Latest tattoo lowdown.....

[tatB]

@Cork excellent tattoo and great summary of the experience!

[Naiemh]

Finished up my chest piece by London Reese in Lake Forest, CA. Took 18 hours on my back to

piece together this dragon. Was inspired through various influences and references. London is a really cool and easy going guy. 10/10 would get tattooed by him again.

Vatican Studios is seriously wicked too. Rad artsy layout, with some seriously talented artists.

Such an awesome piece! I'm so impressed! Your tattooist is so talented!!!

Bahamut wings are so beautiful <3

[marley mission]

from Chad Koeplinger @ Tattoo Paradise in Wheaton, MD

[SStu]

@marley mission = that's you're best one yet!

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@marley mission = that's you're best one yet!

[Synesthesia]

Forgot to post pics. We nearly finished this up a couple weeks ago. One more short session next month to darken and tighten things up. Here's some terrible quality photos I got the next day:

And just yesterday I got a closeup of the horse head, which gives you an idea of how much the blue is really starting to pop now that it's almost fully done healing. I need to get better quality photos of the whole thing.

[Jackrabbitt666]

from Chad Koeplinger @ Tattoo Paradise in Wheaton, MD

Yes!! This is killer!

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from Chad Koeplinger @ Tattoo Paradise in Wheaton, MD

Yes!! This is killer!

[oboogie]

I got all of these touched up last week by my artist, Josh Henderson.

Next tattoo is scheduled with Richard Stell at the Oklahoma Tattoo Convention at the end of this month, then I'm finishing my half sleeve on my right arm with Josh in May. Looking forward to both!

[polliwog]

Funky frog courtesy of Eddy Deutsche. Picture stolen from him. He pretty much read my mind. It's really angry here because inner thigh tattoos are a dumb idea.

[marley mission]

Funky frog courtesy of Eddy Deutsche. Picture stolen from him. He pretty much read my mind. It's really angry here because inner thigh tattoos are a dumb idea.

that frog is so dope - saw that on the IG and wanted to like it 100x

hoping eddy is coming to jersey soon

he was at smith not long ago but i missed him - no $ or something like that

he's a tattooing legend and i've heard a pretty cool guy too

and oh - yeah - thighs are a tough tough heal imo

but who cares right - enjoy :)

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Funky frog courtesy of Eddy Deutsche. Picture stolen from him. He pretty much read my mind. It's really angry here because inner thigh tattoos are a dumb idea.

that frog is so dope - saw that on the IG and wanted to like it 100x

hoping eddy is coming to jersey soon

he was at smith not long ago but i missed him - no $ or something like that

he's a tatooing legend and i've heard a pretty cool guy too

[hfs40000]

Funky frog courtesy of Eddy Deutsche. Picture stolen from him. He pretty much read my mind. It's really angry here because inner thigh tattoos are a dumb idea.

I love this. I'm curious about what you asked him for. I need something from Eddy but the best ones he posts are always things i would never have thought of. Like the goldfish with the kappa inside someone posted recently.

[polliwog]

I just said I wanted a frog and told him I liked the one he did recently at Skull and Sword. I suggested flames, waves, anything else he wanted to add, but he came up with this with almost no input from me. I think if you give him a lot of freedom, he'll do something cool.

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@marley mission you have to catch him when he's in New York.

[exume]

@polliwog nice! I was loving that one when it popped up on instagram, glad it belongs to someone here! Eddy is the man.

Oh, I got a little filler yesterday from Nikki Balls, I'll get a picture up soon.

edit: here's a picture

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEbXDZfIzSb/

[Zillah]

Got a gecko rose morph done this week; waiting for the healing to finish...

By Nick Agnew of Kingsland Ink, Auckland, New Zealand

https://www.instagram.com/p/BELE1HbCSjf/?taken-by=karliahquinn&hl=en

[jjb911nj]

Finished my arm about a month ago at leathernecks tattoo in Brooklyn. Done by Rich Bustamante.

[chrisnoluck]

got this sacred heart from joe nickley almost 2 weeks ago

and this from chris kline at the scranton convention this past weekend

andddd yesterday i made an appointment with bert krak for next month while he's at old soul!

[oboogie]

I popped in to see my artist Josh last night, and I got this. I've loved Prince since I was a kid, so it seemed appropriate. #musicnerd

[otisc]

Well, today was the day!

What a long, but great day! It began a little before 11:00am. I was the first one in Triple Crown Tattoo with Scott Ellis (most of the day, there were 10-15 people there, and at one point six artists were tattooing simultaneously). He had been working on a few designs based on the sleeve length I wanted. Over the week between today and our consultation, I had decided to ask him to put the dragon's head somewhere on my arm instead of with the head in the more traditional chest area. I was a little worried to be asking for this, as Scott has a relatively new sleeve with the head in the center, and the last thing I wanted was for him to think I was trying to copy his own tattoo. Luckily, when I got there, he informed me that the last several dragons he had done had the head on the chest, and he was dying to do something new. Perfect! His sketches had just what I wanted. It was a really good sign.

