Review: Pashur's Super Workshop Jam 2 & Rockin' Tattoos & Tribals 101

This week I had the great fortune to be able to attend two of renowned face & body artist Pashur House’s conventions in neighboring Columbus Ohio. Admittedly, I was probably more nervous than most for three very good reasons:

1. The workshops entailed 2 days of (15+ hours) of intense study under the tutelage of Pashur.
   2. This was to be my first jaunt into the formal training arena of this art form.
   3. Pashur was going to be there and observing my woeful attempts to be artistic.

I’d spoken (via email) to Pashur on many occasions prior to the workshops and he assured me that nervousness wasn’t on the supplies list for the class and that it was something best left at home (or at least in my suitcase). I, being who I am, decided I knew better and brought my full complement of butterflies and insecurities along for the ride anyway. Not to worry, in his own special way, Mr. House made quick work of my nerves and in no time I was acquiescing to being slowly nudged out of my comfort zone (and yes, I did mutter some nasty expletives under my breath as I painted what I was told to paint).

We’ve all heard the comments from other convention/workshop goers about instructors who are inadequately equipped to teach, those who are somewhat arrogant in their self perceptions and those who , even while teaching, are reluctant to divulge a lot of their ‘secrets’. I wasn’t concerned that Pashur would fall into any of those categories of instructor attributes, but I truly didn’t know what to expect, again, this was my first time. My first impression of Pashur was that of a warm spirit just bursting at the seams with creativity and a desire to drown his students in his vast knowledge. As pseudo-psychotic as that sounds, it was a good thing!

I am not kisser of butts, as many of you know by my on-point way of addressing situations I feel need addressing, so when I say these things, you can be rest assured that I mean them from the bottom of my twisted little heart. From the first hug of greeting, to the to the artfully crafted pranks, Pashur went out of his way to knock down the barriers to intense learning that usually accompany unfamiliar acquaintance. As he taught the classes, Pashur gave us all little critiques and suggestions on how to better achieve what we want to paint as well as little nuggets of positive affirmations that helped to shore up the natural insecurities one might have when having their work addressed by a renowned artist. I left the workshops not only feeling slightly artistically abused (I’ll explain later) but also much more secure in my ability to eventually learn all of the techniques I needed to learn in order to paint the way I want to paint. If there is a class/workshop that I would recommend to any face painter it would be any one that has Pashur House’s name attached to it. Read on for reviews of the classes.

Pashur’s Super Workshop & Jam 2
In his Super Workshop & Jam 2 class, Pashur presented the secrets to several of his signature designs. From the fabulously blingy jester eye design to the seemingly imposing scorpion and spider, all of the designs were broken down to their simplest interpretations and we were all encouraged to paint along to make sure the knowledge reached its target. Though Pashur is an ambassador of sorts for Kryolan, he did offer alternative brand suggestions to help us create his designs with our own palettes.

I particularly liked the portion of the class where we painted the spiders and scorpions because it was so much more than a step-by-step/how-to demo. As Pashur duplicated his creations on various parts of Jennifer’s torso, he gave us tidbits of information about the insects/arachnid/creepy crawly that would serve to make remembering their proper anatomical configurations easy. Many of the tidbits he shared are also mentioned in his hot off the presses step-by-step booklet Spiders & Scorpions, but there’s nothing like being able to ask questions in order to get it right. With every step-by-step demo, he gave the class a chance to capture the step by asking Jennifer to provide close-up for those who either wanted to photograph the step or just verify that they’d painted it properly. I have to stop here to say a little something about Ms. Jennifer. She is truly an amazing woman. She graciously presented herself to be photographed hundreds of times over the weekend and often found time to offer up a word or two of humor, praise and direction while she was doing it. If you get a chance to check out Pashur’s website, be sure to check out the line of Pashur inspired jewelry she’s designed (I want to say that they are manufactured under the name Scorpion’s Kiss, but I might be wrong).

The days teaching wasn’t simply painting step-by-steps however. We were also ‘subjected’ to a few Pashur Games (or what he called exercises) aimed at stretching our creativity. Usually these games served as a tie-in to a technique or process that he was trying to teach and inevitably they always resulted in a few laughs as well as artistic stretch marks.

After a nice dinner at a local restaurant, we came back to the class room for a bit of jamming. Mind you, because we all spent so much time ‘talking shop’ over dinner we didn’t start the Jam until late, but how often do you find a painter so willing to let you pick his brain over a hot meal? The jam was hilarious (though I think some of my loopiness was due in part to the late hour). We were REALLY stretched during the session and I think Pashur would’ve been willing to keep going had it not been for the glazed and dazed looks on our faces (snicker). All in all, this was an experience that surpassed anything I could’ve imagined and I would take the class again without a single concern about monotony.

Pashur's Rockin’ Tattoos & Tribals 101
I won’t go into a long diatribe about the second day’s class because you could probably just cut and paste everything I wrote above and it would be a perfect fit for this class critique. I will admit that I had very little interest in painting tattoos before this class. I signed up for the Tribals 101 portion and assumed that I would just suffer through the tattoos portion. Wrong answer. The tattoos that were presented (of the Ed Hardy variety) were phenomenal and I still can’t believe that I painted some of them! The most mind blowing of them all was the Ed Hardy rose which Pashur promises to be a hit on any menu board... once mastered. What made the tattoos even more awesome was the way that they were paired with the most mind blowing tribal designs.

