Nothing Else Matters - Metallica Tattoo

This entry will cover a period of about a year or two and my experience getting my leg sleeve Metallica tattoo. I have been a fan of music my entire for as long as I can remember, but Metallica was the first real band that caught my attention and sucked me in to heavy metal and opened the doors to all the other facets of music I enjoy. The tattoo is really more about how this music turned me on to so much other music and opened those doors. I am not, by any means the biggest Metallica fan out there, and probably will never be. I have friends that know more about the band and their music than I ever will. Anyways, I had already been tattooed once before, my Hope symbol on my right forearm, and I wanted to do something Metallica themed on my leg. I chose my leg, because I could hide it if I wanted to. and I hate the way my legs look anyways so whats' the big deal if I covered one up. So one day at college, Lindsey and I were bored and went to get tattoos. She got a star, and I decided to get "Nothing Else Matters" going down the outside of my right calf. Nothing Else Matters is my favorite Metallica song, and decided to pay tribute with it.

It took a few more months, for me to decide what I was going to do with the rest of my leg, and who I was going to get to do the work. After a lot of thinking, I settled on the first 5 album covers (Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master of Puppets, ...And Justice For All & The Black Album) and went to a local tattoo studio near the university to meet my artist. I explained to him that I wanted a part of all of the covers incorporated, and after that it was up to him, I was down for anything he presented. A few weeks later I went back for my first session, not really knowing what to expect, since I had only every gotten small things tattooed before.

This is after the 1st session.

I had could only pay for about 3 hours worth of work every 2 or 3 months so it took some time before it really started coming together. I was a poor college student, working a part time job and had other bills to pay. Plus he was a really good artist which meant he had a really full schedule so it would have taken a while anyways.

This is after the 2nd session.

The pain was tollerable, and I would do it again if I could afford it. Life gets in the way sometimes though. The only times that it became really hard to sit was after we would take breaks. He would work for like 2 hours or so, then take a break. Ususally I would go to the bath room or walk around to get feeling back in my body, but after I would sit back down  the pain was so intense I couldn't wait for him to finish for the day.
Certain areas of my leg hurt more, the fatty upper part of my calf was the absolute worst, but I survived.

 This is after the 3rd session.

After we would finish for the day, I would always go to McDonald's and load up on food and go home and take some Advils for the pain and just crash. I didn't realize it at first, but my artist explained to me that it was because my body was going into shock from all of the pain it had been in.

This is after the 1st Color session. 

After a year and a half of getting inked, we were a few sessions away from completing the work, when I told him that in mid-May I was moving to Florida and we needed to finish this thing as soon as possible. So after some schedule re-arranging we cut a session out and I sat my for my last time the day before we left to move to Florida for 6 hours straight. This was the longest I had ever sat for and I thought I was going to die when I got back to the house. I got my food and took my meds and slept for a while before we finished packing.

This is after my final, 6 hr. session.

I haven't gotten any work done on it since, but would like to. Like I said though, life gets in the way sometimes and there are other more important things in my life now.