extending a half sleeve

[bz880]

I just finished up a half sleeve, and the itch has started again. Now, I'm thinking of extending it further down, maybe 3/4. I'm curious to hear people's thought process when thinking of extending work past their elbow.

[Chris aka Creepinbean]

It depends what you have if its something like japanese style i would extend it. But if its something else like traditional amercan style i would leave it the way it is.

[bz880]

its actually asian style. so there are plenty of options for further work.

[gookymo]

can you post pics?

if it's japanese style, extending shouldnt be a problem at all. I actually extended my koi sleeve and it looks pretty solid i think. i too like kapitik, wish i went for the 3/4 from the start. my dragon sleeve was started as a 3/4 thereafter. extending and continuing japanese work is easy (ie: wind bars can be extended, more clouds, smoke, water can be added as a conduit to a new piece), in a way i think japanese layouts are designed and intended to leave flexibility for possible expansion for the wearer.

[TS]

I am not the best example of this, since I keep adding on instead of committing all at once. However, I agree there are plenty of options to extend it and you should do it, especially if you're okay about having it show most of the time (or okay about covering up if necessary).

[Brenda Marie]

My FULL sleeve was originally intended to ONLY be a shoulder to elbow sleeve. My artist hand drew the whole thing. He told me that we'd have to cut out over half of the design because the whole thing just wouldn't fit where I wanted the design to stop... well, I loved it so much that I just didn't want to lose ANY of the design, so I told him to just GO FOR IT. I am now tattooed from shoulder to wrist (and it peeks out just a tiny bit in long sleeves)... I used to work overnight, so there was no problem with wearing short sleeves at work... but now I work days and have to wear long sleeves (NOT fun during the summer)... but I have NO regrets. My sleeve is still in progress and I am still loving every bit of the progress of the outline and (especially) the color.

My vote on you extending your sleeve? GO FOR IT! :-)

[Diamond Dave]

i just had one of my sleeves outlined this past week, and the artist(who knows me and my addiction) set it up so it can easily flow into a full chest, chest panel, and/or continue the sleeve down my arm. Granted my style preference for neo-japanese work lends itself to fillin' out.

[kitten]

My personal preference, is to have some skin exposed. I have my inside forearms tattooed but my outsides are bare. I have a half-sleeve on my left upper arm and I am working on filling in the last empty space on my right. My arms have ended up being four panels rather than two full sleeves and I am happy with the result. My artist keeps trying to convince me to go fully sleeved because my arms are more tattooed than bare, but I like the separation between each piece. They all have different meanings to me, so the separation works.

[TS]

Me too, I like having skin showing.

[Rowan]

Plus, many gorgeous sleeves have some skin showing, as negative space (as in Marisa's amazing blackwork sleeves) or because a number of separate pieces slowly combined.