I've been considering putting this together for a while now based on the amount of questions I get, and I finally got around to it.  I was reminded yesterday after Shinji decided to do a little touch up work on my backside.  Here's a chart which illustrates my personal experience with tattoo pain.

Green is "Drill, baby, drill!", yellow is "Yeah great, I can deal", orange is "How much longer?" and red is "MOMMY!".  You can't see it here really, but I'd put armpits in the red and inner biceps in yellow-orange. Two important things to mention: first, this is my own personal experience and is by no means universal - I'd really like to hear if this matches your own!  And secondly, behind the knees, shins, and top of feet is based on anecdotal info - but opinion seems to be unanimous. 

For the record: I think anticipated tattoo discomfort is a terrible reason to not get a tattoo. An hour or two in the studio is over before you know it and forgotten that day, but a tattoo lasts a hell of a lot longer.

A few things:

• Here's a great tattoo blog I read occasionally, and I was reminded of it again today when they gave this blog a mention: Needles And Sins. Why can't I come up with a catchy name like that? Another difference is it's regularly updated and covers a variety of topics. So check it out! Today's post talks about some big changes at Adorned.
• I've said it before, but really folks - there's a pretty big difference between a cannabis leaf and a japanese maple leaf.  For those who rarely get a chance to look at the stuff before smoking it, I've put together a handy visual aid. 

I have a tattoo appointment today, wonder what we'll work on?

Today marks the six year anniversary since I embarked on my Japanese tattoo adventure. Wow, time flies! A lot has changed since then. When I started, Shinji was working at the since shuttered 55 Tattoo studio on West 19th Street. After the last 4 1/2 successful years at New York Adorned (during which the fabulous Brooklyn location was opened), I'm very happy to say Shinji is now on the verge of owning his own private studio! Congratulations, Shinji - I'm so happy for you!

Let's break down some numbers:

• 5 full years of tattooing
• ~190 hours of tattoo time (that's about 1 2hr session every 3 weeks)
• 2 book appearances and 2 magazine appearances (and featured in all sorts of Adorned material)
• 1,000,000 bottles of ointments and creams

One number people are always asking about is money spent. I won't give a figure, but I will say that my initial estimate of 20K-30K turned out to be quite accurate.
Here's a shot of me after my first 2 hour session on 5/29/2004 from Ye Olde Blog archives, with the three tattoos I since covered up still visible:

This morning I was looking over my very first blog post, in which I wrote "To me this is a work about strength, perseverance and transformation." How did I do on those? Yes, I persevered. Am I stronger? Well, I guess I am more confident in my strengths after the aforementioned perseverance. Have I been transformed? Yes - but only to look at ;).

Some things I learned:

• Don't consider undertaking such a tattoo unless time and money are no object.
• Respect your tattoo artist and their craft.   Treat him or her like a professional and an artist.
• Be ready for pointed questions and stares.  I can be aloof by nature so this is still a tough one for me.
• Japanese tattoo was an entry point for me into the world of Japanese art and culture in general,  which has been tremendous.
• There is a vibrant tattoo community out there which is worth exploring.  The artists can be fiercely competitive but I also sense a common bond and mutual respect/admiration among peers.  Those of us who enjoy receiving tattoos are in it for as many reasons as there are people, but at the end of the day the is an understanding through shared experience and art.

I'm not sure why I started blogging about this.  Hopefully this has provided some sort of useful information to someone out there and is not a worthless journey to the center of my ego.  There have been some great people that were connected to me via this blog, and for that, I'm thankful.

Now lets see if I can get this finished in the next year!

Just got back from the NYC tattoo convention. A few artists that caught my eye: Jess Yen, Boris Tattoo, Dan Henk, Noon, and Horitoyo. Oh, and "hi" Dmitri! Nice meeting you.

Here's a great article with tons of old school Japanese tattoo pictures and some wonderful insights from artist Horihide.

The background on my left side is moving along nicely, slowly approaching my waist from both ends. Definitely feeling some dread about today's session! (I whine a lot, right?)
In other news, I recently discovered Google thinks I'm some sort of authority on "munewari" tattoos. Ah, those foolish, foolish algorithms.

The background on my left armpit area is now all filled in! Now it's just the slow steady march down towards my knee. I'm hoping he takes a break to throw some color in my arm.

