constantcreature

I'm so happy to see others posting here again! I haven't posted an update in a while, but here's my Virginia Elwood back piece at around 26 hours in.

We've been doing pretty short sessions (2ish hours, about once a month). We've done a few more hours in the last month since this picture was taken, but I've been healing pretty slowly in the cold weather and haven't gotten another good healed photo yet. My skin is kind of fussy about the dark red and dark green in particular. It settles in eventually but takes its sweet time.

Hopefully next time we'll have a chance to shade some more of the little creatures too, which I'm really looking forward to.

On 12/31/2021 at 10:04 PM, Tsuru said:

Just dropping in a pic of my almost finished Matt Collins full back for the thread. Home stretch now, it’s 90% done just got a few touch ups to go, maybe 29 hours work so far I think? Stoked!

Wow, this looks fantastic! It must feel amazing and surreal to be so close to the finish line.

On 12/31/2021 at 10:19 AM, garrettv said:

The craziest part for me was that you never really "get used to it" like many other tattoos I've gotten. Every line feels like the first. But in doing so, your mind goes to some crazy places to help get you through it.

Oh man, I totally relate to this. I get so nervous before every session, just hoping I can sit well and that my mind cooperates. I've found it makes a huge a difference if I'm stressed out about other things... I really need to be in a good state of mind or it's just miserable and exhausting, without the high at the end.

Can't wait to see updates on this piece. It looks awesome!

Here's an update at around 20 hours. The outline took 3 sessions to finish, around 10 hours (so. many. lines.). But we've been making steady progress with relatively short appointments every 2-3 weeks, and the cover up is almost done. I'm loving the wildflower color palette and all the little creatures peeking out here and there.

Congratulations @Anxioussoup!!! It looks fantastic! You are giving me strength to persevere through those rough lower back sessions. I second back dimples being awful. But I will also say that getting my thighs tattooed was much easier than almost every part of my back so far. 

I'm two sessions in on a flora and fauna back piece by Virginia Elwood. The piece is covering up a somewhat ill-advised first tattoo that I got after surviving a very tough year at age 18, and I'm pushing 40 now, so it seemed like a good moment to move onwards and upwards.

I'm so in love with how it's coming out. Everyone is right about some of these spots being no joke though — 3-4 hours feels like PLENTY for one day. My next session is this week to add some more creatures in some of the spaces along the sides and hopefully start some shading. Should be "fun"!

Thanks for the welcome!

@Hands On Yeah I kept wondering if the back is really that bad, or if I was just getting old and pathetic, or just forgot what it's like since it's been a while (or more likely, all of the above). Glad to hear from others' experiences that it's not just me!

@SStu I'm so thrilled to be working with Virginia. She's so incredibly kind, and I'm really excited about the direction she's going in with this piece. I'll post some pictures this week when it's done peeling!

Hi — just joined the forum, though I've learned so much from reading others' experiences.

I just started a full back piece by Virginia Elwood this month (two sessions of outlining so far), and I'm so excited to see it come together over the next year. My other pieces are mostly on my thighs and calves, and so far the back seems like a completely different beast. Looking forward to sharing my progress!