heavy black work sleeve/japanese traditional sleeve

[SStu]

Those nipps look painful.

that's why his face is stuck in that expression . . .

[YOMONEY]

thats wild.. ive never been partial to heavy blackwork, but some people seem to love it a lot.. i mean, id do it if i had to/no other options..

this blog is full of people who go heavy black, or just fully solid black, right off the bat..

Fuck Yeah Blackwork Tattoos

a lot of it is really well done/looks nice..

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also, hope to holler at allen at fadefast here soon.. hope its not too pricey/not so many sessions.. i like a lot of heavy work any ways, so i think with a laser coverup wouldnt be so hard.. but its a lot of area/jam packed shit into it..

i also just got hit with an infrared coagulator in two small areas, just out of curiousity.. dumbest shit ever..

[Petri Aspvik]

I personally am too anal to even considering that each side of my body would have different type of work in it. As in a sleeve of blackwork and another sleeve of Japanese.

Fuck it, I would go crazy! :D

[Stewart Robson]

@YOMONEY What you're asking isn't as uncommon as you'd expect. That is if you want a black arm and a Japanese arm.

It's a common misconception that heavy black is the solution for covering unwanted tattoos. I'm ny opinion, Japanese style tattoos can be way more effective in covering-up tattoos.

If the tattoos you have a raised, or scarred, even slightly, that will certainly show through the black. Also in my experience, if the unwanted tattoos have colours that were mixed with white pigment (bright green, some yellows, light blue, some oranges etc) then that white-based pigment can be very difficult to cover with solid black. Colour Japanese will cover it much better if you go to the right tattooer.

While I'm spouting my opinions, here's another: It's easier to find a decent japanese style tattooer than one who can fill solid fields of smooth black these days.

Regarding the awesome black/japanese combo by Ian Flower, above: Nobody said it was japanese before it was covered. It's testament to Ian's design and tattoo skill that it looks that way. The peony on the guy's chest was also tattooed by Ian.

Laser is not a magic wand for removing tattoos.

But the line we always use at Frith Street regarding black for coverups: "Once you go black, you don't go back"

There are also other ways to use heavy black in cover up tattoos but there's a difference between being helpful and giving away all my secrets.

@YOMONEY there's a thread somewhere here about coverup tattoos.

[YOMONEY]

stewart, thanks man, and you def wear the black well, btw.. i have an appt at fade fast.. hope to get it lightened up enough for a dope-heavyish japanese sleeve.. if i could limit the number of sessions (i dont think id be able to skip it all togather at this point), thatd be the shit.. i like heavier type stuff anyway..

petri, i can be like that too.. but im also not the type to want to limit myself to just one particular style.. i want to mix some american traditional elements into the sleeve, and my other arm have be more american, but also mix other elements into it as well.. but, ill see where all of this takes me/what artists recommend..

thanks again for the ideas.. im not trying to jump into anything too fast.. my mind just gets hit with so many ideas, i just like to throw 'em out.. its just really wild to me how nowadays how there are so many options with innovative artists and lasers and etc.. i even hit up tim beck about tattooing over black lol.. he seemed kinda stoked that i asked..

[Petri Aspvik]

YOMONEY

Hope you don't mind me asking but how old are you/how long have you been into tattoos? Because you sound exactly like me when I was younger :) When I got into tattooing, I didnt know shit about traveling to get work or anything, or that even that tattoos could look really good. When all the "world of tattooing" dawned on me, I was hyped for all different type of work for years. And I mean years. I must have gone trough 10 different style phases and types of tattoos in my mind in 10 year period. B&G, New-School, Tribal, Cholo, Japanese, Neo-Trad, Biomech, script, horror, americana etc. I wanted it all. Clad that I didn't get it ;) Because my mind changed as I got older (I'm still just 30) and it got more focused.

