This is one of my other money pits...though you can't flip these if you decide you don't like it later
I've been working on this sleeve for 15 years. The upper half was done in 2001 or so and I started on the rest in January of this year.
It's all taken from real paintings that were done in the 1600s by a fellow named Luca Giordano. I had different parts basically cut and pasted onto my arm so they'd fit and look like one scene.
Not the best pics but you get the idea.
All of it is cut and paste and fitted around my arm from actual paintings done in the 1600s by a guy named Luka Giordano.
I've never really been a religious person, which makes people scratch their heads as to why I'd get a whole sleeve of Catholic images/saints. I have always had a passion for religious art because you could have been raised on a deserted island and never taught anything about any religion and you could still see the basic concept of good vs evil. The images are still powerful and convey a message without having to know who the characters are.
I had these done around 2000. Kinda regret getting them now since I'm headed for two sleeves, they kinda get in the way but I still love them.
When I got mine 35 or so years ago, tattoos were frowned upon and few had them. Now they are all the rage. Body art they call it now but the work is much better than in the old days.
I Pray Heaven to Bestow The Best of Blessing on THIS HOUSE, and on ALL that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof! (John Adams regarding the White House)
Follow the Christ, the King,
Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King--
Else, wherefore born?" (Tennyson)
Looks good Evil D. They are addicting aren't they?
Doc Dan. I agree. Same here. Got mine done on the Docks in Melbourne Australia as a young buck in Military.
Mate (Buddy) who was a REAL Tat. addict, dragged me in. Wish I had more time to choose.
Went to the knock shop after. EXPENSIVE week end.
Only have the Tat. to remember it by. Could have been worse. No slashes at least.
He was a dangerous guy to go out drinking with.
His favourite intro. was (to BIG ugly guy) "Hi, got any photos of your girlfriend naked?"
of course the dude would say "No, F off"
Molly would then ask "So, do you want to buy some then?"
It went downhill rapidly after that..
K
I just got hooked on tattoos this past year. Imy working on a nautical themed sleeve on my right arm since the ocean and fishing is a huge part of my life. Here are some pics of what I have done so far.
Thinking about adding some color to the captain/octopus, extending the underwater scene to cover all the blank space from the elbow down. Then doing a compass, lighthouse, or something else to fill in the top part of my arm.
I also have this eye on my left arm. The eye is a logo my favorite band used as their advertisement for the first show that I saw them.
The 1st rule of tattoo is not to get something you will regret years down the road with changes of life.
I Pray Heaven to Bestow The Best of Blessing on THIS HOUSE, and on ALL that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof! (John Adams regarding the White House)
Follow the Christ, the King,
Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King--
Else, wherefore born?" (Tennyson)
Doc Dan wrote:The 1st rule of tattoo is not to get something you will regret years down the road with changes of life.
Yeah, that's a tough one. You can never predict who you will be in the future and what your views on things will be. If you live your life that way you're going to cheat yourself out of a lot of experiences. I've made decisions in my youth that haven't turned out to benefit me now but I know it was what I needed at the time. But yeah, there are far more meaningless tattoos that end with regret than there are tattoos that stay with a person. None of mine are because I thought they were cool or "badass" looking, and I actually wear dress shifts or long sleeve shirts more often than not because I don't care for the attention that I get because of my tattoos. I didn't get them to get attention, I got them for me.
I've always been into getting a few tattoo's but I never had the time or $ to do it. These days I'm kind of put off by it with all these hipsters and Justin Bieber One Directioners trying to look cool. And what is it with chicks getting their tribal lower back tat's?. Maybe one day I'll get to it, I still have some Viking and Celtic designs laying around somewhere.
