The Illustrated Man, Part 11: Grim Reaper

For tattoo number eleven, I wanted to keep going with the old school, traditional stuff. In all honesty, had Josh (the artist) stayed at Tiki Tattoo (Lacey, WA) for longer, I'd probably be covered in old school tattoos right now. He was really good with that style, and I was always pleased with the work. Anyway, this time around, I wanted to go with a grim reaper. He had a good picture of one in one of his books, but the problem was the cape for the reaper was designed to look tribal. I fucking HATE tribal work. He said he did, too, so he changed up the cape to have a more custom-yet-traditional look to it. The end result is what you see in the photo, which is located on the back of my right shoulder. I get a lot of compliments on this tattoo, and once again, the color has held up very well, despite being nearly a decade old. Currently, my artist at Brave New World Tattoo in Denver, CO, Chase Martines, has toyed with the idea of taking the cape on the reaper and extending it all the way down the length of my back. I am very much in favor of doing this, and hope to have it done within the next year or so.