Tiger Tattoo

Had a ton of fun with this. Hope I get to do more Japanese stuff. Big changes on the horizon, I'll let you guys know as they develop.

The Busy Season

Busy Season for tattoos is here. Which means that some of the projects I've been trying to complete become even harder to make any progress on. I'm not complaining at all, I just wish there was more time in the day. Born with eight arms and the ability to focus on more than one thing at a time would help too. Lots of changes are coming up soon. I'll be moving shops again, probably the end of June. To an appt only location  in downtown Sacramento. The beginning of June I'll be cutting back my tattoo time to just four days a week with the hopes of being able to create more time to paint and ultimately revive/rework my Cardboard City comic property. Which means that I'll be updating this site much more regularly. More soon.

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New and In Progress tattoos

New tattoos posted on the tattoo page. Finally got a chance to paint a bit today, I'll post pics of that asap.

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Studio Pics / Podcast Interview

Hi, did an interview with a local artist JUNIOR BRUCE who has a podcast called BEWARE OF PODCAST. Please take the time to check it out, like the BOP Facebook page if you get a chance. Along with the podcast I recently submitted pics of where I do most of my painting and drawing to ALLSTARKREW.COM There are several other artists studio space up as well, so if your a art junkie like me its always cool to see where other people make their craft. Please click on the link and check it out.

I've been super busy with the tattoo side of my work lately so no new paintings or drawings to show just yet. Starting April 1st. I'll be doing a sketch a day so I'll try and keep updating as those are finished.
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Goldfish Tattoo

WORKSHOP / LECTURE

So  after talking with Andy over at University Art here in Sacramento I've decided to put a small lecture/workshop together.  In the past handful of years I've made a big transition in my life, going from having a crap day job to now making a living as a full time artist. I've made many mistakes along the way and I've also learned a ton of helpful things too. I think that this information is valuable to others who are trying to make the same transition in their lives as I did. I'd like to show other aspiring artists how I do things (my process) as well as discuss tips for helping you develop better habits to be more productive with your art. I'd also like to give you tips on how to make a living at it. Hope to see you guys there.
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Tips in Photoshop: A fundamental tool in your comic book or graphic illustration & painting process

Fee:  $30.00

Date:  March 10th 2012

Time: 1:00pm – 4:00pm

Location:  University Art – 2610 Marconi Ave Sacramento, Ca. 95833

Bio about workshop:
Corey Bernhardt breaks down his drawing process and shows you how to use Photoshop to break through common setbacks during the illustrative and painting process.

Learn tips on how to photo composite your rough sketches to your photo reference and even setting up panels and pages for beginning and independent comic artists. Learn creative tips on  how to be more efficient/productive with your drawing time as well as general tips on how to break into making a living an artist.

*This class is presented in a lecture setting. However, attendees are encouraged to bring their own laptops and Wacom tablets to follow along. Basic Photoshop knowledge is recommended.

**You should take this class if:
-You want to bring your illustrations and paintings to the next level.
-You are an aspiring comic book artist.
-You would like to expand your Photoshop knowledge and how it applies to your personal artwork.

Registration information: Please click on the banner above to preregister and reserve your seat. I will keep track of your name/email from the paypal transaction, but to be safe please print out a receipt and bring it with you just in case. I will also be taking credit cards on site if you choose not to preregister. But I can't guarantee a seat will be available.

University Art Sac II
2610 Marconi Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95821
(916) 484-1640
www.universityart.com

Uncle Mountain 24x36 oil on board

Haunted Tattoos

5hrs. of color work on the beginnings of Scott's haunted house sleeve. The reference picture I used was this great pic of a statue in a cemetery somewhere in Europe. Lots more to go.

Second Saturday Art Show

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I'll be showing a handful of paintings this Saturday from 6-9. With a bunch of other very talented artists. Char Hall, Shawn Mahaffey, Adrian Marquez, and Ricky Cavaness.

Side Show Studio
5635 Freeport Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95822

*ps, sorry for the blurry pic

Some new work to share.

Subject matter has been on my mind a lot lately. How do I want to represent myself to others through these paintings. I'm not sure... I write this because this painting above was almost painted over just because I wasn't sure if this was the type of imagery that I wanted to show people that I did. Ultimately after showing a few friends and getting a positive reaction I decided to put it out there. But the more my catalog of work grows I'd like to start showing more. And I'm nervous because I want to not necessarily make a statement, but just make sure that the people who see it come away with some sort of representation as to who the type of artist I am. Things change the more you develop as an artist, especially when you make a career out of it. You start thinking about how to stay relevant. I started drawing in the beginning with the whole thought of I'm going to draw for myself. Now I'm coming from the perspective of what do I think people might want to hang in their house and be proud to show to their friends. How do I compliment another persons individuality. How do I keep my identity in these paintings but also appeal to a larger audience. Why can't I stop painting skulls? Food for thought to all you other artists.

