Matej Haviar

@scottyg Bold as hell man! Looking killer and seems like you got a good momentum going on this thang! Rad

This is about as close to the internet as this is getting, but couldn't resist posting a peak of this silky smooth background action from Edmonton's fav underground tattooer (as I'm sure @bongsau would agree).

So effing good!! I still can't get over how big everything is, like even the clouds.

@scottyg Thank you so much man! I'm really looking forward to seeing your progress. Now just to go tattoo the rest of me haha...

@scottyg Thanks man! I've been really enjoying Horimomo's work recently! But you also reminded me that I still haven't posted a healed photo. This one was taken about a month after finishing it, and some of the blue still needs a bit of settling time to get uniform. Maybe not a readable as some other backpieces, but I love how dynamic the huge wave over my shoulder is and the lighting. It moves very well on my body. I'm very glad we decided to go to the knee with this one, Scott's reasoning being "you're so damn skinny it's like trying to paint a skateboard."

@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!

@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.

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!

@thewitchhunter Haha I feel you on the not quite knowing what I was getting myself into. All I told myself while we were doing the butt crack was I only have to do this once in my life. Thankfully my backpiece has a big wave coming up around there, so there isn't as much black saturation as a backpiece that's just windbars through the butt.

Figure I'd hop in this thread at some point! A sweet goblin by Kirk Shandro outta Easy Tiger in Edmonton AB. We were originally set to do a Dietzel masquerade girl but decided against it due to the weird wrap on the placement--half in ditch, half around the top of the elbow kinda deal. From an Oliver Bach repaint in the shop, but neither of us could figure out the original flash or artist it came from. I've seen Koeplinger and Bert Krak do ones as well.

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

Session number seven rolled around this Saturday. @bongsau You were definitely right, "in for a whooping" to say the least. Only made it through 2 and a half hours, but still managed to tear up an insane amount of skin. It's sessions like this that definitely teach you about your body and ability to tolerate pain. Felt pretty discouraged immediately after the session, but I'm still stoked on the level of progress. Can't wait to see the patterning brighten up as the blue settles over top. 28.5 hours here.

As always, listen to your tattooer. But realistically a tattoo heals best with the less irritation and less sh*t that gets put on it. Re-wrapping at all is generally a no-no, especially no to the towel. As far as sleeping on it, the worst that happens is that you get stuck and have to take your sheet the next day into the shower with you. Maybe if you have a tendency to flip onto your back, propping some pillows around you to keep you from turning might work. Tattoos are pretty in-there from the get go so I wouldn't be too concerned.

@bongsau Yeah I saw that dragon on the livedintattoos instagram, super freaking rad! But yeah I'm definitely getting into the momentum, now that the background is done, colours just seems to be moving way faster. Here's to the next session in February!

Session #6. Had a lot of wind under my sails and sat for 5 and a half hours. 26 hours total and unbelievably stoked on the progress. Finished the lightning and patterned the entire octopus. once this heals down, Capt'n Scott is going to blast over it all with some teal and define all the layers. This was less of a whooping to the kidneys and more of a tedious cookie cuttering.

@scottyg Looks rad man! Lining is pretty awful, feels a bit like being cut in half haha. But as said before earlier in this thread, the stoke will pull you through! How far down are you taking it? To the ass or to the knees? On Saturday, I just tipped over 20 hours in on my back and very satisfyingly started colour. The black is completely done and it now looks like a proper backpiece. Three and half hours to finish up blocking out the thighs, and a quick sit on some red before calling it quits. Going from the last couple of sessions on soft, squishy areas back to over spine and shoulder blades was quite a shock. Definitely not looking forward to the massive block of colour over the middle of my back.

The thread has definitely taken on more and more meaning as progress on my own back has progress. A back piece is definitely an all consuming thing. After a bit of a hiatus (life happens ka know) we got back at it with a big shading session. Now to bang out the thighs and we can start getting some colour into this thing. Kind of funnily, some tattooer friends of mine joked that Scott was mad at me because so much black ended up going into the butt ha! Was pretty sick with a cold this week, but after not working on it for 3 months I wasn't about to cancel my appointment. Potentially a mistake as the session ended with Scott calling it because I was solid up until about 4 hours when I started shaking uncontrollably. I almost passed out on the way home (pounding in the ears, tunnel vision, and all that jazz). First time I've felt totally wrecked after a session. After looking at it everyday after my session in August, I couldn't be more stoked on the amount of progress. I love seeing how this design gets clearer and clearer as black get put around it. 16.5 hours here.

Hit the back up with another session yesterday, and now I can thankfully say that all of the lining of this piece is done, save for some details while colouring. The rest of the background should fill in quite quickly, given that it took Scott three and a half hours to line my thighs and about twenty minutes to blast the massive wave over my ribs. He used a 15 mag, so probably the least sharp pain so far, although that whole area is feeling a little bruised. 12.5 hours total chair time here. We got another sit later this month. Hit it hard!

@beez Thanks a bunch! Yeah, Scott's lightning is rad. He usually just blocks it out in a solid colour. But it does add a bunch of movement to the design. We're probably going to do an orange or yellow to fill it.

Second session down! Did want to sit for longer but the heavy shading over the spine did me in for the day. 4 and a half hours here. Definitely feeling better now that the majority of lining is done (although more on the thighs later, but the shoulders are blocked out and it's starting to look more like a backpiece now. Knowing what to expect in what area as far as pain definitely helped make the sit easier and go by quicker.

@bongsau Here's hoping! I get off work at midnight, and those guys start drinking before noon, so we will see. But the lining over the kidneys and lower back was pretty freakin intense, but the stoke pulled me through. Next session is in a couple weeks and I'll totally post up some updates.

Hey all, Today I started my back piece with Scott Rusnak out of Lucky Strike Tattoo in Edmonton, Alberta. We are doing something a little out of the traditional notion of Japanese tattooing--a large octopus with some of his rad lightning laid over top. This is only my third tattoo (the other's being only palm sized jammers) and after my four-hour linework sit today, I am humbled. All of the spots feel like bad spots, but now a couple hours after things are feeling good and I'm looking forward to the next sit where we will finish the linework and start some shading, hopefully. We're planning on bringing it down to the knees with some rocks and heikegani crabs. The bare patch near my left shoulder will also probably be filled with some more water and another crab. Ultimately, this first experience was intense but totally manageable and very rewarding.