I used to know a guy who had "Your Name", tattoo'd on his ***. Every weekend he'd get wasted on free drinks by betting people that he had "your name" tattoo'd on his ***. I'm not sure if it was for the free drinks or he just liked to show his hairy *** in public :p
Currently enjoying Spyderco's in - S30V, VG10, Super Blue, Cruwear x4, CTS XHP, S110V x2, M4 x3, S35VN, CTS 204P x2, S90V, HAP 40, K390, RWL34, MAXAMET, ZDP 189, REX 45
Johnnie1801 wrote:I've always been into getting a few tattoo's but I never had the time or $ to do it. These days I'm kind of put off by it with all these hipsters and Justin Bieber One Directioners trying to look cool... Maybe one day I'll get to it, I still have some Viking and Celtic designs laying around somewhere.
Johnnie, I've had EXACTLY the same sentiments about tattoos. I even like Celtic designs. When I was younger, before tats became so hip, I wanted one really bad but never really had the money to fork out for a good one. Now I just have more important things to spend my spare cash on. Maybe some day I'll get a wild hair and decide to go for it.
EvilD, I really like that your sleeve is done with such a unique style and subject matter. Very cool. :cool:
It's funny, I do have a good amount of money into my shoulder (which was done 15 years ago) but the rest of the sleeve I actually got as part of a payment for a car that I sold to my tattoo guy. So, I sort of don't have any money into the bottom half of the sleeve (or that's how I keep myself sane). He has redone the entire thing at this point though which would have cost more than my entire asking price for the car. He's a good dude. He hates this sleeve with a passion though, so much single needle fine line stuff. He normally does Japanese style work and is known all over the world for it. When people from Japan fly to Ohio to get Japanese tattoos from you, you must be doing something right.
But, as far as cost goes, it's better that you guys avoid it like you're doing than go with someone who's cheap. As the saying goes, "cheap tattoos ain't good, and good tattoos ain't cheap". You don't bargain shop for something that's going to be on your body for the rest of your life. If it wasn't for the whole car/trade deal I made, I'm not sure how I would have finished this sleeve. But, the good thing about tattoos is they usually happen in a pay as you go type of system, since large scale work like this doesn't happen all at once. So, if you really wanted to get a whole sleeve, you'd make payments as the work gets done. So, if you can budget your "hobby money" well enough (ahem...buy less knives LOL) then tattoos aren't any more expensive than any other hobby really.
While I'm typing...my thoughts on getting a company's logo tattooed on me...I get tattoos of things that touch my life in a big way. Everything on me is very meaningful to me. Those X's on my wrists have literally saved my life. The flames on them are something my oldest brother first taught me how to draw when I was very young (there's a reason they're very basic and not realistic looking). On the back of my neck I have a (cliche, I know) Japanese kanji that says "equality" because I don't believe in racism/sexism/prejudice/etc and I believe there is a balance in life and that all things have an opposite (as in Yin and Yang). And then this sleeve I already kind of went into why it means so much to me, but also just as a artist myself I have a lot of respect for Luca Giordano's work. He was a very talented painter that really didn't get the same respect that many other painters of that era got. I like to imagine how he would feel if he knew that some guy 400 years after his death had parts of his paintings tattooed onto his arm. In my eye there isn't a higher level of flattery you can show to an artist than carrying his work on your body for the rest of your life.
Lastly, there is something more that I like to kind of share about tattoos and why I have them. Tattoos are more acceptable today than they ever have been, but they are still looked down upon and stereotyped very harshly by the majority of society. Many of those stereotypes are quite true, and that's an unfortunate truth that may never go away. But, like religion and politics, there will always be negative stereotypes and even negative truths that give these segments of society a bad name and image. But, there are also good people involved in each of them, and that's something I try very hard to show people. Many people still judge me by my appearance, and I own up to the fact that I choose to look a certain way, and that look fits these stereotypes. But, once most people get to know me they see that who I am doesn't fit those stereotypes, and it often leaves them questioning how they treat people and think about people. I get this all the time from the parents of the kids that my daughter plays with. It makes for a great conversation starter and I've found that most people are very interested in tattoos in general but never had the courage to ask about them.