New Beginnings

I'd like to let you all know that I'll be moving to a new tattoo shop. After 3 years at Pretty In Ink Tattoo my time has come to an end. I would like to thank Heidi Ellis, Jayme Goodwin, and Shawn Scheurmier. All three of these amazing artists have made a lasting impression in my artistic growth and I would not be the artist I am today without all of their help. Pretty in Ink gave me an opportunity and chance of a lifetime to learn an invaluable craft that has changed my life forever. I wish all of them the best in all their future endeavors.

I will continue to be at Pretty in Ink until Jan 27th.

I will be making a new home at Side Show Studios in Sacramento starting Jan 31st. I'm stoked to be working next to such an awesome group of artists and I look forward to learning, sharing and helping grow their shop as well. My most current portfolio is at Side Show Studio now as well as up on their Facebook page. If you would like set up a consultation please message me on Facebook, email me at corey_bernhardt@yahoo.com or call and speak with someone at Side Show Studios to book a consultation over the phone.

Side Show Studios
5635 Freeport Blvd. Ste 6
Sacramento, CA 95822

Denizen Tattoo

Nothing better than being able to make your paintings into a tattoo. Very cool.

Almost done.

Hairless cat, frogs and flowers?

Sketching for new paintings. Gearing up for a show show in Feb. Also looking at possibly doing a class on helping some local artists use Photoshop along side their illustrative, comic, painting work. It will be most likely be held in Sacramento, CA so check back for more details. Also started using Instagram to post so you can follow me there as well. Thanks for stopping by. More soon.

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Barn Owl Chest Tattoo

Stuff

So here are some of the things I've been working on the past few weeks. Most are works in progress, the last image is a second pass on a piece I've posted before. The sketch was for a tattoo but never ended up being used. My painting time is a little limited lately, but that should change in next few weeks. Thanks for stopping by. More soon.
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Creative Freedom

I love when clients give me artistic freedom. I think it reflects very positively in any work I do. Thanks to Alston for letting me go crazy on his arm.

I have some free time comming up here, so I should have another painting or two up shortly I hope. Happy Halloween everyone.
more soon.

The emotional bank account.

Inspiration comes in so many different ways. Just when you think your out of ideas then something will come along to pick you back up and keep you focused again. I've been extremely fortunate to be as busy as I am with tattooing still. November is what usually starts the "slow season" in this industry. This year shows no signs of things slowing down for us at the shop. Everyday it seems that I still struggle with time management, some days are better than others. Keeping what I hear is called the "emotional bank account full" and the "personal bank account full" is very prevalent in my day to day. These metaphors help keep me focused on the time I have to use every day. I play less and less video games in exchange to keep on track with art so that I can do my best to not be in that art mode while trying to spend the little time I do have with the girlfriend and my son. With the understanding when I really need that extra time I can make a withdraw from the emotional account and it won't effect my family as much. Just the simple fact that I'm faced with these hiccups in my career makes me happy and very fortunate to do what it is I'm attempting to do. To go back to the whole inspiration thing, I find it hard that when I do get inspired about a potential painting that I always seem to have to put it on the back burner until I have time to actually start moving forward with it because of priorities. I find that its hard to tap back into that inspiration once you do have that free time to start it...  I'm pretty sure this will not change.

I'm moving again soon too into a much bigger place which will allow me to actually have an office/studio again. And be able to ride my bike to work, sweet. Thanks for coming back to see whats been going on. Above are a few goings on lately. More soon.


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New Prints Available

The Deep Espial is now available as a print. This was originally created with oils on a 16x20 cradled masonite panel. The original has since sold and I would like to offer a print to anyone who might be interested. All prints are numbered and signed. I only have these 5 available prints at this size. Once these 5 are gone, they're gone. I will have 16x20 prints available soon at a lower cost. If you live in the Sacramento, CA area I will hand deliver a print to you. For anyone else please click on the shop link above to be redirected to my etsy shop. more soon.

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"Coney"

"Coney"
8x10 Oils on mdf panel
Mounted on linen wrapped panel in a 11x14 frame

**Please email me at corey_bernhardt@yahoo.com for pricing

Back from vacation!

I'm back from a MUCH needed vacation. Spent a week in a car with a very special lady driving between Oregon and Washington seeing as much as possible along the way. We spent a day and a half in Portland, 3 days in Seattle and two days on the coast in a place called West port where this pic was taken. It's amazing what a vacation will do for perspective in your life. I realized/learned a lot of things about who I am as a person and a lot more about what it means to balance how you live and how you work. The short answer is that I'll be sleeping less but the good thing is that I get to be a heck of a lot more productive with the extra time I'm trying to create for myself. I'll have a new painting up probably tomorrow so please check back. more soon.

