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Here are pics of the first session. Only went about 3 hours. Got a late start because of icy road. One more session of outline and then on to color and sharing. I'm very happy. Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

finally finished, totally hurt

Okay, I'm really late to this party but: Well yeah, most legendary tattooers are grizzled old men that are a little politically incorrect. You sound surprised by the way he speaks. Not sure if you're trying to make a criticism or just a statement...? Personally, as a woman, I find this whole idea of masculine spaces (like an old tattoo shop) to be a sort of mystical thing. I like going into old timey barber shops with my boyfriend and seeing how different it is from the unisex salons I go to. I think masculine spaces should be respected and appreciated, there aren't many places where a guy can be a guy anymore without judgment. If you don't like how these guys carry themselves or operate their shop, there's more than enough other shops to choose from. /rant And rightly so for him to be judgmental. Just because he did it doesn't mean it's a good idea. It just means he's old enough to know better and wishes someone would have told him not to do it when he was a kid.

Stop it, you worry way too much about this tattoo! It will never look exactly like it did when it was an open wound. Your skin is going to heal over it, so you'll see the ink through a layer of you. Right now you're looking through dead skin. Yes, they absolutely fade a bit over time, wear, exposure, etc.

Just got it today:

I believe I've seen worse covered. Are you asking for an artist, or a tattoo idea? Where are you located?

Starting my back with Marius Meyer in a few days. Going to cover up a Polynesian tribal, so this should be interesting. Wish me luck!

because who doesn't need a snake and rose! Black Heart Tattoo Scott Sylvia's the best, can't wait to see him again :)

let's go Dietzel snake head by Todd Tattooer (Merci Bonsoir - Lyon / France) from last year (fresh on the picture!) Hard to take the whole tattoo on the picture but it has a tongue!

@scottyg Looks rad man! Lining is pretty awful, feels a bit like being cut in half haha. But as said before earlier in this thread, the stoke will pull you through! How far down are you taking it? To the ass or to the knees? On Saturday, I just tipped over 20 hours in on my back and very satisfyingly started colour. The black is completely done and it now looks like a proper backpiece. Three and half hours to finish up blocking out the thighs, and a quick sit on some red before calling it quits. Going from the last couple of sessions on soft, squishy areas back to over spine and shoulder blades was quite a shock. Definitely not looking forward to the massive block of colour over the middle of my back.

The thread has definitely taken on more and more meaning as progress on my own back has progress. A back piece is definitely an all consuming thing. After a bit of a hiatus (life happens ka know) we got back at it with a big shading session. Now to bang out the thighs and we can start getting some colour into this thing. Kind of funnily, some tattooer friends of mine joked that Scott was mad at me because so much black ended up going into the butt ha! Was pretty sick with a cold this week, but after not working on it for 3 months I wasn't about to cancel my appointment. Potentially a mistake as the session ended with Scott calling it because I was solid up until about 4 hours when I started shaking uncontrollably. I almost passed out on the way home (pounding in the ears, tunnel vision, and all that jazz). First time I've felt totally wrecked after a session. After looking at it everyday after my session in August, I couldn't be more stoked on the amount of progress. I love seeing how this design gets clearer and clearer as black get put around it. 16.5 hours here.

Not entirely true. From my understanding, dragons are neutral, but the majority of the time tend to be good omen. There are many instances in which dragon fight humans. Tamatori the pearl diver running from Ryujin is a good example of a ryu/human conflict. Or Susanoo who slayed the dragon Orochi to save Kushinadahime. Or the dragon that was eating children that the goddess Benzaiten soothed with her beauty, and latter (in some stories) married the dragon. There are other instances in which a witch transforms herself into a dragon as well, and stories of multi-headed evil dragon. Although rare, there are certain instances in which ryu fight swordsman. But as for your tattoo, less is more. If I were you Id just go with a dragon skeeve with nothing else, but thats just me.

