Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

169 Epilogue 2008
The term “collector” is an honorific title that refers to a number
of characteristics—both social and physical—of the tattooee. The
most important feature is the amount of his or her body the tattooee
has devoted, or is in the process of devoting, to tattoo work.
While there certainly are exceptions, collectors tend to invest significantly
more time, energy, skin, and money into getting tattooed
than do other tattooees. These investments often take form
in a variety of relatively standardized “suit” aesthetics, based
fairly directly on the Japanese full-body style. While each suit is
comprised of unique designs or combinations of designs, there
are conventional constraints regulating the length of the “sleeves”
and coverage of legs and torso.
In a body suit, the central and defining component is the “backpiece,”
which is typically a single design covering the entire back
and often the buttocks. Backpieces usually center on a single
figure, often a fantasy creature such as a dragon or a heroic
mythological character. This figure is set off by background motifs
most commonly symbolizing wind, water, and/or earth. The back
is the largest uninterrupted canvas on the human body, so a
backpiece clearly demonstrates the collector’s artistic, financial,
and temporal commitment to the process of becoming tattooed.
Not only are they prized by their owners, backpieces also are
marks of status for the artist who designs and executes them. Because
the backpiece is such an important piece in the collection,
collectors invest considerable time and research in finding, commissioning,
and “sitting for” the “right” artist. One of the most important
attributes collectors consider is an artist’s experience
with large-scale work. Skin is pliable and the body surface is irregular.
This means that designs that work on paper do not necessarily
translate well to skin, and, while an artist’s study of
anatomy and the human form are necessary at some level, nothing
can replace experience in designing and executing backpieces.
Artists who work successfully in such a large scale also need to
learn how to “pull a line” with sufficient speed, accuracy, and
agility that they can complete the outline of at least the central
figure in one sitting. Since outlines are the most difficult part of a
tattoo for the tattooee to endure, experience outlining large-scale
tattoos will affect artists’ designs for those tattoos.
“Sleeves” are somewhat less important large-scale tattoos
among serious tattoo collectors, but they are common compo-