Painting Progress, Lessons Learned & Tattoo Sleeves

Me and Sara Jr.  Click this to enlarge. You know you wanna.

I finished the background on my portrait of Sara last night and for the first time ever in my history of background painting, I love it! I usually end up picking something too stark or bright, which ends up taking away from the subject. Like on my portrait of Jordan, I wanted a warm brown fading to black, but it ended up a burnt orange that was WAY too bright. So this time I did some research on how to pick the perfect background. I found that you should choose a color or tone that you've used in the subject, but a toned down, muted version of it. So I chose a few teal hues that were in her eyes and skintone, then muted them down by adding yellow, red and black. Here's what I ended up with! I wanted the painting to have an overall all "cool" feel - like she's an ice princess. Tonight I'll either finish up her halo or get started on her sleeve of tattoos.

The sleeve of tats is going to be hard because of the angle of her body. She is looking up at the viewer and her her back shoulder is on a higher plane than her front. I'm not sure if that really translated in this painting, but I'm hoping the tattoos will clear that up. I also have to finalize my tattoo design that I'm going to put on her arm. I'm wavering between two ideas: 1. An art nouveau, Mucca style tattoo of a woman, much like his painting series of the seasons. 2. An intricate tattoo incorporating classic nautical iconography like a ship and crashing waves and maybe even an octopus reaching up to gobble said ship up. Floating banners and a compass would also be incorporated somewhere. Suggestions or votes on which idea are welcome!

Back to work. Hoodzpah just got a job designing some soft goods for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival and we couldn't be more thrilled. We want to make Robert DeNiro proud so we're wasting no time in getting started!

- Amy

Listening to: JD McPherson's "North Side Gal"

Chillun's Illustrations, Constellation Tattoos & Jimmy Durante

 

I posted some sketches a couple weeks ago from the children's book I'm illustrating for the lovely Blythe Hill. Yes, she's the same Blythe Hill who created Dressember. Good memory! Here are a few more of the final illustrations from the book.

In other news, I had a lot of interest from visitors of this blog about my constellation tattoo series. So we (when I say "we" I don't mean my imaginary friend, I mean my twin sis and Hoodzpah partner in crime, Jennifer) decided to make them into postcard mini-prints. They're 4x6 mini pieces of art that you can give to friends with little notes on the back. It's a print of an original piece of art, signed by me in gold and silver, for purchase for you and yours! The 4 pack of the Bear Constellation is available over on our Hoodzpah Esty shop for just $13.

- Amy
Listening to: "As Time Goes By" by Jimmy Durante. He had the best voice. "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." 

The Lovely Sara Wilkins, New Paintings, & Reasons To Be Thankful

Click to enlarge.

I started sketching out my next few paintings that have been in the queue. The thumbnail sketch above is of the lovely Sara Wilkins. Sara, a former Orange Countian (born and bred too), is now a Portland transplant, but distance has not diminished our friendship. Sara is as good as they come - and somewhat of an anomoly. In the best sense of course. She can be a quiet observer or the life of the party; She can be the thoughtful listener or the fountain of hilarity; She's listening to Etta James one minute and the Kings of Leon the next; She's responsible but watch out when she lets loose; She's the voice of reason but she's also the first to take the plunge; She's the girl you'd take home to mom but she's also got a delightfully irreverent wild side; She'll chase you around a public parking lot when you're feeling "blah" but she can also play it cool as your escort to the local show; She's got clear opinions but she's incredibly open minded. It's all of these interesting and unique qualities that made me realize she was the perfect candidate for my Beatniks, Bastards, Saints series. Oh yeah, and the fact that she's a FOX. 


Below is the drawing on the wood - which is my least favorite part of a painting. Sketching it out. Especially doing it twice (once on paper and once on wood). This painting is even bigger than the one I did of Jordan (subject-wise, the board is the same size) and I'm finding it's hard to draw large scale. You're looking at a photo that is 5-6 times smaller as a reference. It's tough. But I want this one to be big because I'm going to give her an amazingly intricate halo. Plus I want to see how big I can go with the subjects before it just get's ridiculous. Next step, mix up a skintone for her (I'm using acrylics and I only like having to mix up the color once so I mix a big batch and save it in an air-tight container) and get painting! Now that I'm self-employed I can work on my paintings during the day in natural sunlight (as opposed to my prior night-owl habits when I had a 9-5 for "the man"). Not only that, I'm wrapping up a ton of projects so I can just paint my little heart out for the next day or so till the deadlines start looming again. Couldn't be happier that Hoodzpah is sustaining us and letting us flourish artistically. And really that success is owing mostly to our - for lack of a better, more original word - amazing friends. Pretty much everyone we work with is a friend or was referred by one of our lovely friends. On that thankful/reflective note, goodnight all. 


