"Black Cat" for Black Cat Jiu Jitsu

Melding Traditional Japanese and Traditional Americana tattoo themes is one of my favorite things to do. This design brought a lot of inspiration from vintage firework designs together with the themes often seen in Jiu Jitsu visuals. The most difficult part of this design was achieving a "black cat" while the design was on a black background. To achieve this effect, I made the cat with a gray outline, allowing the body to stay black, and bring higher contrast to the white bones.