Martin Dives Into The Ocean
Posted: April 10th, 2007 | Author: Sam | Filed under: Blog Posts, Tattooing, Tentacles |
Martin, my leg’s new octopus, is now surrounded by a nice water. Eric at Wild Zero is doing a ridiculously good job. The next step is bringing the water up to the bottom of my knee, coloring Martin in, and then, as I wrote before, planning for the other side of my leg.
I was talking to Eric the other day, and he was talking about Grime Monster, an artist out of San Francisco. Apparently, he maintains both very high standards and very high expectations of others. One of his criticisms is that, until you’ve walked around with visible tattooing, you can’t imagine what the experience is like.
Unlike the rest of my work, my leg is on regular display. I suppose I’ll be finding out about the rightness of his criticism.
That is coming along very nicely. I don’t know how to process the comment about visible tattooing, though. Then again, I’ve got most of a backpiece, but I hesitate before getting any work on my forearms.
Have you had any unusual experiences since you started on the calf piece, or will those wait until it gets warmer?
BTW, found your blog via flickr.
I’m not sure how to process the comment about visible tattooing either. But I’ve certainly had more than a few questions from interested parties. I’m also certain that I’ve also gotten looks. I think the gist of what Grime Monster was suggesting is that to really do your best work, you’ve got to understand what your client is trying to/going to experience.
I suppose I have an idea of what he is talking about. When I first started getting tattoos (and when I got the first “visible” one, on my forearm,) I couldn’t imagine a time when I’d ever be modest about having them. Fastforward about 4 years, and a research project took me to Japan, where tattoos are still quite taboo, and culturally reserved for the Yakuza (Japanese mafia.) Naturally, no one thought a white boy like me was in the Yakuza, but nevertheless, I came into public bath houses with “no tattoo” policies (which were overlooked for me), etc… and got plenty of odd looks from older Japanese folk.
Don’t get me wrong, I love tattoos and totally understand the all the emotions associated with getting them, and I’d probably still be inking up if I felt like I had the money for it at this particular time. I suppose what Grime Monster was saying is that you cannot possibly fathom all of the situations that your life might take you into in which a tattoo may not be 100% desired until you have said tattoo.
Anyway, I like Martin. I believe Wild Zero has some of the same artists that worked at the old Precision Incisions, which did almost all of my tattoos, and I’ve been happy with every one of them. The watercolor is coming along really nicely. I look forward to seeing the completed work.
And by watercolor, I mean color of the water.