Hello all!

[punkzilla]

I tend to drag things out so I'll try and make this quick! I want to start collecting pieces on my arm, and work my way up to a sleeve. I really enjoy American traditional and Japanese style tattoos. I'm not concerned with the grand meaning behind why I'm getting the tattoo, I want to be able to build memories off of each tattoo as I get them. So how should one go about collecting pieces? Do you choose designs from an artist's gallery? What are some different ways to fill in the gaps between pieces? Any advice is sincerely appreciated, I'm very new to this.

Really excited to be a part of the forum. Hope to show you guys my first piece soon :) 

[Gingerninja]

Hey there! Welcome to the forum. Quick question - do you plan on staying with one artist or collecting pieces from a bunch of people?

Both traditional and Japanese have a ton of common imagery (re: daggers, panthers, roses, tigers, shishsi, peonies, demons). I suggest finding a few artists from each style then start looking at what they are doing. Look at the people that THEY are following. Go to tattoo conventions. If you see pieces that resonate with you, ask who did the piece.

You'll need to decide for yourself if you like negative space between the different pieces. The cool thing with Japanese style is that fingerwaves, clouds and rocks always are the perfect fillers.

Where do you live?

 

 

[punkzilla]

I plan on getting pieces from many different artists, but of course that could change if I find a really good artist. 

I live in Salt Lake City!

Edited September 18, 2017 by punkzilla

[SStu]

Craig can do american traditional. Check out the owl here: http://heartofgoldtattoo.com/craig-secrist/

Austin Jones is another of my favorites, but he's more neo-traditional https://www.instagram.com/austinxjones/?hl=en