This picture is of work done a few weeks ago on my left arm. As you can see, there's a large koi swimming up my bicep, with a few rocks and leaves near the bottom edge. This appointment took a little longer than usual since Shinji didn't have a drawing for the koi prepared, but I was still surprised how quickly he was able to sketch it. I came in and he took a few measurements, and about 30 minutes later the sketch of the koi was complete and Shinji was ready to start tattooing. I'm glad my tattoo is starting to have some symmetry, it always bothered me to have one half of my body completely bare and the other half completely covered. I figure I have about 2 more outlining sessions and the entire outline will be complete.

Here's a picture of the most recent work. The bottom edge of the outline is the bottom border of the tattoo, just above my knee. The top edge of this outline is about 4 inches below my left nipple. I'm pleased that we were able to get a decent amount of ground covered during the first outline session. Can't wait for the next appointment!

Here's a picture of the last of the touch-up work done a few weeks ago. You'll note the head of the large koi in the center of my back is now shaded a bit darker, making it consistent with the shading on the more recent koi. I also had the red ink in my backside redone (ouch).

This past Sunday I had an appointment and we began to outline my left side. While that work is too fresh for me to post pictures of, I do have something else - a picture of the tattoo in progress. Strange, over the years I've never managed to get a photograph which illustrates any of the preliminary arrangements; this is the first one. What you see here is a premlinary sketch drawn on your favorite human canvas and narrator. The detailed koi on the bottom was transfered onto me from a predrawn sketch in preparation for the tattoo. The rest of it was drawn on me freehand. First the outside boundaries of the tattoo shape are marked, using a line drawn down the center of my torso as a reference. Then, broad shapes are drawn using a light green marker. You may be able to make out crashing waves and rocks on my chest/torso, as well as the head and fin of a koi on my upper left arm. Next, the final detailed outline is drawn on with a black brush-tip marker. This is then tattooed over. I'll post pictures of the completed outline soon.

Quick update: Here's a picture from my last session, about a month ago. It was strictly touch-up work on my back, mostly redoing many of the sections in red which never really took well the first time around. Also, small scales were added to the lip of the large koi where before it was just a solid block of color. Shinji thought this would help minimize the appearance of the old tattoo underneath it. I have an appointment today, and I believe there will be a bit more touch-up work, but I am hopeful we will start to outline the left side of my body.

My right side is finally done. During my last session we finished off the color inside the koi on my ribs. At my next session we will be doing some touch-up work on my back, for the most part trying to fix a few areas where the red did not take. Although it will be a pleasant change from getting my torso tattooed, the back is no picnic, especially the second time around.
Speaking of my back, I was able to get a copy of the February '08 issue of Skin and Ink. When Shinji told me they had a "big" picture of me, I didn't think he meant a full page picture! Now I can proudly say I've had a full page nude photo of me in a Larry Flint publication. I also like that my sweet tribal armband is forever immortalized there. Doh!
In other news, on Friday I went to check out some art at Saved Tattoo here in Brooklyn and had the pleasure of meeting John Reardon. He immediately recognized my sleeve as Horizakura's work and came over to chat with me. After a few minutes of trying to compare Horizakura tattoos (John's upper left arm was done by him) without taking off more clothes than would be appropriate in public, John said "You know..I think there is a picture of you in my book!" He pulled out a copy of his Complete Idiots Guide to Getting a Tattoo and sure enough, there I was in the section on Japanese tattoo! John was nice enough to give me a copy of his book, I'd recommend checking it out if you are thinking about getting a tattoo but don't really know where to start.
Yesterday someone asked me, "Isn't it a little weird to find out you are in a book or magazine? Shouldn't they be asking your permission?" Actually, I'm OK with it. It's not a picture of me really, it's a picture of Horizakura's art work. He should be able to display it wherever he likes. I wouldn't even have a picture of it published outside of this website without asking him first.

I just found out that Skin and Ink Magazine did an article on Horizakura in their February issue. I hear there's even a picture of me in there. Unfortunately, I could not find a copy. After hours of hitting the stores with no success, I decided to order a copy online and I'll have to wait a few weeks before I see it. Anyway, pick it up if you're a fan of his work.

Well, I thought we were going to add color during the last session. We did some more grey shading instead. But today, we're definitely adding color..I think. I just want to finish this spot. I'm really tired of getting tattooed there. It's so uncomfortable that after an hour I'm ready to stop for the day.

