otisc

Making progress on sleeve number two from Scott Ellis at Triple Crown in Austin, Texas. 5.5 hours of coloring yesterday. Next appointment: April 2020!

It's been almost a year, and we are slllloooowly making progress on this second sleeve!! In April 2019, Scott and I did five hours of shading. It was the usual ouch, and I didn't post an update. November 14, 2019 -- session number three! 5.5 hours of coloring in the bird. Next session: April 2020!

I may extend them some day. the 3/4 sleeves rock now, as I can roll up a dress shirt and have them mostly still hidden if I want. I like that flexibility... and the surprise when someone I've known awhile finds out I have them.

Anyone here ever heard of Ozzy Ostby - tattoo artist out of Venice Beach, CA? I hadn't heard of him, but my Instagram started suggesting posts by him. He does some amazing work, but perhaps his best piece is one he does repeatedly: a panther wearing sunglasses. Here is a small tribute to Ozzy's panther. Oh how I want one!!!!

November 28 -- 2nd sleeve begins. Once again, we returned to the studios of world traveling artist Scott Ellis. He's spent most of the last six months hopscotching Europe. I was happy to know ahead of time that he'd be back in Austin Texas for a few week -- plenty of time to start sleeve #2. Scott suggested we try a Phoenix for this sleeve. Seemed to fit well with the dragon. Here is his notebook prior to my arriving: As before, Scott creates the design in freehand. Took him about 3.25 hours. And as before, he was ever the perfectionist -- at one point an hour in wiping off my arm and starting again because he felt the bird's head was an inch off from where he wanted it. As we progress, Scott goes through about four layers, increasing the detail with ever more fine brushes along the way. Below are layer #3 and #4: Taken in mirror: And at least, we ink! 2.5 hours of linework. Unfortunately, Scott is back off to Europe... so no shading stage until April. That's okay, it is worth the wait to be worked on by a master.

November 28 -- 2nd sleeve begins. Once again, we returned to the studios of world traveling artist Scott Ellis. He's spent most of the last six months hopscotching Europe. I was happy to know ahead of time that he'd be back in Austin Texas for a few week -- plenty of time to start sleeve #2. Scott suggested we try a Phoenix for this sleeve. Seemed to fit well with the dragon. Here is his notebook prior to my arriving: As before, Scott creates the design in freehand. Took him about 3.25 hours. And as before, he was ever the perfectionist -- at one point an hour in wiping off my arm and starting again because he felt the bird's head was an inch off from where he wanted it. As we progress, Scott goes through about four layers, increasing the detail with ever more fine brushes along the way. Below are layer #3 and #4: Taken in mirror: And at least, we ink! 2.5 hours of linework. Unfortunately, Scott is back off to Europe... so no shading stage until April. That's okay, it is worth the wait to be worked on by a master.

Going to bump this thread up, because tomorrow I am going to start lines on sleeve #2, also from Scott Ellis of Triple Crown. Scott has become quite the world traveller, and has spent most of the last six month popping around Europe tattooing at some of the continent's most famous establishments. After the lines tomorrow, we won't do shading until April. Will post photos.

Oh hell yes! Way to go!

Any photos? Linework is always the worst. I'm sure it will get better.

Any updates?

Ugh, you gotta wash your tattoos. Looks just like filthy scabbing to me. You're lucky you didn't get an infection. My first inclination is that either the tattoo artist has poor technique, but if you never washed it and developed thick scabbing, it's likely a lot of ink was drawn out.

I follow Rodrigo on Instagram. Great Japanese tattoo artist. I would go to him and not even consider another artist on that arm. Dragon a great choice.

love your koi sleeve. who did it?

Classic and colorful. Love it.

your ribs tattoo came out great. when i see a tattoo like that, my first thought is "that could easily heal into a big black blob". props to your artist for having the technical skill to pull this off. also: first tattoo on ribs? respect.

too bad you're not a big pink floyd fan....

hmmmn.... if i squint, it looks like squares

You admit you are new to tattoos. You come to the forum filled with people experienced with tattoos. You ask for advice. You get advice. You don't like the advice. Now you want the advice to disappear. This means one of two things: 1) You were never looking for advice in the first place, you just wanted to show off your art and have people tell you how great it was. 2) Cognitive dissonance.

Original poster - also keep in mind the time commitment needed for this piece. Despite what you've seen on TV, this isn't something you are going to knock out in a day. You are probably going to spend many hours over multiple sessions, and any really great artists who aren't going to maul you aren't going to want to spend that kind of time trying to recreate your work. You seem to know what you like. Time to hit Instagram and find some artists who already are doing stuff close to what you like. Then find one, show them your ideas to inspire them, and then let them do their thing. There is a reason everyone in the tattoo forum dedicated to getting good tattoos is giving you one general theme of advice. We see a lot of people come in, ask for advice, get a ton of it, then do the exact opposite. Their tattoos usually come out awful. Your back is the Palm Beach of tattoo real estate -- don't mess it up!

Getting two sessions like that back to back are rough... the skin from your first session just wants to chill out on day 1, and instead it was probably being pulled, grabbed, stretched, and wiped endlessly while you did the opposite side of the arm that day. Advil and time are your friends. I wouldn't really try and evaluate the condition much until at least Day 10. It can be really irritated and then fix itself really quickly overnight as you approach the two-week mark. Hang in there.

Try and find a local artist who already does something similar. The last thing you want is someone who doesn't do any tribal at all looking at your photos and just trying to imitate another artist. Your results will be sub-par.

Hell yeah! That's a classic.

PPSS -- One issue that no one has brought up is what you said about the shop owner over-charging you for the pieces? How did that happen? If you were quoted a price, that should stand.

PS these go really well with the eagle on your arm that you got. Five real quick - you are on your way.