Tattoo Portfolio - Micah
Tattoo Portfolio - Micah
Drawing and creating, has filled over 90% of my earliest memories. Whether it be small crafts or what I considered humongous paintings, my family always encouraged me to keep creating, especially my grandmother. My grandmother and I were remarkably close, she is the reason I began and continued to create art. Before I began my journey through Propel, I found myself stuck in an artistic rut. It felt difficult to bring myself to create anything, and when I did it only ended up making me feel worse. This is because in my mind, I believed that I was only creating for the sake of other people. When I was selected and accepted into the program, I started to recognize that I applied to Propel for myself and my own benefit. After realizing this, it inspired me to revolve everything I create around the theme ‘personal perception.’ All of the art I created this semester would be based on various elements such as self-image, personal growth, trauma, memories, and development.
My plan for the semester was to create a tattoo design portfolio consisting of thirteen designs. Alongside my portfolio, I concluded that I wanted to make a process portfolio so I could document how much I developed my art over the course of the next 20 weeks (about 4 and a half months). Furthermore, I made the decision to contact several local tattoo artists in hopes of scheduling a shadowing appointment. Shadowing an artist is when someone comes into the tattoo parlour accompanied by the artist and the client to observe the tattoo session first-hand. Finally, it was suggested that I work with one or more students to create collaborative pieces of art. This was useful to me because prior to Propel I have struggled heavily with social interactions and exchanging conversations with others. As a tattoo artist, it would be difficult to work with clients if I could not exchange conversation or properly convey and incorporate various ideas with them.
As I mentioned previously, completing art was a challenge for me. The thought of taking the time to ink, colour, and shade a piece of art stressed me out, it caused me to feel drained and exhausted when I created anything. In order to overcome this, I had to push myself to face it head on, I challenged myself to focus on each piece until it was complete without procrastinating or trailing off into another project. This has benefitted me in more than just one way. It has increased my concentration and ability to focus on a task along with continuously working for extended periods of time.
Apart from the inconveniences I experienced, a majority of the work I did was often completed without trouble or problems that occurred along the way. Especially closer to the end of the semester I noticed that I was producing designs faster, sometimes I would be able to complete two or three individual designs within the span of one school day. As I developed my artistic style further, it became easier for me to produce designs, I used various tools such as Gantt charts, task boards, and vision boards I personalized to assist me in my process of creating art.
Something I established from the very beginning and have continued to use throughout the semester was my workflow. This has aided me with consistently producing my designs along with meeting other deadlines for homework or collaborative projects. My workflow begins with gathering various references and brainstorming potential themes. Secondly, I draft several designs and receive feedback regarding which I should pursue. Afterwards I begin the good copy of the design, it starts with a sketch, then comes basic line-art. Once the base of the design is complete, I add various shading techniques including hatching, blackout shading, and cell shading. After I have finalized the shading I go over the outer rim of the line-art once more in order to thicken it where I desire.
