Garth, Right Calf, My Crawfish

So, what does a crawfish drink while he composes the next great American novel?

Last week, we discussed and defined three styles of tattoo design: traditional, new-school, and neo-traditional. This week, we are going to look at another neo traditional design by Sizer. I want to take you through the creation of this tattoo—from the first conversation about this tattoo and its inspiration, through the several conversations about its various elements and overall composition, through the actual process, and, finally, to the artist's and patron's response to their work.

The tattoo's inception came from, as they usually do, a combination of ideas: I love my home and will be leaving it in the near future and want something to commemorate it; I love crawfish; and I wanted a strong surreal piece to begin the sleeving of my right leg. If I recall, the first conversation regarding this piece went like this:
"Sizer, I want a crawfish."
"Okay."
"Smoking a cigarette and typing on a typewriter."
"I'm down."

At some point, he commented that he had been thinking of "my crawfish" and he wanted to put a human head on it. "Who's your favorite writer?"

"Vonnegut."
After surveying some pictures of Vonnegut on the internet, Sizer commented, "[Vonnegut] has a great face," and that he wanted to put his head on the crawfish. At the time I agreed. However, over the next few weeks, a few problems with this design began eating at me:

1. Vonnegut is not a southern writer. He's a Hoosier and this fact is revealed several times over several novels.
   
2. Vonnegut, although he writes about using a typewriter, wrote his manuscripts on yellow legal pads.
   
3. I'm inspired by a multitude of writer's (Calvino, Eco, Faulkner, Hemingway, Thompson, Vonnegut, Williams, et al), and this piece and the pieces that will complete the sleeve is about inspiration from my home as well as writers and artists.
   
4. The original vision of this piece was of the crawfish's head smoking a cigarette in front of a typewriter.
   

Eventually, I told Sizer that the Vonnegut head was out. There's a lesson here, you and the artist work together on a tattoo. Unlike other art mediums, you only have one shot at getting a tattoo perfect. If you don't feel like the artist is "getting you," make sure to tell them—you're both human, and language is a difficult medium to reveal your thoughts—your happiness is paramount to their profession and your continuous love of your piece.

A brief note on timing…

It took some time before I was ready to get the tattoo. One thing that anyone would consider when getting a tattoo is the season and their plans. It's summer, and I like to kayak. New tattoos shouldn't get wet for at least two weeks. So, if I was going to get a tattoo, I had better put the paddling/swimming/camping bug to rest for at least two weeks.

Elements…details, details, details

When Sizer began drawing up the piece, we discussed the elements:

1. A red crawfish
   
2. Typewriter being typed on by his small legs—not his claws
   
3. A cigarette in a cigarette holder
   

Regarding the typewriter, I had always imagined him on an old Underwood. I contemplated other designs (the Remington SL3, an Oliver model no. 9, or a Selectric). I decided on the Selectric, because of it's simple design, it's timelessness, and the fact that Thompson and Fitzgerald used one.

The cigarette holder was inspired by two things: Hunter S. Thompson and my penchant to use one while writing in college. The cigarette holder keeps the smoke out of your eyes while your reading, transcribing, or looking down on a keyboard.

While looking at the crawfish's claws, Sizer asked what was in the claws. I had completely forgotten about the claws. He drew the cigarette in one hand and suggested a drink in the other. At that moment, I began searching on the internet for writer's favorite drinks. We agreed that it had to be a dark brown drink (bourbon, whiskey, or rum-based drink.

At one point, Sizer mentioned putting glasses on the crawfish, but decided not to due to the complexity of the piece. "There is already a lot going on in the piece." Speaking of which, here's the original sketch, and the final drawing used to make the stencil.

From twitter

From i hear they're permanent

After the tattoo was completed, I asked Sizer about his experience involving this tattoo and his custom work for clients.

"When are you most happy creating custom work?"

"I like to create art that lends itself to the traditional style of tattoo."

"What qualities do you think that patrons seeking custom art should have?"

"Some flexibility is always nice. The art should have minimum elements. This happens a lot when someone is getting a tattoo for another person. They just want everything associated with that person: a full moon because they asked me to marry them under a full moon; a kayak in the background because they paddled at midnight; and this rock formation, with a wolf on it… I try my best to make clients understand that when it comes to a strong tattoo that less is more.

"Any particular challenges with My Crawfish?"

From i hear they're permanent

"Well, keeping the small legs from crossing, and making them actually being used by the figure as opposed them just being stuck on there."

"We didn't really discuss the color though…aside from the red.

"Yeah, I really didn't want just a giant read crawfish. So I decided to use color to further define the crawfish and push the ascetics of the piece."

"Why the purple?"

"Purple compliments red and gives the tattoo a cool color as opposed to just black or gray."

"And the blue?"

"Blue is a primary color and so it complements the red."

"There is a lot of blue in the piece."

"By coloring the various elements blue, the piece gives the eyes something to do." Notice how your eyes start on the large red claw with the cigarette, move down the curvature of the crawfish, then to the blue in the tail, to the blue metal writing table, the blue in the glass, and then to the blue in the cigarette. The eyes come full circle, and it is this element that makes the object more pleasing to view. As to his ability to ascertain the ascetics of art, Sizer attributes it to his life-long study of art, both formal and informal.

"Being both an artist and a business man, do you find it hard to reconcile the two?"

"It's not about what the artist wants to do—it's about finding the balance. It's your work."

