To be honest there isn´t much of a story behind it per se. I had this ugly tribal on my arm which I got when I was 16 and have been wanting to cover it for a while.

I was thinking Japanese style and the artist said it would probably need to be a Koi. I was fine with that and had been looking at Koi tattoos up until my session. When I came in he was like “Naw… I want to do something else!” and I was happy with letting him do his own thing. He came up with the bird, which suits me kind of well as I am a pilot. Also, to me they are a symbol of freedom and strength, and it just looks cool as hell.

The Hannya was my idea. I´ve always liked the look of them, and the story behind them especially. How they represent anger and jealousy, but still show the sorrow and sadness behind these ‘bad’ feelings. I´ve been through these feelings myself (breakups) and I think it should be a reminder of how these feelings can turn a person.