Rot and a Ribbon, tattooed.

Nic liked one of my drawings from the Rot and a Ribbon series,
but when I went home and redrew it for him,
it kinda got away from me.
Since it was so much larger than planned,
and since we didn't think we could finish it in one session,
I (jokingly) said I'd just tattoo him till he cried.
Well, Nic's not a baby,
so we tattooed him for 9 hours,
and there was no tears.
And when we finished,
sometime after 2 am,
I seemed more beat up than he was.
I had gotten tattooed earlier in the day,
(and the day before, too!)
so it wasn't pretty.

I'll still do a little more to it next time I'm in town,
a couple details,
a little blending,
but overall I'm excited to have gotten so far.
High fives to Nic for being such a badass,
that's the longest session I've done on someone in years.

Scapegoated, part Deux

Man, I love Portland.
Especially in the Spring.
I'm pretty sure if we didn't have a house in Minneapolis,
it'd be a difficult battle not to try and move there asap.
I worked 4 busy days at Scapegoat Tattoo,
and spent the rest of my time eating.
You can get vegan everything in Portland,
and I did.

It's also such a tattoo town.
So many people have nice work on them,
it's pretty crazy.
After the skull and tree stump tattoo I previously posted,
I tattooed this rocking chair portrait on Jaxun.
It was fun getting a chance to hang out with him again,
even if he did put my linework to the test with this request.






















Craig flew up from San Diego to get two days worth of tattoo time in;
we did a massive arm tattoo first,
then finished his chest piece the second day.
I don't know how he did it.
The first one was based off a Twilight Zone episode,
"Time Enough at Last".
I messed up the settings on Meryl's camera and only got bad photos,
but if you click on it to make it bigger, you can get the idea.
Craig is not only a badass,
he is also one of the funniest dudes I've ever met.
(which can make even 11 hours of tattooing go by pretty quick)






















A big thank you to Brian Wilson and Scapegoat Tattoo for having me.
I was spoiled, big time.
And I hope to be back sooner than later.

Scapegoated

I'm hanging out in Portland, Oregon this weekend,
and it's already awesome.
This city is too easy,
and too good to vegans.
I can't ever stay long, I get spoiled quick.
I'm staying with friends at a punk/communal house,
and I'm guest spotting at the amazing Scapegoat Tattoo.
Things are good.
Busier than ever, and that's fine with me.
I did this skull and bird tattoo yesterday for seven hours straight.
Janet was basically untested
(her only other tattoo took barely an hour)
but she rocked out so hard and got the whole thing done.
I really couldn't have been more impressed.
I'm about to do a rocking chair tattoo now,
I just wanted to update the blog quick first.
More soon from Rose City.

Wnter's End (kinda).

Last day of Winter, kids.
Not that you'll notice any changes out here.
It's chilly and rainy and so completely Pacific Northwesty,
and that won't be different anytime soon.
(I post some damp looking nature photos on my tumblr sometimes)
Johnny visited us this weekend,
and we checked out the House of Mystery yesterday.
The biggest mystery was why we didn't bring coats to Oregon,
since it was pretty cold, and hailing.

I did that cicada drawing for my month-long one-a-day project, Rot and a Ribbon.
It's not easy doing a new piece every day,
especially when you're tattooing all day and have visitors, too.
Wednesday I drive up to Portland for my Scapegoat guestspot,
and I have no idea where I'll find the time up there.

Anyway, here's some of the pieces I've been doing lately.
Ashley got a raven and lantern on her shoulder blade.
Sat like a rock for the whole thing,
and brought in lots of homemade vegan treats.
She's also healing it perfectly, so I'll have a good photo soon.






















Johnny got an entire upper back and over the front Maiden Hair fern started.
Just to hit all the terrible spots.
Looking forward to working on this again soon.

















And then we finally finished Meryl's thigh piece.
This photo is during the healing process,
but I have no patience.
More photos soon.






















The guest spot out here is winding down.
I'm both bummed on leaving this amazing experience,
but also excited to get back to my house and shop in Minnesota,
and get started on a pile of fun, new projects.
I also plan on returning as much as I can without becoming unwelcome.
Happy Spring, everyone.

JUAN FROM FUNHOUSE - SUPERFLY TATTOO - LEON GUANAJUATO MEXICO

New tattoo shops pop up all over the place...globally...scribblers or not, once the market is saturated, prospective new tattoo collectors could be baffled with all the choices..logic would tell anyone to "DO YOUR HOMEWORK !"...you do NOT wanna leave disappointed and disillusioned with something that doesn't wash off as easily as last nights guilty escapades...hmmm...

