensinger, this guy is insane. I can't get enough of his work, it just intrigues me. He's created this almost gothic 'film noir' world in which somehow the past and future are one. Mythical and prehistoric creatures roam, but to be honest, I'm less afraid of them than I am of the 'bloody' vixens in Victor's world.

Beautiful artwork and such an inspiration, keep up the amazing work you sicko!

New Year, New Blog, New Horizons.

I've finally created a blog for Crisis Tattoo. Okay, so the majority of you will be thinking 'what the hell is Crisis Tattoo?', well let me explain. I'm a guy who is obsessed with tattoos (ask my girlfriend Ruth, she'll back me up). I never stop thinking about them, and most of all, I love designing them. To be honest I love drawing and painting, but there is something about tattoo imagery that gets me wild. I have tattoos myself, but not even half as much as I design.
I started Crisis Tattoo on Facebook just after I graduated from uni and it's been sick (my current favorite word). I've had the opportunity to design tattoos for friends, family and people who have found my page on Facebook. Here is the link below, check it out and hit 'Like'.


http://www.facebook.com/CrisisTattoo


This blog will work as an extension and continuation to my Facebook page, so if you're interested please follow both. So, without chattin' too much, here is a painting I'm selling, please get in touch if you want it:

Pirate Ship

I've nearly finished a design for Sarah, The Bride coming soon, keep your eyes peeled!