Dragon Backpiece

For some reason, the most common question I've been getting a lot of lately is "so, doing a bunch of dragon tattoos this year"?

I know it's year of the dragon and all, but I didn't really think too much about it until recently.  When asked that question I'd say there was no correlation between the Chinese zodiac and tattoo trends, but I might be wrong about this year.  Seems like I've actually had quite a few dragon projects in the pipeline (although I guess they were really scheduled in the year of the rabbit)...

This one I'm pretty excited about and feeling good after the first session.  He's been talking about covering up the old tattoo on his shoulder for a long time and when he finally made some appointments he said he just wanted to go with a huge dragon...perfect.

Immediately my feeling was to do a looser drawing style and misty dark shading, kind of inspired by this look:

I feel like this has the potential to be a very strong piece, and done in a way that I've always wanted to do.  The next session we'll outline the rest of the body, swooping down through the lower back and down the left buttock and thigh...