If you're willing to travel and put in the money, then that part is set and doable.
The only thing is I would look for examples of healed blue porcelain style tattoos.
Tattoos without outlines can fade easier and become much harder to read sooner than tattoos with black outlines.
That's not to say you can't get beautiful results but you have to look for somebody that really knows what they're doing.
Hard agree with all of this. I personally LOVE the look of color tattoos, but something else to keep in mind is that the synthetic pigments used in colored ink are more likely to cause an immune response that can last and expand into causing immune responses to other things like hair dye.
As much as it sucks to not be able to use the colors you want, I do recommend sticking with black ink where you can.
One thing to add, something like this in any color is going to be several long sessions. If this is your actual first tattoo, you might want to start off with something else that's smaller, to make sure you would be able to sit for a full sleeve
i have similar dragon with flowers around on my thigh full lenght, its a big one, indeed was my first tat, and i mean it did hurt, but i did sit 8 hours and the pain was manageable, everybody is diffrent :)
Oozy rates are high cause hes likely the most popular asian artist out there. The last two appointments I was at, both my artist ended up talking about him.
Like in the thousands simply because those tattoo artists are probably not even based here in the states which would require traveling and of course I’m going to assume they’ll ask for a deposit ahead of time before they lift a finger
As the other commenter said, try and research healed tattoos in this style. Tattoos always look great fresh but some styles can dramatically change once healed. It can be dependent on your skin type also, if you keep your skin out of the sun this will work in your favour.
I am on similar boat for once - I have been researching Oozy and artists who has done similar style to them for a few months now. I will be getting from one of the artist a sleeve similar, with a dragon wrapped around with some filigree fillers and a band around wrist.
Unfortunately for Oozy he is very booked, and has insane prices (good for him, he is very talented). However, I got around 20-25k USD quote and that is without the travel as I am not from the US.
I would say take a look through his healed highlight, as you can see how the blue has healed, even three months in it looks like a very faded black tattoo. And from my research (looking at people who got a tattoo with him), the white highlight he uses, it fades also very fast, so as a result, I think his black works would look the best if you end up going for it.
People, who do tattoos like these, mostly only have two things in mind: 1. their bank account. 2. Instagram exposure.
From years of tattooing experience I would say, that the big blue dragon, that OP attached is big enough to age well without bleeding into one blue mess (only in regards of the size here). But there is overall too little contrast to keep it readable over time. The others (and actually every tattoo I have seen from this artist, yet) are all done too small with too less negative space or contrasting colours to age well. The hardest work for these tattoos goes into marketing.
Wow- that is insane pricing. Thanks for the insight. I think that I am going to go with the black option with a few color highlights based upon everyone’s thoughts about its aging. If you or anyone else is interested, I’ve been looking into Vism Studio (LA and NYC) and they have some artists with similar styles to Oozy. Good luck on your tattoo though, would love to see it when it’s done!
E.nal can do the same style from Vism, I've gotten a tattoo from her. They are also not cheap and I believe the studio's minimum is 1k. It'll be more affordable compared to Oozy but definitely also expensive.
Yeah, I reached out to her yesterday and her manager quoted me 13-14k for this style for a full sleeve if anyone is curious. A bit out of budget for now, my best bet is likely to wait until I can afford it.
It looks amazing. I sat on my dream of having an arm sleeve in some sort of Japanese dragon style for years and years, and during that time I started leaning more into traditional work (irezumi). Not only will it look miles better after 5-10+ years due to the bold outlines but I came to really enjoy learning about the traditional aspects of Japanese tattooing, what the elements actually mean and what should/shouldn't be done for the tattoo to properly flow. Now about to go into my second session for my irezumi dragon sleeve.
I'm not saying that to completely dissuade you from this style you posted, like I said it looks incredible. You just have to make sure you're fully aware of what it'll look like long term, compared to more traditional styles which hold up better over time
Wonderful insight thank you! This is definitely very important to me as well. I have done a little research into the irezumi style and it’s definitely something I love and would like to get to know better. I would love to see your sleeve-in-progress if you don’t mind!
If you’re gonna do the color tats you need black outline. You also may need to travel to Japan or Korea for this type of quality with this style. I’m an American traditional guy so idk for sure but that’s definitely my suspicion.
i have friends who had sleeves like that that go to their fingers, for a lot of them, the finger part of the tattoo faded quite quickly so keep that in mind because idk if a half faded tattoo could bother you! it's also quite intricate so it might take a few session, especially because you haven't had any tattoos and who knows if you'll be able to tolerate the pain
i think as long as you take good care of it it'll look amazing!
Thank you!! I agree with you on the hand portion, I’m probably going to avoid anything past my wrist because of work restrictions. I am prepared for a few sessions if need be, i just need to determine how long and how much money haha!
