SJP0tato

It's been awhile since I posted, worked with my artist Brian to come up with this sweet wolf idea: Had the linework done today, just need to get back in to get the color filled in. Super happy how it's coming out so far, grateful being able to share with you all who appreciate/understand the process/result!

Agree with the others: Looks great. Any smaller and you wouldn't have been able to get nearly the level of detail, so you did good with that size.

My method is probably super archaic, but I like to do a google maps search for tattoo shops in my area: From there, I go to each one's website, and then look at every artist's portfolio listed. It takes a ton of time, but I always find one or two diamonds in the rough, and it can be fun seeing all the different shops/artists/styles within 20 mins driving time of my house. Hope this helps!

Hori Benny? Still looks great even a bit faded. The two main things I've heard fade tattoos are sun/UV and time/age. Sunscreen couldn't hurt to retain what you've got. I agree with the others: It'd be pretty hard to find an artist (other than the original) to freshen it up without risking ruining things.

It'd be neat to see before/during/after pics. It's surprising she's able to meet you halfway if just the outline is 6 hours, but maybe there's less shading than I'm imagining accompanying the 6 hours of linework. I have a theory that these kinds of situations come up because we as a society rarely have experience purchasing one-of-a-kind items: Almost everything we exchange money for is mass produced, same as the last, can buy it anywhere. So knowing what to expect, negotiate, outcome, etc can all be surprising when it's truly a custom-made outcome.

Looks cool! Now I have to ask: What's the first? 🙂

To me this is the most fun part of the process: It sounds like your artist knows what they're doing and has skills. You sound like you've got some ideas on what direction to take things, but nothing super specific yet. What I do (the fun part) is come up with a list of wants: "It needs to have a woman, and I want it to be a portrait or full body or whatever", "I want her to be sitting/standing/holding something". And then things I don't want: "I don't want her to appear angry/happy/smiling", "I don't want her to be in a forest" Usually you can draw a lot of inspiration by looking up other tattoos, and including the things you like/dislike about them into your own ideas. Trim the lists down to something reasonable for your artist, and then let them implement it in a way they think is best. It's usually a total surprise until you get to the studio, but if you did a good job defining what you want, the artist should encompass a good portion of it in their own style in a way that they know will work. Showing up day of and seeing what they've come up with is the best part.

Sounds like a good thing to talk over with your artist during the consultation: A pocket watch seems like a pretty neutral object: with gears and mechanical touches it could be interpreted potentially more "masculine", with flowers/hearts maybe more "feminine", but at the end of the day who cares: Let the artist know what you want, some ideas/guidelines, and let them do their magic. No matter what happens there'll be people who love it, hate it, and everything in-between. The only opinion that matters is your own!

Looks cool! Be sure to post up your ink when it's all finished. Get a good meal a few hours beforehand and enjoy the process. It's all about the journey!

Looks like a couple of the lighter ones are healed (or at least partially healed). They'll always appear super dark initially, but mellow once healed.

Maybe as part of the design you can ask him to make sure to keep yours lighter and have the best of all worlds. As long as you let him know upfront your preferences, he should be able to accommodate to achieve what you're looking for I bet. Good luck, let us know how it goes!

Agree with SStu 100% here: The "best" artists that I like to follow will take subject material I never would normally consider (Hori Benny is first to mind for me here), and make me go "yeah okay, I'd totally get that". If you're leaning towards this artist because they're the only one that's gone along with your idea, maybe you just need to further clarify or present it in a different manner. It won't always be the case the artists will be super excited (after all they're doing nothing but tattooing random ideas day in & out), but if they can apply their creativity to bring your idea to life is the most important aspect.

Hah, good question: We sort of drifted apart after highschool, but do talk every once in awhile. I sent him a pic on social media, but no real response yet. 🙂 Thanks! This one was done by Brian Savage at Black Lotus in Gilbert, Az. Very talented guy whose style I really like. Nice guy in-person too!

I guess I'm not really a newbie anymore, but it's still fun to read & share here: I went in for #2 this week: This one's a throwback to a conversation my best friend and I had in the late 80's/early 90's: "One day when we're 18, you should get a tattoo of Hobbes, and I'll get Calvin". I guess I decided it was finally time. 🙂

Last session is done... not sure how common it is to spend so many sessions on a single/first piece like this, but I'm having a lot of fun with the process so I guess it's all good! Again really appreciate all the info contributed on this site over the years (so if you're reading this: thank you!), it's helped my experience more than I can say. One more touch-up session scheduled in a month or so (artist wants to add a little more color to a few areas), but first tattoo down, now to figure out which of the dozens of ideas to have done next! Dang things really are addictive after all... 🙂

Dan's right: It's too early to tell, full healing will take 6-8 weeks. There's nothing you can really do besides take care of it as best as possible in all circumstances until that time is up. Take good care of it using whichever method your artist recommended and enjoy it for what it is.

