Hey Mom! Guess what I did this weekend!

[bluegargantua]

Right.

So as promised...the pictures:



This tattoo is on my right leg and the photos start in the back and move counter-clockwise around it (although I myself moved clockwise...weird).











The design is inspired by taotie motifs found on Shang Dynasty ritual bronzes. These designs were two stylized animal figures in profile, facing each other so that where their heads touched together, it formed a single animal mask. In this case, it's a pair of tigers. Viewed head-on it can be difficult to discern (a number of people thought it was a dragon head), but if you look at the side pictures on my leg, you can see each individual tiger.

Yeah, so this took 3 hours to do and passed over shin bones and Achilles tendon. I'm afraid I wasn't a very good canvas for this, but my artist was very patient and we had a couple people holding me down so in the end it came off really well. It's still a little sore and red, but seems to be healing up nicely.

The only downside is that it's not done yet. I've still got to fill it in with color. Luckily, when you do fill work, there are multiple needles so it goes faster and the discomfort is spread out over a (slightly) wider area. But that's a few months away still.

later
Tom

Comments

[drwex]

Neat. It's nice to hear how you thought this out. Is there something specific behind the Shang style that you like?

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

In the beginning, there was rock.

Good old rock.

[Blue can fill in the rest]

[bluegargantua]

The mask being made up of two component pieces. Also, the full meaning of the symbols has pretty much been lost over the centuries so I don't feel like I'm completely trampling over a cultural motif for my own aesthetic enjoyment.

I also have a keen interest in the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. Most of my focus was on how that worked in the fertile crescent region but once I saw this design I knew it would be a better fit.

later
Tom

[jhim.livejournal.com]

Awesome!!!!

[bluegargantua]

Yeah, I was totally thinking of you when I was getting this...

I was thinking "Damn, Jhim is hardcore....ouch!"

Hey! You live down Maryland way. I'm probably coming down to get it colored in. I hope you can drop by when it gets done, it'd be great to have you there.

later
Tom

[jhim.livejournal.com]

Let me know when, brah. :)

[qarylla.livejournal.com]

Looking pretty spiffy.

I hope your color experience is a bit different from mine. My artist does one color and then goes back with the other colors one at a time. There are areas on my back that he went over five or six times to get the color effects he was looking for. It's gorgeous, but much more painful than the outlining was by far.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

-That's cool enough to fill me with envy and the need to do Google image searches on potential tattoo fodder. Most excellent.

[owlsamantha.livejournal.com]

Cool, ink is good :-)
Now you make me want to go get another one.

[cathijosephine.livejournal.com]

That looks fabulous! I want several tatoos, but I've never been interested enough in research to find images I like. I did some of my own sketching of a peacock once, but I'm just not a very good artist, so they never came out the way I wanted.

Congratulations on your new art!

[qedrakmar.livejournal.com]

That fucking rocks, man... I've got a series of ink I want to get done, but it's major $$$...

[msbutterpecan.livejournal.com]

HOT STUFF!

[foreign-devilry.livejournal.com]

Yea for more Shang motif tattoos! My turn next!

Now I have to go tell Mel...

[xinie.livejournal.com]

OW!
OW OW OW!
OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Brave man. Lovely tattoo.

[bluegargantua]

Not so brave.

and yes...ow
Tom

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's really nice.

[doctordidj.livejournal.com]

Styling ink, man. Good for you. I've never seen the "two profile faces make one front face" thing before, not even in the Celtic knotwork that I groove on. Very Escher.

I'm still thinking about what ink I want, and where I want it, and I haven't really settled down yet ... I figure that's a good reason to hold off. Pain isn't a good reason ... besides, my nipple pierce maxed out that particular aspect!

[doctordidj.livejournal.com]

Styling ink, man. Good for you. I've never seen the "two profile faces make one front face" thing before, not even in the Celtic knotwork that I groove on. Very Escher.

I'm still thinking about what ink I want, and where I want it, and I haven't really settled down yet ... I figure that's a good reason to hold off. Pain isn't a good reason ... besides, my nipple pierce maxed out that particular aspect!