Hi there, I am having this piece completed in a weeks time and have been mulling something over in my mind, and would really appreciate your opinions!

As you can see there is still some shading to be done to both koi. So far All my pieces are black and grey. About 2/3rds of my back as well as one of my pecs, as I said all in black and grey.

My artist reckons black and grey for this one, which initially appealed to me. However whatabout adding some subtle blue shading to the water, and the lines that still need shaded in above and below the koi? Also she wants to keep the water lily flower just as black line work? Will the colour detract from the details of the design?

My final plan is to have an old school asian phoenix on my other rib cage, doing the whole balance with air/fire on one side and water on the other. Was wondering about going for semi colour with the phoenix… anyways am getting side tracked. What would you guys do?

Sorry am battling to upload the picture onto photobucket because it’s blocked at work… it’s in my album

Edit: The tattoo looks distorted because it wraps around my side… the top koi doesn’t look like a sturgeon in real life I swear!!! 😀