someone told me if you can do awesome japanese art you can do anything

what's your opinion?

someone told you wrong. there have been alot of traditional artists over the years that were great at the asain designs, but could not do portraits, cover-ups, or biker art. An artists is only as good as his work, and many are limited in thier capacities. But this does not mean that all artists doing traditional asain work suck. it is my opinion that the more traditional asain works are the most basic of designs, most are just line drawings with alot of color, the jap masters were great at what they did, but art in this industry has evolved and progressed so much over the years, alot of which make the traditional work look cartoonish. I have seen alot of the asain stuff 'modernized' with alot of sucess. Mortis

Mortis is completely WRONG except for one thing, someone DID tell you wrong. Japanese art is NOT some of the most basic and simpliest designs. It really takes a trained eye to recognize good work from the bullshit. So many folks out there hacking it up, with no sense of where it comes from. I guess you would have to be around a few real good tattooers in all aspects to really make uo your mind. I have a japanese sleeve, and throughout the whole process of getting it, sooooo much went into it. Its not about "copying" tradition, its about a timeless art thats more than 300 years old. Its about drawing things DIFFERENT but a certain way for reasons. Itts rich in tradition and culture. Its overall depth. Yet......that doesnt mean you must possess this knowledge in order to recieve a good japanese tattoo. And no......cartooony style japanese stuff is USUALLY just cheesy. Im not saying that ALL of it is, but I RARELY ever, ever, ever see any of it pulled off nicely. Its like trying to mix classic jazz and megadeth together.....it just doesnt happen unless. peace

Dunno man, Metallica pulled off mixing an orchestra with metal...It's very possible :P Jeremy

I think you need to work at everything to do it well. If anything, I see many artists nailing realistic and then going off in their own direction and style (which may be completely different from realistic). Once they master the skills of drawing reality, they can draw anything their brain thinks of. that said, I know realistic masters that dont pull off traditional japanese nearly as well. So, I think you need to practice your ass off at whatever it is you want to accomplish. No shortcuts really...