Recently, Kai has taken on a project of epic proportions with one very dedicated client. In the past few months, Kai has been steadily chipping away at Steve’s arms, legs, and back–with possibly more to come! The theme is black and grey, both realism and stylised realism working alongside one another to bring a cohesiveness to Steve’s look. Unfortunately we don’t have many progress pictures, but we do have the completed images of each element. Scroll down to see what’s up!
Starting with the first project and right arm, a fierce tiger face along the front of the forearm. At the hand, a rose in full bloom, ending just below the knuckle line. A very strong start to the sleeve, I would say!
Here’s a close-up on that rose. Notice the fine details in the shading, of both the rose and the tiger.
Now we’ll move to the upper right arm. The tip of the tiger flows into a highly detailed scene of a 3-tiered Japanese style temple, overlooked by a glimmering full moon. Our favourite part of this tattoo is the tiny white highlights that line the edges of the arched roofs, that also carve out the fences on the right face of the structure. Altogether, these details come together to give an otherworldly, mystical feel to the scene.
For the inner bicep, a masked samurai and katana complement the work of the outer arm, looking out with contempt at any onlooker.
Moving on from the left arm, two scenes of nature sit parallel one another on the back of Steve’s calfs. The same forest is rendered at daytime and nighttime, observed by a figure among the grass and rock at the bottom of the tattoo.
The next tattoo varies in style, but not in theme. Along the upper spine, various aspects of nature are paid homage to–from the untouchable starry night sky and planets to the mountains, rocks and trees that shape our earth. Kai has played with shape and form in a fun and unique way to bring this tattoo to life.
After the legs and back, we finally have the left arm. When Steve first came in, he’d only had the Disney castle tattoo on his upper shoulder. Now, Kai and him are steadily filling this arm with well-loved, popular characters. Merida from Brave is situated on the outer side of the middle of the arm, leaving some room below and above for future additions.
Last of all (for now!) Merida transitions into the iconic Toothless from How to Train your Dragon. Here he’s captured in flight, weaving in and out of stylised wind bars.
Though this is the extent of the progress made for now, it’s definitely not the end of the line! Steve still has some free skin on the inner forearm and upper shoulder of the left arm–stay tuned to see what they decide to do with it!
If you see something that you like or are interested in starting your own awesome project with Kai, reach out to us over phone or submit a booking inquiry form through the website. We can’t wait to hear what you have in mind!