Pashur’s way of teaching tribal design coupled technical execution concepts with suggestions on how to transfer what was in our heads onto paper/canvas. Admittedly, I’m still light years away from being a proficient, but with simple concepts such as breathing room and negative space burned into my brain, I think I’m well on my way! I won’t kid you, the tribals and tattoos were no joke to be certain and I plan to take this class again as soon as I find it offered nearby, but the knowledge we were given was more than enough to give us something to chew on for the time being.

The most difficult parts of the class were the exercises where we were told to embellish the roses we'd painted with tribals (big fear of messing up there) and the one where we were told to "just paint a tribal design" that took up our whole forearm (if not more). Miraculously, Pashur always appeared at my side whenever I started to get stuck on some aspect of my designs...actually, I suspect that there were Pashur clones about because it appeared that he was at everyone's side just as they needed him! I plan on working out my tribal issues a lot in the coming months and I feel adequately equipped to do so. The class wrapped up with a stunning demo of Koi fish that materialized on his “canvas” like magic. We were all encouraged to take pictures of the step-by-steps for this so that we could execute the design at home and make it our own. Out of respect for Pashur and because I think everyone should take his workshops, I won’t be posting them anywhere, but if I manage to paint one that looks like a fish, will post the finished product. If you get the chance to take this class, I encourage you to jump all over it; even if Ed Hardy and Tribals aren’t your style, this class (as with the 1st day’s class) will not only go a long way to help you master controlling your brush and breaking your dependency on sponges but will also help you to make sense of techniques such as shading, blending, drop shadow application, ghosting and flame creation (okay…I made that one up…but you DO learn it!)

Pros:

• The class was very informative,very fun and the atmosphere was that of openness.

• The challenges were challenging, but not impossible to maneuver. The instructor took all of my threats to dump him in the nearby swimming pool with grace…even though I was serious when I made them.

• The classes forced me out of my sponge-first-ask-questions-later mindset and I felt like a real artist creating with very little spongy input.

• Pashur went out of his way to make sure that nobody left feeling that they were a crappy painter. Every critique was buffeted by praise of some aspect of our work and every suggestion was offered in such a way as to suggest that it would make the design “better” instead of “right”. Pashur understands that art is subjective and personal and he worked with us to allow for the infusion of our individual personalities into the designs we were painting.

Cons:

• I was able to gleam a more complete class list by email discussion with Pashur, but others were not prepared for some of the brush requirement (i.e. #10 filbert, Ultra Round Brushes, Lining as opposed to Blending Black/White). I think having a short, but detailed list of tools would help those who aren’t the self proclaimed tackle-tart that I am.

• I really think that one of the items on the class list should be a spiral bound watercolor paper booklet. This isn’t really a con, but I didn’t know where else to put it. Perhaps if he (Pashur) could squeeze a few booklets into his already overstuffed luggage, he could offer them up for sale at the beginning of each class? I went out and bought one at lunch because I ran out of arms and I show my thighs to nobody…not even myself. The watercolor paper booklets allowed me to execute even the most involved blending techniques without bleeding into the next page AND allowed me to take notes alongside my paintings. As Pashur stated “they’re where it’s at”.

• In hindsight, I wish we could’ve all been given feeding tubes so we could’ve foregone eating and maybe mega doses of Redbull so that sleeping wasn’t such a necessity.

Highly recomended.

Pashur rocks! Great disposition and great teaching skills.

I took one of his workshops last year and I'm taking my son to Rockin’ Tattoos & Tribals 101 at the end of the month.

Let's see some pictures ladies! So many rave on his classes, but never post the pics. Why are you holding back! LOL!

Please share with us you can't make the classes!

-Metina

Sorry, the only pics I have from the class are of his step by steps and I believe that's a no-no to post those.
Take my word for it, for the little money he charges, you get a huge bang for your buck and he and his girlfriend Jenn (who's also his model for the class) are the most genuinely nice people.
I was afraid with his talent, he might be egocentric, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. He's a normal down to earth guy.
He's witty, nice and concerned that everyone gets the concepts that he teaches and takes time to answer questions and show technique until you get it.

Hi Metina...I was having a pre-senior moment. I have a couple of pictures of the tribals I did as well as what I consider a roadkilled spider, I just have to resize them. I meant to do that...but my brain was fried by the end of the review.

Wow, that sounds so fabulous, I wish I had the opportunity to attend something like that up here in Canada.

The final pics would be fine. We just see SOOO many posts about all the training classes and those attending being so thrilled, but alas, no photos seem to emerge.

I saw some of his work at Fab. and he is truley an amazing painter.

-Metina

Thanks for the review! When (I'm being positive here) I have the chance to attend a convention, I'll make sure to catch one of his classes.

No really, what did you think of it?

I know... I have a problem with being vague...I'm working on it though! My next review will be more heartfelt...I promise. When do I get to take a Fennell class? I'd love to review THAT ONE! I can almost picture Shannon with a freakish cattle prod.

Ugh! I broke my own rule and failed to proof read before publishing! What freakin' garbage I wrote! I should call the college to see if they'll take my degree back since I'm obviously oblivious to the fact that I majored in english! Kicking myself!