New guy here

[NBMgreg]

Hello all,

I stumbled across this forum and it is right up my alley, so I figured I'd jump in the action!

I'm Greg, 26, living in Los Angeles. After years of waiting (mainly being scared) I finally got my first tattoo about 8 months ago, a traditional style compass on my inner bicep. After that I was bit by the bug, like most, and started planning an entire theme for the same arm. The dilemma was, as much as I love traditional style tattoos, I have always been a fan of black and grey over color. So I made a big decision and decided I'm doing my entire arm black and grey. I haven't come across any others like it, and so far it is coming out awesome, and it tends to spark a good amount of interest/compliments

As of now the entire arm is lined (not so "traditional", I know), and the complete forearm is done. I go in this weekend to finish everything else, and I will post more detailed pics of the rest afterwards.

I did have one question though, that I've been thinking about for a while now: do I go ahead and go balls out with stars and dots filler, or would that drown out the detail of each piece, seeing as they're already dark in color? I can appreciate negative space just as much as filler.

I'm posting from my phone, so I don't think I can attach images.. But I do have a few in my gallery. All were taken right after the work was done, the roses almost look blue/greenish, but healed up to a nice light grey.

[deadsp0t]

Welcome to the show! Your tattoos look great!!

[gougetheeyes]

Welcome dude, good luck getting it finished!

[NBMgreg]

Thanks guys! Been chipping away at it slowly the past 5 months or so, I'll be happy to finally have it all finished. Maybe once I see the finished product it will be an easier decision to go with filler or leave it negative spaced.

[Graeme]

Your sleeve looks like it's coming together super well, and welcome to LST! There's a thread here about tattoo silhouettes and negative space that you should read before deciding one way or the other about background.

[NBMgreg]

I actually did read that, but can't post in there since I'm still a noob :(

As soon as I'm able, I'll be venturing that way though. Thanks!

[HaydenRose]

Who is doing your tattoos? They look great!!

[NBMgreg]

Who is doing your tattoos? They look great!!

Thanks! The place is called Studio City Tattoo.. It's pretty much in the north Hollywood area.

My original compass was done by a guy named Jose Menendez.. I enjoyed the experience so much that I went back to him for the whole arm. He's done a great job of putting my ideas on paper.

[motsimus]

Welcome man , I'm also going for all black and grey ,you can find some pics in my gallery. I think stars and dots look really nice when done properly what I did was get a sharpie and drew on the stars and dots just as a crummy test but it did look pretty good.

Very Nice tattoos also

[NBMgreg]

Welcome man , I'm also going for all black and grey ,you can find some pics in my gallery. I think stars and dots look really nice when done properly what I did was get a sharpie and drew on the stars and dots just as a crummy test but it did look pretty good.

Very Nice tattoos also

Wow that's good stuff man! I dig the chest piece. I read a few times in the thread posted above about stars and dots done "properly".. Do you happen to have any examples of proper stars and dots versus an incorrect way?

[motsimus]

here are some examples I found , the first one by rich hardy and the second one by ben fraser are both great because the arms are heavily tattooed and then the stars and dots are tattooed consistently and evenly, this third image (unsure of the tattooer) doesn't have enough tattoos before it has been filled with stars and dots and the whole arm just seems a bit bare and open in my opinion.

i hope this helps.

[NBMgreg]

Ahhh I see now.. Yeah I completely agree. I have actually found that last one on google a while ago and thought something looked off. So far I've only got two spots where there's a significant amount of space left.. If I do decide to do filler I'll put something there before doing the filler.

Thanks man