I know it’s been quite awhile since my last update. Whereas my last post was a similar multi-session update, this one is different in that I have (for the most part) remembered to take pictures of each session’s progress. The only caveat is apparently one of these appointments the only photos I have are two crappy pics from my cellphone. But let’s be real, this whole thing is more of an archival situation anyway. I’m not out here making art with these pictures.

These five appointments (10 hours of tebori) involved coloring in the phoenix and leaves on my stomach. I suppose I only have two major observations from this part of the process so far: The first is that Horizakura has added a lot more nuance in the color gradations than I was expecting. An example can be seen in the main body of the phoenix. Where I expected a solid green coloring, he instead included the blue coloring that is very faintly present in the original painting that the tattoo is based on. I really love the way it’s coming out. The second item of note is that during an early conversation, Horizakura had mentioned more outline work to be done on the little circles on all the feathers you can see. I’ve come to really despise being outlined, so I was really not looking forward to that coming down the pike. When the time came however, Horizakura said he decided on a different approach, saying that outlining each circle would put too much black into the feathers. Instead, he opted to freehand all of the circles onto the feathers with a marker and then apply the color around the circles. It is incredibly tedious and time consuming work, but it is certainly worth it. I really love the way it looks, especially when you see the pale green he added into the circles on our most recent appointment.

Overall I would say that the process of adding color has been slower than I expected, but that’s only because of the amount of detail and variety he is putting into all the different flora and fauna in the tattoo. Patience now will pay dividends later.