Larry Brogan 7 28 2006

Off the Map was thrilled to host the world traveling Larry Brogan last week and the beautiful tattoos he cranked out during his stay made our clients very happy campers! True to his wide range of talents, Larry did a bit of everything during his stay, but by far the standout pieces included a phenomenally detailed and colorful dragonfly, and an all day session on a sleeve chest/piece. The dragonfly piece landed in Larry’s lap through an interesting twist of fate. The client had not been tattooed in 18 years, but had received his first in Lockport, IL, coincidentally Larry’s home base. Seeing his impending arrival at Off the Map inspired him to get tattooed again, this time in his current residence, the happy Valley. After a bit of research, the client brought in a few images as reference to give us a sense of what he was looking for. Larry took the ball and ran with it, and man, what great results! Check the amazing detail in the transparency of the wings with the bending branch, and the amazing contrast between the solid lines of the branch and the green backdrop. “So much better than I ever pictured!” Yep, another happy customer for Mr. Brogan. During his stay, Larry also spent time prepping for an all day appointment, the beginnings of a kick ass Asian sleeve, incorporating a lotus, Koi fish, and a huge dragon twining it’s way up the arm, ending on the chest with a huge detailed head. The cherry on top was a gorgeous geisha riding this enormous dragon, which took up the majority of the upper arm, allowing for some truly fantastic detail. Watching this seasoned artist execute such a large, comprehensive piece was absolutely amazing. Larry spent several hours adapting his sketches to skin; revisiting lines and composition until it was exactly as he wanted. It became pretty evident that the attention to detail and meticulous scrutiny he brought to his work has been a factor in his stellar reputation within the tattoo industry, and the final design was a beautiful illustration of his considerable talent. And the tattooing hadn’t even begun! Well after close, the client walked out with a complete outline of this amazing design, tired, but extremely happy, as was the artist himself. Begun a full 8 hours earlier, this piece reflected the best of tattooing; creativity, composition balance, beauty and a deep understanding of the art form. If you hurry, you may still be able to book some time when Larry returns to MA in September for the Boston Tattoo Convention, but at the very least you should NOT miss stopping by his booth and getting a look-see at this piece when Larry works on it again during the convention! During his visit with us at Off the Map, I managed to grab some time with him in between tattoos, to expand on some of the questions I asked him before his arrival. Read on for more! TN: What type of tattoo really gets you psyched to do a piece? LB: I love to do anything that is challenging. Realistic tattoos such as portraits and wildlife are always fun. Many times someone will come to me with a cool concept or idea that really gets my wheels turning and I can see the image clearly in my head and then the drawing comes together very easily for me. When the client gives me free reign over the art, that is when I pull off my best work by far. On the occasion that I let the client twist my arm too much to suit their vision, the artwork sometimes can suffer. Most of the time the client doesn't have much knowledge of art, flow on the body or even placement and this is when they should let the artist use his skill and experience to achieve the best tattoo possible. I do also love to do Pinups and Frank Frazetta influenced tattoos as well. TN: In your Prick Magazine article you describe really digging it when a client comes to you with an original idea, and as they describe it, you can see it coming together in your head. Can you give us a recent example of a tattoo you’ve done that illustrates that? LB: Well, the sleeve/chest piece I started at Off The Map was fun to put together. Nick, the client came in wanting a dragon based sleeve including a geisha and koi. We had planned to put the dragons head on his chest so that left the bulk of the upper arm free to let the geisha ride the back of the dragon keeping the image large enough to do justice to the face of the girl. The koi I figured would be a good fit for the muscle on the top of the forearm as it has a similar shape to the fish. We included other elements such as cherry blossoms, lotus flowers, water and clouds to bring more interest to the sleeve and give little focal points to most angles of the arm. There is also a cover up on the underside of his arm that needed to be addressed which I used a lotus and part of the dragon’s body to hide. By the time our initial consultation was over I had a clear idea of how the whole tattoo would lay out so it was just a matter of sketching the images. I roughed out the whole concept on paper and then drew full size images for