JasonTO

Finished my back on Friday night (well, Saturday at 5:30 am). It was a hell of a ride - it took almost exactly a year of sessions every 2-3 weeks. We'll do a final session after this heals to tie the bow on it.
This tattoo was made by Sean Zee out of Brick, NJ from pictures I've taken while scuba diving. I gave him 50-some pictures and a wish list, and he selected about 15 shots to create this scene. These pics were taken on 4 continents from 1998 through 2013 using (mostly) a Nikonos V underwater camera with an SB-105 strobe, UW Nikkor 35mm, 28mm, and 15mm f2.8 fisheye lenses, Sea & Sea (no relation) macro kit and Nikonos closeup kit.

Sean is a great guy, dedicated and amazingly creative. It boggles my mind how artists just "see" stuff like this and make it happen. He put up with a lot of questions and "what ifs" and "why nots" from this nearly virgin canvas (as he likes to say, "this woman only had lil kitty paw prints on her shoulder before this"), explaining to me all the ways this tattoo would NOT work, and ended up just putting it on the table that it really needed to be a full back if I wanted so many references. And to prove it, he designed the whole thing superimposed on a picture of my bare back and emailed it to me. I remember the moment I saw it for the first time and it shorted out my brain. I committed to the full back about 20 minutes after I got the email. (And I admit at the time I did not understand in the least what I was in for...)
Kinda funny, thinking back on it, how all the chatter and uncertainty and 14 years of wanting some sort of tattoo with my eagle rays were completely silenced and resolved in a heart beat. Anyway...
So, the critters making appearances, starting at the top right and going clockwise are: two moon jellyfish, two Moorish idols, two clownfish and anemone, a batwing coral crab and mustard tube sponges just behind him, a leopard moray eel, two squirrelfish hiding in red sea fans that cross my lower back, a sea snake in lettuce coral (very poisonous, which I didn't realize until after I'd crawled up in his face to take the picture and then been admonished by the divemaster after the picture was developed), a queen angelfish and a hammerhead shark. In the center are two spotted eagle rays and the broken mast of the Nippo Maru, a Japanese supply ship sunk during WWII by US forces in Truk Lagoon, Micronesia.
When I look at this, I don't just see a tattoo of fish. It's a diary of my favorite diving experiences. Each part has such different memories of the location, the people I was with, and the experience on that dive. (Yeah, poisonous sea snake. Whoopsie on that one. And the clownfish was actually guarding a little ring of day-old eggs. And trying to photograph moon jellies in a surge without being hit is like playing a 3D video game. And that I really really wanted my spotted moray eels but Sean said the pattern wouldn't age well, so with resigned sadness, my handsome spotted moray had to morph into a leopard moray. Sniff Sniff.) All of this flooding my brain at the same time.
And then I get this goofy grin on my face thinking about walking around with this huge awesome back piece that anyone I know would be shocked to learn I have.
He put up a little video where you can see the ribs, too: Video of SeeSea's Back. Healed pics coming to an LST contest near you. I want a T-shirt, dammit :D

Above is a picture of me laying like a passed out pale seal on Iain Mullens table. Today was the second to last session on my back. Can't wait to see it finished. We're doing the last bit and touch ups with Rudy Fritsch at the Scottish Convention in the end of March. Going to be fun/hell. Todays session was nice except for a few bits. I can't believe how quick this piece has been. I got the idea to start my back in April last year, asked Iain about it and then we started in mid June. It really helps that both him and Rudy work super quick and make for good company + conversations during the sessions.
Secret bit of knowledge exclusively for LST (I know people love that exclusiveness, I sure do): that ain't a dark red, but actually a light gray wash looking bloodied and irritated. Haven't got a piece of color on me, except for a few patches of gray and white.

my back piece by Chris O'Donnell

I've been really enjoying getting lots of little fillers done recently, as I work on my left leg. This weekend I went to The Okey Doke to see Franz Stefanik. He did the mace, the tooth, and the chain link around the bulldog that he did for me in the summer.