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Tattoo

Hexacranes

For Sale
"Hexacranes"
14x18 Oils on cradled Masonite panel

*please email me at corey_bernhardt@yahoo.com for pricing.

The Garrulous Portal

12x16 Oil on cradled masonite board. This painting is for sale if anyone is interested you can email me at corey_bernhardt@yahoo.com

OH! and my Etsy store is now open. You can click on the link above if you'd like. I will be adding more prints there very soon as well so keep checking back. Thanks for taking the time to stop by the blog. More soon.

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Shanes sleeve complete

The Deep Espial

16x20 oil on masonite panel. The idea was to try and convey an owl underwater without giving to much away. If your interested please email me at corey_bernhardt@yahoo.com for pricing.

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Craziness and Guest Spots!!!

So much craziness in my life right now. Not in the bad way, actually in the very good way. It's funny and also odd but when the door closes on certain things in your life, automatically another one is there waiting to be opened. It's been a while since my last post and so whoever actually still stops by to see where things are going in this blog I really appreciate it and I'm grateful to you guys. My comics work has almost completely stopped (for the time being). All I have been able to do as of late is paint. I have found a crazy appreciation for painting and between that and the tattoo business painting has proven to be a nice side income. My heart will always belong to comics and I very much plan to get back on track with Cardboard City but in the meantime I just have a ton of paintings I need to get out of my brain. I'll have some paintings for you guys to look at very soon. For now here are a select few tattoo's I've done in the past few months. And since i'm also posting about tattoo stuff I thought you guys might want to know I'll be a guest artist at Industrial Tattoo this Sunday in Berkley. So if you have friends in the bay area and they are in need of a quality tattoo please send them my way.

*Sunday 6/26 from 12-7 (or later, I'm not sure exactly)

Industrial Tattoo
2434 Dwight Way
(between Dana St & Telegraph Ave)
...Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 644-0968

www.industrialtattooandpiercing.com

Denizen Prints Available

Limited prints of "The Denizen" are now available. I have 3 sizes to choose from, if you would like a custom size please let me know.

8x10 for $25.00
11x14 for $55.00
16x20 for $95.00
...
*All prints are signed, numbered, and come with a cert. from the me/printer. If you live in the Sacramento area I will deliver the print to you myself, or you can come by the shop and pick one up. Please message/email me if you would like to purchase one. My email is corey_bernhardt@yahoo.com

"The Denizen"

24x30 Oil on Masonite board.

*For Sale, please email me at corey_bernhardt@yahoo.com for pricing

another tattoo

I'll have some drawings up soon.

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Some Tattoo work

More Concept work

Logo concept work for a sports team. This is a perfect example of why you don't see a lot of artists stepping out of most of the art they do for a living. I was asked to do this design which took me a few hours (a few more than I would like to admit) to complete. Of course I did it for a recent friend of mine who is a good guy. Unfortunately when to many peoples hands get into the pie, shit never ends up going right. In the end someone else from their team also had a "friend" who is an artist and well, and so guess who got the shaft. Now yea I'm a little bitter about the situation not so much of how it went down AND lets be honest, most people who don't do art for a living don't quite understand how much time goes into a piece. I'm really more frustrated at myself in that I should know better than to do work that I 1. don't necessarily know who else is involved and 2. that I didn't negotiate some sort of "Kill fee" before I even started and 3. Maybe isn't up my alley in style necessarily. In my defense at least I asked to do it in a style that fit the whole sports logo style to which I was politely denied (who knows maybe he didn't understand what I was asking). Anyway! lately I've been learning things the hard way it seems because I keep making the same mistakes over and over. It's funny because I wonder if the guys that we all talk about as artists as being lets just say "not that friendly" were people just like me who got burned a few to many times, who knows. Also I'm a nice guy and sometimes it's just hard to say no so I got that working against me too. More soon.

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Concept work

Here are some sketches done for a decal design for a bike wrap company here in sac. more soon.

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Been a while.

There is never enough time in the day. Lately it's been tough to keep up with everything. Here is a piece I did a few weeks ago, I posted the framed version but this is a more detailed pic. I have some concept sketches I did, logos and decal designs. I'll post those as soon as I collect and format them better. I've made little progress on CC 2 but it's constantly in my mind, most of the stuff I've been doing lately has been tattoo related. Back to work. more soon.

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Tattoo

This is a piece I started for a friend today. 3hrs on his inner arm and he sat like a champ. It's going to need another 3hrs refinement but heck, it's a good start. Enjoy your weekend peeps, more soon.

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New Artwork for Sale!

What up everyone!!! I hope your holidays went well. So much to do and so little time. Cardboard City has slowed a bit because of the crazy amount of tattoo work that has come my way lately. I'm hoping to get back on track very soon. For now, please purchase my artwork. more soon.

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