INKEDblog takes you beneath the skin of today's tattoo culture. Our mission is to celebrate tattooing as a modern art form which incorporates art, fashion, style, and pop culture. While paying homage and respect to the past, we look to present a contemporary take on the present and future of skin art. getinked@inkedblog.com

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Wednesday  Sep 20, 2006

Every BODY Has a Story: Japanese Back piece

"I got this tattoo while I was living in Flagstaff, Arizona. I saw one of the artists at Burly Fish (See www.burlyfishtattoo.com) draw out this geisha for another client who ended up not getting the tattoo. This happens from time to time, but usually, if the artist has done a really great drawing, it won’t sit around for long. Someone will want it.

As soon as I saw the geisha girl, I decided I wanted this full back piece. I started it about five years ago, and it took about thirty-five hours. However, the thirty-five hours was over a period of about five years.

I started working at the shop, as a piercer. Both my back tattoo and my desire to learn to draw and tattoo were put on hold because I was so busy doing work as a piercer. I got my degree in graphic design, and have always loved making all kinds of images. In my graphic design work though, I used finished elements to create a whole piece, rather than starting with a sheet of blank paper. I needed to work a lot on how to sketch. My drawing has steadily improved since that time.

Though the geisha was already drawn when I decided I wanted it, all the surrounding elements I chose before or during the process. Japanese tattoo art is very symbolic, and I used images that were both beautiful, and meaningful.

In this piece, the geisha girl is turning into a dragon. Often, the dragon represents enlightenment. For me, the geisha girl turning into a dragon represents change and re-birth. In Japanese, the word for ‘luck’ sounds very similar to the word for ‘bat’. So it’s kind of a Japanese pun, but bats are considered very lucky. The dragon girl is surrounded by ‘lucky bats’. The cherry blossom represents the shortness of life. There is a bloom, then it’s gone. It is important to savor the moment you have. "

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