More & More

Guys, I accompanied my friend to a tattoo shop today, which means.. MORE PICTURES FOR MY MAGAZINE!! He had mentioned he was going today to get a tattoo and so I was like, "Nicole this is your chance for more pictures!"

Sooo.. I took these:

    These two are my friend's tattoo.

This one shows the process.

 

These two pictures are of the tattoo artists and the one on the right is the one who created my friend's tattoo and his name was Pablo... I tried to see if there was any other information about them on their website but there seems to be none.

Sources:

"Double Cross Tattoo – (954) 581-6629 – Fort Lauderdale & Miami |." Double Cross Tattoo – (954) 581-6629 – Fort Lauderdale & Miami |. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.

Inkspiration!

While shuffling through Ms. Marchetti's magazines, I found some amazing ideas for my table of contents... Thanks Marchetti!!

So okay, I wanted my table of contents to be as different not only from tattoo magazines table of contents but also just regular magazines. So while I shuffled I found this amazing work of art:

This picture was on the "Art News" magazine.

This gave me the great idea to use for my table of contents since I could do various sleeve tattoos and put them all together in the way the picture on the left is. It will be very abstract but very eye catching at the same time.

I asked my classmates on their thoughts on this table of contents but they said it wouldn't look the way I wanted... Let's hope they aren't right.








Source:
"Table of Contents." Art News n.d.: n. pag. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.

Progresss

Excited to say I have finally started taking some pictures for my magazine. I had to go to Miami Beach yesterday to run an errand I did not want to do, but it ended up being a successful day! As I walked through the streets of Miami Beach I ran into two tattoo shops one I didn't really take pictures of since the inside of it wasn't really what I was looking for... But the other one was a success! Love Hate Tattoos is a tattoo shop based on a TV show called Miami Ink. I have never watched the show but I do know they are known for it. I took various pictures of a guy getting a sleeve tattoo but I'm not sure if I will end up using one of them for my cover, the ones I liked the most are to the left of this blog post.


The amount of color in this picture makes it hard for me to go through with the color splash idea.... Orrr maybe I could make the idea even better by using the color splash on all the vibrant and beautiful colors. I am still deciding on what to do.

Sources:
"Love Hate Tattoo Studio." LOVE HATE SOCIAL CLUB. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2017.

Color Schematics

Now on with the color schematics...

Surprisingly this post isn't going to be as long or as time consuming as the other ones since I already have an idea of what colors I will be using. On one of my earlier posts I had said I was breaking away from the norm by not using a semi nude or sensual woman as my cover but I am not completely breaking away from the norm. My cover will indeed be black and white with a splash of vibrant colors but the rest will be as colorful as all the other tattoo magazines. On this website where it talks about color psychology, I know now that red is going to be the color I most use... Maybe I'll use red for all the text or the outlines of the pictures and some purple to emphasize and convey "imagination and creativeness."

This is the color chart showing each
emotion conveys which color.

This picture conveys each brand's personality depending on the color used.

Sources:
Ciotti, Gregory. "The Psychology of Color in Marketing and Branding." Help Scout Blog. N.p., 17 May 2016. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.

Slowly But Surely Getting There

The Font~

After figuring out my cover and the layout of it I now move on to the more specific stuff, like... FONT! Different fonts are used for different types of magazines depending on the magazine content and what idea or message they are trying to convey to their audience. As I surfed the web for tattoo magazine font ideas, I came across this website where you can search up fonts for anything you want. There are over 138 fonts I could use for my magazine, so I guess I need to start checking each one to see what would fit my magazine better. I also used Pinterest, the amazing application Ms. Marchetti shared with us, and I found interesting fonts once I searched up "tattoo magazine font" like these:

These fonts try to convey the idea of letters as tattoo letters
in an abstract sort of way.

To be honest, I kind of dig the idea of my font being abstract and giving it my magazine a different kind of look. 

Another  incredible awesome website that I found while surfing the web was one that talks about the psychology of fonts. It's quite informative and now I know that I will have to use an artistic font because they are for "custom creations", like tattoos. The artistic fonts create some sort of visual design for my theme, in this case tattoo, so I want to incorporate that into my magazine. 