However, getting it right took some time. Using thin paint brushes, he created the design over four separate layers. The dragon's head had to be moved several times, and the unique swirl of the dragon we decided on what difficult to get right without looking like the head was plopped onto the center of the body... but Scott is a perfectionist, and after a lot of erasing and revising, and then relining, and revising, etc... we were finally done with a design ready to be inked at 2:40. With only a few short breaks, it took a lot longer than I expected. But the result is something that works specifically with my body as opposed to just slapping a template onto my arm. I love it.

Here is a quick snap of Scott somewhere between layer 2 and 3 of sketching on me:

I haven't had a tattoo in nearly 20 years, so I had no idea what to expect from the pain, especially over so many areas. Tattooing in the ditch was no treat, but not as bad as I had come to expect from reading. The outside of the elbow lived up to expectations. But the worst was around my collarbone, where any wincing or tightening of my face would risk pulling the skin under his needle. And there was one spot on my chest where I could clearly feel the vibration on my pec, but the pain was in my neck. I could have sworn at the time he was tattooing my upper-middle neck.

Long story short (yeah, right), we finished up the linework a little after 5:00pm. I am absolutely thrilled with the result... and was getting tons of compliments on it by the many artists and clients in the shop throughout the day. Here is a front shot:

It is a little difficult to see from this angle and with only linework, but the dragon's body actually goes out the back of the head and swirls up and around the shoulders through the clouds and comes out belly showing under his head before turning again towards the end of the sleeve. It makes a little more sense visually if you can see the back. I also have the dragon clutching a pearl with his talons on the back on the sleeve and will actually be filling the pearl with a significant flower logo in the next session.

Overall, a fantastic day. I couldn't be happier that Scott got all the elements I wanted into the design, was able to keep it very traditional, but also with a great deal of uniqueness built just for me. If any readers are in Austin, Triple Crown Tattoo on Chicon Street (right around the corner from Franklin's BBQ!) is a must-visit.

[Devious6]

It looks awesome! I can't wait to see more pics as you progress with it.

[polliwog]

That is such a great start to your tattoo, and thank you for taking the time to write about your experience in detail. I really enjoyed reading it.

[Cameron Jose]

Got one from Adam Hathorn (aka Honkey Kong) yesterday at Guru Tattoo in San Diego. First time getting tattooed in my hometown, Adam made it a really memorable session. The dude is full of stories and a super interesting guy, I'd recommend anybody in So Cal to go check him out if they get the chance

[Lance]

Last Saturday I got tattooed by Jill Bonny. No photos as we started background shading on the Warrior Monk piece I started last October, but here's a pic of the outline from then. I don't think I ever posted this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/9nIkHlpDV8/

Sunday I also got tattooed by Horitomo. All machine work this time. Finally, I have a skull tattoo and a praying hands tattoo. It's part of a pair but I was a bit under the weather and after lack of sleep, flying, and being tattooed the day before, I could barely lay through the sitting to finish 1 side.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEUlGU-sVLv/

[oboogie]

Got one from Adam Hathorn (aka Honkey Kong) yesterday at Guru Tattoo in San Diego. First time getting tattooed in my hometown, Adam made it a really memorable session. The dude is full of stories and a super interesting guy, I'd recommend anybody in So Cal to go check him out if they get the chance

LOVE this. Really cool!

I love monkeys, apes, gorillas, and orangutans. I have two monkey tattoos.

[marley mission]

LOVE this. Really cool!

I love monkeys, apes, gorillas, and orangutans. I have two monkey tattoos.

a SJ ALOHA monkey is on my list of classics i need on me

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LOVE this. Really cool!

I love monkeys, apes, gorillas, and orangutans. I have two monkey tattoos.

a SJ ALOHA monkey is on my list of classics i need on me

[DJDeepFried]

Last Saturday I got tattooed by Jill Bonny. No photos as we started background shading on the Warrior Monk piece I started last October, but here's a pic of the outline from then. I don't think I ever posted this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/9nIkHlpDV8/

Sunday I also got tattooed by Horitomo. All machine work this time. Finally, I have a skull tattoo and a praying hands tattoo. It's part of a pair but I was a bit under the weather and after lack of sleep, flying, and being tattooed the day before, I could barely lay through the sitting to finish 1 side.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEUlGU-sVLv/

Impeccable as always, @Lance. That makes three Monmon cats now, yes? Hard to tell where the pieces are on your body from the pics. Where did you still have room?

[TrixieFaux]

Sorry to hear you weren't feeling well, but damn @Lance! Love the new monmon. Great work going on there.