Just a little bit.

I don't change my mind very often. 

I usually react poorly to change. 

I have habits and schedules and comfort zones, 

and they only get more ingrained as I get older.

But here's a flip-flop I can admit to. 

I used to be so opposed to adding touches of color to black and grey tattoos, 

but at some point I changed my mind, 

and now I love it. 

Not for every tattoo, 

(and not ever "just some blue in the eye"),

but for all the pieces that show just how much I tattoo like a girl,

a couple flowers or a ribbon or something in color 

adds an extra little bit that I'm pretty into. 

I was happy to do some finishing touches on this today.

Most of it is healed.

Healed and all nice-like.

Thanks to Amber for sending healed photos of her backpiece. 

I started the tattoo a year ago, 

and did some final touches last month when I was at Off the Map. 

Foxes and poppies?

I could do stuff like this every day.

Every. Day. 

(the celtic knotwork was already there)

She also sent a photo of her healed panda tattoo.

So then... I got greedy, 

and asked Amanda for a healed photo of her corresponding cat portrait. 

And she, too, delivered. 

Thanks guys, you're the best. 

Cute animals, framed:

Shawn Hebrank tattoos like an old lady.

Rachel was very open with this tattoo,

and only requested a bird for a half sleeve.

We did this pheasant all in one session, 

and she did awesome.

I think it was maybe 5 hours total.

I appreciate everyone's patience lately, 

I've been working on changing a lot about the way I work,

and it's been a bumpy transition.

I'd like to focus on some larger pieces, 

illustrative styled and mostly nature themed,

either weird or creepy or beautiful or dark, 

or a combination of all four.

I'm straying away from the sillier, more cartoonish tattoos I used to do.

I'm not saying I'll never do those again,

but I'm hoping to do more work like this from now on.

Maybe I'm growing up a bit?

Now that I'm in my thirties i'm finally maturing a little?

We'll see.

Until then, 

if you'd like to chat about getting some work along these lines, 

please email me.

shawnhebrank@gmail.com

 

Answered.

Here's a healed photo of Stacey's chestpiece.
I was excited to do an (almost) still life style illustration of the antlers and flowers,
and I liked doing the antlers black and grey with the flowers in color.
I'd like to remind everyone how much I love doing chestpieces,
so if yours is empty, think about it.

Getting it ALL done.

For real, though,
I've been busy lately.
I've been starting two new big projects
for every one that I finish.
This is some of the week's pieces:

This train was done in two sessions,
and this is half healed, half fresh (and hurty-looking).

Alli got her dog portrait finished, 

and the upper-thigh-butt-crease-area hated me. 

Look how hurty-swollen it got. 

3/4 healed, 1/4 new and red. 

I meant to take a better photo today at work, 

but I forgot, 

and so did she, 

so this one goes up for now. 

I started this owl-octopus morph thing holding a sacred pear today. 

It's a big ass half sleeve, 

and I'm pretty stoked on it. 

Heidi has sky-rocketed to the top of the favorites list. 

She not only knocked out the French pigeon in one shot a couple weeks ago, 

but she came back in to finish the Smokey the Bear tattoo 

on her other thigh this week. 

Two big tattoos in a month. 

I'm impressed. 

She also gave me a fancy music stand to hold my ipad. 

And she told me to get professional 

and use a watermark on my photos 

for when people use them on places like Pinterest . 

Thus, the new watermark.

Thanks, Heidi!

This photo has the healed pigeon, 

and the half healed, half new Smokey. 

I have one day off, 

(from tattooing only)

and then I'm back at it for another 6 days. 

Luckily, I have hired a super part time assistant. 

I'm going to get it all done, finally. 

All of it. 

C'est fini!

Heidi recently came to me for matching thigh tattoos;

one of Smokey the Bear/Alaska Pride, 

and one of a French pigeon. 

Today we started AND finished the pigeon one. 

It's not a small tattoo, 

and it took us over 6 hours. 

But let me tell you, 

she didn't move, complain, or ask for a break even once. 

One of the toughest

(and most amusing!)

clients I've ever had the pleasure of tattooing. 

And in case you were wondering, 

the baguette was my favorite part to work on. 

Dead birds are sexy, 

but French pigeons aren't too bad, either. 

Pomme de Terre, debuted.

Well, here it is. 

pomme de terre. 

Liz Clark Schiller and I put together a little fashion line. 

I did the drawings, and some other stuff, 

and Liz made it all come together. 

Right now it's only being sold at Juniper, 

a boutique in Maple Grove, 

or by emailing her at Liz@dirty-apples.com

Thanks to Jen for doing too-much-driving on too-short-of-notice,

and then waking up too-f'n-early for a photoshoot around Powderhorn Park.  

I like these photos as much as I like the shirts. 

Crocuses and bulb
Scoop neck raglan short sleeve

Teeth on a string (of course)
Scoop neck burnout tee

Hooded falcon

V-neck short sleeve burnout tee

Grasshopper 

Wide neck long sleeve dolman top

Meryl and I even letterpressed the clothing labels. 

So sexy, right?

For some behind the scenes shots of that action, check this out. 

Oh yeah, 

and they each have a color matching embroidered logo,

for a little extra hotness.  

There's scarves, too. 

But photos of that will have to come later. 

So will websites and online stores. 

What we have now is blogs and tumblrs and instagrams. 

And a brick and mortar store, of course. 

