30 days and 30 nights of TATTOOS

I tuned up my truck, paid all the bills, bought new underwear and now I'm making my check list.
Art Supplies, ipod, camping equipment, passport (cuz its hard to tell whos legal or illegal these days), reference books and magzines, camera, underwear and trees.

The only thing left to do is finish this freelance work, fill up my tank and start driving.

I'm trekking out to Tucson Arizona for a month of extensive tattoo training. Which is something
I've been saying for a long time, but now its time...for reals... I have no place to stay but I have a great studio to work and learn ...and my brother waiting to guide me.

Destination, Red SKy Studio. I miss the desert. its calling me. Even though I've lived in California all my life, LA the last 15 years and I general gravitate towards colder areas , for some reason I love the desert, especially Tucson.

I've been meaning to make this trip for a bit. The art form of Tattoos is calling me. I've been out there a handful of times already, just sitting and watching my teacher, Philip J Felix. Watching technique is everything to me on this path but now its time to touch skin. Its a huge, long journey with new challenges everywhere. Very exciting time. but financial hardships kept me from investing in such a trip. taking a month off from hustling work while still paying your bills and paying for trips that include money being spent fucking every move you make can be a trick... but then the ancestors blessed me with some work that allowed me to make this next step towards a new chapter of art exploration and doing my best to stay in motion towards my dreams. I have to honor every opportunity that is given to me. This particular opportunity I consider a blessing.

So now I have to leave my lovely lady, Lisa, behind for the longest time we've ever been away from one another. We're ten days apart in age and we are gonna miss being together for both our birthdays. its hard on my heart, but nothing worth wild is easy. We can all relate to that. So I feel like I'm in good company with everyone. lol but I can't tell you how much I'm gonna miss my lady. she's the bestest. she lets me do my thing and she makes just as many sacrifices as I do to do my thing. Shes solid...and can't forget my cat, Fishbone. the best cat in the universe. dude is 15 and still catching flies with a furry. I have good home. good homes are always hard to leave even for a short time. but its all about future! and my extended home and family. I've known Philip Felix for 15 years, he's my brother..so its all good.

When I get back I should be ready to continue poking skin a thousand times a minute. I already have lots of volunteers to build my portfolio. Its very humbling. I've never felt so much pressure to do my best. No eraser with this tool and people are trusting you with their skin. Huge responsibility. I don't take it lightly.

Friday morning I hit the road. its a 7 to 8 hour trip. good thing I have my ipod...and trees...after all I'll have plenty of time to converse with the other voices in my head.

I will post pictures from the journey. keep in touch.

introducing RED SKY STUDIO

Red Sky Studio. Built, owned and operated by artist and owner Philip J. Felix.

Philip brands his shop with his award winning flavor. He moved to Tucson AZ 8 years ago to get out of the hollywood hustle, focus on his paintings, tattoos and last but not least raising his children.

For the last 3 years Red Sky Studio has been running strong and Philip is currently booked
for the next 4 months straight. He has 4 apprentices under him and now I have come
aboard as the studios Creative Director aggressively preparing for high end
art reproduction as well as jewelry and tshirt lines...and, I'm now his 4th apprentice.
very excited and humbled about that.

We consider ourselves an art studio first and between Philip and myself we have over 40
years design experience in many different aspects of mutli media and fashion.

Philip has done an amazing job incorporating his experience and understanding of high
design into the art form of tattoos and the science of having apprentices while still
running and maintaining a small business looking to diversify.

We're both very excited for the up coming years. The outlined agenda for the future
of Red Sky Studio is muy exciting.

Keep in touch! and make an appointment! 520-393-3401

RED SKY STUDIO promotional art

this piece was designed to promote my wonderful studio. www.myspace.com/redskystudio.
you can go to www.redskystudio.com but the site is unfinished and sucky. I'm currently
revampin that mofo.

So I'm the creative director for a art gallery tattoo studio. its beautiful. small but powerful.
unfortunately I work remotely at the moment but go out from time to time to work.
Next month I'm going out to start my tattoo apprenticeship. a long time coming I tell
you what.

so this pieces is supposed to represent what we do in one image instead of a montage.
we do art and tattoos as well as sell jewelry. Define by Design. So I wanted
to create images that were more photo real. So I had access to a beautiful model, Natasha.
She's one of our apprentices as well. very talented. she modeled for this art and originally
it was gonna be a photo manip but ended up being a paint over which gave it a nice
hybrid look and I learned alot about likeness and detail.

this isn';t the original. this is one that I gave an extra vintage texture treatment.
maybe I'll post the original later

I found this one first

I like boobies

I joke, I joke...I love them...lol.
this one was fun for obvious reasons but also fun cuz I was tryin my hand at a little remix of styles. Some of my high energy brush strokes with crazy textures and a little anime influence
in the face and breastestest. Back in the 90s I work for Verotik Comics and colored a lot
of Wingbird art...it rubbed off on me.lol

Yeah, I did that too...

