Tutti Fucking Fruity Ice Cream cone tattoo done on a cousin of mine as a homage to her father’s humor and their relationship.
Her father (My uncle) passed away and I gotta say this is a great one for him. He was overall one of my favorite people, and also a big stress causer on and off in my life. More than anything he was always there and available to help out and have your back in need though. As a child I found him inspirational and fun. As an adult he was a person who could be counted on in ways most couldn’t. This guy would have driven a hundred miles in the snow if you called him at midnight from on top of a mountain if you’d went in a ditch to pull you out. If the cops had blocked the pass he’d find away around them and deal with the consequences after. Not many like that anymore.
This Tutti Fucking Fruity Ice Cream cone tattoo also features his writing above it.
Yes, those are gummy worms and that is a squashed cigarette. He was an interesting character to say the least.
I was attempting to put a full album together with the theme of personal demons. I have scrapped the album. I worked my way to six songs, but after listening to them all in a row I realized it was more dark than any sort of song collection I’d feel cool with putting out in the world. I’ll still trickle the songs out, darkness is acceptable in smaller doses. Sometimes it even helps people because they can relate. Bundle a bunch together though and the demons can crawl inside other peoples heads and do bad things. Long ago I decided I wanted to be not that sort of artist. Demons – We all have a few, some more than others… and a few of us seem to be created by demons, forged in the fire of betrayals and pain. If you ever wonder who you are, just look at your history. We are the sum of our experiences. Those experiences made you what and who you are. So, I have as late been wrestling with and playing with demons. I say to all… “Let your demons loose.” If you set them free, play with them, wrestle with them, and accept them they will lose much of the power they have over you.
Seven. This is a lyrics video.
Though the lyrics are included in the video (Obviously) I will put them here as well.
Seven Lyrics…
All these years and I still remember like it was yesterday So long ago, nothing close to being grown, years to come for me. But you showed me Before my time You have no idea what it did to me. Trust, Trust me, I did, and as promised, good, but so bad for me. So wrong, but I trusted and you didn’t lie, but oh what you did to me. I still remember like it was yesterday. My most vivid childhood memory. You were the first, but not the last, and no one believed me! Prom queen, so perfect, so beloved, praised by society. With your smile, and your silver tongue but oh, oh, oh what you did to me not just temporarily, but forever you tainted me. Not the last, but the first, and again and again till you became bored of me. and silence, oh silence, I never spoke a word again because nobody believed me. My whole life was changed, because your truths that were lies and what you did to me. Seven. Sixteen. I still remember, remember so vividly. How the years churn the soup of our memories, No need to forgive, didn’t understand yet it’s effect on me. Twenty near thirty never mentioned when you revisited me. Never knew the in between. Never knew my reverie. Seven and still don’t know the effect you had on me. How you tainted me. How I can never be. Seven. I still remember, So vividly.
First the special cool deal for those that just are into the tattoos, and then I’ll tell you why at the end.
Custom tattoos of cartoony skeletons in three size categories at $50, $75, and $100.
$50 ones can be up to 3″x3″ (about the size of a normal coffee cup)
$75 ones can be up to 5″x5″ (about the size of a compact disc or small saucer)
$100 ones can be up to 7″x7″ (about the size of a standard water bottle)
The skeletons can be doing, holding, wearing whatever you please. So if you love chainsaws, have it getting rad with a chainsaw. If you love hippie stuff you can have it wearing a peace shirt. I will limit the customization at these prices though. You can’t turn it into a crazy twenty hour custom piece and get it at these rates.
These little skeletons can go anywhere on the body, but they can’t be placed next to any subpar tattoos you may have. I will be taking a picture and if you have a cruddy tattoo (my discretion) next to it my photo will be annoying rather than pleasing to me. I’m talking about the quality of the tattoo, not subject matter or simplicity.
Appointments must be set up in person or via Facebook only for this one. I am located at 719 S. Laurel in Port Angeles, WA. Consult hours are 10:am till 1:pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. My Tattoo Facebook is located HERE – https://www.facebook.com/redregiontattoos
I am doing the drawings of these little Skeletons as I wish to do them. (see above for examples) If you want this sort of thing in a different look, I’m happy to do it at normal rates. This special deal is because I want the pictures and therefore they must have a certain look.
As a bonus, when you get one of these you’ll get a kinda-sorta limited gift certificate worth twenty five bones towards one of these skeleton tattoos which you can use yourself for another or give away to a friend. Your chef friend probably wants one wearing a chef hat and holding a ladle. I just know they do!
This deal will end when I am over it. Could be quick, could be a while. Artistic ADD guides my projects of the moment. This page will disappear when it is over.
You don’t need to read this for the deal, but for the ones who wonder, this is why I am doing this one.
It all started with these little paintings.
