Skin and Oil, Art journal of Gifford Kasen

New Blog

2010-12-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

I'm moving this blog over to my website www.futuretellertattoo.com hopefully I'll keep it a little more updated there! Anyways, swing by the new site and check it out if you get a chance.

New artwork

2010-07-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

Finished up some new painting and drawings this week. This first one was a collaborative piece done with Marco Velazquez Mostly oil, but he worked some marker and pencil in there as well.

Next is a smaller one to conclude a series I'm calling "Cyclical"

Should have prints available soon at my website

finally here's a marker and pencil drawing I finally put the finishing touches on

thanks for looking!

New sketchbooks

2010-07-07T13:19:00.001-07:00

Well It's been awhile since I put anything up on here. But I've got exciting news for anyone that's still paying attention. I just put out my first sketchbook. It's a collection of sketches from the past year or so printed up for your enjoyment. Mostly I'll be taking these around to conventions with me, but if you won't have a chance to catch me at any of those and still want a book, visit my website and leave a message on there so I can let you know how to get one. There should be some other sweet items to pick up within the next month or two as well, so I may start an etsy store as well. Anyways here's some pics of the sketchbook, and I'm going to try to keep this a little more updated from now on.

New in progress tattoos

2010-03-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry the updates have been slow, but it's been a busy month. In late febuary I was in Detroit for a convention, and am now PA for the Scranton and Philly show. Andin between it's been exciting new projects almost every day. Whew, well, I think I'm going to have a few days off this week, so I''m going camping in Kentucky for my Birthday. Then it's back on the road. Anyways, here's the pictures.

first is the 2nd session on Daniel's chinese landscape half sleeve. A little out of my box for this one, but I'm really happy with how it's coming along

Next is the second session on Brian's St. Patrick half sleeve.

Then we have a supper fun zombie piece I got to do in Detroit. This is 3/4 of a lower arm.

I've also started half sleeves on some twins, Marcy and Melissa. No, they're not matching, but I'm pretty into how they're coming along.

this is a bio-mech piece outlined by another artist, so I can't take all the credit. Normally I wouldn't post a piece I didn't do completely, but I feel as though this one was in a very beginning stage when I started it, and have been able to make it my own. But, for full disclosures sake, I didn't do the outline.

Lastly we have Rick's tree, done on his leg. We're wrapping it around to the back and adding more color (there's some very muted browns and purples in there)

thanks for looking. More to come soon. Hopefully a painting update next time.

New tattoos

2010-02-23T15:10:00.000-08:00

It's been kind of hectic lately so I haven't had much time for updates. Here's some tattoo projects I've been working on over the last month or so. First up is an Owl piece done at the Orlando Immersed in Ink convention

Next are a couple pieces I got to do at the Tattoo Arts convention in Baltimore.

I got a chance to do some more work on my friend Kassie's arm. We've been working on this arm for a couple years off and on, and it's getting pretty close to being finished

These two are a couple projects I got to start last week in the shop. I did the upper part of the graffiti piece a year ago, and the lettering was done by someone else. So this will bean interesting progression in combining those two pieces into a comprehensive half sleeve.

And lastly is the first session on a project I started to fill in another sleeve with some organic textures, feathers and herbs. I blacked out the parts I haven't done.

thanks for looking.

Color studies

2010-01-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

I just picked up a Wacom tablet this week. A couple of the other artists at Skin Abrasions have been messing around with them so I thought I'd try it out as well. It's an interesting tool to play with, my results with it so far have been mixed between acceptable and mediocre,so obviously there's a learning curve. But I have a few pieces that I posted last week colored in with it so I'm going to post them for your viewing pleasure.
This little guy came out all right, but I'm having a hard time getting rid of that airbrushed look. On top of learning the subtleties of the tablet, I'm having to get better at photoshop and corel painter as well

This next one turned out better and was much quicker. Definitely makes a quick color study easier to do

For this one I took a sketch, repeated it and stretched it to fit on an arm. I want to play around with this sort of thing more because of how helpful it was in laying the design out on the body.

Ok, hopefull ymore to come this week if I have time. I'm going to Orlando on Friday morning for the Immersed in Ink tattoo convention, so things might be a little hectic. As always, thanks for looking.

