Boys' hair cuts

My sons have been asking for specialty haircuts.  J-son wanted a checkerboard; N-son wanted a dragon on his head.  Neither of these was an option when I was a kid.

I have clippers, and I did my best to imprint checkers on J-son's head.  The overall effect made him look like he had mange.  Or maybe he was related to Frankenstein, I don't know.  He was happy, but I was a bit embarrassed.  Really, who wants to let the neighbors know your kid has mange?

I googled all sorts of combinations of "how to black boy hair cut etch design", to see what I was missing out on.  I got, interestingly enough, LOTS of You-tube videos.  That's really the first time that happened.  I don't get You Tube videos when I look for "how to can applesauce", for example.  The videos all came with lots of hip hop music, and (depending on the combination of words I put in) were more or less advertisements for a particular hair shop.  But I got to see lots of handsome african american men styling hair -- either their own, or someone else's.

I finally decided that my hair clippers don't really cut quite close enough.  I started over with a combination of clippers and razors.  I'm nowhere near professional, but round 2 at least doesn't look like mange.  These hair cuts have lasted for a week without a request to undo my handiwork.  The boys are happy, and that's what counts.

J-son has a checkerboard pattern shaved into his head.

N-son has a dragon head forward, wings in the middle, and a tail in the back.

Suggestions for improvements are most welcome.  Fortunately, when it comes to hair, my mistakes will grow out.  But I would love to do a better job.