Hey --- great topic! So I am exactly in your boat. Getting a Japanese dragon sleeve done here in Austin, Texas. Like you, I estimated this to be about 15 hours/3 sessions. But I am in that far now and we probably have 5-8 more to go. You can read a more detailed update on how it's going here: So, my sleeve is a 7/10th length, almost full. The first session was the linework. I don't know how your artist works, but mine the design was drawn freehand (after a lot of consultation, obviously). This took a few hours of mostly standing up. It was fascinating. He would draw it and be nearly done, then look at it and say -- no, the head needs to be an inch to the right - then wipe it off and start again. He would do multiple layers in multiple colors getting more detailed with each layer, and he erased amazing stuff many times because he wanted it to flow with my body correctly, and had to re-draw it. I think this is really important with your piece, especially with multiple elements. I was planning on tattooing to the wrist, but since I wear a watch, the 7/10ths made more sense. And putting the dragon head on my collarbone just never looked right, despite that being one of the more traditional locations. So as he is drawing it on you - think about how the pieces fit onto your body... and also.... think about what parts you want to look at all the time. If am not at the computer working, I am golfing, so what was on my top/inner forearms was important because that's the area I'll be looking at most. I had fewer flowers put there so I wasn't distracted by the pink that will go in there later. Here are a few pics I didn't put into the other thread: First layer. This was erased. and Re-done. Then the linework. Ouch. We did this in about 3ish hours: A month later we did all the shading in one 5.5 hour session: The healing of the shading was just awful. The Y of my arm got immediately dry and cracked making moving my arm very painful for 4-5 days and mildly painful for another 4-5. Applying Aquaphor those first 3-4 days just inflamed the whole arm it and - just - ouch. I had to really baby it, and luckily I work from home and can work shirtless for a few days and wash/re-ointment frequently. If I had to put on a dress shirt (or any shirt) and go to work and move around I would have been really sorry. If you do this much coverage, wash it a lot, because I had a few areas flare up looking like they were going to get infected, but luckily just got really heavily scabbed. So my artist went to Europe for 10 weeks, and I had to wait all summer for coloring! But like you, I was thinking 15 hours/three sessions. And I felt like one more 5.5 hours session like the shading would be enough to finish up almost entirely. Nope! Last Wednesday we did 5.5 hours (all I could take) and only got in green and red: Takes awhile to get some of that color in, I guess. This part on the shoulder hurt/bled a lot: The ditch was bad. Real bad. Healing the color has been about 60% as bad as the shading. I probably could have shirted up and worked a job with movement had I needed to... but it would have still been really uncomfortable. Healing the ditch is no joke. Those scales are all scabbed now, and I rarely scab on my tattoos. Ouch. So now I'm hoping one more 5 hour run will do it, but I doubt it. Just the flowers - by the numbers, could take a few hours themselves (there are more on the back of the arm). So I'm guessing it will be 5 hrs next month, then another 2-3 after that (fingers crossed). Take lots of pics, especially during if you can. I always wish I had snapped more after. Here is a video of the shading. You can compare that spot to the above pics to see how dark we got it eventually. Takes awhile to lay down those greyish areas on the windbars/clouds: https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-znxv7VN/0/1280/i-znxv7VN-1280.mp4

I've had 2 consecutive days with Chris Crooks from White Dragon Tattoo in Belfast. First day he did all the line work (7 hours) and the second day he did background and some shading (6 hours). It was an amazing experience with a phenomenal artist and down to earth great guy. I'm blown away by the quality and speed of his work. He put a video up on his instagram doing the piece more justice. I will be flying back to Belfast in December for the continuation of this piece.

Hit the back up with another session yesterday, and now I can thankfully say that all of the lining of this piece is done, save for some details while colouring. The rest of the background should fill in quite quickly, given that it took Scott three and a half hours to line my thighs and about twenty minutes to blast the massive wave over my ribs. He used a 15 mag, so probably the least sharp pain so far, although that whole area is feeling a little bruised. 12.5 hours total chair time here. We got another sit later this month. Hit it hard!

Second session down! Did want to sit for longer but the heavy shading over the spine did me in for the day. 4 and a half hours here. Definitely feeling better now that the majority of lining is done (although more on the thighs later, but the shoulders are blocked out and it's starting to look more like a backpiece now. Knowing what to expect in what area as far as pain definitely helped make the sit easier and go by quicker.

@BrianH Hats off to you, bud. That looks amazing, you earned it (: @sophistre I love it! So sick! Can't wait to see more And I don't have any recent photos of how mine is coming, unfortunately. I think the closest I can post is this one below. Anyway, did a chunk on the ass on Tuesday and it was pretty crappy. Seems like we're starting to close in on this thing though, just the sides and bottom of the ass, and the thighs left. About 66 hours and 1 year in.