Sketches

2010-01-15T16:26:00.001-08:00

Here's some more biomech ideas I put together for this week. Primarily sleeve ideas. I'm going to try to come up with a bunch of smaller pieces that can be done in one session in the next week or so. We'll see how it works out, usually I don't think biomech looks very interesting unless it's done on a large scale. But I want to have some sketches ready to do at some upcoming tattoo conventions. Anyways, here's this weeks drawings.

Paintings in the works

2010-01-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

Since the main purpose of this blog is to show the progression of my art, I thought I'd show some recent paintings in various stages. I just finished a class at Vitruvian Studios on the Dead Palette, so these are all based off of that with some minor additions. I took the photos fairly quickly tonight, as most of these are unfinished and will need to be photographed again later. So try to excuse the blurryness.

I'll start from least finished. This is a smaller piece, 5 by 5. I've got two quick sessions on it, it's got another one or two to go.

Next is a slightly larger piece, 6 by 6. It's two longer sessions in, and has another one or two to go, but I'd say is looking close to finished.

Third is a piece I've been working on for a couple months on and off. It's a bit larger so it's taking some time. I'm nearing the end but there's still quite a bit of fine tuning to do. I've been experimenting with some glazing techniques as well with this one, although it doesn't show so well in the photo.

and finally, this is the painting that was done in the class. I'll get better photos once I have a varnish on it and a proper photo setup, But I wanted to something finished in this post.

As always, thanks for looking!

Some tattoos I'd like to do

2010-01-03T22:06:00.000-08:00

In an effort to build my clientele in Chicago, and to push my tattoo vision, I've drawn up a few pieces that I would like to tattoo and am willing to do for next to nothing. I do have some specifications for whom I'll be accepting for this offer. Mainly, you must live in the Chicago area, and be able to explain why you'd be an ideal candidate to help promote me. Shoot me an email on here or at my website www.giffordkasen.com if you're interested and we can go from there. This will be for a limited time only and on a first come first serve basis. The colored pictures are also for sale in case you're interested in them but not sure you want to wear them for the rest of your life. They're 5 by 7 inches, pencil and marker on bristol board.

first is a flower biomech piece, it has more of an organic feel to it. I've included the original sketch so you can see the process in developing the idea

Next is a golden orb cradeled in some organic textures. Once again I've included the original sketch

lastly I have so more sketches that haven't been rendered in color yet, but are still up for grabs.

once again thanks for looking, and I hope to have some tattoo photos of these to show you all soon.

Tattoo weekend in Milwaukee

2009-12-30T08:50:00.001-08:00

I spent a few days after christmas with the family hanging out in Milwaukee and working on some clients. I always get to tattoo some pretty neat stuff when I'm back in the hometown so I thought I'd share some of the more elaborate pieces I'm working on. These are all in progress works in various stages of completion.

First up is Garrett's biomechanical owl sleeve. We've been working on this for awhile and still have a couple sessions to go.

Next is Vince's art nouveau chest piece. The center is a direct reference from the Garland for Mayday print. The trees on the side were drawn on. Some shading and color will be added, but he wants to keep a very simplified print look to it.

Lastly is Robby's biomechanical cityscape arm. I didn't get a chance to work on it this time around, but was able to get some healed photos of the most recent work. This one too has a couple more sessions to go.

thanks for checking it out.

Biomech sketches

2009-12-23T15:13:00.000-08:00

I spent the last couple of days doing some quick biomech color sketches. I tried to stick to the same color scheme throughout the series to give it some cohesion and reallytry to see how the colors work together. I hope to use these as studies in some larger pieces in the near future.

Starting the New Year off early

2009-12-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

In preperation for the coming new year, I've decided to start a blog documenting my progression in tattooing and art, and the adventures it take me on. This will be the first year that I hit the tattoo convention circuit seriously, meaning at least one convention a month. So I look forward to lots of travel adventures and new friends.
It's also the first time since I've started tattooing that I have the time and drive to really delve into other art forms. So I want to show the development in oil painting as well as tattooing, and how they play off eachother. To start this off I'm putting up some recent sketches for some tattoos I'd like to do this year. So enjoy and check back often as I hope to be updating this at least once a week.