Well everyone, the process is finally to the point where it's on my skin (just the outline actually). I was in the studio for 8 hours and had about 5.5 hours of needle time.
Here is the unfinished painting my artist Erik created for the tattoo:
Here is him checking out the size of the drawing before turning it into a stencil (kiss that naked left arm goodbye):
Checking out the placement of the stencil in the mirror, it got moved 2 times and then needed to have the front shoulder part drawn on my arm with pen due to the folding of the paper stencil:
Erik at work:
Finished for the day (those thin gray lines are not the stencil, those are real ink in my skin - to be colored in later):