Crow skull study and dot work

After getting feedback on the type of art to include in a portfolio and after feedback regarding increasing my linework I decided to get some ink, bust out my ink nibs and pens, and mess around. I thought I had drawing nibs but must have lost them so those are on order. In the mean time I used brush work in the crow and tried to keep it loose and simple. I used fine point markers on the dot work, stippling, pointalisim whatever you want to call it. I may hit few spots for contrast and balance but overvall happy enough with it I will include it in the portfolio im putting together. Feedback always welcome!

They look good bro. Keep it up.
Another good thing to keep in your portfolio, is color work. Most people aren't good at "seeing" colors. So if you can see them and put it down on paper itll help you a lot.

KyleBl4ck said:

They look good bro. Keep it up.
Another good thing to keep in your portfolio, is color work. Most people aren't good at "seeing" colors. So if you can see them and put it down on paper itll help you a lot.

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Thanks for that feedback. I was hoping to avoid color work cause it takes so much longer ? and i don't want to really go down the color path until much later in tattooing. Maybe I can get away with it in some skull/rose kind of stuff.

Beirdo said:

Thanks for that feedback. I was hoping to avoid color work cause it takes so much longer ? and i don't want to really go down the color path until much later in tattooing. Maybe I can get away with it in some skull/rose kind of stuff.

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Oh yea for sure, just saying itll help you get an apprenticeship way sooner.
Color work is hot right now.

KyleBl4ck said:

Oh yea for sure, just saying itll help you get an apprenticeship way sooner.
Color work is hot right now.

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Weirdly its not very hot in my area unless it's American Traditional. Either way ill include some just going to be later after I've put some pieces together in styles I enjoy doing. I guess thats part of the process that's confusing. One school of though is to show versatility artistically, show that you can do it all and the other is to show work you enjoy doing and are strongest at - your best work. My personal thought is I dont want anyone putting ink on me in a style they aren't comfortable with or proficient in. Maybe it comes from different shop types? There aren't very many walk in type store fronts here (and the few that are are almost all American Traditional) so its all custom work where maybe its better to show art that would fit a custom shop? Either way ill try to make it as well rounded as possible.

Beirdo said:

so its all custom work where maybe its better to show art that would fit a custom shop?

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Bingo was his name-o? lol.
In my portfolio, I did 1 drawing of each thing Im not comfortable with and like 10 of the ones I excel at.
A good mentor will see which one you're excelling at and either focus on that aspect or tell you to come back when you can do the others.

KyleBl4ck said:

Bingo was his name-o? lol.
In my portfolio, I did 1 drawing of each thing Im not comfortable with and like 10 of the ones I excel at.
A good mentor will see which one you're excelling at and either focus on that aspect or tell you to come back when you can do the others.

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The 2 custom shops I reached out to were the ones that said I should not include work I wasn't comfortable with lol but I'm going to split the difference and do some American Traditional from a nerd lens and some color work. The weird thing is I'm proficient in color I just don't like doing it lol, like almost at all. This is purely lazy, full disclosure. American Traditional it's more of a complete lack of interest (which is where my thought process is that I shouldn't do it - there are plenty of trad artists out there that love doing it and so I don't see the point in forcing it from a style aspect). I'm hoping to find a mentor that will teach me to tattoo and see that I'm on the right track artistically.