"Well, it's your work as well, though…"

"If I'm not comfortable with the design, then I'll attempt to create it into something that I'm more comfortable with. Should the client not like what I've created, then I'll attempt to compromise. Maybe once every 2 years or so, I just have to tell the client that I'm not the artist for the job—when this has happened, I've been more than happy to refer them to an artist that I thought would fit the design more than me."

"Well, I love my tattoo."

"You're welcome, it was a lot fun."

So, what does a crawfish drink while he composes the next great American novel?

Well, it takes a few drinks to get the old crawfish to begin the ritual before he walks to his writing desk. As he begins staring at the page around brunch, he enjoys a Ramos Gin Fizz. This drink's construction, a ritual all its own, serves not only to loosen the works but to freeze his right claw and agitate his tennis elbow.

At lunch, the humidity and hot sun have set in and our ole' escrevisse's day is just getting started as he cools down with a nice Southern Kick. Having cooled from this libation, he stares at the still blank page, looks at the second cypress knee on the right, and he surveys his years—a state of mind brought on by the measured lines he made with his left claw to measure his son's youth. He thinks on the beautiful and halcyon times. He thinks on dark and tragic ones. He conspires to reconcile the two, and begin his work. He merely needs a nap to incubate the coalescing thoughts.

Just prior to dinner, the swamp begins to cool. He makes himself a Hurricane and this, combined with the inspiration and the heat of the day bring on a second wind—he'll begin writing after a bite.

After dinner, he prepares a Mint Julep, lights a Pall Mall, and begins to write.

And what is our crawfish's opening line?

"C'est vrèman istwa…"

Josh; Left Calf; Devil Reaper Lady

So, Josh calls Sizer and requests "something traditional". Those of you familiar with this term, and if not—stay tuned, know just how large of a scope that this term covers. If one were to tell Sizer that he wants something traditional without any direction then you may end up with a drawing that the artist loves, but you of course wonder, "Is that a punch-line?" As such was his first piece affectionately named by the artist as No Horse-shit Sherlock.

This is the portion of the weekly blog that I will normally be interviewing the customer about the "why" of the desired piece. However, Josh had no story. Lacking a "story" of why he was getting this tattoo creates a challenge for me. When one thinks of tattoo patron and their art, one expects a story. You know, something like this:

I'm getting this parrot on my shoulder because my Dad always wanted a tattoo and he loved pirates...and he was eaten by sharks...while swigging rum from a hip flask bought in our nation's capital and listening to "Margaritaville" in the Caribbean...can we put a monocle on it? I like monocles, and Dad always picked Colonel Mustard when we played Clue.

Alas, no such story exists. So, in light of this, we talked about various tattoo styles and their roots.

Just what does traditional mean?

"Traditional is defined as a two dimensional drawing with heavy shading and well-defined lines and uses various stock imagery and symbols (roses, sparrows, skulls, etc.)." New-school is defined as traditional's opposite wherein the artists broke away from the "traditional" iconography and used three dimensional images, a lack of shading, and, for lack of a better term, lazier or less defined lines.

"And Japanese traditional?"

"It's where it all comes from. During World War II, and well ever since the West was expanding towards the East the sailors would get tattoos." Sailor Jerry Collins and those guys created "western traditional" using the same style but curtailing the iconography from the East (dragons, koi, etc.) to that which has meaning to the patrons. Just type 'Sailor Jerrry' in a Google image search (here's a link for you: here.)

"This piece would be described as..."

"Neo-traditional."

"Neo-traditional?"

Neo-traditional is the bridging of the new school and the traditional. It breaks from traditional in that it does not constrain itself to the classic iconography, but it still maintains the 2-d, well-defined lines, and heavy shading art style.

As we look at the piece, it's easy to see the traditional elements.

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This is the actual drawing that Sizer drew for Josh's approval. Notice the various elements that create a feeling that this tattoo could be considered several tattoos in one. Roses, a scythe, flames, a skull, hot chick with horns—all of these could be tattoos that a patron could, has, and will ask for on any given day of the week. "Yeah, as I drew this I asked myself how many scythes I've drawn in the past. That's the biggest challenge sometimes, how am I going to draw the same thing and make it original as if it's something I've never drawn before. And, that's what makes some of the masters so great; every time they tattoo the same piece it looks fresh and original as if it was created for that particular client."

Interestingly enough, this is well illustrated on the client's right fore-arm: sparrows and roses done by Oliver Peck. The piece's imagery is nothing new: traditional sparrows on a grouping of roses with muted blues, reds, and greens that 'pop' due to the excellent shading of the piece. Despite the fact that you can find a piece like this one on so many different people, the piece summons a sense of constancy and beauty both in its iconography and form which makes it not only a piece worth admiring, but a piece which can be proudly worn on one's sleeve.

Which brings us back to our customers left calf: Josh stares at his new tattoo in the mirror and studies all of the angles that he couldn't see when looking down from the chair. Sizer asks if he's pleased.

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"Oh, wow man." Notice the vibrant orange flames set apart by the red roses. As your eyes drift from the top of the sickle through it's sleek curve down to the strong, yet not overbearing roses. The direction of the orange flames raises our eyes back to the figures head: a beautiful woman, with a strong jaw whose cold stare harkens back to the femme fatales of the film noir genre. She looks up with shame. Her mouth is pursed in astonishment for either her deeds or her nature.

Notice how the heavy shading of the roses make the slight hints of purple and red 'pop' off the skin.

This is the portion wherein I take the figure in the piece and create some kind of fictional universe and an event in which they occur. It's not that Devil Reaper Lady does not deserve a story. I just feel ashamed every time I try.

Join us next week when my Crawfish will finally take shape on my right calf.