On channel 12 news today, oh and buy my Sketchbook

Did the interview yesterday for Channel 12 news, they aired the segment tonight twice, and have the video available online here.

I am working on a new one, but since I've gotten so much attention I want to post the link to my first sketchbook get you paranoid suckers to buy it!

Check it out HERE and buy one now! hahahaha!

On infowars.com today

For tattooing scannable qr code tattoos, I have made it to the "celebrity of conspiracies" attention Alex Jones of infowars.com interviewed me, and making a point that by me tattooing qr codes, that I am adding to the socialization of digital scanning and tracking media and for establishing the acceptance of such technology. Well... I imagine if that was underway (and I don't argue that it isn't) I'm not so sure that my tattooing these codes as a novelty will hasten or slow the advances of those who would rule over us in tyranny. And on that note, I'm more worried about Disney and Google than the government,  the government isn't designed to run smoothly, it's designed to prevent one person or group to hold all the power. and that a minority can stall the majority in it's designs... the best thing about American government is that tyranny is almost impossible simply because no would agree on how we should be subjugated.

I agree with a lot of what Alex Jones talks about, but I still see one major factor in the world equation; Chaos. Unintended consequences are a bitch, and they tend to control more of what happens next than any major organization or government. The masons and buildibergs (sp?) didn't see the japanese quake coming, nor are they able to predict entirely what people will do or what this planet will do - I know that there are guys who are good at using algorithms and statistics to predict the future with great accuracy now, but they are not God, and the greatest misconception of humankind is that we have any control of what is going on. it may look like it from time to time, especially when the world is calm as it relatively is (there have always been catastrophe and war and disease, corrupt government and evil markets, but far fewer people die as a result of these events in modern time)

I'm confident that we face a terrible crisis ahead of us, part from corrupt government, part from evil markets and corporate empires, part from religious fervor and heightened fears of "them" and especially from technology and what it may do to speed up or slow the fall. but after that I believe those of us who survive will find ourselves in a new world. where we are more free and enlightened toward the human condition more so than we are now, and as such reestablish institutions and systems that better serve humanity and bring us back to the core value of what it means to be a human, rather than a consumer.

And I know we will all have our parts to play.

Collector Spotlight #1: Lacy Dean's Goon tattoo (first)

This tattoo was one of the first "complex" color tattoos I had done. Keep in mind I had started tattooing in 2006 and wasn't more than a year or so out of my apprenticeship for this piece.Done about three years ago now (2008), it was, at the time, the absolute best work I had done, and a nice benchmark to keep up with. still one of my all time favorites, as I am a fan of the GOON comics by Eric Powell.

---- If you want a better look at the pics, click on them, they get a little bigger, but thats all you get. you want a closer look than that, you'll have to call Lacy.

So Stage on of the design was to  put together a few elements that Lacy wanted in particular. The Goon image and Frankie (Goon's sidekick) were provided by Lacy, The Goon originally by Mr Powell, and the Frankie done by a friend of Lacy's I believe. I added the zombies from a cover of a Goon comic, just to keep things consistent (Lacy wanted some other element, but gave me a bit of license on exactly what). Once we had the composition figured out (as I didn't have to design or create anything for this) we move on to stage two...

...the outline. I'm not sure anymore how long the outline took (Though I'm sure Lacy could tell you) but it was one of the first outlines I included grey lines (in Goons shirt and the rays in the background). But I was already comfortable with working different line thickness' into the overall piece for definition. Once this healed we started the shading....

A pretty straight forward process, and all the major areas were marked out in the outline, so the shading wasn't too hard as far as I remember. At this point I had already done a good amount of black and grey work, so this wasn't a big deal at all. Still, I love the blacks in the Goons boots.

So then stage four was the main coloring. I focused on the characters as the color choices were pretty straightforward, and for the most part supplied by the existing reference from the comics. Interpreting the skin tones was a trick, my first time having to do that really, and the Goons shirt with those grey lines turned out wicked, i was convinced at that method from then, and started to get into stuff like Anil Gupta's work that has led me to some of the more current stuff I do with no hard lines. Still no where near the skill of Anil, but that guy's been at it 30 years, so I've heard. So with the character elements colored we moved on to the background and finishing this thing!

The tattoo originally was intended to have an explosive feel, something really dynamic and "coming at you" kind of comic flair. so we couldn't do without the Michael Bay explosion background kit. ha! really, the hot colors of the background are what completed the piece, pushing the generally cooler colors of the foreground forward, framing the piece overall and creating a strong sense of action. I especially liked the the flare from Frankie's tommygun reflecting of of Frankie, this seemed to put him behind Goon just a touch, which to me was just right.