the dragons head, geisha and koi which I stenciled on the skin. The rest of the sleeve was drawn on with marker in order to make the body of the dragon flow with the arm as best as possible. I normally have much more than a couple days to prepare for such a large project but with good solid ideas already in place, the design work came together very quickly and I think everyone involved is pleased with the work thus far. TN: When not tattooing, what type of art are you into? LB: I love to paint, mostly in oils. It has been a while since I have had the time to immerse myself into painting considering my heavy work and convention schedule. I used to do a lot of airbrush painting when I was younger but I enjoy painting with oils much better. Being able to manipulate, move and blend the paint for long periods of time without drying adds a flexibility to the art that other painting mediums don't offer. I have had a lot of experience with pastels many years ago and plan to get back into that soon as well. TN: How hard is it to finally put an original art piece down and say “it’s done” compared to tattooing, where that’s eventually the requirement? LB: In my opinion, a painting or drawing is never actually finished. There is always something more that you can tweak, add to or revise. I have a whole bunch of paintings that are far from being finished. Other people see them and think they are great and I have even had offers to buy some but I cannot bring myself to let them go until I am happy with them. Of the nine paintings in the room with me, I would only consider two of them finished enough put it down. With tattooing you have many more limits such as how much you can work the skin until it turns to hamburger, how long a client can sit, how much they can afford as well as the lack of being able to change and alter colors much after the ink has been tattooed into the skin. When dealing with many other mediums such as oil and acrylic paints you always have the opportunity to go back into it and even totally painting over the entire thing leaving no trace of the old painting. TN: I've seen from your website that you enjoy traveling, what's the best thing about being able to take it on the road? LB: I have had a heavy convention schedule over the last few years, including twenty-one shows in 2005 all over the US and Canada. This year I have slimed the conventions down to a dozen. Being on the road so much and in the company of so many other great artists keeps me inspired and makes me push myself to improve my art. It is very humbling to see and meet talented artists from around the globe, who's work I had not been familiar with but is so incredible that it make me realize that I have such a long way to go myself. The exposure that I have gotten, being on the road so much, has paid off quite a bit for me. I am booked months in advance with nothing but cool custom work and many large scale projects with clients from as far away as Alaska and Canada. There have been several feature magazine articles written about me and my work and I have won over a hundred awards thus far in my travels. Another great thing about being on the road so much is the friendships I have made with other artists and the clients I work on. Most of us live so far from each other, the only time we get to hang out is at conventions. I do plan to keep up a regular schedule of conventions for years to come though the number may slim down more but I will be adding some guest spots at other tattoos shops to make up for it and I hope to add some overseas shows as well. TN: You shared some great stories with me about your trip to Australia, hanging out with Kiwi Kim and others. Any other big “must see” places that you plan to hit in the next couple of years? LB:I hope to do some of the European and maybe Asian tattoo conventions in the next couple years as well as another trip to Australia including New Zealand. I have an artist friend in NZ named Matt Parkin who has been trying to get me out to his shop for years now and I have been dying to make the trip. I love the opportunity to travel which tattooing allows but the only drawback is that most convention trips don’t consist of much more that seeing the inside of a hotel and convention center. The overseas trips will have to be extended to include a bit of sightseeing. TN: Thanks for taking the time to chat with me Larry, we hope your travels will include popping back in to Off the Map! Don’t miss catching this amazing custom artist if he passes through your area in his tour schedule: 11th Annual South Florida Tattoo Expo, Coral Springs, FL 8/9-8/11 3rd Annual Calgary Tattoo and Arts Festival 9/2-9/4 Boston Tattoo Convention 9/8/-9/10, Boston, MA Beer City Tattoo Convention 10/6-10/8 Milwaukee, WI 2nd Old School Tattoo Expo 11/9-11/12 St. Louis, MO 8th Annual Tampa Bay Tattoofest 3/29/07-4/1/07 Tampa Bay, FL Email Larry Brogan Call (815) 836-8282 And check back on Tattoo City Skin Art for more great tattoos, and additional tour dates!