Johnnie1801 wrote:I've always been into getting a few tattoo's but I never had the time or $ to do it. These days I'm kind of put off by it with all these hipsters and Justin Bieber One Directioners trying to look cool... Maybe one day I'll get to it, I still have some Viking and Celtic designs laying around somewhere.
Johnnie, I've had EXACTLY the same sentiments about tattoos. I even like Celtic designs. When I was younger, before tats became so hip, I wanted one really bad but never really had the money to fork out for a good one. Now I just have more important things to spend my spare cash on. Maybe some day I'll get a wild hair and decide to go for it.
EvilD, I really like that your sleeve is done with such a unique style and subject matter. Very cool. :cool:
Same here. Once upon a time during the crazy days of my youth, I was *this close* to getting the Goddmack voodoo sun tattooed on my arm because I loved their music. Thank God I didn't, because now I really don't care too much for them as I once did. A Spyderco tat would be cool, though. My wife would straight out murder me if I got one though, lol.
:spyder: -Michael
"...as I said before, 'the edge is a wondrous thing', [but] in all of it's qualities, it is still a ghost." - sal
I've got a couple I got back when I was living in Japan about a decade ago. No photos handy. One is a katabami kamon on my back, for my mother's family. The other is a spark plug on my arm, and although unintentional, I guess you could say for my father's side since all of his friends were a Kar Kulture "family", ha.
Not going for a sleeve, nor any real coverage, but I may get another or two in the future...
Surprised I don't see any tats of straight razors or old school slip joints in here. :p
I don't have any tattoos myself but I sure do like looking at them on other people...then again I like to think that I can appreciate all different types of art, even if I didn't paint it, drew it or inked it. I'm always amazed at how talented some of the tattoo artists truly are, and even more amazed at how some people are talented enough to recognize what will look awesome on their body canvas, even though they themselves are not true artists in the traditional sense.....Please post more tats.....you talented people!!!!Doc:)
P.S. EvilD....Don't even think about cleaning that mirror...I look at it and think ....Gee I wish my wife was that dirty!...See I can appreciate all forms of art....even if it's in the realm of "self-reflection" All puns intended!:p Doc:)
Doc Dan wrote:The 1st rule of tattoo is not to get something you will regret years down the road with changes of life.
Yeah, that's a tough one. You can never predict who you will be in the future and what your views on things will be. ...
I avoid that issue by not getting tattoos I mean, I've never had ANY interest in getting one. I do enjoy looking at the interesting ones, like yours, David, but it's just never been something I wanted to do, myself. My biggest "personalization" comes in the form of hats and tee shirts, haha... Somewhat less permanent.
But congratulations on following your passion, brother.
I am also free from ink. It's funny, in my industry, NOT having tattoos is being rebellious like having them used to be. I am very interested in them though, and like shows like Miami Ink. I'm curious what people decide to get and why.
tvenuto wrote:I am also free from ink. It's funny, in my industry, NOT having tattoos is being rebellious like having them used to be. I am very interested in them though, and like shows like Miami Ink. I'm curious what people decide to get and why.
There is no wrong answer, even when you think a person is a total idiot for getting something, it's your body and your choice. For me it's about 50/50 real emotional impact on my life kind of things, and just basic artistic appreciation for what the image is. They all have meaning behind them, but many also just hit on what I like artistically. Most people don't put enough thought into what they get though, and that's where the regret comes in and then people bash tattoos when really it was their poor decision that led to regret.
Funny story. There have been many cases of people getting tattoos of drawings that their children have done. Lots of times this happens when the child passes away and maybe they drew something for the dad or something like that. Then those people get ridiculed for having a "crappy ugly scribbled tattoo" that looks like a drunk guy tattooed it during an earthquake, but when you find out that tattoo was coped directly from the child's drawing and you get the meaning behind it, it makes sense.