- Amy 
Listening to: Nada Surf's "Inside of Love"

Click to enlarge.

Shakas, Tattoo Illustrations, & My Adventures As An Amateur Surfer

[ Shaka X-mas Illustration. ©Amy Hood ]

I've been doing a lot of sketching lately for various projects. It's been fun dusting off the old pen and pad! Here's one I really want to rework and smooth the wrinkles on. It's a rough sketch for a Holiday Guide Jen and I are designing for LOCALE magazine. We were trying to think of clever ideas to depict just how unique Christmas in SoCal is since it's sunny and people are surfing instead of scraping ice off their frozen windshields. After watching the Billabong Pro Tahiti all this week, I thought it might be fun to draw a hand throwing up a shaka with tattoos spelling out our title. 

By the way, working while watching LIVE surf competitions is great. I've always been intrigued by surfing. I grew up in "Surf City" Huntington Beach (well there's a debate on that isn't there?) as well as San Clemente, so a lot of my dear friends take part in the pasttime frequently -  and to much enjoyment. I even got thrown into the industry a tiny bit through a friend who brought me on for design work on a couple projects for some action-sports-centric companies. But I was always very confused on it all still: The names of the moves, the lingo, where to go, how to do it, how it's judged professionally. It was all shrouded in a thick cloud of mystery.

I learned all the rules and nooks and crannies of basketball by listening to commentators call the game and now I plan to do the same for surfing. After listening to some of the LIVE webcasts for this years World Tour I'm finally starting to get my footing. Not literally of course. I got my surfboard out of the garage the other day and took it down to Riviera Beach in San Clemente with my friend (and great surfer) Katie Hanten; I can hardly say I had my footing out there that day, but it was the first of many trips. Watching the Billabong Pro Tahiti may help though. After watching the likes of Josh Kerr, Jeremy Flores, Kelly Slater and Owen Wright tear it up  at "Chopes" (what they call Teahupoo apparently - see I'm picking up the lingo too!), not to mention the mini-clips in dedication to the late great Andy Irons and his fearlessness AND the crazy tow-in session (woah), maybe inspiration will strike out in the water for me next time and it'll all just click. Even if it doesn't, I'm gonna keep on trying because it just looks like a blast and even though I'm terrible, I'm already having so much fun just being out there. The only downside: I feel like I may be growing pectorals. From all the paddling. I really don't want pectorals.

- Amy
Listening to: "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid Soundtrack. Disney music is really good to work to actually! 

The Beatniks, The Bastards, & The Saints: Jordan Sabolick

 [ "The Beatniks, The Bastards, & The Saints: Jordan Sabolick." 32"x24". Acrylic on wood. ]

It is finished. 

You can all heave a sigh of relief. You will no longer be wearied with posts about the crawling progress of my painting of Jordan and the many woes and setbacks therein involved, because it is finished. And I love it. Well, as much as a person can be in love with a piece of plywood covered in paint and gold leaf. I was really stoked on it after I finished all of Jordan's face, but it was touch-and-go there as to whether I ruined it after I finished the shirt... and then again after the background... and then again with the halo. But all was recovered in the end and all the mistakes blended together into something grand.

This was my first painting on wood and it's the biggest I've done yet. The wood was much smoother than canvas making it easier to get fine detail. Working larger scale also made it easier to really get all the nooks and crannies in there (I got every freckle, Jordan... Every. One.). Now I'm pumped up to start my next one! I'm either going to start on one of my Frenchie friends who visited last summer - a dapper group of chaps who all lead lives of adventure and intrigue (one is a med school dropout turned professional poker player, one is a professional Street Fighter player, and the other is my old friend from highschool who studies abroad in foreign countries and is starting his own shoe company). They really embodied the spirit of my series and it would be fun to do a painting featuring multiple subjects. It's either that, or I've found my first female subjects for my series! 

Meet Jordan Sabolick - the man, the myth.