Juan, has left the shop.. we're all proud of him for his new venture. Superfly tattoo in the city of Leon in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. His own shop, his own model machine....

ANYHOW...Juan "Superfly" Arreguin...YES the Godoy Machines "Superfly" tattoo machine model is his...has opened a WINNER OF A SHOP in the city of LEON in the Mexican state of GUANAJUATO!!!

An escape for any tattoo collector who is choosy and demands perfection...this isn't a fly by night locale...You come here with a purpose you leave here with your dream embedded in your skin.

Juan "Superfly" Arreguin is an award winner, not limited by style, technique or genre...harboring a never ending river of creativity, style, professionalism and personality.

Yes this shop is SUPER, the tattoos he administers are SUPER !

The Godoy Machines "Superfly" is SUPER...

TO SEE MORE OF JUAN'S WORK GO TO: SUPERFLYTATTOO OR FIND HIM ON FACEBOOK.

Long time....

Damn.
I think that's the longest stretch of not-blog-posting I've done in years.
See, my computer is in the guest room out here,
and we've had guests upon guests.
Piling up and spilling over.
Three weeks straight and counting.
So I've been doing all my computery things from my phone;
which is NOT the same thing,
and almost impossible to blog on.
But if you have Instagram, you've been seeing all kids of updates,
and even Facebook has been seeing some stuff.

But the guest room is almost empty,
and I'll be blogging it up once again.
For now, here's a progress photo of Korel's sleeve,
and a sample of my March "drawing-a-day" project,
Rot and a Ribbon.
This one is light on the "rot" aspect,
but I'm pretty sure if I got chicken fetus-juice in my bloodstream,
I'd chop my hand off.
I really am doing them every day,
but so far only for Instagram.
I can't help it, I love that thing.
Anyway.
I saw the Pacific Ocean again today,
and it was cold and rainy and grey,
and beautiful as ever.

A BIT ABOUT THE TATTOO INDUSTRY....

If we had to define Godoy Machines we would use the following words:

Education, Innovation, Function and Direction.

WHY THOSE?

Lets break down the industry into groups in order to better understand the motivation behind Godoy Machines.

*A Client who needs a tattoo, well done of course but they have no artistic ability nor knowledge of how tattooing works...pain factor, technique, machine function, sterilization proceedures, time it will take to apply, care instructions...WE HAVE TO CATER TO THEM, THEY FEED US...and REGARDLESS HOW MUCH THEY ANNOY YOU, THEY DESERVE THE BEST YOU CAN GIVE THEM.

-----We tattoo daily so we understand their insecurites and needs ...we were all clients once-----

*Artists in need of products to apply the tattoo...artists of various technical and artistic levels are consumers...all of us are buying ink, needles tubes, machines and disposables/throw aways (paper towels, bandages, skin cleansers etc)...ALL THE WHILE RELYING ON THE SUPPLIER TO PROVIDE US WITH THE NECESSITIES TO APPLY THE TATTOO in an efficient, hygenic way...Some artists with all the blind faith in the world trust the suppliers to provide quality products such, especially MACHINES...Some artists are so egotistical that they will DENY any education regarding technique or machine function as they ignorantly raise their glasses to toast an obsolete generation of old men who may have "pioneered" the art of tattooing AND never advanced it. Education NEVER hurt anyone.*

---------We tattoo daily and believe in the advancement of tattooing... artistically, socially, technically... with no limits.

Tattoo by Steve

Tattoo by Art

*Suppliers who PROVIDE all these "useful" things to artists YET have NO CLUE about machine function AND whose main goal is to pull in money in order to liquidate readily available hyped products with no regard for what defines true quality...sometimes taking back used machines covered in biohazard and replacing them with a new one due to their and the clients lack of knowledge pertaining to machine function. These people come in different levels aswell...the "kit salesmen", the businessman who buys cheap Chinese machines and re-sells them, the corporate distributor who sells every machine "brand" and doesn't realize that they all look alike and have the SAME components as eachother.

-----We scrutinize all of our suppliers and have a long check list of demands and criteria they must follow in order to carry our machines...thats why Godoy Machines are hard to find in the mainstream industry...also thats why we have the best and highest quality innovative machines available to only professional tattoo artists-----

*Machine manufacturers who...

1-Don't tattoo, can barely tattoo or aren't artistically current enough to apply today's artistic demands onto skin.

2-Builders who copy eachother's recipies..derived from copying a guy who copied another guy who copied another guy...and so on for the last century...with no actual knowledge of each part assembled on the machine and its function...guided myths,superstitions AND misinformation.

