There aren’t many abstract dragons around. This gray scale tattoo is executed with brilliant commitment to shading and intense detail, however it’s really difficult to decipher as an entire image. The artwork would be more amazing if the subject had chosen a style providing greater emphasis on a recognizable face.

Now, this is a bad ass Chinese dragon tattoo. The artist, by having a large part of the subject’s back left unblemished before etching in the rustic village, creates the impression that the flying lizard is coursing above, waiting to strike. The dragon is a dark, complex piece of tattooing that benefits from white ink interspersed through it to lighten, and sharpen, the details of fang, scale, and claw.

Another Guan Yu tattoo delivered with flawless skill. This one uses sharp black line work balanced by effortless shading throughout to create the full back piece. The detail of his inlaid metal breastplate and dragon flowing down the subject’s left past the General and his magnificent beard are masterful.

Having watched a lot of Chinese and Hong Kong Film, it’s wise to never underestimate the skills of a Warrior Monk. He’s deftly been brought to life in this full back tattoo, with a kindly yet kick ass visage you’d expect to see on the real version. Using the broad, wide face of the monk to then transition into the sinuous, tightly coiled, thinly separated scales of the snakelike dragon helps contrast the facial focal point and balance up the artwork. 

This is a cool demon lower leg tattoo that might be a little cross eyed. The use of wide, flowing line work and shadow really accentuates the beast’s nastiness, as do the sharp, little shark-like teeth.

A cool old school dragon. The artist here has effortlessly etched scale after scale into this full sleeve tattoo, and done so in a way that to shade this fellow would dampen his display of skill. Instead of using shadow work to fill the image the tattooist has clever utilized oddly shaped negative space as a well worked alternate filler balance out the dragon’s sliding darkness.