Sources:

"132+ Results for Tattoo Magazine." Tattoo Magazine () - Abstract Fonts. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

"Font Psychology: What Your Font Says About Your Website." MonsterPost. N.p., 08 Nov. 2016. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

Co(lor)ver

We are now three weeks into our project and I still haven't created a draft or a layout for my cover. After putting a lot of thought into it I might not even end up using a woman for my cover, which means I am breaking away from the norm even more. While I surfed the web for ideas and inspirations I came across this website where a this picture caught my attention:

I don't know why I was so mesmerized by the color contrast between the black and white background and the extremely colorful and vibrant scarf on the dog. This ignited an idea in my head about changing my cover. I am now thinking my cover is going to be all black and white with a very vibrant and colorful arm with a sleeve tattoo, or in a more technical term, a 'color splash'. That would be a cover that catches people's attention and plus I think my target audience(men and women ranging from ages 16-25) would be as intrigued as I am.






I kind of have a picture in my head of what I want my cover to look like, with the man standing where the shop is visible and the whole background and picture to be black and white except for his sleeve tattoo. I made a layout so it's easier to picture my idea.

Thanks to Snapchat's great features
I was able to portray my idea on
paper, or should I say on screen.

I'm going to have to head over to a tattoo shop in order to shoot pictures of people with sleeve tattoos since I don't really know anyone who has a sleeve tattoo. I am planning on going this weekend but I will be looking for a specific man to pose for me.

Sources:
Beta, Brodie. "10 Photo Effect Apps to Make Your Android or IPhone Shots Spectacular." The Next Web. N.p., 17 Mar. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

Getting More Into My Idea

Well I was thinking about my tattoo idea and since I changed my Url to tattoo obsession I think I should change my blog name as well... I had thought of naming it "Inked" but as I did research for the creation of the magazine I realized it was taken and its quite popular. The magazine's website is so artistic and it is actually everything I want mine to be. They even have a section of "cool tattoos" that looks like this.

 It has stories and lots of really amazing pictures... Anyways, I then thought of "Needles" and I have searched it up and it is surprisingly not taken!

I guess Needles is going to be my name then! Super excited for upcoming things....


Sources:
"Inked Magazine." Inked Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

Table of Content

After deciding on my cover I will have to start with my table of content, I want it to be simple yet eye catching. I had many ideas starting with one of using a friend's back tattoo as a background and write my table of contents on top of his back. I am not quite sure how I am even supposed to create it but after reading this article I found some interesting things I could add on my table of content. I liked

this idea because it was simple yet artistic but I would have to find some people with cool tattoos willing to pose for me. I googled this table of content and it was by far the most eye catching so I am probably going to create one similar to it.

I want my magazine to be full of color so I am going to change up the structure of it so it doesn't look a lot like that picture and I am going to put color. 

Omg! I had heard Ms. Marchetti talk about Pinterest, this app that you can look up ideas and pictures of almost anything and I just found some other cool ideas for my table of contents like these ones. I can see that most of these ideas aren't really colorful, I guess tattoo magazine table of contents are based more on the artistic part rather than the color.

I guess I am just going to find a really artistic way to catch my audiences attention without having to use color. 

Sources:

"Designing the Perfect Table of Contents: 50 Examples to Show You How." Design School. N.p., 06 Jan. 2016. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

"Pinterest." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.

Lightbulb Goes on...

I have finally decided on my magazine cover. On my last post, you guys can see how magazines like "InkSpired" use topless women or "sexy" women as their covers in order to attract to their target audience, I however, will be breaking away from that norm.

Last weekend I was at this party when I met a lovely girl who had an amazing tattoo on the left side of her body. Her tattoo really caught my attention because it was something totally different from the tattoos I have seen before. I had just met her so I was embarrassed to ask for a picture of her tattoo but I did have the courage to ask for her number and told her about my project. Her tattoo is so mesmerizing that I want her to model for some pictures for me.

I really haven't thought about any other idea for my cover because Sescily's, the girl from the party, tattoo was so eye catching and speechless that I just haven't really thought about anything else. When I said I wouldn't be following the norm when it comes to tattoo magazine covers I meant that if I do get the opportunity to shoot Sescily's tattoo it will not be sexual or inappropriate. It actually will be sensual but not in the way most tattoo magazines are, her boobs won't be anywhere in the picture and she won't be doing any sexual poses. In fact, I don't even want her to show her face I want to make it less about the "hot" women and more about the actual tattoo so maybe I'll just shoot the left side of her body.

