Maron's Horiyoshi III Bodysuit
A stunning example of contemporary Japanese tattooing
The person shown here is Maron, who I met at Bondage A Go Go in San Francisco in 2005. He was competeing in their tattoo contest one night.His body suit was done in Japan, by tattoo master Horiyoshi III. Maron lived there for a few years, having work done on a steady basis to get it all completed in such a short time. The outline has machine work, but all the color and shading was done with the traditional hand methods.
He's covered solid from wrists to ankles. The color detail and shading you can see when standing next to him and viewing in person just can't be adequately described. The tones and blending is just amazing. There is cross-hatching and very complex shading, as in very skilled pen illustration, in the black outlines and shading of the tattoo at a level that you just don't see being done by American tattoo artists.