Many of you know my severity upon my own sex (refer here for my schpeel), so it was hard for me to think of women who had the look and personality I wanted to portray. Then I realized I had the answer right under my nose - I just couldn't see the forest for the trees. (Enough analogies? Did I even use that last one correctly?) I'm proud to announce that one of my first female muses will be my dear, dear friend, the lovely and talented Sara Wilkins. She's been talking about getting a full sleeve for as long as I've known her, so we're going to paint her with one and let her live vicariously through the painting while she continues to mull it over.

Enough yammering. Below are some shots of the final piece. A big shout out to my friend Jordo (see left) for letting me paint his mug! And also, as cheesy as it is, thanks to everyone who's supported/critiqued/encouraged me along the way. It was so helpful (and encouraging) getting everyone's feedback as I posted progress shots on facebook and instagram. We artists are fickle folk, in constant need of feedback, and I know I never would have finished this monster if I hadn't had all that positive feedback. 

- Amy
Listening to: "Broken Throat" by Adam Arcuragi

 [ Left: My workstation shelfs. Right: Jordan Pre-halo. ]

 

 [ Left: My halo stencil: a saucepan lid. Legit. Right: Jordan Post-halo. At first I was really frustrated because the halo was too small, but after walking away and some positive feedback from friends I realized "go big or go home" and I just went all out on the halo. Seen next photo. ]

 [ Giant, sunray halo bursts. ]

 [ Left: Detail shot of the shirt. It always amazes me when you look really closely at a painting and it's really just a bunch of blobs and shapes. Right: Detail shot of my signature. I never do the same signature twice. This probably isn't a good thing. ]

 [ Detail shot of Jordo's face. ]

Awesome Tattoos, Hoarders, & The Ramblings of A Tired, Buzzed, White Girl

I found this photo on Pintrest today. Yes, I am a proud new member of Pintrest.com. I actually discovered it because people were pinning my Constellation Tattoo Posters on their pintrest boards. Pretty cool, eh? It's a great way to store ideas and inspiration! My "Inspiration Folder" on my mac is so unorganized and cluttered. It's worse than an episode of Hoarders in there. Pintrest is like hiring an organizing specialist... or one of those people who redoes your closet.

Crap. I just broke a nail trying to open my giant Redvines container. #WhiteGirlProblems
I digress.

Anyways... Pintrest is awesome. And I found this amazing photo of a sleeve. I cannot for the life of me find the tattoo artist. One of the downfalls of sites like tumblr and pintrest is that crediting authors/artists rarely happens correctly. I google searched my heart out to try and find the tattoo artist so that I could credit his fine work. But, alas, to no avail.

Oh wow. Demi Lovato just came up on my iTunes shuffle.
#Shame #WhenGoodPeopleListenToBadMusic #ItsTooDamnCatchy #WhiteGirlProblems
I digress yet again.
[Note to self: Never blog when groggy and at the bottom of your glass of vodka-and-mango/pineapple-juice.]

To wrap up this horribly dishevelled and unorganized blog (another metaphor for my inspiration folder? Bringin' it full circle, baby), this tattoo is amazing and it makes me want to get more, against my better judgment. I really think I will try and pick up tattooing. I think I might make a good tattoo artist.

- Amy
Listening to: Le Blorr's "Boy You Need Jesus" (To redeem me from the Demi Lovato reference.)

The History of Danish Tattooing, Jon Nordstrom, & My Dream of Becoming The Ultimate Cocktail Party Date

[Fig. 1: Danish Tattooing by Jon Nordstrom.]



INSPIRATION OF THE DAY: Danish Tattooing

I found this rad video on Cool Hunting. I am extremely intrigued by tattoos and especially the history of tattooing. Today it is much more socially acceptable to have tattoos. Heidi Klum has one for heaven's sake. It's almost more strange nowadays NOT to have some ink. Which is why it's so much more interesting to me to learn about the eclectic group of misfits on the fringe of society who got tats way back when. 

The guy in the video is Jon Nordstrøm, author of Danish Tattooing [see Fig. 1], which has just been added to my wish list. It's chock full of anecdotes, facts, and photos old and new chronicling the rich history of the tattooing subculture in Copenhagen. The video above is just a brief glimpse of the Danes and tattoos, so I'd really like to get the book for some new pre-pillow time reading. I'm on my third read of Sherlock Holmes, so I'd say I need some new material for my meager (it's about quality not quantity folks) library. Not only that, but it will give me just another near-useless-but-totally-interesting set of facts to throw out when conversation wains thin at the next social gathering I show my face at. I'm damned and determined to become the greatest living cocktail party date candidate through my plethora of random pop/counter culture knowledge. I don't think anyone loves a good meat and cheese platter as much as this girl.

