Tattooing the upper half of the torso and over one shoulder and onto the back including the arm area is known as a quarter torso tattoo. These projects take many long hours and take a commitment to the art form. One of my first quarter torso tattoos was this piece for a friend.
Tattooed Between 2003 and 2009
The request for this tattoo was to create with the mind set as of time and money did not matter. How would you go about doing it if you could do it that way? So we went about designing the entire piece on the computer. We then set out to make three large paintings for each major panel of the tattoo.
The Front Panel - Heaven
The Back Panel - Hell
The Middle Arm - The Battle With Self
The entire piece would take years to complete but showcases what it means to go large with a theme and stick to its conclusion. Overall we went into well over 100 hours of tattooing with about 30 hours of design, painting and preparation. This tattoo would set a trend in my work as others would follow suit and grab their own quarter torso tattoos.
I am always looking for my next large scale project. In the coming few weeks I will showcase some of the other upper body work I have done in the quarter or half torso size.