Work in progress by Alex (Hori Asa) on Tony Paukku,s bodysuit!

This photo is from late spring, may 2011, after 2 full-days in a row of tattooing, its not the ideal way to do it, but both of us have been very busy with travels and work, so this was the only way to get as much done as possible when both Alex and me (tony paukku) had the time....after that we took a long break until end of august, when we finnished the background!

So, this is the result so far, we still have the eyes of the dragon and some details and we might push more black in some areas, we are aiming for a very classic japanese look but in a modern way, strong clean bold lines (all of them are done with 18 liners), and alot of black in the background, not too much details, but not too simple either, strong contrast and a nice flow throughout the piece.

I already had 1 leg tattooed in the traditional samoan style by Sulupae Paulo in 1998, so the rest of the tattoo needed to be as strong and matching to the leg as much as possible, so alot of black is needed!!

I have worked with many very good artists over my 20 years of tattooing, but Alex is the first one that is artistically appealing to me and has the technical ability to do a tattoo like this in a good speed and very accurate,   feels great to finally get it done and Im happy that I waited a long time for the right artist to do the job!   The fact that we are working in the same shop is a great bonus!!  

 hopefully we are done in a month or 2!

The japanese signature on the left shoulder is Alex artist-name that he was given by a japanese tattooartist,

It says Hori Asa.