tattooedj

All folk on my maternal grandmother's side were gypsies who traveled pre-WW1 Europe chasing the fruit/vegetable harvests and telling tarot cards to make a living. Always on the road they carried their stories/possessions on their skin instead of in their homes (they had none).
Fast-forward to the '80s and me growing up among these faded blue-grey tattoos of my landlocked relatives. At funerals/weddings/weekends, some showed their tattoos and told the toddler me: when I died St Peter would ask to prove ID at The Gates; while the plainskins patted down their now-nude bodies for proof of who they were, my kinfolk told me, they - the gypsies - only needed to point to their tattoos and stroll smiling right in through Heaven's doors.
For a decade the thought of dying plain and ID-less terrified me so much that finally as a (young) teenager I blagged an older cousin's driver's license, faked my way into the town's only tattoo parlour and got my first tattoo.

All folk on my maternal grandmother's side were gypsies who traveled pre-WW1 Europe chasing the fruit/vegetable harvests and telling tarot cards to make a living. Always on the road they carried their stories/possessions on their skin instead of in their homes (they had none).
Fast-forward to the '80s and me growing up among these faded blue-grey tattoos of my landlocked relatives. At funerals/weddings/weekends, some showed their tattoos and told the toddler me: when I died St Peter would ask to prove ID at The Gates; while the plainskins patted down their now-nude bodies for proof of who they were, my kinfolk told me, they - the gypsies - only needed to point to their tattoos and stroll smiling right in through Heaven's doors.
For a decade the thought of dying plain and ID-less terrified me so much that finally as a (young) teenager I blagged an older cousin's driver's license, faked my way into the town's only tattoo parlour and got my first tattoo.

Rei at Inkrat Tokyo finished up my old school Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece last week.
It took around eight sessions - roughly one a month - and I couldn't be happier.
In a weird way, I'm going to miss my montly sessions under the needle. It was prickly at times but it taught me a lot about myself... j

Rei at Inkrat Tokyo finished up my old school Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece last week.
It took around eight sessions - roughly one a month - and I couldn't be happier.
In a weird way, I'm going to miss my montly sessions under the needle. It was prickly at times but it taught me a lot about myself... j

Rei at Inkrat Tokyo finished up my old school Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece last week.
It took around eight sessions - roughly one a month - and I couldn't be happier.
In a weird way, I'm going to miss my montly sessions under the needle. It was prickly at times but it taught me a lot about myself... j

Rei at Inkrat Tokyo finished up my old school Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece last week.
It took around eight sessions - roughly one a month - and I couldn't be happier.
In a weird way, I'm going to miss my montly sessions under the needle. It was prickly at times but it taught me a lot about myself... j

Rei at Inkrat Tokyo finished up my old school Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece last week.
It took around eight sessions - roughly one a month - and I couldn't be happier.
In a weird way, I'm going to miss my montly sessions under the needle. It was prickly at times but it taught me a lot about myself... j

Rei at Inkrat Tokyo finished up my old school Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece last week.
It took around eight sessions - roughly one a month - and I couldn't be happier.
In a weird way, I'm going to miss my montly sessions under the needle. It was prickly at times but it taught me a lot about myself... j

Rei at Inkrat Tokyo finished up my old school Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece last week.
It took around eight sessions - roughly one a month - and I couldn't be happier.
In a weird way, I'm going to miss my montly sessions under the needle. It was prickly at times but it taught me a lot about myself... j

Rei at Inkrat Tokyo finished up my old school Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece last week.
It took around eight sessions - roughly one a month - and I couldn't be happier.
In a weird way, I'm going to miss my montly sessions under the needle. It was prickly at times but it taught me a lot about myself... j

Rei at Inkrat Tokyo finished up my old school Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece last week.
It took around eight sessions - roughly one a month - and I couldn't be happier.
In a weird way, I'm going to miss my montly sessions under the needle. It was prickly at times but it taught me a lot about myself... j

Had a good session yesterday. Finished the outline and got some color in. Taking longer then expected. My artists hours do not work with my work hours. So I have to take vacation days to get work done. Oh well. Still loving it.


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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.

3 hours in the chair last night. Shading is next. Maybe some coloring if time permits.
 

Hey all, man it's been ages since I posted hope everyone is sweet. Just booked a trip to the Netherlands over Christmas and have some spare time and money saved for a small tattoo whilst in Amsterdam. Any places you guys recommend? Cheeeeeers 

Yesterday, I started my full back piece with Rei from Inkrat, Tokyo.
Three-and-a-half hours of lining was pretty prickly in places - but some good blues music, a howling spring wind outside and the stoke got me through it unscathed. And there's something mindboggling about a Japanese tattooer doing an American old school interpretation of how a Japanese tattoo should look.
Colours are coming in a few weeks and I'll update then, j
 

Around the 12-hour mark and I'm liking the way my Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece is coming together. 
I seem to have fallen into a steady-ish rhythm re: the sessions. Beforehand: A bowl of ramen and gyoza beneath Tokyo Station and then the ride to InkRat, Koenji. The studio's kickarse blues tunes to get through the session. (Work has been so hectic recently that I've actually grown to look forward to these sessions and the lack of need to do anything for a solid three hours.) A can of IPA on the train home, undress the wrap, a hot-then-cold shower and air-dry with a glass of Penderyn. Finally some after-care cream and to bed in a shirt stained multi-coloured from past tattoos.
Will post an update as the colours come in... tj