You might be different :)

[YOMONEY]

`im 30 too, coming up on 31, which is why im looking for a change.. i started about 4 years ago, but my problem was the same as yours- i didnt know the importance of a lot of shit, was pretty messed up acting wild, and just got a lot of shit quick.. while its not bad, it could be better/represent me more (i was like, "i dont give a fuck, give me black flag bars" or my crew name type attitude).. also a lot of the stuff mentally reminds me of some pretty bad times (i.e. substance abuse, incareration, bouncing around on couchs, death of my father, messed up relationships, etc..)

so, what ive been doing, is just going for touch ups, adding more colors, or adding this to that, getting a lot of background stuff, just like messing with a pimple and making it worse.. even though its not horrible.. its just a personal decision with myself and where im at, has nothing to do with anyone else.. if i have to live with it, not a huge deal.. but at the same time there are all these options available now where im like, well, why not..

i guess i have to upload pics somewhere to have them posted here.. excuse me for asking all of these questions and not showing you my work..

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http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/gallery/member/YOMONEYs-pictures.html

[Petri Aspvik]

Its cool man :) Tattoos go together with your personality and who you want to be, or strive to be. I found out that the mind needs to be there before your body. Or some shit :)

edit. And I checked your tattoos, they are at least good looking, unlike my old crap :P I love you dad text is great :)

[YOMONEY]

thanks! id like to revamp the dad tribute.. i love the artist who did it too.. thats actually the only part of my lower arm that im psyched about.. its no disrespect to any artist.. just change.. im always in constant change..

[YOMONEY]

im also not set on ANYTHING as of yet.. i respect allen a lot, and hope he is like jack , who iv seen in interviews like "ok, we could do this this and this to make the sleeve look better".. it also might help, that im looking at robert wingo out of suffer city for cover up work.. since he is in shop, and hopefully will be down to work on me, he could lay his 2 cents in.. i dunno.. all up in the air right now.. just want to talk to a lot of knowledgeable people (friends aside- "oh thats dope"), to really kick this off and get the best options availabe to me..

[RoryQ]

@YOMONEY

Personally (for what it's worth) I wouldn't cover any of that up - looks pretty cool to me...

[YOMONEY]

thanks, i appreciate the honest feeback.. i get it.. its like this weird grey area to me.. where its not like the sickest shit, but its also not the typical kind of stuff you see lasered or covered up.. but with that said, theres some shit that just really needs to go no matter what i decide to do- the bars, and maybe 23.. theres thugged out looking script down a scroll on the forearm, which is what really sparked all of this.. the drips need to go.. i like graffiti, but ill be damned if i hit my late 30s/upper 40s with a "chicago drip tattoo"..

anything else you guys could see off top that maybe could make the work look a little better? i always wanted to add color to that top hat dude, but im really trying to avoid anything too new-school looking.. i also like the script under the dad tattoo, but right after i was like fuck, i should have gotten a scroll, a leaf, and a mustache and just wrote "dad"..

either way, yeah, whatever i chose to do here, shit has to revamped, imo..

my min*edit* oh yeah, chemotherapy was during all of this too.. not trying to get pity, but paint a picture that i was living/thinking craaaaazy!

[CultExciter]

Yeah man, just get like 12 more Black Flag tattoos.

[YOMONEY]

hey, dick, i get it, obviously.. or else this thread wouldnt even exist..

mothafuckas get barred up everyday, b..

how about i just bar out my entire arm?

[YOMONEY]

....

[CultExciter]

I was actually really stoked on your Black Flag tattoo.

[YOMONEY]

haha sorry, that was hard for me to read into..

so youd be down with a whole barred out arm idea then? lol..

the kicker here is, really not the lower sleeve.. id like to clean it up/will clean it up.. but the top part i just got straight up drawn on.. im pretty much forced to have to black it out because of the colors used, and black laid on top of black laid on top of green and yellows.. shits just a mess and im pissed as shit..

good news is this.. my shoulder has a nice looking koi and windbars.. the other arm, not much work, so im just going to kill it from here on out..

but dont get drawn on, ever.

[Idahoink]

So have you made a decision yet? I'd be interested what you are planning to do.

Hell, if you decide to black out, it may be cheaper to by the gun, some needles, ink and do it yourself. I suppose if you did screw something up you could just get it covered?