Candy commented on Jailbird's Facebook page, saying, "Such a talent! Do you know how long your brother typically works on a piece such as this?"
Mike replies:
"Candy, I'm glad you’re diggin’ my art. Pretty wild stuff. Many times when I finish one, I sit back and marvel - I did that? Before I came to prison, I had no idea I could draw.
My first drawings were done in pencil. Then I began to tattoo. I got in some trouble for tattooing and at that time tried to use a pen to draw. I want to tattoo when I get out, and a pen is the best practice for that. You can’t erase ink pen. You can’t look at anything you do as a mistake. Instead, you work with every mark you make. Same with a tattoo machine; No mistakes, just marks you work with.
Two of my best pieces - “Trippin” and “Biker Boy” are full of 'mistakes,’ if you will, but it’s what I did with those mistakes that make the pieces perhaps the raddest pieces I’ve done so far (I’ll be damned - almost sounds like a life lesson in there!)
“Biker Boy” was done in 12 hours and half an ink pen later. I saw that complete picture in my head, so all I had to do was duplicate that on paper. “Trippin” was different. I created Trippin’ as I drew. I knew the story I wanted to tell, but I didn’t see the picture at first. Trippin took me nearly three weeks to complete - about 18 hours - and over half an ink pen.
I use circles. Tiny circles, because I can control the flow of ink better. I draw like people tattoo. I sit back and study where shading needs to go. I’m working on 3-Dimensional shading - positive and negative shading - and my own freestyle. I learn as I go. Every piece tells a story. So personally, I like them all. I’m happy to hear you enjoy them as well. Thank you Candy!"
1 comment:
Thanks for all the detail about creating your works of art, JJ. The shading is amazing and considering it's all done with ink just makes it that much more amazing. When you say you make little circles, do you mean that when we see what seemingly looks as if it's a solid color, it is actually full of little tiny circles? Excuse my ignorance, but the first thing that came to my mind when I read your description is the pointillism technique. Is that much like what you're describing? I have an amazing pointillism portrait of my two older sons when they were just little guys. It was done by an employee of my husband's at the time. Um ... an employee at the time, I still have my same husband. lol Anyway, thank you again for such a detailed answer to my question. I love your artwork. And yes, I think you did hit upon a life lesson whilst talking about your "mistakes" in your work. :)
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