After Christmas, I’m hoping to be able to start a new tattoo. Frankly, I can’t wait. It’s been more than a year since I was able to finish my zombie squid, and I’ve been getting the itch in a real bad way.

Originally, I was looking to add the final piece to my right sleeve, but while I was at the gym lifting weights tonight, I had a lightning bolt moment. I’ve always known exactly what I wanted on my right arm, and for that matter my chest and back, but whenever I thought about my left arm, I came up blank.

Now I’ve had an idea, and it’s in line with the general theme I’ve been working on with my newest ink, and the ones I’ve already planned. I fucking despise certain images that have been done to death in tattoo art, things like koi, kanji, the hatchet man, ect. It’s not to say they can’t be beautifully done (except the hatchet man, fuck him), and shouldn’t be worn with pride, but that for my own personal taste, it just doesn’t click. At the same time, I’ve always liked the idea of subverting these often beautiful but overused images to make them new again.

Japanese inspired sleeves qualify. But that’s what I’m thinking on. A Japanese inspired sleeve with a chinese dragon, waterfalls, cliffs, a pagoda, all the classic imagery.

But dark, and twisted. The dragon is a rotting, undead creature. The pagoda is in flames, perhaps surrounded by samurai in armor fighting a horde of zombies. The lilies and cherry blossoms are browned, cracked, and dead. While it will maintain the elegant, fluid lines the best Japanese inspired tattoos have, the colors are dark, and harsh.

Frankly, it’s an idea I’m excited for, and I think it’ll go well with the enormous zombie koi I’m going to get at some point in the future on my chest.

So, what do all ya’all think?

Love. Peace. Metallica.