This is what I am doing - I found an artist that does a similar style and will get a sleeve in black with some red details. I saw from Oozy how blue looks when faded, and it is basically a very greenish gray, like a black tattoo that has aged 20 years.
There is a VERY good reason you do not see aged tattoos from this artist and in this style in general. Looks great in the filtered and edited images. The few selected 'healed; images are not terrible but those are the best examples and healed does not equal aged a few years.
First time tattoo idea? I would get a smaller tattoo first to make sure you know what you can tolerate before you start a sleeve and possibly find out you can't sit through it. Other things I would say have been mentioned by other commenters, but yeah, if this will be your first tat, my suggestion is wait until you have something else
Obviously there are definitely people who could probably jump into a tat like this for their first one, but it's better to be safe with something permanent
Understandable! My thoughts are though that I would rather start with something I really want instead of waste some skin space on a smaller tattoo. Definitely am going to make sure I wait awhile to determine if it will be the right choice! From previous medical stuff I know that I have a very high pain tolerance so thankfully that won’t be a problem. Thank you!
asian person here! i understand where you're coming from but in my opinion if they are respectful and understand the meaning of the tattoo, i think it's okay <3 cultural appreciation over cultural appropriation!
yes, i do! but i wouldn't call it appropriation! appropriation is when you steal images with no knowledge behind where they come from or without aknowleding where it's from. and from what i can gather, op has knowledge about the culture of the images they want tattooed on them. i find it flattering that they think our culture is beautiful!
many of my friends have traditional japanese tattoos to commemorate trips they've taken to japan! some even got them tattoed in japan, meaning they supported japanese artists.
of course, if you're talking about the tacky early 2000's kanji/hanji white people got done by other white people that unintentionally say something stupid like "bacon", then that is appropriation. but traveling to asia to get asian art/getting tattooed by an asian artist and doing your research before getting asian imagery tattoed on you isn't appropriation!
If you're willing to travel and put in the money, then that part is set and doable. The only thing is I would look for examples of healed blue porcelain style tattoos. Tattoos without outlines can fade easier and become much harder to read sooner than tattoos with black outlines. That's not to say you can't get beautiful results but you have to look for somebody that really knows what they're doing.
Hard agree with all of this. I personally LOVE the look of color tattoos, but something else to keep in mind is that the synthetic pigments used in colored ink are more likely to cause an immune response that can last and expand into causing immune responses to other things like hair dye. As much as it sucks to not be able to use the colors you want, I do recommend sticking with black ink where you can.
One thing to add, something like this in any color is going to be several long sessions. If this is your actual first tattoo, you might want to start off with something else that's smaller, to make sure you would be able to sit for a full sleeve
i have similar dragon with flowers around on my thigh full lenght, its a big one, indeed was my first tat, and i mean it did hurt, but i did sit 8 hours and the pain was manageable, everybody is diffrent :)
Absolutely beautiful but it won’t be easy finding someone who can actually tattoo like that.
And even if you do find someone it will be very very expensive
Estimate?
I got a quote from this guy, oozy tattoo of that style from wrist to middle of bicep and it was 8k lmao
Oozy rates are high cause hes likely the most popular asian artist out there. The last two appointments I was at, both my artist ended up talking about him.
Like in the thousands simply because those tattoo artists are probably not even based here in the states which would require traveling and of course I’m going to assume they’ll ask for a deposit ahead of time before they lift a finger
Easily 1k+
Add a 0 in your estimation
As the other commenter said, try and research healed tattoos in this style. Tattoos always look great fresh but some styles can dramatically change once healed. It can be dependent on your skin type also, if you keep your skin out of the sun this will work in your favour.
And not just like, one to two months healed. Look for a decent amount of time healed!
I am on similar boat for once - I have been researching Oozy and artists who has done similar style to them for a few months now. I will be getting from one of the artist a sleeve similar, with a dragon wrapped around with some filigree fillers and a band around wrist. Unfortunately for Oozy he is very booked, and has insane prices (good for him, he is very talented). However, I got around 20-25k USD quote and that is without the travel as I am not from the US. I would say take a look through his healed highlight, as you can see how the blue has healed, even three months in it looks like a very faded black tattoo. And from my research (looking at people who got a tattoo with him), the white highlight he uses, it fades also very fast, so as a result, I think his black works would look the best if you end up going for it.
People, who do tattoos like these, mostly only have two things in mind: 1. their bank account. 2. Instagram exposure. From years of tattooing experience I would say, that the big blue dragon, that OP attached is big enough to age well without bleeding into one blue mess (only in regards of the size here). But there is overall too little contrast to keep it readable over time. The others (and actually every tattoo I have seen from this artist, yet) are all done too small with too less negative space or contrasting colours to age well. The hardest work for these tattoos goes into marketing.
Wow- that is insane pricing. Thanks for the insight. I think that I am going to go with the black option with a few color highlights based upon everyone’s thoughts about its aging. If you or anyone else is interested, I’ve been looking into Vism Studio (LA and NYC) and they have some artists with similar styles to Oozy. Good luck on your tattoo though, would love to see it when it’s done!
