Tattoo in the works....

I figured I've been a member on this site for long enough....at least it seems like I've been a member for a long time....that I'll share one of my favorite tattoos. It's still not finished. I still have quite a few more hours until it is.
The background/waves are going to stay black and gray. While the fish and flowers will be in color. It still has got a LOOOOT of detail that needs to be put into it. I absolutely cannot wait until it's finished though!
This tattoo is completely filled with meaning to me....but I won't get into that.
And I wasn't sure if I could get in trouble for posting some of the pictures that kind of showed little pieces of certain body parts...so I used trusty paint and fixed that ;)
P.S. it was ridiculously difficult to get a picture of it from the back! So it looks a little warped because of how I had to turn my body and position my arm.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...P4131173ab.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...P4131179ab.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...P4131178ab.jpg

Nice! That's huge!

Regards,

B

It looks great so far and I think you made a good choice with keeping the background colorless when it's finished. Looks like you made a nice choice in choosing your artist, the lines look smooth and the shading is beautiful!

Thank you both. And yes, it's huge! Haha.
The line work was done by someone different than the person that did the shading and will be doing the rest.
I debated for a year whether or not I would go back to the original artist...but finally decided against it, for many reasons. I did not feel comfortable around him, he was rude, he talked a lot of trash on people, he does very flat, unrealistic work that has absolutely no depth(although his lines are very clean), and he charged an arm n a leg. I wasn't too happy with how he did the flowers, but my new guy is going to fix them up.
And I drew up the piece, so I didn't feel too bad about going to someone other than the original to complete it.
So I found my new guy and am not looking back.

Rad looking. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Definitely a great decision on sticking with your new artist. Aside from being a horrible person or not, quality in shading (especially when you get to the coloring) makes the piece.

That is amazing, it looks great! I can't wait to see it when it's done :D

The line work is smooth for the most part but the shading is what makes it a great piece!! If he can color as well as he shades it will jump off your body.:gj::gj:

looks awsome!!

Thank you everyone.
He already made it pop, I can't wait until it has some color!
Shading absolutely makes the piece, I completely agree. Which is another reason I went to him and not the original guy. You can do a good outline, but if you suck at shading and/or coloring, the piece [I]will[I] look like crap.

Here's what he had to work with....bare-minimum outline
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n.../P3231103a.jpg