Collector Spotlight #2: Jeremiah Kaplan"s Werewolf BackPack

Finally! Collector Spotlight #2

This piece is special to me in a number of ways;
1. It's Werewolf. I have always been a fan of werewolves and especially the Whitewolf roleplaying game Werewolf: the Apocalypse, which this piece is connected to, and as far as werewolves vs vampires, I'm a Garou fan all the way, F the Leeches! and don't get me started on Twilight... I didn't even like Buffy.
2. It is my first full back piece of this level that was my design (to Jeremiah"s specs of course). Major personal milestone as a tattooist.
3. Jeremiah is a great guy, and we were kindred spirits from the start, I wish I went to highschool with him.
4. It's not done.

But really, on with the tattoo.

Stage one was a lot of fun and took quite a while actually. I think this was the first piece that took months to research and prep for. What I'm showing here is just a sample of individual sketches and drawings of the overall design and the primary element, the Alpha Garou I have roughly 30 samples of different elements for the prep of this design. even the piece on the far right isn't the final design that went on Jeremiah"s back, we moved the obelisk to his ribs, and have yet added the Elder (top left) or the cubs (bottom)

Stage Two wasn't too bad once we got the stencil on him. We went through three razors to shave Jeremiah's back the first time (I had help). The whole "werewolf" tag really fits him! ha! To simplify the initial outline, I left out parts beyond the elements we still plan to add later, so the sky detail and the initial brambles were left out this session. I can't remember how long the initial outline session took... you would have to ask Jeremiah, I have long since lost track of the time investment so far in this piece.

Stage Three has been the longest stage for this piece, even more so than the design, however it has been the most fun, and easiest to prepare for. Unfortunately I did not take enough process pictures from the many sessions to show a more clear progression, due to forgotten camera, dead camera battery, crappy pics, and every other possible camera snafu you could imagine... but I got enough for our purposes here I guess.
As you can see, we also added the sky details and lower brambles on the rocky outcropping where the Elder will go. Technically, this piece has never left this stage, as we haven't finished it. Though Jeremiah is still coming in when he can, (this guy is non-stop busy) there are still certain events that will have to occur before we add the Cubs and the Elder.

Lots of shading, and we have added some additional outlines to certain elements to separate them better as well as adding some color elements. The blue glow comes from the obelisk we moved from the  main design to Jeremiah's ribs, couldn't find a pic of that one, sucks... but thats where the glow comes from, the foundation stone of his person and aspirations.

And this is where we are at with the "Werewolf BackPack" get it? it's a werewolf pack... on his back...? nevermind.... I name everything in a way that describes the piece visually, I don't make a painting of a blue square next to a red circle and call it "the dynamics of mother and child" I call it "blue square and red circle", it's easier for me, and besides, "blue square and red circle" is probably what everyone else would call it, regardless of what title I put on it, besides crap, ha!

As always, if you want to get a better look, ask Jeremiah, he's starting to get used to taking his shirt off now... ACTUALLY tho,  He will be coming in this week to get some good photos of our progress so far, and I will post those here as a follow up.

Next week (no, seriously) We'll do Jeremy Servais' Lady Luck piece! (honestly, I'm getting the pics all sorted out tonight)