Hello from Northern Ireland

[Gigi McQueen]

Hello everyone. Just wanted to say what a great forum this is. Thank you for having me around, I am excited to get to know so many tattoo enthusiasts, and am here to simply look at and learn as much about tattoos as I can.

Gigi

[gougetheeyes]

Hey Gigi! Do you have tattoos yourself? Where do you go, what you got, etc?

[Gigi McQueen]

Hi, and thanks for the welcome. Yes, I have a few pretty small ones, that were really based on impulse, when I had no clue about tattooing. I got them in White Dragon in Belfast. I am pregnant at the moment with the baby due in a few weeks, so if everything goes to plan, later this year or early next I will be getting many more. I have been cautious this time, i know what I want, I just need to find the right person to do it. Thats really why I joined the forum.

I want some really realistic/hyper realistic work on both upper arms, coming across my chest., , natural images like stoats, and otters,fox's and birds, flowers and leaves etc. Anyone know anyone in the U.K. who specialises in this sort of stuff?

Edited August 25, 2012 by Gigi McQueen
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[gougetheeyes]

Killer. You came to the right place -- and congrats on the baby!

[Gigi McQueen]

Thank you, choosing a name is nearly as hard as choosing an artist!

If anyone can think of a nice name for a little girl please share!

[TrixieFaux]

Ireland is a place I've always wanted to see. Hm, well, we finally agreed on the name Stella for our daughter (now 4 1/2). Others on my list were: Sidra, Lydia, and Violet... For a boy I had wanted Anton and DJ wasn't going for it, good thing we had a girl. Welcome!

[gougetheeyes]

Just stay away from these American Baby Names Are Somehow Getting Even Worse

[Dan S]

Ireland is a place I've always wanted to see. Hm, well, we finally agreed on the name Stella for our daughter (now 4 1/2). Others on my list were: Sidra, Lydia, and Violet... For a boy I had wanted Anton and DJ wasn't going for it, good thing we had a girl. Welcome!

STELLA!!!!

I know, I know...too young to get the reference...lucky girl!

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Here is a link toi Den Yakovlev's Tumblr feed. I think he is probably the most hyper-realistic tattooist working today. Just my opinion. Anyhow, he works out of Moscow, so it would be a bit of a trip, but I know he travels to do shows and guest spots...you might try contacting him and seeing if/were he will be if you like his work. There is more of it on his FB page.

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/den-yakovlev

[DJDeepFried]

Hey, we're not that young to get the Brando/Streetcar reference. That movie's a classic!

[TrixieFaux]

STELLA!!!!

I know, I know...too young to get the reference...lucky girl!

She gets that all the time so we showed her the youtube of Marlon Brando doing that scene. It's such an emotional scene but she thinks it's hilarious.

[kylegrey]

@Dan S Yes !! mate .

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Oops guess we all get it at the same time .

[Dan S]

Well shit! Glad to see real class hasn't gone outta style!

[TrixieFaux]

Hey, we're not that young to get the Brando/Streetcar reference. That movie's a classic!

Hm, I thought he meant our Stella was too young to get the reference...

Back to Gigi--I have some realistic black & grey roses & a tiger on my arms... but I got them here in Los Angeles: memoir tattoo ©2010

[kylegrey]

@Gigi McQueen Frith Streets Stewart Robson's black & grey is as good as anyones anywhere right now .

Black & Grey Tattoos – Stewart Robson

http://frithstreettattoo.co.uk/

[Gigi McQueen]

Stella is an awesome name, and is added to our list of possibilities, which is rather short so far.Stella, Mia, Kiera, Mika

I had a look last night at the work of Den Yakovlev, and I have to admit I am in awe of his work, he is an amazing artist, but I was also shocked to see so many Nazi Inspired images. I wonder if he is racist, or if he is just happy to tattoo whatever the client asks for ? And if he is into the Nazi culture, I am not sure what it says about me if I give him my business?

I never thought I would be pondering these questions today !

[Mike112]

Hello from Canada, Gigi!

[hogg]

Welcome, and huge congrats on your little one!

[Gigi McQueen]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome.

[TrixieFaux]

Geez, I just did a quick search on Den Yakovlev with the term "racist?" and got several results that say yes he is a proud self proclaimed Nazi. Maybe you can't believe everything you read? But hell no, I personally would not want to give him business regardless of how good of an artist he is. There are plenty of not so hateful tattoo artists to choose from.

