My New Tattoo!

I just realized that I never posted pics of my new tattoo! Actually, it's been a while since I posted any pics. I've got tons of pics of the kids that I need to post, too. But I'm thinking of this now, so here goes.

I finally got it. I've been wanting a tattoo from this guy for around 8 years. He's the most amazing artist I've ever seen.

 

The guy who did it for me is James Kern http://www.tattoomonster.com/ He's living out in Portland now, but he still owns a shop here in Chicago and I was able to catch him in town with a little time.

Didn't hurt near as much as I thought it might. Felt like a bad sunburn. There were a couple of painful moments toward the end, and Bethany caught one on film.

 

Here's a pic that shows the size and placement. Halfway colored in.

 

And all done!

 

he did an amazing job! the orange color is very vibrant and the butterfly is very lifelike.... i love the shading work done around the wings, makes it look like the image is in 3d... enjoy the tattoo.

i plan getting a wolf head tattoo in the not too distance future... infact the same image i have as my avatar... i want to get it done in grey and have the eyes colored, maybe yellow

 

I'm not a big fan of tattoos, but that really is pretty. The shadowing really sets it off. He IS an artist.

 

wow..that is one sharp tat!! I love the 3D

 

It looks like the Monarch just landed on your back, it's so pretty!

I have one in mind, I just lack the money and I will for the entire forseeable future... like by the time i can afford it ill be so old i wont want it.

Yay for butterflies

 

That's cool, better than mine. Twenty years ago I got a tarantula on my back. Twenty years of people saying..."hey, you got a tarantula on your back" and then spapping the crap out of me.

 

Nice tattoo I like it


Brandon

 

ROFLOL! Maybe you could get it covered with a nice pretty butterfly. People usually don't squish butterflies...Although your old friends may just change their line: "Hey, you got a butterfly on your back": and then slapping the crap out of you anyway!
Eric

 

Very nice!

Glad you decided to go big. A lot of people get these tiny little tattoos in a really big spot. It ends up being a waste.

Thats my problem. I've got twelve so far, and my first few were in big major spots, but too small to fill the spot in right. Like a bicep, thats prime real estate. So now all of the big things that I'm getting are forced to be in weird positions. Thats alright though, cause I'm going for a half-sleeve on each arm, so after the big spots are covered, which they almost are (save for my inner bicep on my right arm which I'm getting done next time I'm in Santa Monica, which is a spot that hurts like hell by the way), I'll fill in the holes with stuff like stars, dice, etc. When I started I was into new school stuff, now I'm more into old school, so the theme is that there is no theme.


So what are you getting next?


-Steve

 

I'm killing for one but not sure what to get...

Looks wicked though

 

Looks GREAT! I still haven't gotten my Celtic Guitar Cross yet, but it wont be long now

 

fortunately i have never been drunk enough in the vacinity of a tatoo shop. (so far). i have therefore managed to get through life without one. lol aloha all

 

Agree wholeheartedly, laurieB. Tats are not for me. Thankfully now, I'm too bloody old to consider it. One son had a tongue stud for a while. Other son has neither, thank God. Bazza

===

 

I see great photoshopping in the future....

 

Reminds me of an old comedy skit.

"My wife has a battleship tattooed on her chest. When I first met her, it was only a rowing boat".

Bazza

 

I think this might be it. Like Wenchie, I don't have the money to spend on them. This was something I'd wanted for around 5 years and I knew that I wanted to get something from James for 8 years. If I ever did decide I wanted something else, I would probably sit on it for at least a couple of years, and then take a couple more to save up the money (and I'm starting to get old for this too ). I'm just not sure that I'm going to love anything else enough to get it. Not to mention location. It took me forever to decide where to get my monarch. I don't think I'd want any tattoos that can't easily be covered up, but on the other hand, I don't think I'd want one that wouldn't be seen by anyone except Eric. I like to be able to show it off when I want to. So... this might be it.

I did think it would be really cool to get a whole bunch of different butterflies though. All realistic and maybe coming up my leg like a swarm onto my lower back. But I'd never really do it.

 

We'll see. They're addictive, you know. How much you wanna bet in six months you'll have another?



-Steve

 

My wifes first was a wolfs head, on her shoulder blade. It was originally howling at a big yellow moon. I used to joke about the fact that it looked like a pizza, so she evenutally had the moon shaded in blue and purple over the yellow. Came out really nice.


