Piha

I've been gone for a while. I'm stoked to see so many great tattoos being done.
Started my back with Horitomo in December.

started this end of '13 with rich hardy in krakow,poland. then i travelled to london, paris and london again to finish it few weeks ago. so relieved that i finally don't have to get through that pain again. although the shading during the last 3 sessions was so easy in comparison to the lines.
anyways i can only repeat that rich is the nicest guy. everyone should get tattooed by him if he is around.
merry christmas everyone!

I had my first session with Steve Moore yesterday and we finished up the outline for my Monkey King. I have about 48 hours of tattooing under my belt so far and this outline session was only 3 hours, but the most uncomfortable and painful 3 hours yet! I've read a lot on full backs and apparently they can be quite sharp, but I had a hard time in quite a few spots. For example, often I can keep my breathing and just flow through the pain, but this session had me clenching my jaw, face and just suffering. Steven started chatting with me and it really helped distract me.
Steve Moore is absolutely a professional. He researched tons for this piece. He looked at photographs of monkeys, martial artists, and other reference pictures. He mentioned that he debated about how to put the orientation of the Monkey King's foot and used a martial artist's monkey style to duplicate it. I think it looks amazing and the details on it just blew me away. I love how Steve put our collaboration ideas together.
Anyways, here's the drawing

After three hours of outlining



Got my next session in February. Dreading it a bit, but also very excited haha

finally... a thread i can get behind. ;) i don't have anything there yet, but chad discussed the possibility of extending my back piece down. my wife is strictly against the idea, but then again, she wants me to slow down on getting tattoos in general. i have the same sentiment as expressed above by @<a href="http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/member.php?u=54750" target="_blank">The Tig</a> ... i have a lot of skin to cover before "doing da butt" (song below, for your pleasure)... less painful and more prominent spots take priority, at this point.
speaking of mr. koeplinger, one of my favorite uses of the ass in a tattoo is the kali he did... photos below.

Sorry to spam guys... but I am so stoked with how the scales are turning out (Eastern diamondback, Crotalus adamanteus).

here is the finished tattoo. Still looks swollen.
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today i got my first session done for my lion chest piece. I love it so far. Probable gonna introduce a slight bit of color and the lion manes are going to get shaded in darker. I gotta say, i have 2 full arm sleeves but the chest was by far more painful. Definitely no walk in the park. I was literately dizzy after 4 hours of tattooing and felt so burned out i could drop on the floor to sleep. Il be glad when this piece is done.
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session 4 completed, another 3 hours putting detail and some colour into the octopus, sitting at 14 hours now...stoked !

Well it's been a year since I've had my back worked on and per our usual fall schedule, Henning was in town and this time we FINISHED my back! Some of you might have seen the updates via Instagram. So happy with this collaboration between Henning and Rubendall being completed! WARNING, PIC HEAVY!!! Put your browser on FULL SCREEN!
The master himself, Henning Jorgensen. Such a great artist and humble man.

Filling in the phoenix...tail feathers, breast, head and a few touch ups here and there.

Such a pleasure watching Henning work. I was so stoked with the zebra/tiger striped pattern he chose for the remaining tail feathers.

Touch up on a tender spot...the spare tire.

Slowly getting there.

Details details details...

Close-up of the phoenix...beautiful!

Full view from my right side. There was poor lighting inside since it was dark out, so they propped me up on a table and surrounded me with lights.

A quick reminder of the work Mike Rubendall did on the lower half of this collaboration. LOVE his water!

Another angle of my lower half.

Here's the finished top half.

Finished full back in all it's glory. My back is a sea of colors! Hope everyone enjoyed my show and tell! (don't mind the feet on the left or right, hahaha)

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Second session this month. Scales are now all done and every little thing we do is just making the whole thing pop a little bit more. Super happy.

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Cool @Piha, great to see it done! Wow - full back in 23 hours. I am retrospectively jealous! The Octo is great and I like how you can see part of the tentacle through the wind bar at the bottom. Sea life rules!

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !

Last session all done at around 23 hours all up...stoked this is finished !