Hey guys

[Ronald]

Hey guys and gals, my name is Ron. I'm a 32 year old massive stroke survivor. It had me in a 3 week coma and then the hospital for 3 months but even though the right half of my body was virtually lost I still kicked it's ass! I had the stroke because I lived a very unhealthy lifestyle. I weighed close to 500 lbs when it hit me. I am down to 340 now and still making progress!

I have 2 tiny tattoos at the moment of my name in Japanese. They are on the inside of my forearm and first name right arm and last name left. I am ready to get not only a cover up tattoo for each side but sleeves. I'll post some quick shots of what I have now after the introduction portion of this post. I am gonna spend the next few days absorbing any information you guys are willing to share. I am a true tattoo newbie and welcome all input from you vets ;)

[jen7]

Welcome and congrats on being tough as nails and fighting your way back!

[SeeSea]

Wow - what a story! Welcome! This is a great place to surf around for hours and hours....and hours. Enjoy.

[bongsau]

Welcome @Ronald. Congrats on cheating the reaper. May your journey down the tattoo-rabbit hole be exciting, knowledgeable and humbling.

peace

[Ronald]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys and gals. Any clue why my images won't post? They are crap pictures of my soon to be covered tattoos but I would love to get them posted.

[SStu]

welcome!

no idea on the pictures, but I use photobucket and then paste the direct link into the Image icon (above the post editor).

[Ronald]

Oh cool thanks SStu. Do I need to have a dark color like black to cover them well? I've read about cover ups a bit but nothing real definitive on color.

[Graeme]

Oh cool thanks SStu. Do I need to have a dark color like black to cover them well? I've read about cover ups a bit but nothing real definitive on color.

Your best bet is to do a lot of research on different artists and once you've chosen one, ask him or her about it. Generally speaking you can't cover darker with lighter, but there are a lot of factors involved in this, and the skill and experience of the artist is paramount here.

- - - Updated - - -

Here's an example of why skill and experience matters. Jason Minauro who tattoos in the Tampa area in Florida put this on his Instagram over a year ago and it's nothing short of spectacular.

Before:

After:

[Ronald]

Yeah that's pretty amazing. I'm having trouble deciding on a tattoo to begin my arm coverage. Also still can't decide on if I want to begin with my upper arm or go from wrist upward.

Oh i'm in Florida too but Jacksonville here.

[Graeme]

Oh nice. I cannot recommend that you check out Inksmith and Rogers highly enough. They have a few locations throughout Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach. Mike Wilson at the I&R in Jacksonville Beach is in my opinion one of the best tattooers in the world and excels in pretty much any style worth doing, but everybody working at those shops in exceptional and more than capable of giving you an excellent tattoo.

Also, I forgot to welcome you, so welcome and I'm glad you're on the mend.