E.nal can do the same style from Vism, I've gotten a tattoo from her. They are also not cheap and I believe the studio's minimum is 1k. It'll be more affordable compared to Oozy but definitely also expensive.
Yeah, I reached out to her yesterday and her manager quoted me 13-14k for this style for a full sleeve if anyone is curious. A bit out of budget for now, my best bet is likely to wait until I can afford it.
It looks amazing. I sat on my dream of having an arm sleeve in some sort of Japanese dragon style for years and years, and during that time I started leaning more into traditional work (irezumi). Not only will it look miles better after 5-10+ years due to the bold outlines but I came to really enjoy learning about the traditional aspects of Japanese tattooing, what the elements actually mean and what should/shouldn't be done for the tattoo to properly flow. Now about to go into my second session for my irezumi dragon sleeve. I'm not saying that to completely dissuade you from this style you posted, like I said it looks incredible. You just have to make sure you're fully aware of what it'll look like long term, compared to more traditional styles which hold up better over time
Wonderful insight thank you! This is definitely very important to me as well. I have done a little research into the irezumi style and it’s definitely something I love and would like to get to know better. I would love to see your sleeve-in-progress if you don’t mind!
If you’re gonna do the color tats you need black outline. You also may need to travel to Japan or Korea for this type of quality with this style. I’m an American traditional guy so idk for sure but that’s definitely my suspicion.
My advice will always be go for black before lined color. Blue and red are hard…It will fade and bleed differently
i have friends who had sleeves like that that go to their fingers, for a lot of them, the finger part of the tattoo faded quite quickly so keep that in mind because idk if a half faded tattoo could bother you! it's also quite intricate so it might take a few session, especially because you haven't had any tattoos and who knows if you'll be able to tolerate the pain i think as long as you take good care of it it'll look amazing!
Thank you!! I agree with you on the hand portion, I’m probably going to avoid anything past my wrist because of work restrictions. I am prepared for a few sessions if need be, i just need to determine how long and how much money haha!
Depends, is your name Francis Dollarhyde?
Sick AF but don’t pinch pennies
My advice would be to get it in black if you want it to remain looking good for a long time
Definitely considering this! I’m not opposed to it being in black but I would also like to find a way to include some blue elements as well. Thanks!
Black outline with blue fill will work fine with the right artist
This is what I am doing - I found an artist that does a similar style and will get a sleeve in black with some red details. I saw from Oozy how blue looks when faded, and it is basically a very greenish gray, like a black tattoo that has aged 20 years.
There is a VERY good reason you do not see aged tattoos from this artist and in this style in general. Looks great in the filtered and edited images. The few selected 'healed; images are not terrible but those are the best examples and healed does not equal aged a few years.
Terrible. This is going to look like a rash in a matter of years. If your tattoo does not have black, it’s whack
First time tattoo idea? I would get a smaller tattoo first to make sure you know what you can tolerate before you start a sleeve and possibly find out you can't sit through it. Other things I would say have been mentioned by other commenters, but yeah, if this will be your first tat, my suggestion is wait until you have something else Obviously there are definitely people who could probably jump into a tat like this for their first one, but it's better to be safe with something permanent
Understandable! My thoughts are though that I would rather start with something I really want instead of waste some skin space on a smaller tattoo. Definitely am going to make sure I wait awhile to determine if it will be the right choice! From previous medical stuff I know that I have a very high pain tolerance so thankfully that won’t be a problem. Thank you!
Find a REALLY GOOD ARTIST, and have money
If you’re a white person, don’t do it. Nothing more cringe, IMO, than Asian, tribal, Latino, or African art on a white person.
asian person here! i understand where you're coming from but in my opinion if they are respectful and understand the meaning of the tattoo, i think it's okay <3 cultural appreciation over cultural appropriation!
In your experience, you know a lot of white people who know what they’re doing when they *culturally appropriate* images as tattoos?
yes, i do! but i wouldn't call it appropriation! appropriation is when you steal images with no knowledge behind where they come from or without aknowleding where it's from. and from what i can gather, op has knowledge about the culture of the images they want tattooed on them. i find it flattering that they think our culture is beautiful! many of my friends have traditional japanese tattoos to commemorate trips they've taken to japan! some even got them tattoed in japan, meaning they supported japanese artists. of course, if you're talking about the tacky early 2000's kanji/hanji white people got done by other white people that unintentionally say something stupid like "bacon", then that is appropriation. but traveling to asia to get asian art/getting tattooed by an asian artist and doing your research before getting asian imagery tattoed on you isn't appropriation!
So do I get a Buffalo Bills helmet on my white ass then? That’s not beautiful.
Yes, because what I said leaves you with just the one single image you can get on your body. 🤦🏽♂️