A few weeks ago we did some black shading in the koi on my ribs, here's a pic. I have an appointment today, I imagine we'll be adding color. I really want to start outlining the other side, and I'm so close now. Also, check out Inked Inc. This site focusing on tattooed professionals has been around for a while, but it's new to me.

Howdy folks. Here are some pictures from 1/23/08. The only thing left to shade in now is the koi in the right-center of my torso. We started it yesterday, and it's a tough spot. Shinji told me that speaking with a few others, they agree it's the worst to sit through. So naturally, my appointment last night was no fun. But I'm very excited to begin outlining the left side of my body. You'll notice the last session was just coloring in odds and ends all over the place. It's a little annoying to have fresh work in many different spots, but luckily I usually heal fairly quickly. Don't know if you can tell, but the green in the leaf near my right hip sort of bled into the gray underneath it. I've got sensitive skin and that's a spot that is particularly so. I've seen it happen in other spots but this is larger and since this is a bright color it's a little more noticable. We may need to go in and do some touch-up over the gray later.

Also, I saw this article in the NYTimes today you might be interested in. It discusses the recent popularity of temporary tattoos. I've certainly seen a lot of these lately. I really got a laugh out of the Miami Ink brand cloth "sleeves" I saw people wearing on Halloween, too funny.

What's in a business card? I find myself picking these up whenever I stop by a tattoo shop. From busy to bare and everything between, everyone has their own tastes it seems. Maybe once I have enough of these I'll setup a gallery. If you have interesting tattoo business cards, please send some pics my way.

At my last tattoo session, we finished all of the remaining color except for the large koi in the center of my torso. The most recent work is almost done healing, I should have some pics up very soon.

I also wanted to give a shout out to Iron Horse Magazine. I was quite surprised to learn a small picture of me was published in their last issue. I'm just glad this picture wasn't of anything embarresing. It just goes to show you never know who's watching after you've had a few drinks at the bar.

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year. Happy tattooing in 2008!

The background on my right side is finally finished! More color soon..

These pics are of work done over a month ago, on 10/7/07. I did a bit of traveling (New Orleans for Halloween) and so did Shinji, so my appointments have been irregular. Hopefully I can get back on track soon.
Instead of finishing the background, Shinji decided to work in color. As you can see, most of the leaves on my right arm now now filled in with either red or orange. My skin doesn't like red ink very much but it seems to have taken better this time. No problems at all with the orange, although color in general takes a bit longer to heal.
We started to discuss colors for the koi, but we did not reach a decision. Maybe blue? Originally we dicussed maybe a kohaku coloring scheme, but now we're having doubts about such a large area of white ink - I'm not sure it would look good.
We're getting really close to finishing the right side of my body, so I'm already thinking about the left side. Perhaps in another four sessions we will start that, that's only two months!
More pics soon, my last session was a few days ago and it should be healed enough to take pictures within a week.

No new pics yet, but I should have something in the next week or two. I had to cancel my last tattoo appointment because there was a scheduling conflict with Starlight Tattoo's Annual Tattoo Expo. Horizakura had commited to working there over the weekend alongside his teacher, Horitoshi. Having never been to a tattoo convention, I was curious to see what the fuss was about and decided to stop by on Saturday. I got there a bit late and missed the "Best Back Piece" competition (I wanted to see it, but not to compete). But, I did get to meet Horitoshi briefly when Shinji called me over to show off his work. I also got a chance to see one of Horitoshi's most well known tattoos, a full body suit of dragons and flowers which I've seen in several tattoo books and magazines (see issue 2 of "NIHON DENTOH SHISEI" for a good article on Horitoshi in Japanese, from the same folks who publish "Tattoo Burst"). I wish I'd bought my camera! The Horitoshi family had a good size booth setup and were working on people there. I was glad I had declined moving my appointment to the convention center - there was a large crowd gathered watching and I would have been quite uncomfortable.

Came across this article on CNN today about the tattoo removal business and "removable" ink. The best part of the article is definitely the comments, everything from "people with tattoos are idiots" to "I'm 20 and I'm certain I'll never regret this tattoo".

On the topic of the health impacts of tattooing, the other day someone said to me, "I heard that once you get your entire body covered in tattoos then you die because your skin can't breathe anymore".

Where do people come up with this stuff?

