Fantastic tattoo - and some words from the owner

No, it isn't me! When I was looking for ideas for my first tattoo, I found an image on a very interesting and informative blog run by Steve Mays. Some time and some emails passed, and I didn't get my tattoo immediately. I had promised Steve that I would mail him when I got my tattoo. I did this last week, and Steve mailed me the picture above. It isn't Steve, but it is a colleague of his called Z-man. The ink was applied by Tom Donovan (at Jack and Diane’s Tattooing in Biloxi, Mississippi www.jackanddianes.com.) Since this piece, Z-man has had more work done too. But he had some interesting thoughts about the work.


He told me:


"Going on 16 years of wearing it, it’s been fun. I’ve been places and seen things that only that tattoo can take credit for! I don’t take it out as often as I used to, nobody wants to see a balding 40-year old’s butt -no matter how many colors are on it.
It took over 100 hours over a year’s time (to do the entire leg –top to bottom)."


Z-man later said:


"Personally, if I had to do it again, I’d give more thought to the big picture.
As I became infatuated with ink, I was always thinking about it and anxious to get my next piece. I am guilty of not thinking it
completely through. And though I have several nice pieces, they’re not connected. They’re separated by skin space, disconnected, not consistent to a theme.
Of course, it’s more than just a little overwhelming for a person to walk into a full body piece without dipping your toe in the water to see if you’re going to like it. In body art, sometimes bigger is better.


If I had anything of value to pass on to someone interested in getting more tattoos, I would encourage them to plan it better than I did. Don’t get me wrong, many great things can come without a plan, but having an end is mind is worth considering also.
I have no ink on my arms, shoulders, neck or other normally exposed area, that was intentional. I wanted to be incognito if necessary.
My right leg is all color. My left leg is (mostly) black. If had planned it better, I would have kept all color off the left leg, thereby
keeping consistent to a theme.
And though my left leg is not completely covered like the right leg, it contains a dragon, a mickey mouse, a tribal scorpion and a tribal shield from the island of Yap (a place I’ve always wanted to go) of two fighting dragons. Plus, a skin rip, exposing colored muscle
underneath, and a half-opened zipper revealing scales underneath. By themselves, they’re cool, I like them. Together, they don’t fit. They just landed in random places, there’s no theme to tie them together or no background to bring them together. They just hang
there. That’s because I had no overall plan."



Some wise words and food for thought there! I hope to get pictures of the rest of Z-Man's ink - I'll post them here (he has given his permission for this)

Tags:

• Tattoo
• Body art
• ink
• Steve Mays
• Jack and Diane's Tattooing