Starting my Second Sleeve

Tuesday 21st August 2012

3.5 hours

After going through the process of having my first tattoo with Diego I quickly realised two things. Firstly that I definitely wanted my other arm tattooing, and secondly that the only person I wanted to do this would be Diego.

I'd been thinking about what to have on my other arm for a while and had pretty much narrowed it down to having another koi and/or goldfish with peonies. I'd talked to Diego about this and he was happy to continue working on me so as soon as I'd finished my fist arm I booked another session to start my new piece. As the start of my new piece grew closer though I started thinking maybe I was playing it too safe by going for something very similar to what I already had. As I'd started learning a bit more about the various different animals and characters that appear in Japanese tattooing I became more and more drawn to the Shishi (sometimes referred to as a foo dog, which is odd as they're not dogs, they're actually lions). 

I'd seen some really examples online and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted more of a contrast between my arms, so after a quick phone call to Diego a few weeks before the session it was decided and I was feeling much more confident in my choice.

As I've looked deeper into the world of tattooing I've realised that in my opinion, tattooing is the purest form of art for me. You have to form a personal connection with the the artist by the very nature of the process, especially with large scale pieces that require multiple sessions. The artwork can never be sold on or bought by art dealers purely for profit and will remain with the recipient for the rest of their lives, so it forces a lasting connection between the artist and the wearer. It also has a limited life span and ultimately dies with the wearer so therefore can never fall into the hands of someone who doesn't appreciate it in the same way as the wearer. 

Anyway, enough of all this deep and meaningful stuff, let's get on with it!

On the day of my session I was feeling slightly nervous. I knew what to expect in terms of the process and the pain, but until you start to see the piece applied to your skin, you don't know exactly what it's going to look like. I knew deep down that Diego would make an excellent job of it though, and I needn't have worried. I guess it's just fear of the unknown.

Unlike my first tattoo which was all freehand, Diego decided to use a stencil for the actual Shishi and freehand the rest as usual. 

Photocopy of the original drawing used to make the stencil

Once the stencil was on and he had drawn the rest on with sharpie I felt really happy with the look of it and I knew it was going to turn out great. I was now really excited about getting this done. After I'd looked at it in mirror and taken a quick photo we got started on the outline.

Looking in the mirror before we begin the outlining

Close up of the stencil

I really love the way the hair looks on this. The swirls all look really intricate and I know that once we get to the colour stage the hair will look great.

Unfortunately we ran out of time and didn't quite get all the outline finished so I've got a bit of a gap left to fill on the back of my upper arm. Diego said he wanted to re-draw that section next time as we didn't have time to do that and outline it before his next client was due. This was fair enough as he didn't want to do a rush job just to get it done in one session.

Session done