I haven't been spending much time at home lately, so I haven't had a chance to take any pictures in weeks. These represent three sessions worth of work. As you can see, the background on the right side of my body is near completion - after one or two more sessions we'll start adding some color. The area under my armpit on the upper part of the ribs wasn't at all pleasant to tattoo, but other than that the past few sessions haven't been too bad. I'm really not looking forward to getting the background near my groin area filled in at the next session.
The last time I was at the shop one of the artists joked that my kidneys were probably turning black. I managed a nervous laugh, but only barely. I've noticed it takes me longer to heal these days. I chalk it up to age and pray all the ink building up inside me isn't taking its toll. I'd be interested to see some studies on the health effects of tattooing. Seems like most of the information out there is anecdotal, which is not surprising - it's not like scientists can just tattoo folks and see what happens in a controlled environment. I try to put my faith in the tattoo community and their collective knowledge on the matter. The artists probably know more than anyone else. I'm assuming that it's a situation similar to steroids. For many years, the body builders and locker room dealers knew more than doctors about the effects of steroids on the human body because they were out there experimenting on themselves every day while scientists were grappling with the ethical issues involved with human testing. That being said, the most common health issues associated with tattooing are transfer of blood-borne illness, infection, allergic reaction and scarring. So far, I'm pretty good on those fronts. I'm still really curious to hear about potential health issues due to extensive tattooing.
I went to the beach a few times this summer (armed with plenty of sunblock of course), and the looks I'm starting to get when I take my clothes off are pretty funny. Sometimes I forget I'm turning into a bit of a freakshow.

Here are two pics from my 8/5 session. My back is now connected to the front via the sholder, and the outline of the right side is quite clear on the top portion of my chest. The distinctive munewari shape is finally coming into focus. I thought getting tattooed around my collarbone would hurt more than it did, it actually wasn't so bad. At the last session we also discussed doing some touch-up work to a few areas on my back either to minimize areas of cover-up or to try again on places where the color didn't take very well the first time. There are definitely some places where my skin was not very receptive to the red ink in particular.

Now that the background on my arm is complete, we're moving on to my chest. The first picture details work from my last session, two weeks ago. The next two pictures are of the entire piece so far. I've been focused on displaying the newest work so it has been a while since I posted pictures of the whole tattoo. Hopefully this gives some of the "context" or perspective I mentioned in my last post.
There really is not a whole lot of background on the front of my torso, so I think from this point on the background is going to go much faster. I'll probably have one or two more sessions near the top of my chest, and then we'll continue working up from the bottom again from where Shinji left off on the right thigh.
Overheard on the web recently: "Japanese is the new tribal".

This picture is from 7/15/07, just before my last session. The background on my arm is finally done! As far as pain goes, we saved the best part for last - I'd say the inside of your bicep is fairly sensitve but further into your armpit is worse. Also, this took a long time to heal and it's still not 100%, especially the area where your arm attaches to your chest since it folds and stretches everytime you move your arm in any direction.
A few people have made comments about how the background takes up most of the space on my arm and there's little room for color. One person went as far as to call it a "negative space tattoo". I suppose you really need to see the tattoo as a single piece covering my entire body to get the right sense of scale, thereby putting my arm into the proper context - it's really just a small part of a larger whole.
In other weirdness: this is old news but in case you missed it the first time around, check out this article about a woman who got an advertisement for a casino tattooed on her forehead. She planned to use the money to send her son to a private school where he "promises to get good grades".

I'm finally getting an internet connection in my apartment this week, so updates should be more frequent after that. Here are a few pics I took on 6/22/2007. I've had some work since then, will post more current picutres soon.

Just came back from a 9-day trip to Japan, and I had a great time. One of the highlights was definitely hanging out in Asakusa, Tokyo for Sanja Matsuri. This festival is starting to be known for open displays of tattoos, something which is very unusual in Japan. In fact this year they banned riding on the mikoshi in order to discourage the more flamboyant displays of tattoos from yakuza types. Still, a few were out in force. Here are some of the pics I snapped. I believe everyone in this set of pictures was tattooed by Horigane (the fellow in the white suit). Please email me if you believe this info is incorrect, my Japanese is pretty bad so it's possible I misunderstood (added 11/27/07 - made a correction, the artist's name is Syodai Horigane (Kanazawa, Kesao), his website is at http://www.horigane.com). Anyway, check out the great work!