808 iD: July 2011

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Mash up

808 iD's goal has always been to merge the two dominant ethnicities in Hawaii, Hawaiian and Japanese, and bring them together as cohesive entities. I've finished one particular piece recently that matches displays that description. My boy Kyle from back in boy scout days wanted an ulua tattoo on his chest with some polynesian designs as well as his mon(family crest) with in it. I was pretty stoked from the get go although I did get a little nervous when I was drawing the design on to his chest and his girlfriend was like "umm can you fix the shape of the head to make it look more ulua like?" If I were a fisherman like Kyle, she'd definitely be a keep!
There is also Justin's back piece that I've been working on for a couple weeks that is another great example of blending ethnic backgrounds. On one side we have the sun from the legends of the demi-god Maui. within the sun we have two halves of the face, one in a polynesian style and the other representative of a kabuki painted face. Next step is to add the imperial sun and the great wave to tie in the kanji.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Repeat offenders

Tattoos have always worked in trends. Back in the day it was all about fairies, unicorns, barbwire, and tribal bands everywhere. Now days, it seems that the trends are sleeves and feet for girls. I know I've done my fair share of both.

What the H i've been up to

So I realized that I have a really bad problem, I am a chronic blog neglector. So just to let you all know I'm not dead, here's a couple updates for y'all.

First of all, it's SUMMER TIME! which means vacations and a lot more tattoos. Trip number one was to Ohau. Restocked on swag and finished my cousin Josh's leg up. Also, got to see Kung Fu Panda 2, best movie I've seen so far this summer(better than transformers 3 in my opinion)

My Second trip was to Northridge, CA where I accompanied THE Tricia Allen as her assistant. Although I only did one tattoo on braddah Dan O. it was well worth the cost of flying just in experience gained. I got my ass whooped in hygiene and I got a lesson in the tools of the trade.

After 3 weeks of going here and there with my Oahu trip and then my california trip, I was itching so bad to come home and tattoo...So I did, and I did it big!

I guess my friends in Hilo wanted to get tattooed just as much as I wanted to tattoo which led to two full weeks booked solid. I did everything from polynesian hip pieces to script to asian, and even a filipino inspired arm sleeve. Much mahalo to all of my clients both new and returning, you guys are awesome!

In closing I'd just like to announce that starting August 18th, my new residence during the school the 2011-2012 school year will be in Frear Hall on Oahu at Manoa. Haven't quite figured out how or if I'm gonna be able to tattoo out of my dorm room yet but rest assured my machines will be with me.

Enough talk, enjoy some pictures.