- Amy

Listening to: Sonny and The Sunsets' "Too Young To Burn" (Finders fee to Chris Steblay.)

LA Art Shows, Scott Pommier, and Stacie B. London

I really want to go to this show. It's called Shutter Speed and it's being put on by The Selvedge Yard (one of my all time favorite blogs) and is featuring some rad photos by Scott Pommier, an amazing photographer. It's going to be here in LA, so I really have to try to make it out; leave my Orange County bubble for a night and enjoy our neighbor to the north, L.A. The show will also feature biker babe Stacie B. London. Stacie is an exhibition production coordinator at MOCA in LA where I saw the Dennis Hopper photo exhibit, "Double Standard", earlier this year. She is also the founder of East Side Moto Babes, an all girls moto club. I want to be in a biker club so bad. Cycle Zombies, East Side Moto, The Outlaws, whoever! Maybe I can pull a Hunter S. Thompson/Danny Lyon and just travel around with them and document their vagabond ways seeing as I can't ride a motorcycle. Hopefully someone will let me ride bitch.


SHUTTER SPEED 
Saturday March 26th, 7-11pm
@Secret Service LA
710 Santa Fe Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90021


To get you pumped, here are some of Scott's great photos. You can find more at his website here.

- Amy
Listening to: Social Distortion's "Don't Take Me For Granted"

Inspiration of the Day: Nolan Hall, More Cheesy Metaphors, & A Little Richard Hawley

[ ©Nolan Hall ]

INSPIRATION OF THE DAY: Nolan Hall

Nolan Hall is one of my favorite photographers. He's up there with Kyle Lightner. And like Mr. Lightner, he has an innate ability to capture that Southern California joie de vivre within a 35 mm frame like Jim Croce captured time in a bottle.  Cheesy metaphor. Forgive me. Especially when speaking of such bad ass, gritty photos as these. 

I have yet to meet the man in person, but via social media I've come to know this kid, and I'm pretty sure he might be omnipotent. Nolan Hall is everywhere and knows everyone. The former member of the Japanese Motors photographs famous surfers, skaters, musicians, models and more; He works with the likes of Vans and RVCA; I even found him amidst the pages of my Spin Magazine one time in a two page spread photo with Modest Mouse (see Fig. 1: He's the very tall gentleman in the Captain's hat). Hat's off to you Mr. Hall. You're clearly doin' things right. Check out some of my favorite photos by the OC native below, and don't forget to head over to his blog to further stimulate your eyeballs.

-Amy

Listening to: Richard Hawley's "Tonight The Streets Are Ours"

[ Fig. 1: Nolan Hall in my Spin Magazine with Modest Mouse. Livin' the dream, Nolan. Livin' the dream.]

[ Alex Kopps and boards. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Alex Knost (former singer of Japanese Motors). ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Black Lips. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Christian Fletcher. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ CJ Nelson. ©Nolan Hall ]

[The Fuck Yeah Fest. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Keegan Sauder. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Matt Archibald. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Austin Stephens. ©Nolan Hall ]

[ Tyler Warren. ©Nolan Hall ]

Mustachioed Men, Time Warps, and Old Man Crushes

[Fig. 1: via The Sartorialist. ]

5 Things:

1. I hope to have an old man boyfriend like this  [Fig. 1] one day. 
2. He looks like a British Naval officer who's ship got stuck in a time/space warp that teleported and dropped him in the middle of a London rock n' roll club where he asked some punk rock kid to borrow some pants and Doc Martins. Which is a good thing.
3. He also sort of looks like the captain from King Kong, who I also have an old-man crush on.
4. He has great follicle fortitude, much like these rad posters [Fig. 2] I found on one of my favorite design blogs designworklife.com. They were done by AIGA for a show called Full Bleed.
5. He and the posters both remind me of the art and tattoo work of Ricardo Cavolo. He does a lot with carnies and mustachioed men.

Cheers,

Amy

Listening to: Jamie Cullum's "Gran Torino"

[Fig. 2]