After a long lag, here are the latest pics. You'll note we did some work on my left torso, attaching to my back and creeping up towards my armpit. We've basically run out of pleasantly places to tattoo, so I know what to expect going in - a few hours of arrg.
I found out the other day that New York Adorned has a fancy new iPhone app which showcases work from the shop. Guess who's ass is prominently featured? Yup, yours truly. I'm glad they photoshopped out my old tattoo which you can still see in those pics before my arms were covered. Tribal armband FTW! Hah.

Here's a shot of the session from about 1 month ago. We shaded the water surrounding the koi on my left torso and also started connecting this area to my back. We edge a bit closer to completion every time.

At the last session we worked on the left side of my chest a bit. I think today we're going back down to the leg. For this appointment, I must admit there is a bit of dread as I bring out the fundoshi (or as I like to call it, my "tattoo thong") for the first time in a loooong time.

Totally Stylin' Tattoo Barbie?!?!

As you can see, we're now working on the bottom left end of the tattoo, in the middle of my left thigh. A decent place to start after a long break in sessions, as it is not very painful. Although I'm already dreading the slow movement toward my pelvic area over the next few sessions. There's a bit of healing left, but I figured I'd get a picture out before today's session.
I've definitely been tempted a few times over the years, and more lately, to get other small tattoos separately from the bodysuit. It's fun to get little tattoos occasionally, and get new work by different artists. But I just love the purity of my tattoo at the moment, and I don't want to get anything else which would interfere with it. I guess this makes me a tattoo monogamist, har har har.

Tattoo appointment tomorrow! YES! Excited to get back to it. More soon updates soon, hope all of you out there getting work done are still going strong.

Just a quick update: I'm almost fully healed from my motorcycle accident so I went ahead and made an appointment with Shinji for next month. My appointment is still a ways away but I'm very excited to start back up again. I guess I could have made it a little bit sooner, but after months of being in casts and having my jaw wired shut I still just need a few weeks to relax before it's tattoo time.

Just a quick note to say there may not be any updates for a little while as a couple of weeks ago I was in a nasty motorcycle accident. Once my bones heal I'll make an appointment but until then please wish me luck! By the way, I had jeans and a leather jacket on so it seems the tattoo did not end up as pavement decoration thank God!

At the last session we started to tattoo on the top of the left side of my chest. You can see we also finished the background on the top of my left arm/shoulder. I changed my tattoo bandaging and aftercare routine up a bit and the results were a dramatic improvement in healing. After just a few days my tattoo was looking pretty good, which is amazing considering I have some spots from over a month ago that are not 100% yet. Hopefully I can replicate those results after my next session - I have a vacation to Florida planned 10 days after the session and I want to be able to do a little swimming and get out on the beach (after heavy sunblock applications of course).

Oh, I also checked with Shinji and confirmed he does not have a website outside of the Adorned site.

Thought I'd share an amusing article I saw here. A woman is suing a tattoo artist who she claims mistakenly covered half of her face with star tattoos when she feel asleep during the procedure. Apparently she only wanted a few stars but woke up with 56. I have to call bullshit on this one - I think it's a case of buyer's remorse. Part of the reason I'm so skeptical is I can't imagine falling asleep while getting your face tattooed. Many tattoo artists won't tattoo your face if you ask, and with good reason: it can change your life and most people are not happy with the result.

It's all starting to come together! As you can see, my left arm is almost completely connected to my back. The background on my arm is also very close to completion. The most recently tattooed areas are not fully healed yet, but I have time today to get pictures posted and I don't want to miss another session's worth of pics before my upcoming tattoo appointment.

Looking at my back with the arms attached makes me realize how far I've come. Strange how things can move along steadily right underneath your nose but it's a rare occasion that you're able to step back and see the progress for what it is. Sometimes this process can be a little trying but moments like this renew my commitment to getting the tattoo completed.

In response to Ryan's question in the previous post - I don't believe Horizakura has his own website aside from his section on the NY Adorned site. I'll have to ask him next time I see him. I did however come across this set of pictures (appears to have been taken when Shinji still worked out of the 2nd ave location) and this site that has an awesome t-shirt he designed. I just noticed my picture is in the background of the second site - that darn pic pops up all over the place!

Here's a great interview with Horitoshi from '00, please check it out if you'd like to learn more about him.