Apprentice Flash Sheets

Here are the flash sheets I had to draw during my apprenticeship, I still like them. I just stuck to a lot of simple, traditional looking images. I'd still like to do a few of these tattoos if anyone is interested, its always fun doing something you made yourself. Here you go!

Some cowboys & indians

Satanic stuff

Pirates & sharks!

Thats about it, I've got a closet full of sketches at home that I need to do something with. Maybe I'll start working on more flash soon. Post again soon,

- Nick

Monkey Business

So, this weekend was pretty eventful. I did a lot of small tattoos, but one that really struck me as cool was for a lady who wanted to cover up some veins she didn't like on her leg. She said she wanted some sort of flower over it, so I sat down at the drawing table for a few minutes and sketched out a nice Lily-esque flower. She told me that it was exactly what she wanted, so we proceeded to the actual tattooing. The whole time I'm tattooing her she can't see what I'm working on from how she was laying, there were a couple of times we stopped and she could take a look. 

I really wanted to pound in a lot of color into this tattoo, so we took a lot longer than I imagined it would, but in the end the color turned out very vibrant and solid. I wish I had a better camera right now, the pink in the petals looked great and blended right into her skin tone. I'd really like to get a picture of this tattoo completely healed. Anyways, we finally finished the tattoo and she was overwhelmed with it. Its always great when the client adores the tattoo you've given them. She was great. It was a nice chance to play with some color and do a fun tattoo. Other than that this week I took some pictures of a drawing I did that I thought someone may like. Just a tribute to good ol' evolution! Cheers!

Oooo-Oooo-Ah-Ah!

Guns and Snakes and Philly Cheesesteaks!

This is a continuation of the Cobra & Roses piece I did for Ryan. He came to me wanting to do a Derringer, sitting in a bed of roses to complete the inside of his arm. We sat for a good session on Saturday and got the line work all out of the way. We took a break and got some Philly Cheesesteaks from Penn Station which was awesome, but then decided to shade another day. Shading this one is going to be fun, there are lots of places to study reflections on the Derringer itself. This is kind of a bad photo, but I'll be posting more soon.

Here is the first piece we did to give you some reference on what we were working with.

The original drawing. What we did is I took a tracing of the open space he wanted filled, from there I drew the gun to fit and flow with the rest of his work.

And here is the line work from Saturday. It looks like we got a lot of it filled in, although he's talking about bringing this down to a 3/4 sleeve, which i would love to do as well. I'll be sure to post more pics of this as it evolves. I would like to get some photos of the tattooing process and prep-work as well, we'll see what we can do.

Cowboys & Indians

Here is a tattoo I have been looking forward to doing for a couple of years now. I drew up this design and ended up working on it at my good friend Jon's house as we watched television. He ended up wanting to get the design and waited for me to go through my apprenticeship so that I could be the one to do it. We just started this so all you see is line work now, I can't wait to start on some color though. 

We decided a nice thick outline would look best for this tattoo. I'm pretty happy with it so far, as I said I can't wait to shade this piece. Here is an example of what's to come with this tattoo...

So that should give you an idea of where we are going with this. Thinking about possibly doing some shading behind the skulls as well. Regardless, one fun tattoo for me.

A Bit of History...

Hey all,

My name is Nick Alcorn and this is a sort of visual diary to my tattooing. I've just finished my apprenticeship at Skincraft Tattoo & Piercing under a great artist by the name of Stephen Kenny. Although the apprenticeship is complete, There is still a lot for me to learn and develop in the art of tattooing. That is why I have set up this visual diary, to study my work chronologically. 

I started at Skincraft in January of 2006 as a counter worker as I was near in completing college at the Art Institute of Cincinnati. After Graduating (and throughout most of my schooling) I focused on tattooing as the form of art I wanted to pursue. I've met some great artists working here, although Steve picked me up and showed me the basics. He would show me how a tattoo machine works, and how the tattoo is performed. Eventually he offered to take me on as his apprentice, and from there on out I have studied under him. Apprenticing was a blast! There was so much I never knew, and grew to respect about tattooing. It really is an art of its own. I am continually learning more and more, and that is what keeps this job so interesting, there is always the opportunity to do better. 

From time to time I will post new and interesting pieces, from prep work to the finished product. I'll start with a few black & gray pieces I did in March of 2009. 

This is a custom piece i did in March of 2009 on my friend Joe. This was actually one of the first wrapping tattoos I had ever done. We stayed about two hours later than I thought it would take us. so thanks for sitting still Joe!

This is another custom piece I drew up and tattooed on my friend Ryan. This guy gave me a chance way before a lot of people and wanted me to tattoo this huge piece early on. To be quite honest, this tattoo scared the shit out of me when we started, but it's probably earned me more business than any tattoo I've done yet.

Here is a chest piece we began in March of 2009. It took a couple of sessions, but is a very interesting piece to build a portfolio on. Jeff and I sat and talked for a while about this tattoo until he finally decided on this. From there I drew it up and we set a date. Jeff is another guy who let me perform some crazy stuff early on.