Kat Johnston

Tag: tattoo

  • Announcement: Oh. My. God. My Zombie Jeebus is a tattoo. A real one!

    Kat Johnston: My Zombie Jeebus is a tattoo! A real tattoo on a real person! Thanks, David, for getting this done - I'm stoked.

    I was contacted just a few days back with a request:

    “Kat – would you be OK with me getting a tattoo of your Zombie Jeebus. I know it is unlikely you would ever find out but I would feel shitty if I got it done without at least asking permission from the artist!”

    My response was an instant ‘Hell Yeah!’ quickly followed by a ‘But please send me a picture so I can put it up on the site, ok? I wanna see it!’

    Talk about being stoked – I love my Zombie Jeebus, and the fact that someone would want him on them for life is just awesome to me.

    Well, a few days have passed, and David (hope you don’t mind that I’ve used your first name here) has gotten tattooed – apparently this was the quickest he’s ever gone between seeing something, immediately knowing he wanted it as a tattoo, and getting it done. I’m really flattered.

    Just in case you’ve come in late and want to see the originals, Zombie Jeebus was first found in the post ‘Zombie Jeebus wants You!‘ then quickly followed up with a touch of colour in “What to do if faced with a Zombie Jeebus‘. The tattooist did a great job of converting it to ink on flesh, don’t you think?

    Thanks for asking to get Zombie Jeebus as a tattoo, David. Your email with the photo of the finished tattoo today just made my day.

  • Body Art: Feeling a little koi.

    Kat Johnston Body Art: I’m feeling a little koi today with this sharpie marker tattoo!

    Last night I had someone over wanting an image of a koi, and this is what I came up with! I’m rather happy with the overall result. It would have been somewhat better if my fine black pen didn’t keep conking out on me every 2 seconds as I approached the end of the drawing (which is what accounts for some of the the shoddy outlining on the waters), but still, it isn’t all that bad. I think I might have to introduce a round of something to clear the skin of any residual oiliness before beginning my work next time, for any larger images.

    Some days I wish that sharpies worked a bit more like other media – paint, pencils… even biros. The inability to build up some shading did result in the fish looking as if it is simply ‘sitting’ on top of the water – well… that and my distraction here and there. I did have some tendrils of water snaking across the body, but they kinda got drowned out because I lost my lines when I was going over the top with the darker shades and outlining. But no matter! I shall remember that more for next time.

    The other thing I would love to have is a blending base. At the moment, I have about three shades which work well as a blending base, but all three are in the warmer area of the spectrum. I’m not sure what anyone else would call them, but I am referring to the colours which blend well into the skin while also having the ability to ‘pick up’ the other colours and apply them evenly, with an effective gradient from a strong colour into almost-skin shade. Anyhow, it is something for me to look into. I’ll see what I can find!

  • Body Art: Something a little bit bitter.

    Kat Johnston: Ain’t no party like a lemon party.

    There was a get-together on Saturday night, featuring a few old friends, and a few new. The ever charming Jaki (a friend of mine with a near psychotic obsession with Hello Kitty) proceeded to very thoroughly freak out one of the new crew by consuming a lemon wedge… rind, pith and all.

    Anyhow, the new addition to our little group had to scoot home early for some reason or another (possibly a made-up excuse to escape having to witness a lemon being decimated by a perky, Hello Kitty loving geek), but we continued on with the evening back at home… where I was promptly asked to fetch out my sharpie markers and draw a lemon for someone to ‘bite’, so that we could send a picture on! Anyhow, this was the result.

    Lovingly rendered, taking way too long because my thin black sharpie is all but run out (side note: really must replace that soon) and under the stress of having a canvas that moves too much because she was laughing and conversing as if there wasn’t someone on her back trying to draw a smooth line or shade carefully, it nonetheless turned out not too bad.

    I think I have to do some more of these little ‘temporary sharpie tattoos’ some more in the near future. They are, after all, incredibly fun to do, even if they are a little labor intensive for the amount of detail I tend to want to throw into them. Anyone in the Brisbane area want me to draw pretty things on them?

  • Body Art: seems I’m drawing a lot of dragons lately…

    Kat Johnston body art: Yay! Another dragon… and this time he’s green. Phew!

    Another day, another dragon, on another person’s arm. It seems that dragons are well requested within my little circle of friends… that said, this dragon wasn’t actually ‘requested’ so much as ‘drawn because I knew that it would tickle this person’s fancy’. The background then came later, once I’d had a bit of a break. By the time it was done, at least she’d started actually sitting (or laying, rather) still.

    Sorry that there was no posting over the weekend – it’s been a bit busy, of late, so doing posts for here wasn’t exactly top top priority. No matter though – I’m back at it today. And that is what matters, when all is said and done!

    So, anyhow, not much actual news to add here. There’s nothing especially interesting or fascinating going on in the world of Kat, just the regular ole day to day stuff that requires doing. Speaking of which… time to get back to work. Talk later, everybody!

  • Body Art: A clockwork orange… dragon?

    Kat Johnston Body Art: A clockwork orange dragon… his name is Clarence!

    I have been having so much fun doing these ‘faux-tattoos’ recently. I’ve decided that coloured sharpie markers are the bomb. This one was done last night on a friend I had over for dinner. We had tasty, hearty stew with mashed potatoes. Isn’t that just the best type of meal for these cool winter nights?

    Anyhow, I asked her what she would like drawn on her, and her answer was a clockwork flower dragon. While I could have gone the way of creating one composed entirely of mechanical parts, I just didn’t feel quite like that… so we met half-way! Oh, and when deciding on a name, I picked Clarence. It’s such a gentlemanly name for a dragon such as this, don’t you think? Given a bit more time, I probably would have added just a tiny touch of colour around the outline to make it ‘pop’ from the skin a touch more, or a little more detail… but since it was already pushing 11, I just had to get done. I am very, very happy with the results.

    I think I’m really starting to get the hang of working with these markers on people – I’m getting decently gradated shading, and becoming more confident with my lines, though some people really should stop moving when I draw on them… yes, I’m looking at you, miss! And now I’ve started formulating another awesome idea, for my next venture into the joys of drawing on people with markers. It contains a lot of blue, something a little abstract, and no dragons this time methinks… any volunteers?

    Oh, and please forgive the somewhat shabby masking around her figure (I can do better, I’m just lazy today) – I just wanted to darken the background, since that particular picture was taken in front of the bed here in our computer room. As cute as the bed may be, it did kinda draw away from the focus!