WideOcean

Don't scratch it. Slap it like the bitch it is.

Sleeve-y sleeve being done in Beijing. Chinese Opera/flower/bat freehand jazz.

If you mean the Japanese writing system using Chinese characters that is called 'kanji' in Japanese, then it can be written and read both vertically and horizontally. Make sure you don't get a tampon advertisement tattooed. P.S. Vertical would be the more "traditional" thang.

I hope I'm stating the obvious, but you misspelled "absence" in your drawings! It's probably a good idea to run any word you want to inject into your skin through a spell check first. And then decide against a lettering backpiece. Looks like you're in the stage that comes after the "I think I want a tattoo" phase: "Now need to find something with meaning". Obviously, words have the most accessible meanings. Wait till you're over that, and then let someone draw something beautiful for you. How it looks is what matters.

Got it, thanks for sharing and glad your tattoo helped you improve your self-image.

Oh ok, I understand. Probably.

Damn that's a convincing piece of literature

Hi, just curious: are those tits part of a religious tattoo as well?

How I wish Jack Rudy was right

Hey, so that's the only decent picture I got of my sleeve in its current state. Done in Beijing. It's been fun so far!

Hi. Personal styles and tastes aside, I can't see anything really "off" with your tattoo. Best advice in these cases: Get another good tattoo and you'll stop focusing so much on this one. - - - Updated - - - Hi. Personal styles and tastes aside, I can't see anything really "off" with your tattoo. Best advice in these cases: Get another good tattoo and you'll stop focusing so much on this one.

Hi. Am I missing some pics you uploaded of this guy's work maybe? Otherwise it's kinda hard to give an opinion.

I don't think there's a general rule, because it depends on how your skin is healing, which again depends on other factors such as location etc. I'd say it's safest to ask your artist how your tattoo should look, before working out again?

Well, at least you're humble.

This is very true. Hell, maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. I'm just thinking that I would indeed very much like to give that benefit of doubt you mention. Maybe there's a tattoo artist who loves a piece and would love to honestly and openly reproduce it on skin, for its techical intricacies or the challenge or whatever reason. If he has the chance I don't think he should do it for free. Or he just gets a customer who is adamant on getting a copy. I can't see much harm in getting paid for it, in the same way Shige probably got soundly paid for that Buddhist deity he designed to be auspicious or somehow spiritually connected to a nail salon (I'd be curious to know which one, btw). I'm not glorifying copies and I recognize there's a difference between a custom tattoo and a copy. But it's just a another reason for people to get tattooed. How many of us white guys get amazing custom Buddhist stuff without even knowing the slightest about it except "It's like... being detached from desire and angry at demons" I just think there might very well be dignity to it, as long as you don't market them as your own. A lot of tattoo artists need to worry about fucking bills, too, I guess.

Yes, I'm sure reality is not as romantic as it might sound in principle. Regarding Asian tattoo artists, I can only speak for the ones I've known, too... I'm just a little surprised by how easily names are thrown in this thread and would like to think that copying doesn't equal being a "leech" immediately. As to being unable to discarding an unsatisfactory copy, not sure I understand you correctly but well, I guess you need to trust your artist's portfolio and abilities before asking for a copy (which I personally wouldn't do, on a side note, I just don't see any harm in people asking for copies and artists delivering them). After all, it's also tough to discard a custom design or flash, that doesn't meet your expectations, once it's in your skin. It might bum you out even more if it's a copy though!

I'd like to chip in from the point of view of East Asian art. The way this art has been and is handled has a certain importance here, since a big part of tattooing is strongly influenced by it. Someone noted that many copies come from China and/or Korea. That is correct. It would be however very ignorant to immediately dismiss this as lack of creativity or thievery. Traditionally, copying of masterpieces in East Asian art is not just flattery. It's the most important exercise for a student. There is a massive amount of EA art for which it is impossible to determine the author with absolute certainty, just because of how furiously students would immediately start reproducing it, over and over, often creating nigh-perfect copies of the original masterpiece. Every line, every dot, every detail. The original creators' glory would not only remain intact, but be exalted by this. This form of copy is done openly and honestly. Only after many years of copying, slowly, a practitioner of art would come to develop his own style. Ed Hardy and a Chinese guy who is doing my sleeve discussed exactly this in an interview in the last TCM. I think this applies, to a certain degree, to all art forms, Eastern or Western, just not to the same degree. For me the question would be: Is Shige in any way harmed, if a tattoo is copied and people know it's Shige's? Who is, actually, in any way harmed, if a great tattoo is copied? Someone's individuality or personality? Should we give tattoos that kind of importance? Should we give any thing that kind of importance? The ability to say "I am the only one who has this", is not just determined by positioning of pigments, but by the moment in time and the persons involved and the words said and the hours spent on it. That makes a tattoo unique, for me. If I see someone with my exact same tattoo because he saw it on a website, I personally wouldn't care. I might even be flattered, hell, I'm not above pride. On one condition: honesty. I might get tattooed by a Chinese guy who does amazing copies of Shige, and I have absolutely no problem with that, for the simple fact that the second he shows you that tattoo, he say's "This is a Shige design". Yes, it's from Shige, but now it's also his, through his hand and his eye, and it's also the first person's who got that kind of tattoo. And then it's also mine. Art just does that and I like to see it as a continuous, conscious and honest line of interpretations of subjects. I don't care if it's a painting on silk or a tattoo on skin that is copied, there's no difference. It's a tribute to a masterpiece and the acknowledgement of beauty. As long as there's honesty. If you acknowledge your master, you're a student, if you don't...well, I guess then, and only then, you are a thief.

Eat enough, but be VERY careful with cramming too much food or the wrong kind of food into your stomach before a tattoo session. HK is very humid, tropical, plus you'll be jetlagged, I assume, plus excited for the tattoo, plus experiencing a lot of pain while getting it done. Your stomach needs to have a super easy job.

Hi Pete, congrats on the dragon in progress. I'm thinking of getting one myself. There's only so long you can avoid getting a dragon, if you ask me. What colors are going in there?

The negative feedback you get might be related to your general style. Just in case you still didn't get what Graeme said, then I repeat with capslock: "AS FOR COVERUPS, YOU NEED TO TALK TO A TATTOO ARTIST TO SEE WHAT IS OR ISN'T POSSIBLE" AND YOU SHOULD GET ALL THE LASERING HELP YOU CAN. HELLO. IT'S A FUCKING LASER YOU BOUGHT YOURSELF AND POINT AT YOUR OWN SKIN. THAT'S WACKY!!! :D

I'm going to talk to this fellow on Saturday https://www.facebook.com/ziyoutattootangping?fref=ts Dragon leg sleeve. Rawr.

Ego stroke? Sure, they're worth it, but that is the enabling factor that makes them, in the end, pricy. The demand-supply principle here is simply the artist being aware that they supply a service, whose demand is beyond ready availability, hence the high price. I think few artists would, in their ideal world, NOT charge high prices. Those who can, do so, because the quality of their work and the recognition they get enables them to do it. Yup, I did get a raises at work. I also negotiated salaries based on the increasing quality of my background and the knowledge that my employer was aware of it. That doesn't change that I would've gladly enjoyed the salary I have now when I started out. I just knew I had to earn the trust. Everyone does, for sure, get the tattoo they deserve.