Around the 12-hour mark and I'm liking the way my Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece is coming together. 
I seem to have fallen into a steady-ish rhythm re: the sessions. Beforehand: A bowl of ramen and gyoza beneath Tokyo Station and then the ride to InkRat, Koenji. The studio's kickarse blues tunes to get through the session. (Work has been so hectic recently that I've actually grown to look forward to these sessions and the lack of need to do anything for a solid three hours.) A can of IPA on the train home, undress the wrap, a hot-then-cold shower and air-dry with a glass of Penderyn. Finally some after-care cream and to bed in a shirt stained multi-coloured from past tattoos.
Will post an update as the colours come in... tj

Around the 12-hour mark and I'm liking the way my Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece is coming together. 
I seem to have fallen into a steady-ish rhythm re: the sessions. Beforehand: A bowl of ramen and gyoza beneath Tokyo Station and then the ride to InkRat, Koenji. The studio's kickarse blues tunes to get through the session. (Work has been so hectic recently that I've actually grown to look forward to these sessions and the lack of need to do anything for a solid three hours.) A can of IPA on the train home, undress the wrap, a hot-then-cold shower and air-dry with a glass of Penderyn. Finally some after-care cream and to bed in a shirt stained multi-coloured from past tattoos.
Will post an update as the colours come in... tj

Around the 12-hour mark and I'm liking the way my Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece is coming together. 
I seem to have fallen into a steady-ish rhythm re: the sessions. Beforehand: A bowl of ramen and gyoza beneath Tokyo Station and then the ride to InkRat, Koenji. The studio's kickarse blues tunes to get through the session. (Work has been so hectic recently that I've actually grown to look forward to these sessions and the lack of need to do anything for a solid three hours.) A can of IPA on the train home, undress the wrap, a hot-then-cold shower and air-dry with a glass of Penderyn. Finally some after-care cream and to bed in a shirt stained multi-coloured from past tattoos.
Will post an update as the colours come in... tj

Around the 12-hour mark and I'm liking the way my Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece is coming together. 
I seem to have fallen into a steady-ish rhythm re: the sessions. Beforehand: A bowl of ramen and gyoza beneath Tokyo Station and then the ride to InkRat, Koenji. The studio's kickarse blues tunes to get through the session. (Work has been so hectic recently that I've actually grown to look forward to these sessions and the lack of need to do anything for a solid three hours.) A can of IPA on the train home, undress the wrap, a hot-then-cold shower and air-dry with a glass of Penderyn. Finally some after-care cream and to bed in a shirt stained multi-coloured from past tattoos.
Will post an update as the colours come in... tj

Around the 12-hour mark and I'm liking the way my Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece is coming together. 
I seem to have fallen into a steady-ish rhythm re: the sessions. Beforehand: A bowl of ramen and gyoza beneath Tokyo Station and then the ride to InkRat, Koenji. The studio's kickarse blues tunes to get through the session. (Work has been so hectic recently that I've actually grown to look forward to these sessions and the lack of need to do anything for a solid three hours.) A can of IPA on the train home, undress the wrap, a hot-then-cold shower and air-dry with a glass of Penderyn. Finally some after-care cream and to bed in a shirt stained multi-coloured from past tattoos.
Will post an update as the colours come in... tj

Around the 12-hour mark and I'm liking the way my Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece is coming together. 
I seem to have fallen into a steady-ish rhythm re: the sessions. Beforehand: A bowl of ramen and gyoza beneath Tokyo Station and then the ride to InkRat, Koenji. The studio's kickarse blues tunes to get through the session. (Work has been so hectic recently that I've actually grown to look forward to these sessions and the lack of need to do anything for a solid three hours.) A can of IPA on the train home, undress the wrap, a hot-then-cold shower and air-dry with a glass of Penderyn. Finally some after-care cream and to bed in a shirt stained multi-coloured from past tattoos.
Will post an update as the colours come in... tj

Around the 12-hour mark and I'm liking the way my Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece is coming together. 
I seem to have fallen into a steady-ish rhythm re: the sessions. Beforehand: A bowl of ramen and gyoza beneath Tokyo Station and then the ride to InkRat, Koenji. The studio's kickarse blues tunes to get through the session. (Work has been so hectic recently that I've actually grown to look forward to these sessions and the lack of need to do anything for a solid three hours.) A can of IPA on the train home, undress the wrap, a hot-then-cold shower and air-dry with a glass of Penderyn. Finally some after-care cream and to bed in a shirt stained multi-coloured from past tattoos.
Will post an update as the colours come in... tj

Yesterday, I started my full back piece with Rei from Inkrat, Tokyo.
Three-and-a-half hours of lining was pretty prickly in places - but some good blues music, a howling spring wind outside and the stoke got me through it unscathed. And there's something mindboggling about a Japanese tattooer doing an American old school interpretation of how a Japanese tattoo should look.
Colours are coming in a few weeks and I'll update then, j