There it is, the Goon Tattoo on Lacy from start to finish. After we completed the piece, Lacy sent a pic to Eric Powell where he gave a it thumbs up. If you Google "Goon tattoo" this piece comes up first. so I suppose there is something kinda cool about that.

Thanks all. This was fun, and I shall do it again next week, can't think of who is next yet, but whatever, it all work out.

CBS new interview and also on KTAR

SO I made it on the news with my little qr code tattoo thing. pretty neat actually.
the link to the morning show article is here. and the link to the first segment is here. next is the ktar interview that will air monday during their morning show.

And now there are qr codes that are dynamic, meaning that you can change the destination many times over for the same code. which makes for getting one tattooed a more interactive and exciting idea. so check out flaretag and their qr codes.

Damn.

So. I do not have my photo library with me... it's at the shop. and without that, I haven't been able to put together the first collector showcase.... sucks.

Meh.

Well here are a couple pics till next week. we"ll start the Collector showcase then I guess.

QR code tattoo scannable

The videos that were posted ahead of this tag are clips of me tattooing a qr code that is scannable by a smartphone. the link to the photo of the finished tattoo is here.

Qik - Scanning the finished QR code by Levi Smith

Qik - Finishing the QR code by Levi Smith

Qik - Starting the QR code by Levi Smith

Contacts

Also, follow me on Twitter @levitattoo

and check out my deviant art page: http://maz31.deviantart.com/

finally... a plan.

So it's been quite a week. My mom came down from Montana to visit and meet her granddaughter, Liberty. VERY cool. it was really nice to see my mom. I hadn't seen her in a few years. Now just to get my Dad and Brother to come down, but likely I'll be going up to Montana to see them. Thank you Joyce tho, for bringing my Mom down. that really meant a lot to me.

So. I'm WAY behind on my design work, and will be spending the next two days to get caught up to where I was supposed to be yesterday... but I suppose that will have to be ok.

In the meantime, I've been figuring out what to do with this blog. a way to keep things moving, with a sense of consistency...  so what I will be doing here is posting my tattoo work by collector. I will post images throughout the process (that I have) and add commentary explaining what the collector wanted, what I was thinking, doing, and how I did it for each tattoo. showing photos from beginning to end (or most current stage)

I'll start this next week, but from here I am going to list out the first round of Collectors. these aren't in any particular order, but are selected based on my own opinions about the piece, at the time I choose to post them.

First Round of Collectors are:
Lacy Dean: 1st Goon piece
Jeremiah Kaplan: Werewolf backpiece (done in Whitewolf tradition)
Jeremy Servais: (a)Lady Luck pinup (Jeremy has MANY tattoos by me, so I'll spread those out as separate projects)
Eric Duke: (a)Templar Knight (another collector with lots of tattoos by me, we'll deal with them as separate projects)

so no guarantee on the order I will do these, but the first one will up Sunday or Monday of next week.

Missed Opportunities

Didn't post a blog this sunday. it's been a long few days and my focus has been on Liberty and on finishing tattoo designs that keep piling up. heh. It's a rough life...

anyway, just wanted to post this thing up here. Got most of the hard work done for the new design schemem for The Jade Monkey. so I figure I'll get some other materials prepped, desktop and phone wallpapers and some sticker designs...

Progress

Just getting over being sick, and there is a TON of work to catch up on... new tattoo designs and an album cover for Black Metal Box and got some new tattoos to show off on my facebook page.

I've decided, with some good advice from my friend Kenny, that I will not redo Maze #1 and #2, but just move forward and finish Maze#3, and go on from there. I am still holding out though for and "remaster" when the graphic novel is finished...

Other News: looks like the Jade Monkey site will be going down, just as the Chop Shop Comics site has before it. But with shit like facebook, twitter, and deviant art, I think we wont miss the site for too long (it was a kick ass site tho)

We're doing an Art Show at the Shop Mar 25th. This one will be a much needed refocusing on the Art Show aspect of the party. I personally plan to get started early with some solo acrylic and spray-paint on canvas work and I think I have a few T-shirt Ideas as well.

well. I feel more focused and motivated than I have for at least 4 months... we'll see what I can do with it.

also got another sketchbook in the works, you can find my first one here.

I suppose that's it for now. I hope all the links work, it's easier than reposting stuff on the blog.