Full Back Piece Experience Thread

[blujax01]

It started with an old piece of Huck Spaulding flash from the 70's.  Where it ends up is yet to be determined.

 

Edited March 5, 2017 by blujax01

[Ciel]

Hey guys, can anyone tell me how long your stencil for your full back tattoo took?

Will this be done during the 1st session or prepared beforehand by the artist? Will I just sit around while he makes the stencil on paper? Or will he just do it directly onto my skin? 

If he prepares the stencil on paper beforehand ready to stick onto my skin, it it customary for me to pay him for this time? Or will I only pay him for the actual tattooing time?

Will the artist make a stencil each time I go to get tattood? Or will he make the stencil, stick it onto my skin, and outline it, thereby leaving me with the outline of the full back tattoo? 

I'm such a noob!

 

[havetsherre]

@Ciel It depends on the artist. My artist only stenciled a little bit of my outlines and freehanded the rest. The artist will probably have the stencil ready and you probably won't have to pay for the time he's spent drawing it up. If the artist is freehanding the outlines he'll probably charge you for it.

As far as stenciling for each session, that depends on a lot of factors, such as: size, subject matter, amount of detail, how long you're able to sit, etc. You might only need to stencil for the first session, if you want a more simple and smaller back piece. If you want a traditional Japanese back piece, it will span for your neck to the back of your knees, and you might have to stencil for multiple sessions.

Hope this helps you. 

[Matej Haviar]

@scottyg Oh hell yes!!! I love how large the subject is in this. I dig the composition with how it fills out your back.

[scottyg]

@Matej Haviar

Thanks dude!!! I wasn't sure where he was going with the size at first, because I don't normally see that in Japanese backpieces, but I agree this is badass!! Absolutely love what he did with the oni that Jikokuten is standing on.

Can't wait till the next session, which will be like patterns in the cloth and background (I love Takashi's backgrounds).

[Elcirigano]

Hello all. New to the forum. Figured I would add my two cents. I have three quarter sleeves on both arms. My first tattoo ever was a half sleeve Kintaro done by Jason Lambert of Black Cat Tattoo in Pittsburgh. The sleeve was finished on the one side and the other side was done by Robert Atkinson here in LA. Robert is an overall awesome guy and a great artist. I consider him a friend and am glad to know him. Granted I just have an n of 2, but Robert IMHO is one the best tattoo artists around. I decided to bite the bullet and Robert just started lining my back. I'm doing one of the Horiyoshi 108 heroes, Kaosho Roshishin. Compared to my arms the discomfort at times was more intense, particularly around the love handles, shoulder blades, and top of the buttock. But nothing too bad. To be honestly I thought my elbows were the worst, so the flank wasn't as bad as that for me. Robert is pretty fast, we lined this in about 3 hours. Will go back to add a snake and some peonies to finish the lines and then move to shading. I'm stoked so far. 

 

Robert's sleeve is on the right, and Jason's is on the left. Once we do the background we'll even those out and I'll ask Robert to shade the negative space under my pit on the left  

Edited March 15, 2017 by Elcirigano

[scottyg]

@Elcirigano

Looking amazing! Lu Zhishen is a great choice, really central character.

Keep us updated!

 

[SStu]

That is one helluva 1st post, @Elcirigano

[Acedia]

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

[Matej Haviar]

Session # who knows now, but coming to the end. 36 hours to get here. One more sit to finish a tiny bit of colouring we haven't done and to hit a bunch of the background to smooth things out. Scott wanted to darken the big wave over my ribs to something a little closer to the lower one. It's gonna be weird not having this to work on anymore, but at the same time I'm so effing relieved. Gonna be healed for summer and for the crazy shop party--boo yeah!

[gtrjunior]

My backpiece by Chris Crooks is finished for now. Will be extending down to the knees this summer. Two full consecutive days to get it finished, forgive the redness and bloodinfused colors.

Wow....just....Wow. Incredible piece of work.

[scottyg]

On 4/24/2017 at 3:45 PM, Matej Haviar said:

Session # who knows now, but coming to the end. 36 hours to get here. One more sit to finish a tiny bit of colouring we haven't done and to hit a bunch of the background to smooth things out. Scott wanted to darken the big wave over my ribs to something a little closer to the lower one. It's gonna be weird not having this to work on anymore, but at the same time I'm so effing relieved. Gonna be healed for summer and for the crazy shop party--boo yeah!

@Matej Haviar Completely. F***ing. Amazing. Look at those eyes! The lightening! Congrats!!!!

[scottyg]

Well, that was brutal. Takashi went back over lines to bolden them, and damn that hurt. But the outlines are all done! June for start of tebori!

 

 

[Matej Haviar]

@scottyg Thanks man!! Now that my skin has settled out, the yellow in the eyes really contrasts against the pink and green. Better photos after everything has settled in! 

But man wow, your piece is incredibly powerful, I can't wait to see the black and colour go into it.

[scottyg]

@Matej Haviar

Those eyes rule!

Thanks man, I can't wait either!

 

[Elcirigano]

Progress report

 

 

[scottyg]

@Elcirigano Unbelievable!

[thewitchhunter]

Awesome progress! Only 2 1/2 month between last pic and this? Holy crap...

 

How many hours so far for the backpiece?

[Elcirigano]

About 12 hours ish

[scottyg]

@Elcirigano

How many sittings for this round?

[thewitchhunter]

On 6.6.2017 at 7:07 AM, Elcirigano said:

About 12 hours ish

That's impressive. I just hope my back will be nearly as much covered in ink once I hit the 12 hour mark...

[tattooedj]

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

[scottyg]

Well, Takashi beat the shit out of me for 3 hours yesterday; was able to do the mikiri/background shading on my left shoulder.

But this was with tebori, for the first time on my backpiece, and although I have another tebori piece this was on a whole other level of pain. Especially behind the armpits... and the back ribs. Everyone says how your ribs kill, but no one talks about how your ribs extend to your back!

But it's weird because I totally could have taken a nap were it not for the pain... by which I mean, there really is a rhythm to tebori that's different than machine, and while it's a different kind of pain altogether, that rhythm is relaxing.

Anyway, Takashi rules, and persistence is the name of the game!

[thewitchhunter]

That looks awesome!

 

Starting to get jealous about all your backpiece progress...

I'm still 3h into mine since my last appointment at end of april got canceled on a short term because my artist broke his finger...

But just another 2 weeks to wait until my next appointment and I'll then have another one 1,5 weeks later. So hopefully there will be some progress for me too in july...

[Matej Haviar]

@scottyg Damn powerful! I've been itching for a tebori piece recently, maybe not quite on the scale of yours but just to get a feel and understanding of it. Cheers!