Over five years since tattooing a small part of my eye blue in the very first set of eye tattoo procedures — the day that opened Pandora’s Box and launched perhaps the riskiest but most exciting body mod procedure to date — Howie (LunaCobra.net) has done the next and perhaps final stage of my eye tattoos. As you may know, my blue eyes are at least in part inspired by the Eyes of Ibad that the Fremen of Arrakis (ie. Dune) get due to their constant exposure to the powerful drug melange. Normally when Howie does an eye tattoo, the wearer is looking for a solid color — although there are obvious exceptions like Pauly Unstoppable’s unbelievable “cosmic eyes” which involve complex gradients. In my eyes we went with the “less is more” theory, using the fact that ink injected in the eye spreads dramatically to create a hazy, cloudy effect that looks different from every angle, mostly quite subtle, but almost blue-black in a few deeply saturated spots. The eye is both subtle and extreme, in an effect that’s completely alien, yet maintains its humanity and is almost even normal — I’ve noticed in public that people seem unsure what they’re seeing, whether it’s natural, or a trick of the light, or something induced.
The effect will probably continue to change somewhat over the next several months. These pictures in this entry were taken on day three, about 48 hours after the procedure, and at that point all swelling and irritation was already long gone — in fact it was gone 12 hours later, or when I woke up the next morning. I believe this is in part Howie’s experience, and in part how light we went with the procedure. I truly believe that with eye tattoos, it’s important to err on the side of going light — you can always add more in a few months (or in five years) if you went light, but if you go heavy, well, you’re going to have to live with it.
Remember, if you are interested in eye tattoos, these are a high-risk procedure that should only be attempted by those with significant experience and training. Please begin by reading BME’s Eye Tattoo FAQ.
Comments
21 responses to “The Sleeper Has Awakened”
Absolutely beautiful. Blue within blue eyes.
I really like the way this technique looks. I’d love to see what it would look like with black ink.
this entire time, watching the eye tattoo thing, ive been waiting for someone to do Dune. that, and hellraiser are the only 2 characters i knew of and i was surprised that no one had done it yet.
That’s pretty much the best eyeball tattoo that i’ve seen so far. It’s not as extreme or kitshy as the pure black / green / red, It really looks “natural” on you. Congrats.
I agree with Erik. That’s fantastic, I actually really like the irregularity in the shading, the gradient is very attractive.
They look amazing! Definitely my favourite to date.
Epic beard Shannon !
That is beautiful! I would love to have that done.
Congratulations!!!
This is the first eye tattoo that i think is nice. This looks natural, the other ones, especially the black ones looks strange and will change dramatically the relationships of the person. Yours other otherwise looks good and it’s still possible to se your eyes in a normal way.
Very good.
really gorgeous, shannon!
I agree. I think they look really good. Like the forehead tattoo as well.
I agree with others, this is the first eye tattoo that actually (to me) looks really good.
I also agree. Your eyeballtattoo looks exactly the way my eyeballtattoo should look like if I wanted one!! Mmh, wait a second…
Best eyeball tattoo I’ve ever seen. The hair and beard make you look like a Russian Orthodox priest which adds to the spiritual appearance of the blue eyes. I’m seriously impressed.
Subtlety definitely works. It looks fantastic
Looks great!!
I think the subtle shading effect also is attractive because it allows for the iris color to better blend in/compliment/match the tattooed color. Definitely my favorite example of eyeball tattooing that I’ve seen.
Spice!!!!
In my opinion, these are the first eyeball tattoos that are actually pleasing/tasteful to look at. They have artistic value and not just ‘shock’ or a ‘pseudo tread’ mystique.
Also, I am very pleased with the direction of Modblog over the last several months. Not only the quality, but the general direction of the site has greatly improved. For the last couple of years, it was almost like flipping through a flash tattoo magazine. When I log on these days, I never know what I am going to see. It could be an informative technique piece or just some incredible art. It is pretty obvious why it is much better now, welcome back, dude.
Looks good!
An arabic text عباد الراقص 🙂
One thing I’ve always been curious about- Instead of turning red from irritation or whatever other reasons, do your eyes turn purple?