So, a dear friend and feisty lady, Marie De Camp, asked me to draw a tattoo design for her. Flattered? Yes. Freaked out at drawing something permanent for somebody I care about and see often? Just a bit. Here’s my first draft.

Here’s Marie and I, with all her monies. M dog has the money, see. M dog gets the honeys, see.

At the tattoo parlor, Marie sat down with me and really nailed down the specifics of her vision. It was a direct and effective way to make a revision, and I was pleased to get it Juuuuuuust right for her. It’s semi permanent, ya know! She wanted one sparrow to be male, and the other a lady. Also, she was able to specify just how dead they should be. Pretty Dang Dead, was the amount.

We decided to have the tattoo artist do the roses and banner, as Marie wanted a real traditional look, and he was a total pro. Here is the Tat stenciled on, with proper placement.

Then, Marie got stabbed for like 6 hours. Marie De CHAMP is more like it!

I was hanging around the parlor for so long, I got bored, and decided to get a little something done myself. No, not the care bear heart on my butt. I got my ears pierced. For the first time. I AM SO RADICAL! Cat was kind enough to hold my hand, and smirk at my wincing, which is also mostly smirking.

Then, after we were all hungery and tired and Cat and I had read every People and Maxim in the waiting room, Marie done got inked!
Here’s her brand new tat, a week post op. You can really see the size and scope of the thing, no foolin. It came out so good, that I don’t have to avoid Marie to not have to look at the drawings! By which I mean, By gum, I like it. More importantly, Marie does too. Next up? COLOR!

Posted June 2008