Tattoo Update: Want to see the drawings?

I have not given a tattoo update in a while so I thought I would update you on the latest and greatest. The date is set for Jan. 20th at the Mercy Seat down in Kansas City. Mark Galloway has been working on my drawing since I was last there. I have been thinking a lot about getting the work done and I am really looking forward to getting it started. It is nice to have some time before I go so I can really make sure I am happy with the design. After all I am not getting a little piece, I am getting a lot of work done for my first tattoo.

Since I decided to get a tattoo I have not questioned it at all. I think that is because I am not walking in to a tattoo shop and picking something out off a wall. I am old enough and have waited long enough to really think hard about what I want. I never wanted a lot of different tattoos although I do like that as well. Both Squirrel and Josh have a lot of tattoo work and I am always interested in what their new pieces are. Since I really thought hard about getting a tattoo it has been about getting an original piece of work done and finding the right artist to do it. Maybe even telling a story with the work. Something that no one else will every have unless they just copies it off my body of course. But I am in to the art of it so getting something original is what is important to me.

A lot of the people that talk to me about getting a tattoo don’t have one. And they probably won’t ever get one either. The first thing they ask is, “Are you really going to go through with it?”. And of course I say yes. I am not sure why they think I wouldn’t in the first place. Maybe that is because I am a corporate slave and at 40 have never had any tattoo work done before. I don’t know really.

But the real reason I am giving this update is that I have photos of my work from Mark. Boyaa! Do you want to see the photos? Keep reading…

I was planning to go down to KC to look at them but I suggested he send photos instead to save me the trip. I figured if I did not like what he has done then I could go down and make a visit to work it out. This morning he sent the photos and I am just blown away. I don’t remember if I talked much about the design so I will recap for you. My goal has always been more traditional Japanese work with maybe little “new school” style to it. Mark does some nice Angels and I just thought they were drawn so cool. Color, shading, detail, they are just sweet. I wanted him to use that style on my work. In traditional Japanese work you will often see these scalps (not sure if that is the right word) around the chest area and down the front ab area. I am not getting the scapls so it is a little new school in that regards. Mark is a very talented artist and I did not want to box him into doing something that didn’t fit into his style. I wanted him to have control over his design and break a few rules if he wanted to.

But back to the drawing, the work will be on my left side. It goes half way down my arms so it a half sleeve. Wraps all the way around the arms so none of the sissy stuff with a gap on the back of the arm. It will cover my left chest and then all the way down my ribs to just a little below my waistline.

Mark and I explored a few different ideas and where to place the tatto on my last visit to the Mercy Seat. We finally came up with something that really appealed to me. The two characters are a dragon and a geisha. That can be interpreted a lot of different ways. The dragon is sort of hovering over a geisha who is walking by a pagoda and on a bridge/walkway. The idea is that the dragon is blowing the wind and this is making the geisha hold on to her umbrella so it doesn’t get blown away. Maple leafs are blowing all around you. I had already seen one of his Japanese dragon drawings so I kind of knew what to expect. But the geisha I was not she what style he would draw it in. There are many different ways to draw a geisha. Some I liked and some I think are OK but not for my work. but I am just blown away on how the geisha came out and it is only the line drawing.

I am debating if I want to post the drawings to the blog or not. Should I make everyone wait until I get the first sitting done? If you want to see the drawings then post a comment. Let’s say if I get 10 people to say they want to see them I will post them. I guess it is just my way to get some traffic on my blog.