here is my finished panther and roses tattoo by Jebb Riley, done at Congress St Tattoo in Portsmouth, NH. (finished last friday)
I keep forgetting this is actually a coverup. The butt / thigh covers up an originally well done celtic knot that was touched up HORRIFICALLY by another artist after I moved from miami to NY in 1995. Lived with it for almost 20 yrs before covering. Not sad to see it go.
Very difficult to photograph as it wraps around my arm and starts at the top of my shoulder, ending below the ditch in my elbow. Jebb did a nice pic stitch so I stole this from his instagram. Still, with the glare, and the bleeding, this pic doesn't even come close to doing justice to it.
Started in July of 2013. Panther outlined right before my second and last session on my chest with Chad Koeplinger (he was running late, so why not?). Sessions were spaced very widely apart due to me starting my backpiece with Chad last year. Jebb has been very understanding. Total time on this is about 9.5 hours.
Jebb Riley is a super great tattooer and and even nicer dude.
Super stoked with how this all came together.

Just got done with my chest/half sleeves from Horitomo at State of Grace. Took me a couple of years to get it all done since I had to fly there and book back to back sessions. First, here is a pic of my fucked up tattoo that I got when I was 18. Horitomo touched it up and incorporated it with his art. SOrry not sure why some photos are posting sideways, I have it upright when I loaded them.
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My super cool new filler piece from Paul O'Rourke at Love Hate in Cork, Ireland. First time at the shop and was blown away by how good it is - also helped that Paul is a seriously nice guy. I definitely will be back.

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Upper inside of the arm tonight. Feels like burning. With Greg Whitehead, as usual! A fun panther-leopard with a Tibetan shell.

Starting to close in on it with this arm. Room for two modest/smallish pieces and then just filler after that. Crazy.

Yesterday, by Trevor @ Liberty Tattoo Seattle.

first session - tiger on ribs...
finished 2nd session with Scott Sylvia tying in new & old...super happy!!! :)

Congrats, Bunny! I imagine finally getting that tattoo after seven years of waiting is a very satisfying feeling.
Greg and I didn't get to two tattoos last night, since we got an unavoidable late start. We did go with the creepy Lo Pan hand holding a dragon that we were joking about the last time I was there. It's pretty much all a result of talking about Big Trouble in Little China with he and his coworker when I was the last one in the shop on my last appointment.

You have all probably seen this all ready but here is the session on my back piece from a week ago when I was visiting Rudy Fritsch at his shop Original Classic in Trieste, Italy. Had a super good stay in the city and the shop is truly amazing, I could be there for hours just looking at all of the originals on the walls from some of the best in the culture and also from Rudy himself. We had lunch the day after the session and he sure is a very interesting and inspiring person too.

Beyond happy with how this is progressing! Next session with Iain Mullen, who is the other part of this collaboration, will be in Stockholm quite soon and then the three of us converge during the Scottish Tattoo Convention in Edinburgh early next year to put the finishing touches on this project. I am a lucky guy :)

Tron:

Fun times in New York with my newly immigrated fiancée. Bug is on her by Bert Krak, torch and rose are on me by Eli Quinters and Beau Brady, respectively.

Got this photo realistic elephant I once saw... spot on by Eli Quinters yesterday, at the Bay Area Convention.

got this one Halloween. A reward for losing 40 pounds. Kind of a spur of the moment thing. I had a couple ideas and really wanted to get one, but couldn't decide on one of the ideas I had, walked around for a couple hours while searching the internet for ideas and other designs, finally picked this one and walked in before I could change my mind. really happy with it.

the first one that my mother actually liked, kinda, she still hates tattoos.

Flash by Cap Coleman; tattoo by Franz Stefanik

Flash by Cap Coleman; tattoo by Franz Stefanik

Flash by Cap Coleman; tattoo by Franz Stefanik

Flash by Cap Coleman; tattoo by Franz Stefanik

Flash by Cap Coleman; tattoo by Franz Stefanik

Flash by Cap Coleman; tattoo by Franz Stefanik

Flash by Cap Coleman; tattoo by Franz Stefanik

Flash by Cap Coleman; tattoo by Franz Stefanik

Flash by Cap Coleman; tattoo by Franz Stefanik