I got started bright and early again. Today I wanted to get through as many client designs as possible before I went to work.

Starting with my warmup. I’m incredibly pleased with my accuracy on this warmup! Daily practice is paying off, I’m developing muscle memory for creating better circles and ellipses.

Next up is a quick design that I’d actually forgotten about. In being a quick-production artist I had to ask myself “what would this look like if it were quick and easy?”
This is going to be a small tattoo, so prep-time needed to be managed. I modified a stock photo, added my own accents, and created the lettering by using a type path in Photoshop.

This was an intimidating design, because it’s a cover-up. But I think I came up with a good solution. I’ll troubleshoot tomorrow if it needs to be worked on some more. I may push this appointment back if I’m not confident that it’ll work.
Two more to design and I’ll be good to go for the week!
I got to start on this tattoo today, as well. I don’t believe my client was quite ready for a piece this size, but she gave it her all and we made it this far into the tattoo. I’ll be rescheduling her to finish it up as soon as the existing tattoo heals. š
I also did two small, simple tattoos at the end of my day that I didn’t get photographs of, but it was on local city government officials, which is always awesome!
What went well?
- Using pomodoro timers to work efficiently — first thing in the morning.
- Being able to coach my client through as much of the tattoo as we managed to get done. š
- TONS of art time, even if it was all work-related art.
What needs work?
- Energy management again. I’m beyond exhausted, I worked late, and I need to sleep.
What did I learn?
That my brain is not made for 12-hour work days.