Leaderboard

What @Hogridersaid. American Traditional could never be cliched.

They are classics for a reason. Just my opinion, but an American Traditional tattoo of an iconic image, if well done, never becomes a cliché.

it's skin. Not paper. Of course it moves. Just get more tattoos.

It has been forever since I have been on this forum! Been super busy with life and remembered this awesome group! I have just uploaded the last few tattoos I have had- during covid in 2021... I got a thigh piece done- hip to knee. skulls, roses, crow (posted pic in bird gallery) which ended up taking 3 sessions: one for outline which was a 5hr appointment, first lot of colour which was super close to being finished but after 6 hrs my thigh was crazy swollen to the point it was not workable, then final was to finish thorns and the red circle behind the crow; a kraken taking down a ship (posted in nautical gallery)- easy session with Kyle , and a panther dagger combo (animal gallery) also with Kyle. That was right around when our shops were yo-yoing here between being open and shut down. Start of this year (feb- pic in object gallery) I got a little axe on outer right forearm by the new apprentice- Binger, near the wrist; March a little diamond and strawberry on my birthday (both in object gallery) also Binger, April a swallow on right inner forearm and butterfly on left inner forearm (bird and butterfly galleries respectively) also Binger , then last weekend I got a lucky rabbit's foot (object gallery) on my right inner forearm which sits under my swallow (toward the wrist) and a circus elephant on right inner bicep by Kyle(animal gallery) . I have two appointments booked for July- as I work in a school, I have booked a day with the apprentice during the school holidays (he did my axe, diamond, strawberry, butterfly and swallow) for 4 more- getting a dragon on the right arm, a trio of roses under the right knee, sad cloud front of ankle on the shin (right) and skull and cross bones on same placement, opposite leg. (hope that makes sense) End of July I am booked with Dan (did my thigh) who will do a snake/carnation combo on right outer forearm. Dan books 3 months in advance and his appointments fill up fast. Kyle is only booking a month at a time, while Binger takes everyone as he can. I will add pics once these appointments arrive 🙂 now to go back through and see what everyone has been getting while I have been absent from here! I was a huge Michelangelo fan as a kid! Mum reluctantly gave in to me getting a "boy's toy" when I was 7- a Michelangelo figure with nun-chucks and a working parachute! That toy shit all over Barbie I tell you 😄 Wow , so close to completion! I bet that's a bizarre feeling! Looking forward to the photos!

So had my consult today. It is going to be awesome. Saw his other Japanese sleeves and was amazed. So we are going with the koi and dragon themed sleeve. He was Mentioning something about the koi collected a pearl and on his way up changed to a dragon or something like that. Anyways, his waves are some of the best I have seen. Seems like such a simply thing like water would be easy, but his just stands out. Also some windbars and cherry blossoms. He said in about 3 weeks he will have it drawn and ready for outlining. Put the deposit down and just waiting for the call. It's happening y'all. A bit nervous, but it's more excitement. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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.

Hey --- great topic! So I am exactly in your boat. Getting a Japanese dragon sleeve done here in Austin, Texas. Like you, I estimated this to be about 15 hours/3 sessions. But I am in that far now and we probably have 5-8 more to go. You can read a more detailed update on how it's going here: So, my sleeve is a 7/10th length, almost full. The first session was the linework. I don't know how your artist works, but mine the design was drawn freehand (after a lot of consultation, obviously). This took a few hours of mostly standing up. It was fascinating. He would draw it and be nearly done, then look at it and say -- no, the head needs to be an inch to the right - then wipe it off and start again. He would do multiple layers in multiple colors getting more detailed with each layer, and he erased amazing stuff many times because he wanted it to flow with my body correctly, and had to re-draw it. I think this is really important with your piece, especially with multiple elements. I was planning on tattooing to the wrist, but since I wear a watch, the 7/10ths made more sense. And putting the dragon head on my collarbone just never looked right, despite that being one of the more traditional locations. So as he is drawing it on you - think about how the pieces fit onto your body... and also.... think about what parts you want to look at all the time. If am not at the computer working, I am golfing, so what was on my top/inner forearms was important because that's the area I'll be looking at most. I had fewer flowers put there so I wasn't distracted by the pink that will go in there later. Here are a few pics I didn't put into the other thread: First layer. This was erased. and Re-done. Then the linework. Ouch. We did this in about 3ish hours: A month later we did all the shading in one 5.5 hour session: The healing of the shading was just awful. The Y of my arm got immediately dry and cracked making moving my arm very painful for 4-5 days and mildly painful for another 4-5. Applying Aquaphor those first 3-4 days just inflamed the whole arm it and - just - ouch. I had to really baby it, and luckily I work from home and can work shirtless for a few days and wash/re-ointment frequently. If I had to put on a dress shirt (or any shirt) and go to work and move around I would have been really sorry. If you do this much coverage, wash it a lot, because I had a few areas flare up looking like they were going to get infected, but luckily just got really heavily scabbed. So my artist went to Europe for 10 weeks, and I had to wait all summer for coloring! But like you, I was thinking 15 hours/three sessions. And I felt like one more 5.5 hours session like the shading would be enough to finish up almost entirely. Nope! Last Wednesday we did 5.5 hours (all I could take) and only got in green and red: Takes awhile to get some of that color in, I guess. This part on the shoulder hurt/bled a lot: The ditch was bad. Real bad. Healing the color has been about 60% as bad as the shading. I probably could have shirted up and worked a job with movement had I needed to... but it would have still been really uncomfortable. Healing the ditch is no joke. Those scales are all scabbed now, and I rarely scab on my tattoos. Ouch. So now I'm hoping one more 5 hour run will do it, but I doubt it. Just the flowers - by the numbers, could take a few hours themselves (there are more on the back of the arm). So I'm guessing it will be 5 hrs next month, then another 2-3 after that (fingers crossed). Take lots of pics, especially during if you can. I always wish I had snapped more after. Here is a video of the shading. You can compare that spot to the above pics to see how dark we got it eventually. Takes awhile to lay down those greyish areas on the windbars/clouds: https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-znxv7VN/0/1280/i-znxv7VN-1280.mp4