My Thigh - Session 02

I had a little time today, so here's the second session of self tattooing.

I've got around half of this figured out in my head, the rest I'll figure out eventually. As much as I've worked on smaller pieces, I have an itch to shape ideas to the body.

It's exciting trying to create a flow and balance.

My concern is creating excess for no other reason than to fill the mass. If I'm to add composition around and within the piece, it has to be cohesive. It can't distract or overwhelm. To me, the final piece should be whole and direct viewers to the intended visual destination.

One of the coolest aspects of tattooing, for me, is that I'm the one who gets to select and cling to that visual destination. I may not see it in my head completely, but I'm learning the steps to clarify the translation.

Today, those steps didn't really take the route I'm accustomed. Instead of trusting paper and Photoshop, I went pulled out some Sharpies and drew like the big boys. By building up forms and shapes with different colored markers, I had a good representation of what I wanted. Once I put on some shorts, I then had enough time to tattoo some light wash into more of the forms.

Note that all of this is a work in progress, and will be for some time. I've much to do.

Here's a larger version. And here's the first post from Session 01.