I did one randomly as a doodle type painting. Wasn’t thinking about it much. As I was doing it I started singing to myself in a whisper type of skeleton voice as I imagined it. It was mind clearing. When I was done I liked my little skeleton. I named him Mr. Bone Daddy. I then started doing more paintings, about one every other day. They are only 10″ x 10″ so and take me under an hour, but get my artistic juices flowing. I then decided to record a few goofy Mr. Bone Daddy mini songs, and have since even done a few full length ones. I’m having fun with this. It’s all for fun’s sake. You can get an idea how goofy the music stuff will be HERE if you like on YouTube. Next I started sketching him, and now I am planning to do a bunch of stuff with these cartoony skeletons as the central theme. Wise words and poetic blah blah mostly. I posted the first one on my Instagram if you’d like to look. Not popular, but I liked it. That’s what counts. Also you can get a framed print of the painting I used for an example HERE if you liked it.
My naming him Mr. Bone Daddy was a musical reference. As a cartoonish skeleton you can’t really make it look male or female without adding items to the image that are stereotypically considered man or woman designators. Cartoon skeletons are just skeletons, so if you get a tattoo in this project you can name yours whatever you like.
It’s a random cubist raven tattoo. No particular reason to post it except I thought I should post something for some reason today. This was the first tattoo that popped up in the file I opened. I did a few of these recently. I enjoy them. They look cool, and I dig ravens and crows. Most were about this size, and I drew each on separately so there are no repeats. I’ll maybe do a bunch more.
This is 9″ wide X 12″ high on paper. Painted with acrylic paints. Prints of this Blue Horse painting can be had HERE. Think it is around page 3 or so, I am too lazy to actually go to the site so I’m using that as an excuse to make you look at lots of my art on the way to finding this blue horse painting. It is worth it. I paint some odd stuff. Have fun perusing the Aarron Gallery.
This is a few months old at photo time and I probably shoulda lotioned it before taking the pic. It serves it’s purpose though. Logging Truck obviously, cool one to do. Not very big. Totally liked doing it and glad I got to see the healed version.
No grey washing on this, all was done with a small liner in a pencil and ink style with straight up undiluted ink so it will last till the end of time without blurring out like a lot of washed pieces do after a bunch of years. Not picking on grey washes, I’, usually doing it that way myself day to day, but it gives an artificial appearance of details. This type of tattooing is times taking, looks a bit different, and because it is lacking those washes can’t get all smeared looking. Much prefer this over the other because of that. Washes are quick and easy though. It is also the look most people currently want. I see a F-ton by newer tattooers that are extremely overdone. They have no clue how they will look in twenty years. They will if they keep at it, but if not they’ll just think “I did awesome” while having no clue. I see so many tattoos these days on people under thirty that look like their tattoos are dang near as old as them.
There is a saying may tattooers have that goes “Bold will hold.” There is truth in it, but really what it is we see is that those base lines hold. Doesn’t matter if they are bold. There is no bold here, but it is if ripped apart all lines. Over many years it will soften and fade a bit, but will always remain readable and have detail. The same image treated in the way most blackwork tattooing is done now that is not big and bold would at this point appear more detailed at a glance because of tonal values being used to create the illusion of depth and detail. Over time though as those tattoos age they lose a lot of that and kinda meld together. The grey styles used with just a singular wash and mixed with traditional shading hold better than the ones with multiple wash mixes. You see five different levels instead of just two on the tattooers station you can bet it will be a smear long before it’s time unless it is a tattoo that is also done with very bold lines and low amounts of actual detail. Those lines will hold. It’ll make the rest work. I enjoy tiny detail, and I like thin detailed sketch like lines over the sharpie marker look so many are into currently. I enjoy the use of drawing skills while working. Every detail is drawn in when looking at the above image. No coloring book type shade and fill. It feels rewarding to do a piece in this style.
Drawbacks to this type of work? If a client doesn’t like the feel of line work it sucks. On the other hand some people like that feeling and hate the feel of shading and coloring. Could go either way. It takes more time than doing standard washes of feathering in quick shade. It is tedious so it isn’t quick. That makes it a bit more costly usually. This one for example was a pretty fast one off session, but I could have done two of them in the same time if I’d pulled out a mag and used some watered down ink. It also would have in a ways look more detailed to a majority of people. Ten years from now it’d still look cool. It wouldn’t look like this one will though.
Not dogging on washes btw. I do that style more often. It is the style people want right now. It is good styles change and trends come and go. I’ve worked through a lot of trends. They keep things interesting. This style is more fun for me though. It also calls on those illustration skills. Most tattooing doesn’t.
Anyways, enough blah blah about the style. My next client is also black and grey, but done with no liner, just a mag shader, and washes will be happening. I’ll let him read this if he is into it and we’ll talk about how the two styles differ and the benefits of each in much greater detail than I just did if he’s interested.
Another small 9″ wide x 12″ high cubism inspired animal painting on paper. This one is of my own dog. It’s pseudonym is bubby. That isn’t it’s real name. I don’t call bubby. My wife and my daughter call it that.
You possibly really dig Pit Bulls, and this one is pretty sweet, so maybe you’d dig a print, sticker, or even a greeting card with this image. If so you can get it HERE.
Artistic Flow is my (Aarron Laidig's) personal art blog. This is not my catalog or one of my studio pages.
If you are seeking my art catalog it is located here.
I no longer maintain a section or site devoted to my photography, but if you know my work and wish to inquire please feel free to contact me via my contact form.
