Inked up at 1928
As an artist, I figured I could design a tattoo fairly easily. How hard could it be? Turns out, I’m an idiot. I sketched up this little sun, had it put on my arm and for about 3 years now I have spent time wishing I would have done things differently. Tattoo artists have a very complex understanding of the nature of skin. It stretches and moves, did ya know that?! They also understand placement based on the muscles of your relaxed and active body. Lastly, I have found they have an understanding of how much skin to cover, and how much to expose. These are all very critical points in the tattoo scheme.
Here is my original tattoo…
Note the ovality of the center, this is one of the things I was unhappy about from the start. Due to the placement of the stencil, the sun looks distorted almost any position my arm was in. Also, as my most visible tattoo, I wanted something more bold and awesome.
I landed at 1928 on NE Alberta by 29th street. Shauna is awesome! She helped figured out how to cover the sun while incorporating my ideas to make a memorable tattoo that I would be proud to display.
First sitting was all the line work, and the cover up. The cover up actually proved to be some of the most painful tattoo I’ve had. Mostly because of the nerve it runs over, but also due to the multiple shades of red, black and white used to give the rose it’s depth.
The second sitting, a week later – finished up all the color. One more shot to go in for touch ups, but this tattoo is already stunning, I love it!!
* A special thanks to my wife Kim, for holding my hand through the painful parts, and documenting my adventure. See her take on this episode at NE Portland Findings.
That looks great Man!!!