Ahh yes, my sleeve. Something I am super proud of. Before I started my sleeve I had already had about 5 tattoos done in various places on my body.
At A Glance Author synde terror Contact punk_terrorist@yahoo.com IAM punk_terrorist When A year ago Artist Tracy Studio Rennisance body studio Location abbotsford, bc Tattooing is an addiction, and once I started, I knew I couldn't stop.
Like most people, I had been planning my sleeve for a very long time, however it was just a matter of time before I had the money to get it done. That time came when i received a lovely income tax return from the government. And what better to spend my "free money" on????
One of my friends from work had gone to this lady at a new body/hairdressing/spa/piercing shop in town. She was offering a 30% discount on tattoo work until a specific date. I figured, what the hell, I'll go check her out and see if she was the person to do my sleeve.
I had been in the market for awhile looking for a new tattooist, after my former tattooist reverted to sketchy practices at his shop. I also got a really bad tattoo there ( after being a loyal customer for quite some time), so I was totally in need of someone new.
I went and checked Tracy out, asked her a million questions, saw her portfolio, and was impressed. She had been tattooing for a year in another town, and had quite a following.
I explained my idea, showed her my rough sketches and AFI's album covers. She was very excited to work on me and really liked my ideas. So, we made an appointment for later that week, and off she went to start drawing up something.
A few days later she called me and told me to come check out the design and told me she had the afternoon free, so we should start it right away if I was happy with the drawing.
I saw the drawing and it was awesome!! She left it exactly how I drew it, but added her own flare to it. The center of the tattoo was the afi "art of drowning" statue, which I had already tattooed on my left arm. The statue sits about 7 inches tall on my upper left arm, and the design was done in an artistic all outline and shading. check it out
So the plan Tracy and I came up with was to start the background which was the cover of the "all hallow's eve e.p." we planned a haunted tree, a haunted house, bats flying in the background, and the J.R.R. Tolkien (author of Lord of the Rings) symbol to be inside of the moon.
Tracy set to work, and surprisingly it was not as painful as I would have imagined. I got to know Tracy fairly well, and that session was quite a pleasure. 3 hours later I had a wonderful start to my new sleeve!!!
We made the next session for a week later to start on my pumpkins, the evil black cat, and some more shading.
The next session went very well, 4 hours total, and I took it like a trooper. At this point we were working just above my elbow and on my inner middle arm. I found that quite painful, yet tolerable. Tracy had installed a TV into the ceiling with about 90 channels, so we watched talk shows all morning. (The most ingenious plan to take your mind off the tattooing being done). Check out progress
The third session consisted of greywashing the whole background of the tattoo to create the darkness effect. We also did the color in my pumpkins, and a little vine work. My arm was really starting to come together at this point. Check out progress
The fourth session was a bit of a touch up session, where Tracy spent some time darkening up the bats, thickening some lines, and adding some more detail to the graveyard scene.
The fifth and final session was to start a broken heart ( to symbolize my dead twin sister), covered in vines, to tie in the pumpkin patch. It took a good 4 hours for that tattoo because of the breaks (forearm is not a very pleasant spot), and the amount of detail she put into it. Cleverly, hidden amongst the vines is one initial for each member of my family. That's my favorite part.
Unfortunately that is where we had to stop because I was moving that week to Kamloops to start hairdressing school. I plan on going back to Tracy to perhaps start on the graveyard scene on the back of my arm and armpit, as well as some more vine work amongst the pumpkins and heart.
Although not the best picture ( and definitely does not do any of the work justice.... check it out guys