My Tattoo progression in Pictures

As many of you may already know, I recently went in for my first tattoo. This was a new experience for me and I thought it would be fun to show you the three stages of my particular experience.

Since the design had already been created by the phenomenal Steve Murphy, tattoo artist David Boggins had the stencil ready when I arrived. It was a tad bigger than what I had imagined, though not much. Anyone who knows about tattoos will know that intricate art needs to have a bit of size for the detail to work.

David prepared my back (cleaned and shaved) and then applied the stencil. My wife and I checked it out for size and ultimately decided it was perfect. After cleaning off the stencil and applying it for a second time, we had the positioning right on.

I laid down and David told me the outline was going to hurt the most, though he said the first ten minutes would be the worst. Then he began. I will be completely honest with you--after he dug into my flesh for that first line I wondered how in the hell I was going to withstand another 6-7 hours of what I had just felt.  But, unless I wanted my big tattoo to be a single line, I needed to suck it up. After ten minutes, David asked, "Is it getting any better?"

I answered, "No, it pretty much still sucks."

He was right because a few minutes later I had settled in and the process became somewhat tolerable. David wanted to get the outline finished on the first day and he did, so here is the picture after my initial 2 1/2 hour sitting.

Healing from the outline was pretty unremarkable and within a few days I barely remembered it had been done.

Then came day two about three weeks later. Day two consisted of the shading which we initially hoped would finish the job. David and I both wanted the work to be epic regardless of the time and he gave my tattoo the dedication and love that it needed. Painful love, but love just the same. He quickly reminded me of how much getting tattooed sucked by digging right in. By the second hour mark, I felt pretty good and even commented that I could go all day if needed. But that all changed during the fourth hour. My back was telling me that it had had enough. After almost four hours, David said we probably needed one more sitting and he was done for that day. I wanted to scream, "Thank you," but of course I didn't.

If you are wondering how sore four hours of tattoo shading makes a person, I think you can tell by the following picture. Remember, there had been no red used to this point.

 Here it is after a week.

I made two mistakes going into my third and final session. First, I scheduled it for two weeks later instead of three. The reason two weeks turned out to be a mistake was that my back was still sore when my appointment arrived. The second mistake I made was going to the gym that morning and apparently getting blood flowing to the very area that is going to be assaulted with a needle wasn't a good idea. I struggled a bit during those next two hours, but I made it through.

After a total of 8 1/2 hours I was finished. I couldn't wait to see the final product. Here is a picture from immediately after. I love it. What do you think?

 If you are near Columbus, Ohio and are looking for a tattoo, make sure you check out David Boggins at Body Language. He is a swell guy and a great artist. Like his FB page to see more of his work. 

Also, don't forget to enter my $50 Amazon gift card contest. Easy to enter, so give it a try. For more details see http://www.epertase.blogspot.com/2012/07/contest-time-50-amazon-gift-card.html or just enter below.

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Ouch. Day 2 of Getting My Tattoo

I never thought I would be so excited to have a red-hot hook dragged through my flesh, but surprisingly I was. OK, so getting a tattoo isn't exactly a red-hot hook, but it sure feels that way.

Two weeks ago I sat for the outline of my Epertase tattoo which lasted about 3 hours. Though I knew it was going to hurt, I had no idea what to expect. When Mr. David Boggins of Body Language in Columbus, Ohio carved the first line, I'm not going to lie, I seriously wondered how I was going to handle 3 more hours of what I had just felt. But, as anyone with a tattoo knows, your body starts to kinda get used to the assault being done to it and the process becomes a little more tolerable. It still hurts like hell, but at some point you realize you can get through it. And I did.

Today, I sat for my second session--an entirely new kind of torture called shading. This time, I had an idea of how it might feel, but that doesn't make it any better. This was going to be at least a four-hour sitting. By the mid way point I felt pretty good and even commented that I could sit through all of the remaining 6 hours needed if David had the time. He said he had another appointment scheduled and, by the three hour mark, I was glad we were nearly done for the day. Though my mind was prepared to push through it, my back was starting to get angry. Each mark he made for the final hour felt like that first line he did two weeks before. Don't get me wrong, I would have sat for the last two hours if we had the time, I just wouldn't have enjoyed it.

As I write this, I'm pretty sore and probably will be for a few days. But it's worth it.

To add insult, my wife stopped by toward the end of my session so she could watch. What does it say about my 16-year marriage that she smiled while I squirmed?

Special thanks to Steve Murphy for designing the piece. As far as my tattoo artist, David Boggins can be found on his website here.

Here is a picture of today's progress. (Remember: the red in the picture is from my pissed-off skin and not actual color in the tattoo.) Stay tuned in two weeks for the final picture.

Have you ever wanted a tattoo?

If you were going to get your first tattoo, what would you get? Would it have to mean something special to you? Simply look cool? Would it be somebody's name? I ask this question as I prepare to take the plunge for my first tattoo. I've always wanted one, but could never settle on exactly what to get. Since I'm a firefighter, there is always that theme, but I wasn't ready to get a tattoo about my job just yet.

Over the years, I've considered the Pittsburgh Steelers logo, tribal stuff, or just having an artist design something cool. Heck, when I was seventeen in 1990, I wanted the Queensryche symbol on my calf. Yeah, I know. But none of those ideas really pushed me into the tattoo parlor. (Thank goodness.)

And then when I was 37 I received a publishing contract for my fantasy trilogy, The Light of Epertase. Like being a firefighter, being a published author is something I have great pride in accomplishing. And that's when the wheels started turning. No matter what happens from here on out in my writing career, the fact that my story has been published and is out there for the world to read is something that can never be taken away. Even if I never sell another book, it has been a major accomplishment in my life and one that I would like to memorialize.

The question now becomes, what will I get to celebrate achieving such a major goal in my life? Well, I wanted to have something that represented my fantasy trilogy, since that was the story that secured my first publishing contract. And what better represents fantasy than a kick-ass dragon? I've always thought dragons were super cool anyway, which is why I have one in my Epertase trilogy. In saying that, simply having a generic dragon still wasn't meaningful enough for me to put something on my back that will be there for life.

So, I sat down with the cover artist for Epertase, Steve Murphy, and started molding the idea of a dragon with something that would make the tat personal to me. Together, we came up with placing a crystal ball beneath the dragon and having a small picture within the ball that represented one of the three books. We ultimately decided on the burning castle from the cover of Book Two, A Kingdom's Fall. The tattoo was looking pretty sweet, but I needed one more thing to make it really meaningful.

You see, my son created the word Epertase when he was first learning to talk. That's where I came up with the name for the book's kingdom, the book's title, my website, my email address and everything else I could think of. The word Epertase is as dear to my heart as anything I have created and having it on my body forever is the same to me as putting my son's name there.

With a banner reading Epertase, my tattoo design was complete. Here it is if you'd like to see. I will post pics when the tattoo is finished, sometime toward the end of July. I'd have it done today if it were up to me, but the tattooist I am using has this crazy thing called a waiting list. Hm. Oh well, patience is a virtue I guess. But I hate patience.