(i know, i know, i'm getting on it,

but I was busy making shirts)

And a million thanks to 

Liz, Handsome Adam, Meryl, Jen, and Anthony V

for their work, help, advice, 

and general ability to put up with all my shit during this whole process.

I'm grateful. 

(and impressed)

Getting old, and leaving town.

I turned 31 today, kids.
It's definitely being overshadowed by moving back to Minneapolis,
which happens bright and early tomorrow morning.
I spent lots of time wrapping up boxes instead of unwrapping them,
and then a couple hours shipping them off.
I certainly won't miss the post office here,
or the hobo camp behind it.
But all the greenery?
And look what the trees did this week:





































I can't believe it's been almost 3 months already,
and that we're not sticking around forever.
I've had an amazing time,
so leaving is pretty bittersweet.
Jeff Gogue is one of the most supportive,
inspiring, and generous people I've ever met,
and I am truly fortunate to have gotten such a wonderful opportunity
to work with him all this time.
Many thanks to him and his family,
and everyone else that's been a part of the shop.

I'm coming home, Minnesota.
I return with plenty of stories, and loudness,
and three months of saved up inspiration.
I hope you missed me like I missed you.

Five hours of flowers.

Liz and family were in Oregon to celebrate her grandmother's 90th birthday,
but they took a tiny detour to get some tattoo work first.
We had talked about a shoulder cap of flowers back in Minnesota,
and we ended up doing it 1500 miles away.
We stenciled some flowers on,
then drew some more,
looked at it the mirror,
drew more,
and then drew some more.
A little shoulder cap turned into a meandering meadow of flowers.
We integrated it into her waves chestpiece,
though I didn't get a photo of that part yet.
Hopefully, I'll get some healed photos emailed to me soon.






















It was cool having a Minnesota client visit me in Grants Pass,
I got to show off my sexy, new, (temporary) tattoo shop.

Today Amy, Jaime, Meryl, the dog and I are headed to the coast again.
We're on the lookout for lighthouses, dead birds, tide pools,
redwoods, moss and mushrooms.
They have to leave tomorrow morning,
so we're doing one last farewell outing.
Having them here has been amazing,
and it's going to be sad and quiet without them around.

But since we have more to do on Amy's sleeve,
I'm booking a guest spot out East for this summer.
I have a list of folks who want some tattoo time,
but spots will be super limited.
If you want in,
send me an email with your idea,
and I'll try to sort out all the details soon.

Last day of Fall (and Maple Grove).

Oh man.

I'm done with Identity Tattoo for a little while.

Don't expect to see me back there till April.

It's been an awesome 4.5 years,

and I look forward to more fun when I get back.

But for the next few months,

I'm very excited to be working out at Jeff Gogue's shop in Oregon.

My last day there was spent working on Manda's strange animal sleeve.

We colored in a lot of poppies around an antlered squirrel,

did some background,

and tried to tie everything together.

Up top is the (antlered) blue footed booby,

and the sheepgoat under that,

and then some squirrels playing in a poppy field.

(i didn't do the blue armband thing)

It was also Handsome Adam's last day,

and he's leaving for the west coast, too.

So after packing and cleaning up,

we smashed our coffee mugs and released a couple floating lanterns.

Adam's such a good dude,

and it's been a pleasure working with him for the past year.

So it's just Todd and Ben at the shop for a few months.

Do me a favor, and check up on them every once in a while.

Stop in and be loud for a minute,

just so they don't forget about me.

I'm afraid they might get soft while I'm away.

(i can almost hear Maple Grove collectively breathing a sigh of relief)

Full House

Almost 7 hours of some really big flower work yesterday.
There will be lots of flower and leafy background stuff someday,
but for now Katie's headed back to Iraq.
She sits like a rock, and holds color like a champ.
Nice.


It's been busy here at Louderhorn Inn.
Meryl's sister Casey had a baby last week,
making Meryl and I 'aunt' and 'uncle' for the first time ever.
And we've had Meryl's mom and stepfather staying with us for the last few days so they can visit their new grandkid.
Meryl's mom will be with us into August,
and we have other visitors coming as well.

The next few months are filling up quick.
I'll be headed to Peru in early September.
In October there's the Minneapolis Tattoo Convention,
and the New Orleans Tattoo Convention, which falls on Halloween.
How dope is that?
If you want in either of those two conventions,
please let me know.
For the MPLS one, I'm going to be REALLY picky about what i do,
but if you have an awesome idea, let me hear it.
I hope everyone is enjoying the heat,
because it'll be winter before we know it.
(at least in MN)

April is my kind of month.

Last night was my birthday dinner.
Some of Minneapolis' finest (and funniest)
came out to eat Ethiopian food,
share stories of dungeons and colons,
and watch the cowboy parade pass by outside.
(saturday night on Lake Street, kids)



I got photos of Meryl's finished/healed leg.
I never know how to photograph these big tattoos.
Some tattoo artists do some fancy frankenstein photoshop stuff,
but it looks so weird sometimes.
It's a big tattoo, here's a couple angles.




Minneapolis has been so beautiful lately,
and there's lots of blooming around Louderhorn Inn happening.
April came at the perfect time this year.
And what's better than Sunday brunch at Seward Cafe?
When the back patio is open.
The first meal eaten outside in a couple months:



And lastly,
Meryl got a fun little one minute video
of me tattooing the birdhouse on Shoes the other night.
I was dressed up for Identity Tattoo's "Not Casual Friday",
not because it was my birthday.
(Todd and Ben were dressed up for my birthday, though)