This guy got a tattoo of a scene from his childhood. The style is surrealism meets pencil sketching.
When the guy first hunted me out for this project I was not taking new clients. Other tattooers in the area told him so, but he thought I’d make an exception. Note that I’d not been taking new people unless close family of good clients for almost six years. It has only been this last year that I have opened up for new people again.
The reason he thought I’d make an exception is that I knew this scene personally. I was there. I knew his mother. In this picture we see him, he’s sitting in front of a TV which is now dated, but then was the norm. He is playing asteroids, the room is full of smoke, and a tad of color through the bent up venetian blinds shows the cops have arrived in the area, but it is such a normal part of life he’s just continuing with his game. More was discussed, and maybe will happen. I just basically built the scene from the bottom up starting with the smoke, always trying to just slightly twist, distort, and turn the images so it seemed unreal, dreamlike, but still keeping it based in reality because that is how dreams work. True surrealism in execution and intent.
The clients reasons for getting this are his own, so I’ll not discuss, but they were good enough reasons to get me to agree to the piece before I had decided to open up again to new clients.
Anyways, this is a quicky cellphone pic I took of it when he last stopped in for something else. It is a few months old in the picture.
The reason for the weird frame around the pic is I posted it to my Instagram first and they like everything square.
The Punisher (Francis “Frank” Castle) is one of my favorite Marvel characters. Basically, he’s an anti-hero… usually cast as an Italian-American, but not always… hardcore vigilante who employs mega violence to fight crime. This makes him a colossal criminal himself, but… he punishes the guilty. He’s ex-military / ex-cop… got crazy after his wife and kids were killed by the mod and they needed to be punished because the system failed. Sadly because of “woke culture” this cool logo (the tattoo) which has always been the Punisher logo and worn on his chest is no more as of 2022. Marvel has become very woke and into race-baiting and division these last few years. It’s about who’s guilty, it is about skin color to Marvel all of a sudden. Even so, the fans are fans of the old Punisher which existed from the 70s till 2022. He’s violent, he’s bold, he uses guns, and he punishes the guilty.
Obviously a fresh pic. Not local, so don’t expect a healed one for a year or more, depending on when their next tattoo craving hits.
So the client said they wanted this Punisher tattoo, and they had some reference pictures of a specific style of tattoo, and of some Punisher logo looks they liked. They wanted the blended background to resemble diamond plate, but still have the same look as the tattoo style they were showing me. It was the first time ever I’ve had to figure out a mix of diamond plate and the specific graphic style they were wanting. That made it kinda fun to figure out… a simplistic, yet obvious diamond plate that had some tech grunge vibes and didn’t overpower the skull. If you aren’t familiar with diamond plate, just think of the toolboxes you often see in the back of pickup trucks.
Anyways… yeah, that is about it on this one, but wanted to post it because I dig THe Punisher.
In an old lady’s garden where wonders amass, There once grew a bean, an enigma not to surpass, Three loud mouths it possessed, a curious sight, Polite, sarcastic, and rhymes filled to give fright.
The mouth on top spoke with false gentle grace, Words of seeming humorous kindness, a warm embrace, “Good jolly day to you,” it sweetly sang, A melody of manners, with the feel of warmth it rang.
The second mouth down spoke with a twist of wit, Scathing sarcasm flowed from its every bit, Mocking jests, sly piercing remarks it threw, A tongue sharp as blades, cutting you through.
But the third mouth, oh, most peculiar with rhyme, Unleashing words like a reverse twisted mime, Its verses, ghastly, oh, so bad, brought a shiver, A cacophony of rhyming horrors it would deliver.
A bean with three mouths of contrasting strain, Each voice distinct, leaving others in disdain, A symphony of chatter, a curious affair, A blend of politeness, sarcasm, and rhyming scare.
I wish I’d taken a pic before I added Snake Eyes, Casy Jones, Shredder, and Storm Shadow. It was a great stand-alone piece before the additions, but I rarely take pics of my stuff anymore so I forgot. Not that I don’t like the additions, as a matter of fact… Arnold Bernid “Casey” Jones is my favorite character in this lineup. Just as a stand-alone without the additions, it’d have been a sweet pic. Now I must wait until it is all done to get a really sweet pic. My reason for posting it as is… felt I needed to post something, was the last thing I took pics of, and I find the subject matter really fun. I was a big G.I. Joe fan as a kid, and my son was a big TMNT fan, which made me end up being one as well. Anyways…
So this is a pic of where I am at now on the project, we had a break so everything is many months healed out, and just after this pic was taken added outlines of Timber who is the wolf that hangs with Snake Eyes in the G.I. Joe world and a crocodile/Aligator combo critter which in the case of this tattoo kinda has double duty as the alligator with Croc Master in G.I Joe and TMNT character Leatherhead. An interesting thing about this combo look is when the action figure of Croc Master was sold it came with a critter resembling an alligator rather than a croc. Interesting to me anyways.
I know you all want to see the other characters…, maybe when I’m finished I’ll take pics from all angles. As for now, this will have to do.
Yup, and now you can get your very own blah blah blah foxy loxy for your bedroomy or bathroomy or kitcheny or livingroomy or wherevery you wanty by going HERE and spending just a tiny itsy bitsy of your money for the artsy.
Limericks become legit trash poems if you keep going with them as evidence of the above. Considering limericks are trash fun in their simplest form already, I suppose it is best to stick with the 5-line and done rule.
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.
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