a_beukeveld

Interesting conversation. This is what forums should do...bring a community together in a positive thought process and not flaming others.
I definitely agree less is more. But where I struggle is, though I love traditional Japanese work, this is the only section I'm dedicating to this style. And to me, koi is a must. Along with the dragon. So
Many decisions to make in 5 hours.
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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.

Trying to get a last minute tattoo from Dust Wu Horitsuki. Were going to chat on Saturday and see if he has time to squeeze me in.

@Intomyskin You will be fine.  I am a brewer which is a physically demanding job (on my feet all day, lifting 55lb malt bags, climbing in and out of brewing vessels, many many flights of stairs, etc)  and I was working the day after many sessions without issue.  It was nice if I could get tattooed on a Friday or Saturday to have that weekend off but it's not necessary.  The day after one session I took a five or six hour train ride and, again, it was fine.  Same thing with aftercare.  The day after my final back session my wife went into labour and my child ended up in the NICU for a couple of weeks so I healed my back sleeping on hospital couches and maybe taking one shower a day.  No problems with healing. You're overthinking things.

Give it time to settle in.  Black and grey, especially with the lighter grey washes, can take weeks or sometimes even months to settle in and the red to fade from it.  I don't see anything there to worry about.

Trying to get a last minute tattoo from Dust Wu Horitsuki. Were going to chat on Saturday and see if he has time to squeeze me in.

Bad news!  The brunch place I had in mind doesn't take reservations and because I have a really small window of time (my kid gets vaccinated at 9, I have a tattoo appointment at 11) I'm going to call the brunch off and suggest that maybe those of us going to the convention on Saturday try to grab a drink there?

"Just focking do it"
- Me when my tattooer asks if Im okay.
Its going to hurt. Its a tattoo. Just take it.

Well, my 2nd session with Garver went down this past Friday.
This pic was taken right when it was done.
Best part is, he asked if I was interested in sleeving out my arm.  I obviously agreed and more sessions are to come.  Going to connect my Back to the Future portraits with some other elements.

If he is capable of doing detailed work he should be capable if doing detailed roses. If you are unsure just ask him. Most of these concerns can be discussed with your tattooer. You dont need a middle man.
I would also advise you not to be concerned about it being exactly like the photo given. Every artist is different and does things differently. If he does good work he will do a good tattoo on you. Take it from someone with allot of tattoos. My first few tattoos I was so concerned about it being exactly like the photo I showed them, and they didnt turn out as well because of that. They would have looked better if I would have just let them do their thing. Now I just let the tattooer do whatever they want. Trust your tattooer. They've been doing this longer than youve wanted to be tattooed. You are over thinking it.

@66pens87, it's hard to say how long a sleeve would take to complete. There are many factors. How fast is the artist? How well do you sit? How well do you heal? How many breaks do you and your artist take during sessions? How large are you? The larger the arm, the longer it will take as there's more coverage to fill. A lot of artist don't like quoting time because of all the varying factors. As long as you show up for your appointments, you should be good. After your first session or two, you'll probably get a gauge on some of the above and you'll probably be able to figure a ball park time.
 
Have fun starting a new tattoo!

Agreed.  I have three tattoos, so I'm by no means the expert that some people are on this board, but I have found that bringing in a few different reference pieces and then letting the artist create something all their own is really the way to go.  You need to trust them.  And no good tattooer is going to copy someone else's work exactly anyway (at least that's my experience -- good artists respect each others' work and don't want to rip each other off).  Find a good artist, trust them, put in your two cents, and you'll end up with a piece that's uniquely yours.  Good luck :).

If he is capable of doing detailed work he should be capable if doing detailed roses. If you are unsure just ask him. Most of these concerns can be discussed with your tattooer. You dont need a middle man.
I would also advise you not to be concerned about it being exactly like the photo given. Every artist is different and does things differently. If he does good work he will do a good tattoo on you. Take it from someone with allot of tattoos. My first few tattoos I was so concerned about it being exactly like the photo I showed them, and they didnt turn out as well because of that. They would have looked better if I would have just let them do their thing. Now I just let the tattooer do whatever they want. Trust your tattooer. They've been doing this longer than youve wanted to be tattooed. You are over thinking it.

If he is capable of doing detailed work he should be capable if doing detailed roses. If you are unsure just ask him. Most of these concerns can be discussed with your tattooer. You dont need a middle man.
I would also advise you not to be concerned about it being exactly like the photo given. Every artist is different and does things differently. If he does good work he will do a good tattoo on you. Take it from someone with allot of tattoos. My first few tattoos I was so concerned about it being exactly like the photo I showed them, and they didnt turn out as well because of that. They would have looked better if I would have just let them do their thing. Now I just let the tattooer do whatever they want. Trust your tattooer. They've been doing this longer than youve wanted to be tattooed. You are over thinking it.

Started painting a bit lately, pretty happy with how this one turned out. Lots of Horiyoshi reference, hyottoko and okame lines from the Google
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I envy people like you. I started with the mentality that I wanted to go small first, and larger latter. Now I know,and many people who are also heavily tattooed know, that big first, small latter is the best approach, atleast for the american style suit. Im not sure what gives people the impression that they must have a small piece first before big pieces.
Henning posted this backpiece recently. This is this guy's only tattoo. Thats awesome.

I’m in the planning/money-saving phase of a back piece with either quarter or “almost half” sleeves, with chest panels. It will extend onto mu butt, and possibly a bit onto the backs of my thighs.
The thing that first attracted me to Japanese style tattooing was the concept of a single cohesive piece covering a large part of the body. But when I finally made the decision to get a large piece, I was planning to gradually tiptoe into it: First a sleeve, then the other sleeve, then the back, and then the chest. But my artist said that it is hard to develop a flow and continuity doing the piecemeal approach, and encouraged me to outline the whole thing first. I understood her point because the continuity is the thing that I initially liked, but was inadvertently defeating by going piecemeal. 
So I like the idea of one piece planned as a whole.
Having said that, I realize that not everyone can do that because they have may accumulated several tattoos before they decide to go big. You have to do the best you can to tie it together into a whole with tattoos of different styles and different ages and less than ideal placement. Some artists do a great job on this - I think it takes a really good artist with great imagination.
In a way I was lucky because, for better or for worse, I waited. I got one small tattoo early, slightly expanded it several years later, and stayed at one for decades. So now that I’ve decided to go big, I pretty much  have a clean canvas for a cohesive piece that I’ve always dreamed about.

As @Dan said before, It would be best to discuss your idea with a good local artist about what you want and have them make a design that fits.

@ligatortat didnt you just get your tattoo
relax and enjoy it - it aint going nowhere
touchups...meh

I gotta say IMO stars are way overdone,kind of like Duane johnson tribal,
but if that's what you want,
find the right artist in your area and tell them your idea and let them make a design for you.
 

Mr. Dave Cummings just sent me this sketch for my arm in Montreal. The 2 x's are my elbow and ditch.
Beyond stoked.

"Just focking do it"
- Me when my tattooer asks if Im okay.
Its going to hurt. Its a tattoo. Just take it.

The spot you circled hurts -- but you'll get through it. The good news is that it's one of those areas where one area might be a 9/10 but then just an inch to the right or left it is a manageable 4/10. To me the worst part about being tattooed in that area wasn't the needle -- it was the constant wiping of the paper towel. After awhile, it was like sandpaper and the whole area felt like a mild burn. Just depends how long your artist spends in the area.
 

Does anyone know if there's usually Saniderm for sale?  It's my preferred way of healing and I was too lazy to order more in time for the convention.  Any brand of adhesive derm is fine.