Stella is an awesome name, and is added to our list of possibilities, which is rather short so far.Stella, Mia, Kiera, Mika

I had a look last night at the work of Den Yakovlev, and I have to admit I am in awe of his work, he is an amazing artist, but I was also shocked to see so many Nazi Inspired images. I wonder if he is racist, or if he is just happy to tattoo whatever the client asks for ? And if he is into the Nazi culture, I am not sure what it says about me if I give him my business?

I never thought I would be pondering these questions today !

[Dan S]

Geez, I just did a quick search on Den Yakovlev with the term "racist?" and got several results that say yes he is a proud self proclaimed Nazi. Maybe you can't believe everything you read? But hell no, I personally would not want to give him business regardless of how good of an artist he is. There are plenty of not so hateful tattoo artists to choose from.

Ah, I was waiting for someone to come up with the "Nazi" thing.

Den is NOT a Nazi, self-proclaimed or otherwise. He IS the victim of an unrelenting smear attack by leftist fools who see any acknowledgment of history as being in some way "racist".

The images he has tattoed of German soldiers and officers have been just that...German SOLDIERS. Anyone who has humped a pack in any army in the world will tell you they have a degree of respect for another SOLDIER, no matter that they are on opposing sides. He has done no tattoos, that I am aware of, that are of so-called "war-criminals", or NS leaders or heros. The tattoos that have drawn the most fire are two copies of recruiting posters for the Wehrmacht, and a protrait of Joachin Peiper, a famous tank-commander, who was apolitical.

He has also done a good bit of work of Russian SOLDIERS, cosmonauts, and the like.

As for the racist crap, take a look at his FB page, and look at the work he posted yesterday, then go back and look for yourself at the work in his photos.

"Nazi-inspired images"... A "Nazi" was a member of the Nationalist-Socialist German Workers Party. Very few SOLDIERS were Nazis. They fought and died by the millions because that was their profession, and that's what they were ordered to do. The despicable actions of a small minority of one quarter of one branch of the armed forces of a State does not automatically make all others serving in those armed forces some type of fiends.

Let's see, if I follow that resoning, his portrait of a cosmonaut must mean he's a Commie, and his MANY portraits of African children must mean that he's Black, right?

I don't know the guy, never met him, but I've seen enough of the character-assassination by computer to know it when I see it. He does a tattoo of a German soldier in combat, he does a tattoo of a Russian kid in one of the ghettos with right-wing imagery, so he must be a Nazi.

He tattoos life. Are there right-wing youngsters in the old eastern-bloc? Oh yeah. Are there reminders of "The Greast Patriotic War" everywhere in Russia, especially in Moscow, where he lives? Hell yeah.

Again, tattooing those does not make him a racist or a Nazi. Why do people insist on parsing everything in terms of their own ethos?

Here's a nice example. I'm half-Irish. Still have plenty of family there. My Grandda left after Easter Week in '16 with a bounty on his head. I have spent many an hour here and in Ireland going round with lads from the Provos, and from the Real. I strongly agree with their desire for a unified Ireland. I strongly disagree with their, as I see it, socialist, of not outright communist, philosophy. So I shoudl call any of them, or anyonhe that tosses a dollar in the bucket on the bar a Commie, right?

[TrixieFaux]

Ah' date=' I was waiting for someone to come up with the "Nazi" thing.

Den is NOT a Nazi, self-proclaimed or otherwise. He IS the victim of an unrelenting smear attack by leftist fools who see any acknowledgment of history as being in some way "racist".

The images he has tattoed of German soldiers and officers have been just that...German SOLDIERS. Anyone who has humped a pack in any army in the world will tell you they have a degree of respect for another SOLDIER, no matter that they are on opposing sides. He has done no tattoos, that I am aware of, that are of so-called "war-criminals", or NS leaders or heros. The tattoos that have drawn the most fire are two copies of recruiting posters for the Wehrmacht, and a protrait of Joachin Peiper, a famous tank-commander, who was apolitical.

He has also done a good bit of work of Russian SOLDIERS, cosmonauts, and the like.

As for the racist crap, take a look at his FB page, and look at the work he posted yesterday, then go back and look for yourself at the work in his photos.

"Nazi-inspired images"... A "Nazi" was a member of the Nationalist-Socialist German Workers Party. Very few SOLDIERS were Nazis. They fought and died by the millions because that was their profession, and that's what they were ordered to do. The despicable actions of a small minority of one quarter of one branch of the armed forces of a State does not automatically make all others serving in those armed forces some type of fiends.

Let's see, if I follow that resoning, his portrait of a cosmonaut must mean he's a Commie, and his MANY portraits of African children must mean that he's Black, right?

