The job was simple and had two parts:
*Finish the Shading on Chun-Li
*Begin work on the outline of the back of the forearm.

It begins. Now in my opinion, the shading portion of a tattoo hurts a lot more than the outline. However. Many people will disagree and tell you that it’s the other way around. You can argue it, but really, for me, the outline is fine, the shading… mmm, not so much. I’m told Chun-Li will tale around an hour, to an hour and a half. And it does. And it looks amazing. There’s really nothing left to say about it, take a look.



In all honesty, it’s just how I pictured it when I thought of getting it done. I’m very glad I didn’t go with full colour. It would have looked fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but blues and yellows and browns, on my skin… I wear a lot of white. It would have looked funny. Maybe on someone else. SO big ups! The first of the pieces is El Completo!

From left to right:





We took a short break, water was drunk, cigarettes were smoked. There was small talk. Then out came the next sketch. It was like Christmas. The excitement. I didn’t think that the SFII tattoo would last over three sessions, so this next one felt slightly delayed. Like I should have already had it.

Now this one was on the books from the very beginning. When my brain first caught a whisper in its inner canals of a whole arm tattoo dedicated to my number one hobby, THIS was the first guy on the metaphorical “ideas board.” Then came a snag. It is unbelievably difficult to find a suitable picture of this guy. Months I scoured the interwebs. Nothing. Eventually it came time to take the pics I had into the artist. But I had no pic of this guy in there… I couldn’t find one. I had to go with what I had. In the end the spot went to Sakura, that badass school girl. So I charged ahead.

It wasn’t meant to be I thought.
Half naked schoolgirl will make an excellent tattoo I thought.
Not in a sick old man way at all I thought.
We can work with this.

Ryu and Chun-Li begun. Then what do I find a few days later? Mother Fu….. Why didn’t I find this earlier?! Hidden amongst the pages of The Majora’s Mask manga from Japan, the perfect picture to fill the spot that was soon to be taken by Sakura.
Link.
Now when I say perfect, I could mean many things. When I say it though, I mean the right size, the right point of view, the right style. It was like this was meant to be found, and it was meant to be tattooed on the backside of my forearm, behind Ryu and Chun-Li.
45 mins: outline done. Another 30 minutes: Half shading done.



The thing about backs of forearms: They hurt. And not in “hey, that’s kind of sore.” More in a “lets cut your arm open and play around with the stuff inside while your awake” kind of hurt. But then double it. And then again. Especially the shading towards the wrist. Also, very difficult to take photos of, because as you twist your arm, so does the tattoo and begins to looks skewed.

But enough of that. The Legend of Zelda series of games are a long time favourite of mine. Link HAD to be a part of my sleeve design, and I’m very happy to say that he is now. Also, girls think he’s cute, so there are some perks. I really like his boots



Altogether, another 3 hours, bringing the total up to 11 hours.

This is how they fit together at the edges:

Next we finish the shading. It won’t take long and we should have time to start the outline of, and hopefully finish, the outside of the bicep. And this one is going to be awesome. This one comes from a game I was absolutely obsessed with as a child and would/could play for hours and hours. It’s another NES classic. One of my all time favourites. Between this and Gunsmoke, and was raised and became a man. Check back soon!