otisc

I think your tattoos are really cool. One thing about tattoo shading I've found -- it always looks better on someone else. When you are looking at your own shading, you are up close and you see how inexact it looks, you see the needle lines, and sometimes it even looks sloppy. That's because it is designed to read from a distance -- which is why it looks fine in your pictures and to others. Your line work may leave a little to be desired, but while maybe not excellent, I don't think it's bad enough to actually call bad. And you kinda want those traditional old-school flash-y looking tattoos to have hand-drawn look. I really think they would look worse if they were super precise. It's a style. This forum isn't reddit, so if people here are saying they like the tattoos, you can bank on the fact the fact that they're pretty good.

Can't wait to see the line work!

When I first read this thread, my initial thought was "how doucehy to copy someone else's tattoo that way." Then I realized you weren't the first... and now I think it's even worse. If you want that tattoo, that's your business. But as you can see from the above photos -- finding the original artwork is far less important that finding an artist who can properly pull it off. Some of the above are really bad.

Don't take this wrong, but I think your artwork would make for horrible tattoos. Go into the main forum and read the "What makes a good tattoo" thread and then compare the discussion with your work. I'm not saying you don't have artistic talent, just that nothing you showed us really translates into tattooing.

try uploading that pic again

Japanese dragon sleeve by Scott Ellis is finished!

Finished!!!! If anyone ever asks you for tattoo advice: "get enough sleep" needs to be at the top of the list. I've barely slept but a couple hours each of the last three nights.... and I could barely make it through the final 4 hours of tattooing needed to complete my sleeve. After about an hour, everything just hurt bad, and I had very little tolerance for pain this time around. Here's a pic of the final sleeve. Some of the oranges are really yellow but inflamed... and there is actually no red in the swirling spiral on the back of the arm -- just red from the work. Going back in a month for some touch-up work (not a lot of green held in the dragon's head first time around) and I will post healed photos in a few weeks.

I think once you have a tattoo in that area, no one will notice the beauty marks one bit, whether the ink covers them or not.

If punches could damage tattoos, the UFC would be out of business.

Keep in mind that you will probably need to cover this with something 4-5 times the size to really hide it. And you'll likely need a design that can work in/around this tribal to hide it effectively, unless you fade it further with lasering. Luckily there is enough negative space that a creative and clever artist will have plenty to work with.

Congrats and welcome! Dragons are cool. How popular is tattooing in India?

Iowagirl -- love your large piece, especially the back portion... but your husband's tiger/cherry blossoms kicks ass. Can't wait to see that one come to completion. Classic.

I like the first two quite a bit. Definitely go in to an artist you trust and let that person help you with the perfect placement. What may look awesome on one person's arm in one place may look horrible on the exact same place of a different arm.

Also, that is a photo of a freshly inked tattoo. I would like to see how the same tattoo looks fully healed. Make sure whoever you are getting tattooed from is showing you healed pics, not fresh pics. Sometimes the difference is negligible. Sometimes, as with the tattoo above, it could be more dramatic. The tattoo you showed had very little negative space, and depending on the technique of the artist, much of the subtle detail could be lost within a year's time and the cat could possibly look like a black blob.

Hell yeah! Photos?

Lasering a brand new tattoo is going to take time. A lot of places wont even touch it until you've had it for at least six months. I think the mistake is a funny story that you will only appreciate more and more with time... and it makes what is a pretty mediocre-to-average tattoo at best something to smile about. Paying a lot of money to laser and then retouch this piece is not nearly worth the time and expense of just chalking it up to experience, having a chuckle, and getting something much better nearby or elsewhere on your body.

Another nice piece -- how many do you have total oboogie? Seems like you've added a half dozen since spring.

Photos!

One thing you could do is put a little line under the W and the E. Both lines would be on the outside and would re-orient the eye to make the W and E appear correct. See attached bad photoshop

Original image can be done if done correctly. Found this:

Fantastic! Does your artist have an Instagram account or website?

I'm catching up on unread items and just saw this. Awesome with a capital A.

Very nice! I'm in Austin also. Kinda want the artist completing my first sleeve (Scott Ellis, Triple Crown) to do other arm. Kinda want to mix it up Jason Brooks is definitely on the short list. Like this a lot.

Welcome! I'm 45 and about to finish a Japanese sleeve. It's never too late to start going big.

I'd definitely leave out the samurai. The concept of a swordsman battling a dragon is a completely Western concept. You will never see man battling dragon in traditional Japanese tattoos. The koi and dragon existing in the same piece makes total sense because one evolves into the other. Post some photos when you get line work done!