09-29-2011, 08:27 PM
Thanks guys! Mike, Yeah, this guy is good, I actually waited a couple years till I found him to get this done. I\'d known of him and his work for a while, he did a piece on my sister, but then changed shops, and was tough to track down. I can\'t wait to be able to show this to you in person buddy! 
Thanks Pete, that means a lot coming from an artist like you! Yes, it is a little different then most Oni I\'ve seen too, which I like, it\'s totally unique which is a big part of why I\'m going to the guy I picked to do this for me. The character is actually Raijin, god of thunder and storms, in traditional Japanese lore, didn\'t go all the way traditional with the piece, or the full sleeve when we get onto the rest, the artist and I talked for hours over the look, and influences and he went with this slight manga look to him, kind of a nod to traditional, with modern influences, really make it a tribute in a way to Japanese art. As another nod to tradition, the whole sleeve is pretty much the artists design and choosing, I had some input, but he chose to do Raijin and Fujin, and add in the background elements and things, which is also cool, I trust him and his work to step aside and let him go like that. I\'ve always liked that about traditional Japanese work, the client doesn\'t decide on the tattoo, it\'s the artist\'s decision to what fits the client, it\'s a surrendering in a way, but respect for the art and the artist over everything else. The artist is Kyle Staub, works out of Ghost Town Tattoo in Okotoks Alberta. He actually has a copy of Horiyoshi\'s book he uses a lot too, he let me look all through it, astounding work in there, I could have spent days just studying it in detail! REAL traditional work. Added a sub goal to my bucket list goal of going to Japan, getting a piece done by him LOL
Thanks Pete, that means a lot coming from an artist like you! Yes, it is a little different then most Oni I\'ve seen too, which I like, it\'s totally unique which is a big part of why I\'m going to the guy I picked to do this for me. The character is actually Raijin, god of thunder and storms, in traditional Japanese lore, didn\'t go all the way traditional with the piece, or the full sleeve when we get onto the rest, the artist and I talked for hours over the look, and influences and he went with this slight manga look to him, kind of a nod to traditional, with modern influences, really make it a tribute in a way to Japanese art. As another nod to tradition, the whole sleeve is pretty much the artists design and choosing, I had some input, but he chose to do Raijin and Fujin, and add in the background elements and things, which is also cool, I trust him and his work to step aside and let him go like that. I\'ve always liked that about traditional Japanese work, the client doesn\'t decide on the tattoo, it\'s the artist\'s decision to what fits the client, it\'s a surrendering in a way, but respect for the art and the artist over everything else. The artist is Kyle Staub, works out of Ghost Town Tattoo in Okotoks Alberta. He actually has a copy of Horiyoshi\'s book he uses a lot too, he let me look all through it, astounding work in there, I could have spent days just studying it in detail! REAL traditional work. Added a sub goal to my bucket list goal of going to Japan, getting a piece done by him LOL