Shepard Tattoo

Aah! Finally, you guys! The first session of my Commander Shepard tattoo is finished. I am beyond in love with how it's come out so far. BEYOND. I am so, so happy with it!

I started thinking about getting a Shep tattoo before I even finished Mass Effect 3, which seems like ages ago but was actually only around six weeks ago. I knew I wanted a big ol' Shep on my upper arm, but I didn't really have a preference for how big, and I didn't have any specific idea of what I wanted it to look like; more like loose guidelines.

So at my consultation a few weeks ago, I brought in some references such as Shepard's armor, a screenshot of my Shep, and so on. I was really more interested in seeing my artist's take on it, as I love her style (Gin Hicks at Icon Tattoo Studio in Portland), and wanted something she would be excited about too. I told her to make it as big as she wanted, which I had assumed would be pretty big, but I wasn't expecting to see a half sleeve when I went in yesterday! Honestly though, I was super excited about how big it was. I've been playing with the idea of a full sleeve on my right arm anyway, so for half of that to be Shep right off the bat is perfect.

Only the lines and some shading are done now, and the color will be added later in September. I'm just so, so happy and excited about it! Shepard, as you know, is one of my favorite characters of all time and is my actual hero. I can't really articulate what this tattoo or Shep mean to me without sounding ridiculous, but I love it so much.

Thank you Gin! Thank you Rose and Megan for sitting with me for two hours and distracting me from my pain! Thank you, self, for being brave enough to sit through two hours of pain like a total badass!

The lines before shading, and Gin's original design.