3-Manufacturers/machinists who jump into this industry to profit...knowing that because its NOT REGULATED by the artists involved...they can sell to em...easy money.

It's impossible to regulate this entire industry BUT we can regulate ourselves by educating ourselves and spreading the knowledge and ethics behind what we do in order to avoid intruders selling us hyped machines or buying from egotistical "jump on the bandwagon no talent havin' machine building clowns" who truthfully are just happy that the machine makes a noise and the a-bar goes up and down....TRUTH IS: WITH MACHINE EDUCATION WE CAN BUY ANY MACHINE AND WITH SOME PRACTICE... REBUILD, RETUNE AND REFINE IT.

4-Ex tattoo artists with hyped up names whose low end products are being sold by non tattooed sales reps to tattoo artists...while they enjoy the money the hype brings em.

-----We do not support hacks in tattooing nor in machine manufacturing...we do not buy the hype and do not name drop...we are for the people, we believe everyone has the right to machine education and do not buy into the old "secret society" machine thing...the thruth is THEY NEVER KNEW MACHINE FUNCTION and STILL DON'T-----

WHO ARE YOU GONNA SUPPORT AND WHERE DO YOU FIT IN??

Now...here's a little story of an encounter this past weekend at Musink Tattoo convention...

Sittin at the Godoy Machines booth...here come 3 guys interested in our machines...one guys TELLS me, just by looking at our machines in the class cases that they look like "whip shaders" or "color packers"...I asked "WHAT ? Are you SERIOUS???"...Realizing that i had to have EXTRA PATIENCE with this guy ...i calmed down to hear him out, if anything...for entertainment value...He had one arm sleeved with new below average stuff and nothing on any other visible part of his body...i would say he barely had 3-5 years in this business unlike Art and my 27 years each. This guy claimed to be a machine builder and tried hard to compare himself and put himself at OUR LEVEL...I had to laugh and put him in his place with science, physics and FACTS...Now...whats the moral here???

"COLOR PACKER" IS THE WORD TO HIDE BEHIND FOR A MACHINE BUILDER THAT HAS NO IDEA ON HOW TO ACHIEVE INCREMENTAL SENSITIVITY BETWEEN 0 AND 7... SO TURN IT UP, FORGET ABOUT FUNCTION AND PACK THAT COLOR.

There are a million clowns like him roaming around...preaching to anyone who will listen.

We all know there are tattoo artists of different artistic and experience levels out there as well as new ones comin into the industry every day...with or without apprenticeships.

Like it or not, to anyone NOT involved in tattooing, we are and will be associated with them.

So...here we are...between a rock and a hard place i would say...SO lets EDUCATE them AND ourselves in order to breed a new strong generation to stamp out the "old ignorant, irrelevant ego driven one"...sounds GOOD right???

Well...We here at Godoy Machines have laid out a business based on advancement of tattooing through INNOVATIONS on electromagnetic machines that will facilitate tattoo application and technique with Patented machine systems assembled and designed for true FUNCTION while promoting EDUACTION on this subject as WE wrote 'Tattoo Machines and Their Secrets' an industry text book available in various languages with countless benefits for any tattoo artist with little or no experience to master artists with many years under their belt ,who understand that technique and quality tattoo application comes directly from machine function...

WE teach seminars globally in order to better the industry!!!

Here we are in Italy - 140 people.

All this finally gives us our DIRECTION...

We keep innovating our machines, constantly improving their performance!! New components, features, advancements and designs... ALWAYS!!

WE teach true machine function with the ONLY TRULY EFFECTIVE SEMINAR OFFERED to ALL artists of ALL levels ALL over the world...We still tattoo AND understand an artists needs, therefore our customer service is unbeatable.

GODOY MACHINES
NOT for the substandard asshole.

THATS WHY.

ALL IN A DAY...

Apply stencil...

Peel off stencil...

Tattoo over stencil...

Bald spot partially covered! She's coming back for more!

There are always options, if you're flexible and if you're creative. Losing hair is no big deal sometimes. The lack of hair and the smooth skin make ideal conditions for tattooing! The above 4 photos are the sequence of covering the bald patch.

Here's Ryan, the same day, tattooing the inside of a client's lip. The lip is not the easiest area to tattoo. It can be difficult to heal as well. Normally it doesn't heal perfectly, there are usually parts that will need to be re touched.

I got to tattoo a dog portrait... while watching Shutter Island... The tattoo was way more interesting...

And an owl.. work in progress...

FUNHOUSE - WE'RE GREAT.