My wife is in the process of getting her back tattooed. She was also afraid of going through the possibility of painful sessions... trust me, after the first couple of minutes of getting tattooed you almost become numb to the pain... from my experience I've actually felt more pain during the healing more than anything else... people not knowing you have a fresh tattoo on your back and they surprise you with a nudge or a tap... ouch!!! then there's the itchy feeling... but hey no biggie :)
While she is light years ahead of me on the coverage on the back now, the process is going just fine... 5.5 hrs of outline just last month, a week ago she had a 4 hr session of shading and colour... now looking forward to more sessions of shading and colouring till we get to the finished piece and that will be the big reward... The healing process is something else... lots of soreness and irritation, no pain, no gain... right? but that's lasting for about a few days to a week at a time. Financially... it's demanding of course... but we figured that every three weeks to a month would be manageable...
jonesy