Last week, we posted the final action shots from Karsten’s freehand snake and Hanya back piece. This week, we’ve got some milestone shots–from the initial session all the way through to lining and shading.
What a journey it’s been! Horisumi has been working on this back piece for Karsten since 2021, and after a long hiatus Karsten’s first tattoo has reached the finish line.
We begin this journey with the foundations. A blank canvas but not for long!
The linework for the main motifs are done first including some cherry blossoms and Senja Fuda. After that, the background is lined and additional florals are added.
The background makes or breaks the tattoo, so it takes some time and patience for both artist and client to do but the end result is a bold, perfect frame for the main motif.
Section by section, colour by colour, each aspect of the design is shaded in with vibrant colours. The tattoo is really coming together!
And there we have it! A big thanks to Karsten for powering through–that determination has let us capture this journey in full, and we can appreciate how far it’s come even more because of that. Keen to continue with the sleeves in the future!