I haven't even texted her yet, but I will soon but better charge my camera for when I do decide to text her.

The Thought Process

I am finally decided. I will be creating a tattoo magazine. I changed my url to "tattooobsession.blogspot.com" and since my decision days are over now my research starts. According to "Tattoo Life" tattoo magazines are for a huge cross-section of people of all ages, interests, cultures and backgrounds. Based on this my magazine is not restricted upon certain genders or ages. Other websites and slide shares like this one reflect that magazine on tattoos are for younger generation, ages 16-25 being the main age group targeted. I have also googled many magazine covers, and they all follow the same elements.

These are examples of magazine covers from "InkSpired" where
their magazines covers are of women showing their boobs or
just being sexy, more of "Inkspired" magazine covers can be seen here.

I will continue to keep searching for more magazine covers so I can get an idea of what mine will look like...

Sources cited:
By. TATTO O (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
Ellen Crane Seguir. "Tattoos Presentation." LinkedIn SlideShare. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.
N.p., n.d. Web.

Lingering Over Tattoo Idea

So today I am overthinking my ideas a lot. Very indecisive which is something common for me but since I am short on time I am a little stressed. Still debating on whether or not I should based my magazine/blog on tattoos. I mean they are super cool but I'm having mixed feelings on what other people might think about it. There is just so much I want to write about on tattoos starting from tattoo artists, cool tattoos, meanings and etc. I could talk about people's reason as to why they got them or if it has a special meaning to them. Like the picture at the bottom of this paragraph was by this tattoo artist named Pablo Puentes. The tattoo is so complex that if I could interview either this tattoo artist or the person who got this tattoo, I feel like it would make a great story due to the fact that this tattoo seems like it has a deeper meaning.

This tattoo by Pablo Puentes is one of his
many artpieces and he has many similar ones
like the ones here.

I mean the content doesn't really worry me much because I know if the stories and my tips and etc are juicy then I will catch my audiences attention. What is really throwing me off is the magazine cover and the pictures that will be on my magazine. Tattoos can be on all parts of your body and I just don't want to take a picture and use it on the magazine that will later hurt my reputation. Like I have seen some examples of magazine covers where I, a seventeen-year-old girl, think is not appropriate and would probably not read it. Like this one I found when I binged "Tattoo Magazines":

I am probably not the only one that thinks a woman in a bra and her boobies are out is appropriate for a magazine cover. I mean yes the ink on her shoulder all the way to her hand is really cool but maybe she could've worn a tank top or a sports bra where her boobs are not that visible then more people would've peeked inside. These magazines are the reason some adults and other teens don't read tattoo magazines and I don't know if I am willing to take the risk of changing this image that some tattoo magazines have or just choose another topic. Don't worry I will update you guys on whatever I decide on doing....

Watch Me Struggle Before Creating My Masterpiece

I would just like to start off by saying I am so glad I chose to create a magazine instead of a film opening because if I had made that mistake my stress scale would've been broken by now. I didn't really get a chance to say hello but HI! My name is Nicole but I go by Nikki. Can I just say that I am so ecstatic about this magazine I am creating because I love to read magazines and now I'm supposed to make my own!! like I could literally make it about anything starting from pets to bathing suits to make up or fashion. I have a few ideas that came to mind, here are a few of them:

• Bathing suits
• Tattoos
• Fashion
• Make up
• Food

Those are my main ideas, of course there are others like fitness and feminism but those are my five top choices. I think there are too many magazines out there on food, make up, fashion(including bathing suits) so I was thinking I went with the tattoo idea. It is not only a fascinating topic but a rare one as well. It could be eye opening for some people. I don't know yet but I think I will be heading in the tattoo direction.

This magazine is going to be the best though. Since I will be doing it and going through the creative process I can already feel like this magazine is going to be a huge success. Well, hopefully. I will be documenting my journey into creating "#INKED"..... or "Tattoo Obsession." I don't really know I am still debating what should be my title but stay tuned!