Go for it!


-Steve

 

Welcome to the club...

It's good to get inked from someone you trust...
Me,? I just gotta wild hair one day, and said today is the day...
That was all she wrote, phase one complete, being really selective about phase two because, this is a tribute tattoo, so slow as she goes is the rule of thumb for me...

 

I was over 30 before I got my first one. Have a pegasus on my left arm. Tthen, got a tiger on my right arm. and, last, so far, I have a unicorn on the right side of my upper chest. All were done by my nephew's now ex wife. She does it for a living in Texas.
All can be seen if I want, or unseen, if I want that.

One I want to get some day if I find someone I trust is a butterfly with a tiger face in it. I saw one once and fell in love with it.

Gal
I love yours cindy, especially the shading for the 3D affect.

 

I keep seeing this thread bumped up.. every time I see it, I want to go get another tat..

 

He did a good job Cindy.

I have three, got them along time ago. I'm not sure they even did them in colors back then, mine are just black (two sharks and a stingray).

evilevets is right, they are addictive after you have one.

Steve

 

what would you have installed?

 

First day after I got it, one of the guys at work came running at me yelling, "Hold still, there's a bug on your back!!! I'll get it!" I almost flipped. The soreness afterwards was worse than actually getting the tattoo. It's still just a little peely, but almost completely healed.

 

all you with tattoo's need to post pics

Snap one of your wife's shoulder, Evilevets =]

 

a near full body tat. from my neck to my knees and mid way down the arms (faded toward the elbow)..

 

Here's mine, my wife has the exact same tat but with the kid's names above and below it....

Thinking of having another one done but need someone to draw it for me, anyone interested?

 

Wow, that's very nice, Jack. I like!

 

James mentioned that to me as well. He was pleasantly surprised that I picked something this big for my first one, and said that it was a good size for the space.

I have to admit, I printed out a bunch of butterfly pictures, cut them out and taped them on my back to see how they'd look before I settled on a size. Originally, I thought it would be smaller, but it just didn't look right to me.

Kolya saw me taping butterflies to my back, and had Bethany draw a butterfly on her back for her. The kids love it. Drexel kept bugging me to call James so he could talk to him and tell him that he's "a very good boy for making Mommy's tattoo." I finally compromized with him and told him that I would email James since I wanted to ask him to send me the photo he took. (much better camera than mine).


Wraith, that's really pretty. I've always loved the look of black and grey tattoos. They just look so classy.

 

Yea, my next tat will be a cross made from a sword (the upright portion of the cross), 2 nails (the horizontal limbs of the cross) with a Crown of Thorns circling the center junction and a Trivectra inside of the crown. Now if I can only find someone to draw it up like I like it! Something similar to the below picture that I've drawn up on PSP.... LOL....

Jack

P.S. - It will go on my right shoulder and will not be near as large as this pic but be about 5 inches in height, the heart tat is on my left shoulder.

 

Me too That's one hell of an ink-job Cindy

 

Did you check out the guy's gallery? My favorite is the black and grey seahorses he did. They're on the 1st page at the bottom right corner. eh, what the heck, I'll just post 'em.

I can't figure out how to merge the photos together, so I'm just going to post the center view. I'm just amazed at this tattoo. It looks like someone actually carved the picture out of her arm. Absolutely amazing. Can you see why I fell in love with this guy's work? I don't think I've ever seen better. He's been featured in plenty of tattoo magazines and won awards at Tattoo conventions.

 

Whoa...I never though you were a tattoo person cindy. Looks pretty

 

That's amazing work !

 

I never thought I would ever want one, until I saw James' work. Took me a long time to settle on the design as well. I picked the monarch, because the kids and I collect monarch caterpillars in Bushnell every year and raise them into butterflies. They've always been my favorite butterfly - really resilient for a bug, they migrate to Mexico. Even with as common as they are, I'm still always in awe when I see one. Really, all butterflies amaze me. The idea that they turn from this fat clumsy wormy thing to a light delicate butterfly, it's unbelievable.

I'd considered a Mucha painting, but I never settled on one that I thought I'd want to see on myself every day for the rest of my life. James did one of those for a friend of mine though. Did an amazing job.

 

I'm glad to hear you picked your butterfly tatoo because it has sentimental meaning between you and your children. I think too many young girls run out and get butterfly tatoo's simply because they can't think of anything meaningful to get.