Michael's Mythical Sleeves

I generally avoid featuring full sleeves here, because of the limitations that posting them has - it is difficult to fully capture the artistry in the work. But, on occasion, the tattoos are so amazing, I can't resist.

Such was the case with Michael, who shared portions of both sleeves with me. Here's a sliver of his right arm:


To fully capture the magic of this tattoo, here's a fresher, professional collage, courtesy of the artist Stacey Sharp:


Michael was proud of the fact that this tattoo took second place in the "Best Sleeve" category in the 2007 Philadelphia Tattoo Convention.

And although the top section of his left arm is still "under construction," the bottom half is no less spectacular:


The detail and shading is just absolutely phenomenal:


Michael, a professional make-up artist, explained that he embarked on these sleeves when he was going through a rough patch in his life and that, as a water sign, the creation and depiction of an aquatic dragon, helped mark a spiritual process that gave him strength while enduring life's trials and tribulations.

He estimated that the right, award-winning sleeve, took approximately 36 hours in total work and that his right sleeve is fifty hours in, and counting.

What's interesting about this post, aside from the brilliant tattoo work, is that I have a nice online friendship with the artist, Stacey Sharp, and that she provided me with her prospective of these sleeves. Generally we only hear from the host.

Stacey works out of Inkpulsive Custom Tattoos in Ronkonkoma, New York.

Stacey comments about her work on Michael:

Some interesting info about Michael's arms...

"The WaterDragon (right arm) was drawn on his arm at a moment's notice. He was only looking for 'a little something to add to his armband'. Took about an hour to draw on with a marker and another hour to outline. All of the blue background was done in one shot, 4 hours, including elbow and ditch (Michael advises to NEVER do those two areas at the same time). The lighter water swirls were added at a later date. The entire thing took 36 hours to complete. It's also the only tattoo I've done that has a 'Title'- A warm thing in a cold place. His species is WaterDragon. His proper name is Fathom... but sometimes we fondly refer to him by his nickname: The Sea Chicken!

The dragon on his left arm is Random. That's her name. Why? Because she is. :) Fur and feathers take much longer to detail. We didn't keep track of her time like we did with the WaterDragon. She's more of an Air/Fire combination... where the WaterDragon is more guarding, silent sentinel, she's the fun, spontaneous side. Whimsical."

So there you have it, an additional perspective, from the artist. It's interesting to get an additional point of view that expands on the notes I've scribbled down in the street.

Much thanks to Michael for enthusiastically sharing his work with us here on Tatoosday! And an additional thank you to Stacey Sharp for contributing her thoughts as well, in addition to granting permission to using the photo collage of the right sleeve.

Stacey's work has appeared on Tattoosday once previously, a much smaller, whimsical piece, here.

Sexy Back Tattoo for Women

Sexy Back Tattoo for Women

Sexy Back Tattoo for Women

Tattooings of scapula are sexy back tattooings for women because it accentuates the female nape of the neck of the neck and the slope of the shoulder. If you tattoo images or words, it will accentuate a distinctly female sector. Angelina Jolie has a rather famous tattooing on her left scapula, with words functioning vertically. It is a Buddhist incantation of Faded written in Khmer manuscript (Kampuchean). Obtaining tattooings in other languages, the particularly Arab and Asian languages, is very popular in this moment.

Tribal Back Tattoo Design and Art

Tribal Back Tattoo Design and Art

Tribal Back Tattoo Design and Art

Back tattooings of tribal make a return very impressing lately, with tribal designs for other parts of the body. These designs had one period of back of popularity in the middle of last century, but took a little a bench since then postpones. Since the last decade of the previous century, tribal tattooings of all the types were back of mode still.

St. Michael, Inspired by Survival

I met Michael in Penn Station and he shared this incredible tattoo:


That is a depiction of St. Michael, with whom our contributor shares a name.

Michael had this tattoo added to his right bicep and shoulder after surviving a terrible car accident. One of his lungs collapsed and he was touch-and-go for six days.

Afterward, he wanted to pay homage to Saint Michael and went to Lark Tattoo in Westbury, New York. Brian, the artist, spent nine hours on this amazingly detailed piece.


Work from Lark has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Michael for sharing this incredible tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Call for Submissions - Literary Tattoos

THE REST IS SILENCE:

Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide

Edited by Eva Talmadge and Justin Taylor


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS! We are seeking high quality photographs of your literary tattoos for an upcoming book. Send us your ink! Submissions are open to all kinds of literary tattoo work: quotations from your favorite writer, opening lines of novels, lines of verse, literary portraits or illustrations. From Shakespeare to Bukowski to The Little Prince in a Baobab tree, if it's a literary tattoo and its on your body, we want to see it.

All images must include the name (or pseudonym) of the tattoo bearer, city and state or country, and a transcription of the text itself, along with its source. For portraits or illustrations, please include the name of the author or book on which it's based. We'd also like to read a few words about the tattoo's meaning to you -- why you chose it, when you first read that poem or book, or how its meaning has evolved over time. How much (or how little) you choose to say about your tattoo is up to you, but a paragraph or two should do the trick.

Please send clear digital images of the highest print quality possible to tattoolit@gmail.com. Pixel resolutions should be at least 1500 x 1200, or a minimum 300 dpi at 5 inches wide. Text should be included in the body of the email, not as an attached document. Also be sure to include one or more pieces of contact information, so we can let you know if you're going to be in the book.

Back Tattoo for Men

Back Tattoo for Men

You can employ this next point to sharpen your qualifications by seeking back tattooings for the men. This point deals with the real problem that a Search Engine poses while trying to find images of quality for your tattooing. You can plunge in Google and search for any model of back tattooings for the men that you want and all that seems to jump to the top is generic, of the Web sites of biscuit cutter. You can rebound around a place with the other and there is good luck that 50% of the images weren 't even drawn for a tattooing. There are also strong chances that 95% of the images are already announced on approximately hundred other Web sites. Where 'do S the originality in a one of those support tattooings for the men? There isn 't much. She 's like a gyratory door which sends to you with the same thing back tattooings for the men many and many times.

Floral Tattoo

Floral Tattoo

Floral Tattoo

What circulates comes around, or thus much in love with stereotype said, and the power of flower of the Sixties still whitened again, not in the hairpieces, but in tattooings. Tattooings of flower have an undeniable call to those of the soft, male and female spirit. But the policy on side, of tattooings of flower is simply beautiful to look at and this only makes them a favourite for women.

The women who started to be assembled at the meeting rooms and the offices of the American culture of businesses in the Eighties also started to be assembled with the living rooms of tattooing of America, although first of all their choices small and were discreetly placed. All that changed into twenty-five last years, and the woman of the 21st century is been willing to match any man in her choice of tattooings. However tattooings of flower remain always that which the women generally ask.