I don't know the guy, never met him, but I've seen enough of the character-assassination by computer to know it when I see it. He does a tattoo of a German soldier in combat, he does a tattoo of a Russian kid in one of the ghettos with right-wing imagery, so he must be a Nazi.

He tattoos life. Are there right-wing youngsters in the old eastern-bloc? Oh yeah. Are there reminders of "The Greast Patriotic War" everywhere in Russia, especially in Moscow, where he lives? Hell yeah.

Again, tattooing those does not make him a racist or a Nazi. Why do people insist on parsing everything in terms of their own ethos?

Here's a nice example. I'm half-Irish. Still have plenty of family there. My Grandda left after Easter Week in '16 with a bounty on his head. I have spent many an hour here and in Ireland going round with lads from the Provos, and from the Real. I strongly agree with their desire for a unified Ireland. I strongly disagree with their, as I see it, socialist, of not outright communist, philosophy. So I shoudl call any of them, or anyonhe that tosses a dollar in the bucket on the bar a Commie, right?[/quote']

Well that's why I said, "maybe you can't believe everything you read.". Still, I prefer to err on the side of caution. The plight of the Jews is too close to my heart. It would be a personal choice of mine still to do business elsewhere. No flame wars necessary. Doesn't really matter, I won't be in Russia any time soon. I still like the tattoos he did of animals.

[Dan S]

No flames, Trixie, I doubt I'll be in Russia next week either-I just can't stand to see someone's character assassinated by gossip.

My sister's husband lost most of his family in the camps in WWII. I lost most of my family in the Gulag after WWII.

Enough suffering to go around without spreading it to people who don't need it!

Over the years of working withe Eastern-Euros, and even to a degree with Western-Euros, I have come to find that their views on things are much different than ours. Not better, not worse, just different. My colleague in Germany, married to a Brazilian, mot a racist bone in his body, didn't see a thing wrong with calling a Black person a n----r, or with taking pictures of them shining shoes, etc. I had to talk to him at great length to make him understand that just wasn't gonna make it here. He meant no offense, he just sees through different eyes.

It would be a personal choice of mine to get my work done by whomever I was most impressed by, no matter their politics. Matter of fact, I've never asked Nick about his, hell, he might be a Rotarian for all I know!

[DJDeepFried]

I don't believe everything I read on the internet. And I can't see into another man's heart. But these are racist images pure and simple:

http://negativekarma.ru/wp-content/gallery/ch-b/tattoo-137.jpg

http://negativekarma.ru/wp-content/gallery/ch-b/tattoo_034.jpg

It's like pornography; you know it when you see it. So no, I would not get a tattoo from this man.

[Dan S]

Not going to go through his portfolio pic by pic, but the first image is one that was printed in many European mags and is of a Russian street kid. Everyday reality there. The second image is from a Wehrmacht recruiting poster printed during WWII.

How either are racist, beats me. The street kid? That's reality there-doesn't make you racist to recognize it. The recruiting poster? Again, soldiers recognize soldiers, period.

Did you bother to look at the rest of his work, or did you jump on the only one's you could find that you could label "racist"?

Next time someone walks by wearing a shirt with Che on it, or asks for a hammer and sickle tattoo, tell them about how they are being fascistic or communist.

[DJDeepFried]

Not going to go through his portfolio pic by pic' date=' but the first image is one that was printed in many European mags and is of a Russian street kid. Everyday reality there. The second image is from a Wehrmacht recruiting poster printed during WWII.

How either are racist, beats me. The street kid? That's reality there-doesn't make you racist to recognize it. The recruiting poster? Again, soldiers recognize soldiers, period.

Did you bother to look at the rest of his work, or did you jump on the only one's you could find that you could label "racist"?

Next time someone walks by wearing a shirt with Che on it, or asks for a hammer and sickle tattoo, tell them about how they are being fascistic or communist.[/quote']

You've gotta be kidding me. A "street kid"? The 88 on his shirt is a known neo-Nazi symbol. I can't say for sure the hanging man in the background is Jewish but it's a good bet he is. The other one could be interpreted as just a soldier if not for the NAZI SWASTIKA around the dude's neck which he could have cropped out of the photo but didn't. I did look at his entire portfolio. There's some beautiful work there along with the Hitler portrait and the SS officer I didn't mention. If someone had a hammer & sickle or a Che tattoo I would say that person has communist/Marxist sympathies. Doesn't necessarily mean the tattoo artist is -- and I never said the man is a Nazi. But those are quite obviously Nazi symbols and they offend me personally. If you don't see that: oh well.