Not sure what you mean by this. The design/style/layout is all your artist and you. Go with what feels best.

Sounds like you've got a good idea around what you want, just not the absolute specifics. This can actually be more beneficial: Find an artist in your area whose style/portfolio you like (traditional, neo-traditional, photo-realistic, etc). Once you find one, schedule a consult, bring in your sketch, ideas, and any other example images you can find that have aspects you enjoy and talk with the artist. They'll work with you to help implement a design that will look good in tattoo form (some images on paper/screen don't translate exactly the same into tattoo form well), take your deposit, and present you a stencil of the design the day of your scheduled tattoo. You can make any final alterations then if needed, then you're ready to go! Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

Session #3 done, I'm really happy with how things are shaping up! Looks like one more session to add in a few more fine details, and then fill in a bit of background/border. I still need to come up with something for the background, I think something relatively simple so it doesn't detract from the main subjects is probably best (any ideas or suggestions would be awesome too).

I agree with you here 100%. Then again maybe the client trying to take the reins is a side-effect of not feeling comfortable with the artist, which then gets worse/amplified as things go along. Hard to say which is which, but I'm sure there's a good match for almost anyone out there. It sounds like her initial experience wasn't a good match, but there'll be someone who hopefully is.

My totally unqualified opinion: I think it looks cool so far. We tend to really overly criticize these things when its our own body, but seriously I can't imagine a single person who'd come up and try to find some "flaw" in what's been competed so far. As far as the artist: Nah, life's too short to put up with bullshit, especially when I'm sure there's plenty of talented artists near you who'd be happy to give you a much more positive experience in exchange for your money. I wouldn't bother looking for someone who cares about the subject matter exactly, but more someone that has a portfolio that you like (if you don't rate 75%+ of the examples as 9/10 or 10/10 then they're probably not "your" artist). Once that's done see if you can schedule a consultation and see if you "click" with them. In my experience it took a couple tries before I found someone I really felt like I had good communication with about my ideas and implementation. I personally don't want someone who can barely listen and obviously doesn't care to be "stuck" tattooing my ideas for hours on end. Sounds miserable for both of us. $100 is a drop in the bucket when it comes to getting what you want, and having a good experience. I'd say let it go & never go back. Good luck, let us see the progress if/when you find someone better to work with for you!

I wonder if a "best of both worlds" could be achieved by having it not stick to the actual tattoo, but keeping a healthy border all around the inked areas? That way it'd seal things in, but not need to tug so aggressively on the inked skin upon removal?

Just finished my 2nd Flexifix round this morning: Thursday afternoon had color fill, left the cling wrap on until Friday morning. Friday morning I removed the cling wrap, washed with Cetaphil, dried with paper towels and let air dry for ~10 minutes, and applied the Flexifix (no aquaphor this time). I left things for four 24-hour days (Fri morn -> Tues morn). There was a slight bit of bubbling/fluid visible on Friday, but after Sat morning I couldn't really see any bubbling/fluid at all underneath the covering. Upon removal this morning (still a bear to remove) the color fill was dry, and the bandage was definitely sticking to the colored areas. After removal the surrounding skin was very red/angry looking, which I think is just a reaction to the physical removal (no redness at all while the bandage was on). I'm wondering if it would have helped to apply aquaphor to the colored area before the bandage (I'll try this next color session coming up and see if it helps with the removal later). The colored areas skin feels very lizard-like, which is much different than when I just had the outlines (which remained smooth after removal). I'll keep things lotioned for the next few weeks. I'm guessing my difference between the first time and now is outline vs color fill.

I think it's too early to tell: I'd keep it as clean as possible, moisturize lightly several times a day (try to keep it from fully drying out), and give it another 4-6 weeks. Worst case if you had some color fall out, your artist will probably be able to touch it back up once it's 100% healed.

Session number two down, we were able to get about 95% of the Black Mage colored in. I'm really happy with the detail so far, the color fill experience is definitely a different sensation than the linework. 🙂 I was talking with my artist, we'll need to come up with an idea for a border/background after the next session or so. I'll be paying more attention to how other designs handle it the next few weeks from looking at examples online. I'm sure we'll come up with something clever!