Matej Haviar

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.
 

Hey all,
Today I started my back piece with Scott Rusnak out of Lucky Strike Tattoo in Edmonton, Alberta. We are doing something a little out of the traditional notion of Japanese tattooing--a large octopus with some of his rad lightning laid over top. This is only my third tattoo (the other's being only palm sized jammers) and after my four-hour linework sit today, I am humbled. All of the spots feel like bad spots, but now a couple hours after things are feeling good and I'm looking forward to the next sit where we will finish the linework and start some shading, hopefully. We're planning on bringing it down to the knees with some rocks and heikegani crabs. The bare patch near my left shoulder will also probably be filled with some more water and another crab. Ultimately, this first experience was intense but totally manageable and very rewarding.
 

Healing is worse than the tattoo on the hand. I dry healed my hands as I now do for all my tattoos. It was the scariest and most painful healing experience in my 15 years getting tattoo.  But I received them from one of the best cats around, so even though it looked like my hand was a candidate for an amputation, by the end of a grueling 6 week period it looked immaculate and no ink was lost. I had faith the entire time in what my tattooist had made for me.
This is precisely why one should wait and explore tattooing on other parts of the body that are easier to heal and gain a better understanding of what tattooing is.

Session number seven rolled around this Saturday. @bongsau You were definitely right, "in for a whooping" to say the least. Only made it through 2 and a half hours, but still managed to tear up an insane amount of skin. It's sessions like this that definitely teach you about your body and ability to tolerate pain. Felt pretty discouraged immediately after the session, but I'm still stoked on the level of progress. Can't wait to see the patterning brighten up as the blue settles over top. 28.5 hours here.

Session # who knows now, but coming to the end. 36 hours to get here. One more sit to finish a tiny bit of colouring we haven't done and to hit a bunch of the background to smooth things out. Scott wanted to darken the big wave over my ribs to something a little closer to the lower one. It's gonna be weird not having this to work on anymore, but at the same time I'm so effing relieved. Gonna be healed for summer and for the crazy shop party--boo yeah!

@scottyg Thanks man! I've been really enjoying Horimomo's work recently!
But you also reminded me that I still haven't posted a healed photo. This one was taken about a month after finishing it, and some of the blue still needs a bit of settling time to get uniform.
Maybe not a readable as some other backpieces, but I love how dynamic the huge wave over my shoulder is and the lighting. It moves very well on my body. I'm very glad we decided to go to the knee with this one, Scott's reasoning being "you're so damn skinny it's like trying to paint a skateboard."
 
 

This is about as close to the internet as this is getting, but couldn't resist posting a peak of this silky smooth background action from Edmonton's fav underground tattooer (as I'm sure @bongsau would agree).
 

This is about as close to the internet as this is getting, but couldn't resist posting a peak of this silky smooth background action from Edmonton's fav underground tattooer (as I'm sure @bongsau would agree).
 

??? Don't be hard on yourself, 4.5 hrs is NOTHING to be ashamed of, especially on the back. You go girl !
And to the rest of yous posting in this thread...you are all a bunch of motherfuckin' tattooed warriors !!! You're all looking great, keep up the good work and keep the momentum :)

Got this in November from Mike Fite when he was at the new Kadillac Tattoo in Hatboro, PA.

This is about as close to the internet as this is getting, but couldn't resist posting a peak of this silky smooth background action from Edmonton's fav underground tattooer (as I'm sure @bongsau would agree).
 

This is about as close to the internet as this is getting, but couldn't resist posting a peak of this silky smooth background action from Edmonton's fav underground tattooer (as I'm sure @bongsau would agree).
 

This is about as close to the internet as this is getting, but couldn't resist posting a peak of this silky smooth background action from Edmonton's fav underground tattooer (as I'm sure @bongsau would agree).
 

@scottyg Bold as hell man! Looking killer and seems like you got a good momentum going on this thang! Rad

This is about as close to the internet as this is getting, but couldn't resist posting a peak of this silky smooth background action from Edmonton's fav underground tattooer (as I'm sure @bongsau would agree).
 

This is about as close to the internet as this is getting, but couldn't resist posting a peak of this silky smooth background action from Edmonton's fav underground tattooer (as I'm sure @bongsau would agree).
 

This is about as close to the internet as this is getting, but couldn't resist posting a peak of this silky smooth background action from Edmonton's fav underground tattooer (as I'm sure @bongsau would agree).
 

Finished the pit rippers ! The first session lined both, this second session we finished em up. Challenging second sit but a strong finish, where's my bactine sponsorship ?! Made with expertise by Handsome Dick tatts at Champion Tattoo in the Champion City, Alberta, Canada, Earth.

So effing good!! I still can't get over how big everything is, like even the clouds.

So effing good!! I still can't get over how big everything is, like even the clouds.

Well, another session; this one was tough: down the left side. Ugh.
 
 

just noticed my post above from 5 years ago when it was just a dumb idea in my head haha...
 

@scottyg Thanks man! I've been really enjoying Horimomo's work recently!
But you also reminded me that I still haven't posted a healed photo. This one was taken about a month after finishing it, and some of the blue still needs a bit of settling time to get uniform.
Maybe not a readable as some other backpieces, but I love how dynamic the huge wave over my shoulder is and the lighting. It moves very well on my body. I'm very glad we decided to go to the knee with this one, Scott's reasoning being "you're so damn skinny it's like trying to paint a skateboard."
 
 

I haven't checked this thread in a minute and holy crap is there some insane stuff going down. Well done, everyone.