Did some shading with Greggles today. Not even in the same league as lining, though anytime he gets close to that one area on either scapula I have to bite leather. That will probably always suck. But hey - since we focused on the upper body this time, I didn't have to be completely naked in public for a whole day! Bonus. I am finding that 4 hours is about the time that I consistently have my pain response start to fail. Tattoo flu every time.

Finished my full back piece last Friday. I plan to write something about the experience but need time to collect and organize all my thoughts. by Mike Rubendall at Kings Ave:

Haha, standing only but it's at the Bristol academy so it's fairly easy to avoid the pit. There's a balcony above and a raised area set back from the floor, where the bar is (my spiritual home), so i'll just have to take a bit of a back seat. I say this now, but there's a good chance i'll get a few pints in me and just go to the front.

Sitting or standing room only?

I have my next backpiece session 5 days before i go to see Black Label Society in concert. That was not the best piece of planning i've ever done! Think i'll be planting myself firmly away from the pit for that one

Ok I'm just going to write something short about my back piece in progress since I am healing after the second session now and feel psyched about it. Since I first started getting tattoos I knew that I would want to get a back piece. I figured I'd wait and let the idea evolve over time, save up enough money and start doing it on my 30:th year. Two years ago I got tattooed by Iain Mullen for the first time and since we've done something like 6-7 tattoos and they are among my favorites. We also became friends and I usually stop by the shop at least once a week to hang out and talk with him and the other guys. As time passed I decided to give him my back when the time was right. However last autumn I went down to Italy and got tattooed by Rudy Fritsch at his shop and felt like he'd make me an amazing back piece instead… Eventually I told Iain that I wanted the two of them to collaborate. I was a bit uncertain if he would be up for it but the next day when I came in to pay for a tattoo he told me that it was on (!) About two months later it was time for the first session. Up until this date I had not seen the sketch or been allowed to make any wishes about what the tattoo was going to be. I put my trust in them and I am very happy that I did. The first session was two hours with both of them working simultaneously on me. Rudy starting low on the left side and Iain up on my right shoulder. I found being laid face down on a massage bed, having only the floor to look at and no visual way of telling when or where the pain was going to hit… this was the most psychological challenging thing with the whole session. I've gotten some pretty rough spots done before but this was the worst two hours I've had to endure when it comes to tattoos. Two machines are not twice as bad but still a lot worse than one. I'm happy that they both work quick but it also meant a lot of brutality when it comes to long lines being nailed into my ribs in fast succession. I tried to zone out and focus on the breathing but that only made time slow down more, I could not think of anything else. Second session was this thursday, I sat up on a gym bench and me and Iain were talking the whole time through and it was such a walk in the park compared to the first one. I feel good about having had that experience anyway, it was special.

The alternative--not getting a backpiece--is just silly.

The things I have to look forward to. Full backs are stupid tattoos to get. Stupid, stupid tattoos. What is wrong with us.

not until he shaves.

Have you considered getting into bodybuilding?

I really enjoyed "where the fuck is my happy place?" My first session on my chest I really psyched myself out and I remember thinking things very similar to this. So now that I can't feel that pain anymore, this is kind of funny

Thanks, all! Yeah, I was gonna start a thread called "Thread for posting while getting tattooed" (a la "Thread for posting while inebriated") but it would just be full of posts like, "Oohhh, why did I decide to get this multi-session tattoo?", "I seriously signed up for this?", "This is freaking killing me!", "My muscle just won't stop twitching," "I want to tap out now. You can't tap out. But I'm getting close. No you're not, don't be a pussy, it's not a good stopping point. But I'm starting to lose it. Buck up, girlfriend. La la la la la la la la. Where the fuck is my happy place?!? Time to put on the head-banger playlist and scream along to the lyrics in your mind." But hey, it's a great morning - I didn't stick to the sheets last night!

Valium is great. ;)

I believe the word you want is callipygian.

it is a big butt though... bulbous was the perfect adjective...

Your butt muscles are too big to be relaxed. Try a horse tranq.

Are you implying that you don't? Weirdo...

Thanks for your comments! I'm very excited with the piece. I forgot to include another part of my experience that I think you all would appreciate... So when I was going crazy with anticipation waiting to see a drawing for the piece and checking my email a billion times a day, Eddy sends an email saying that his "old friend Dan Higgs" said "whoa" three times in a row when he saw the drawing and that that was a very good omen. And then my head almost exploded ;)