kevin365

The finished Lion taken at Moon's studio

Behold! Lion of Judah… To be honest I didn’t think it would take nearly 7 hours to ink but it did, knocking the time it took to do my first tattoo off the top of the list of what hurt most.

Moon did an absolutely bang-up job of the artwork which he emailed me the night before. Took all of 12 hours for him to draw in pencil on paper. Respect. He doesn’t usually email his work out for fear of non-committal from prospective clients. But having had my first done some less than 6 weeks ago, I guess I may have earned his trust.

On the day of inking, Wednesday, 31st March, the stencil work alone(just to make sure the dimensions of the drawing fits the arm properly) took almost 2 hours. Most of which was freehand tracing on ink transfer paper. Strangely, I like to admit that though I was in control of my twitch reaction to the pain and used to it somewhat; it does not however make it any less painful. The finer the detail, the more pain you would have to take.

I like to thank Vicki, Kerry, Aron and my Mrs, for being there. Means much to me to have people around. And to Moon for being excellent in work, deed and attitude.

Lion of Judah. King of Kings. I’ll be studying you closely.

Black Emperor Tattoo

A first glimpse of the unfinished sketch that is going to be inked on me.

I was blown away by the detail that was presented to me by my tattooist today. And apparently it seems a little more life-like than the previous bull tattoo I had him do for me. Right here, you could see that it’s not finished yet, the mane is missing. And already, the direction is what I was looking for. The liveliness in the eyes is unmistakable and the regal look that I was looking for is spot-on.

I will be getting this on my body coming 31st March. I’ll be ustreaming it once again at the same URL posted previously. I’m not looking forward to the pain but I’m definitely looking to the end product. Estimated time under the needle. 4 to 5 hours.

I’m glad the inking process was over. For a first-timer to getting a tattoo, I think sitting there and taking 4 and a half hours of constant poking and sharp pain, I did pretty well.

And a job well done by Moon my tattoo artist. Not only has he brought to flesh the ideas in my head, he has brought to life the picture he “painted” on my arm.

I’m looking forward to getting the rest of my designs out. Next being the Lion. Check the finished bull below and live recording of the process.

View from the side of the arm.

A shot more towards the front of the arm

I guess this entry was long time coming; ever since I started talking on Twitter about getting a series of tattoos done, I’ve been bombarded by various questions. So I thought I’ll just compile them into this neat FAQ.

Q: What tattoo are you getting?
A: Image of a bull(ox), lion, eagle and Jesus.

Q: Is that four tattoos or one?
A: Four.

Q: Are you getting four in one go?
A: Nope. I will do it over the course of 18 months to 2 years I believe.

Q: Where will be the tattoos be on your body?
A: Left arm (around the deltoids) for the lion, right arm for the bull, the upper back for the eagle, Jesus on the left chest.

Q: How big are the tattoos going to be?
A: In short, it will not be small. The one on the arms will be a proper half sleeve. The one on the back is going to extend  from one edge of the arm to the other. One on the chest is going cover the full pectoral if possible.

Q: Which one are you getting done first?
A: The bull. Seen here as a mockup. Followed by the lion. The eagle is third. Lastly Jesus, which is probably going to be the toughest.

Q: What inspired you to get the tattoos done?
A: I wanted to get a tattoo done over a year ago. Just not too sure what I’ll get until one Sunday afternoon, I heard this message from my pastor in church. The message is pretty much embodied by this bible explanation I found online here.

Q: Why not just get a cross?
A: See above. A cross would not be the complete picture I want painted on my body.

Q: How long is the bull tattoo going to take to finish?
A: About 4 hours.

Q: How long did the lion tattoo take to finish?
A: About 6 to 7 hours.

Q: Does it hurt?
A: Are you kidding me?! Of course it does!

Q: What does the pain feel like?
A: It’s not something easily describable; take a rubber band, stretch it out and snap it on yourself; now do that 50 times a second. Sometimes it feels like that, other times it feels like cutting yourself.

Q: Who is your tattoo artist?
A: His name is Moon. And his work can be seen here.

Q: Can I see the finish art?
A: Yes. In fact you can watch me get inked live on Ustream. Login here for stream and info http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kevin365. First Live show to happen this Feb 18th at 1030am in the morning.