Hannah Aitchison Tattoo Experience
I have officially been Hannah Aitchisoned! Like I said on here before, I got it into my head to get my Family Crest tattooed on my shoulder, and Hannah Aitchison is the artist I wanted to do the work from the beginning. She was awesomely gracious and fit me into her schedule (her wait is usually 12 to 14 months), so my wife and I flew from Texas to Los Angeles and met her at High Voltage Tattoo (aka LA Ink) Friday, the 27th.
She was absolutely wonderful! She made the time pass with great conversation, stories, etc. — lots of talking about music and art. She talked about the show a little, and about future plans, and she is just a pleasure to be around (and she's even prettier in person!). I could go on, but I'd rather post pics...
After introductions, she tested the sketch size on my arm, and decided to increase it 20% so that it filled-up my biceps better. That ended up being perfect, so she shaved my arm and made a stencil transfer. The first placement was too high, so she dropped it lower, and it was perfect!
The next step was to get all the black border work done, and she made the outline of the shield and helm nice and thick so they'd pop better.
Next we moved to color, taking care of the green, then the helm...
Here's a shot of the ink caps, showing just how good Hannah is at mixing the basic colors she chooses into all kids of shades and hues...
Hannah then set into shading and shaping the texture of the mantling (you can see one of Hannah's prettiest unfinished tattoos on her arm in this pic, too)...
At this point, Hannah casually says that she's seeing blue behind all the mantling, just to fill-in and really set off the entire piece. I told her to do whatever she thinks since she's the expert, and it turned out looking AWESOME! And yes, the red you see on the back of my arm in the last pic is blood...
After six hours, the work was finished:
Overall, this was just a totally great experience. It was a really fast trip (we arrived late Thursday and came home early Saturday) so we didn't do any sightseeing — but the Hotel Beverly Hills was amazing, and that's where we'll stay at the next time we visit for sure.
Lastly, the first thing everyone asks me is about the pain. Does it hurt? Yes — you're getting poked with needles all over, thousands and thousands of times. Any way you slice it, it's uncomfortable — but the tender parts of your skin (like under your arm, the back of your arm, etc.) are especially painful.
After an hour, you begin to get used to it, so you can zone-out and just focus on something else. After 3 hours, your butt and back start to hurt a bit (if you're sitting up), so that makes it even easier to ignore the needlework. Hour 5 is when things started getting really rough, and I started to get really thirsty, antsy, and the shakes. The work on the back of my arm was really, really bad, and there were 2 times I mentally stood up and said "okay, we're breaking for an hour!" I focused on that imagery, and drank water to try and put the pain behind me, knowing that she'd be done back there soon. However, there's just no escaping the sensation of someone trying to rip your skin open while rapidly puncturing it with needles. This is also why artists don't usually do pieces as big as mine in one sitting — it's freakin' rough for both parties. Hannah said some people will go into a shock state and start turning green, puking, getting intensely thirsty, pass out, etc. I can see how that is possible, for sure — but I didn't have a choice, so I just sucked it up and tried to zone-out as often as I could. Hour 6 is a blur, like I was swimming under water a bit — and I don't remember a whole lot except me working hard to ignore the pain.
But did it hurt enough for me to never do it again? HECK NO, MAN! I already have ideas for other work, and I'm already looking forward to getting more of Hannah's gorgeous artwork on my body somewhere!
Comments:
I saw your shots on Flickr and was waiting for the post. Great shots, and great job Hannah. Did she let you keep the original artwork?
Dude, that’s rad. Nicely done.
I can’t imagine sitting for 6 hours getting a tat…mine took about an hour and I got sick as a dog the next day. Looks totally amazing!
That’s freakin’ cool, man. I couldn’t do it, but that’s freakin’ cool!
Looks incredible and I’m wondering too - did she end up letting you keep the original artwork like you were hoping? I’m so impressed with her work - it looks great.
Yes, I have the original art! 
Add a Comment:
Syndication: ATOM | RSS 2.0
Everything contained herein is copyright © Maury McCown. Don't tread on me.
This site is gleefully hosted by Media Temple and managed dynamically using ExpressionEngine 1.6.8.
This site has been viewed 2057726 times.
This page was rendered in 0.7454 seconds.
Awesome tattoo!