I've been working in fashion design, mostly in leather clothes, jewelry and tshirt graphics but have done the myriad to some extent. I had a five month in studio retainer designing trim. thats, stitching, buttons, rivets, zipper pulls, hang tags, etc. I was also developing an accessory division under the direction of Joseph Bortoli. the company we were working for was LabelTex USA, one of the biggest manufactures and suppliers of trim in the world. its a pretty crazy market. we designed for everyone. Affliction, PacSun, True Religion...ok, now I'm drawing a blank..but the list goes on. it was a cool experience but I'm glad its over. lol

So I our job was to make pitches. design concepts and presentations. the sales people would use our boards to sell clients. pretty huge pay off too. so they do the design for free cuz they make their cut on the actual order. which could be huge. think about it. getting cut on every button and rivet on every piece of clothing out there...Labeltex had full facility. from design to manufacturing. some things they had to outsource, but mostly under one roof.

so here's one of my pitches...we had lots of success. it was fun. for what it was.

Red Sky Studio My Home

Owned and run by artist Philip J. Felix. He was an Art Director and Designer in animation out in Los Angeles for 16 years and left the game 8 years ago to pursue tattoos and his painting. For the last 2 years he has been running his own shop successfully and is booked at least 5 months in advance. I'm the creative director for the publishing division. I'll also working on jewelry and clothing lines. I've been "starting" my tattoo apprenticeship for the last fuckin year. lol. the studio is out in Tucson and I'm out in LA. I have to get out there for at least a month of time straight to get my tattoo journey going. time and money, the two hardest things to coordinate for such things...and women, but thats another story,lol.

But I think I got something lined up that will allow me to get out there for the first round of intensive training.

I'm really excited about the process of tattoos and how it effects people. its magical.

SNAKEBITE'S BIO

With sixteen years’ experience in the animation, comic book, fashion design and video game fields, the artist known as Snakebite has brought his unique skill set and award-winning aesthetic flavor to bear on projects for a diverse clientele ranging from Dreamworks Animation to DC Comics, Von Dutch to VH1. He is an expert illustrator and a specialist in 2D digital media, focusing on digital paint, color design and conceptual development. Mr. Bite is also a highly regarded teacher, having shared his knowledge of Photoshop and “Art as a Business” both on staff at The Animation Academy in Burbank, California and as an occasional guest lecturer at high schools and colleges around Southern California.

He is a five-time nominee for the prestigious Eisner Award in recognition of his outstanding color work in the comics industry, and he was an integral part of the team on the groundbreaking animated video for KORN’s “Freak on a Leash,” which earned an MTV Video Music Award as well as two Grammys. In addition, his work has won awards at the 1999 ANISE International Film Festival and the 1998 Chicago Television Festival, and has been recognized by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

ADDICTED

I've been working on a series of images that have home decor in mind. not that I let the placement or showcase dictate the subject matter, but mostly looking for a mood, a texture and as well as a question while trying to stay away from anal detail. Also using beauty as the crutch but tweaking it a little so to have some kind of story element but capable of blending into and complimenting a living environment.

Putting anything on your walls can change many things besides the wall. Everything has intent and the wrong one can cause conflict with an individual...ok, maybe I'm making it too complex, but sometimes the simple shit is the most complex to come up with.

My Lady

They say behind every strong man there is a strong woman..well, she is in front of me.

Personal Art Book, Coming Soon!

I had to put it out there to put the fire under my ass.
Sometimes you get side tracked from personal endevours
to take care of life poopoo. But now its time to get back
on track.

Heres the back cover (first concept) for my
personal art book I'm working on.
pray for me, its a mofo.

I'm really nice...but don't tell nobody.

So I've had some people tell me I should start a blog. I only frequent two message boards (www.animationnation.com and gutterzombie.com) but I love engaging people online. I learned how to type on message boards. Now I'm the quickest two fingers in the west. WATCH ME PECK!

I have a myspace page(www.myspace.com/mrbite) as well that I pimped the fuck out but people say blogging is the way to go. I'll try as much as I can to get my name out there. I'm an independent producer as well as freelance artist. I've wore many hats and have learned a handful of trades.

I'm gonna share.