I really wanted to continue work on my left sleeve with my forearm, which was a wide open canvas. I had planned for Medusa here, but my cousin (my tattoo artist) ran into troubles with placement and composition. So medusa will have to come later, because he talked me into this Classic American Devil Face Tattoo. Which still fits my theme perfectly!
Every artist has their own take on it. However, my cousin and I have been reading and drawing comic books together since we were little kids. So we can see that influence heavily throughout his work as he developed his own personal style.
Things are still healing here, but there are several different variations on line thickness. This really helps the image pop and shows how much thought has gone into this piece.
It took an hour to place this image correctly, then I sat for 3 hours of inking.
The thicker lines hurt quite a bit and the thin lines were really easy in comparison. Pretty much everything hurt up around the crease of my elbow. It felt like he was digging into my veins there.
But...
My Cousin was also experimenting with a new product. After the skin was broken, and we took a break, he sprayed my arm with a solution that numbed the top layer of skin.
I was suddenly all smiles and giggles there for about 30 minutes, when it wore off and the pain faded in again. We did this twice, so I was totally pain free for about an hour.
I looked it up when I got home and Amazon has several products that numb the top layer of skin, which are intended for use with tattoos. These creams claim to stop all pain during the tattoo process for up to 5 hours! The reviews on these products are stellar.
I have purchased one of these cremes and I will use it for the coloring of the Traditional American Devil Head. Which is going to be another 4 hours!
I will post a review here once complete. I have a feeling this could be a huge life saver!
