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I thought we could use a thread that shined a little light on some of the artists we love, but aren't necessarily very renowned or getting the recognition we feel they deserve. Lets get the ball rolling.... I've been a fan of the work of James Tex of Deadly Tattoos inc, located in Calgary, Canada, for a few years now. I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with his work, and some members here might even know him personally and/or have tattoos from him. Anyways, I stumbled across him a while back in another tattoo forum where a member showed off the progress of a Samurai sleeve he was getting done from Tex. I was blown away by his work, and to my great viewing pleasure he had a fairly large online portfolio on his shops website: Deadly Tattoos inc. I'm not sure if everyone agrees with me in that he's "low key", but I can't say that I have read an article about him or seen any pictures of his tattoo except on his website (and obviously the forum I mentioned). Here's a few samples of his work from his online portfolio:

So Scott Sterling and I went on another roadtrip. This time of year it is always to Inksmith and Rogers to stay with the Wilsonian Institute of Tattooing...ah..I mean Mike Wilson. Always a good time. But this trip was especially eye opening because we went to Augusta Georgia to Interview Jennie and Ledann Peace. The legacy of Tex and Ann Peace of Portsmith Va. Cap Coleman finished tattooing working for Tex and Ann and Scott and had met Jennie and Ledann last summer at the augusta convention we did with Mike and Angelo last year. Jennie has been tattooing since 1971 when Tex broke her in. It is a great story i will tell or rather she will tell in full detail in the interview,but the basics are she showed up to work instead of Ledann one day and asked Tex and Ann to teach her,Tex lined up some stewbums and said "free tattoos" she did 3 of those,then they went to half price,for three more then full price,she did 25 tattoos the first day and that was it...off and running. She still tattoos without caps on her machines basically because Tex told her they were useless,she also is a prolific flash painter, mostly colored pencil like Coleman and Paul, but Tex would circle the designs he wanted done out of the back of the Spaulding catalog and Jennie would use a magnifying glass, and they are just beautiful. It was almost like stepping into a time machine back to the early 80s...Really impressive,.......the state of tattooing is beyond tainted when it went from one shop in augusta to over 40 now...So sad...but she is still tattooing although the Peace Family shop closed earlier in the year after 40 years open,she is working at alliance ink now....You would be doing yourself a favor to get a tattoo from her,both Scott and I got one,using two supremes from 30 years ago. They had been working off acetates until about 3 years ago,when they went to the green bay convention and got hipped on thermofaxes...With so many kids now trying to be traditional tattooers it gets no more traditional then Jennie Peace. I will post some pics later..I am at the shop now and do not have the right cord to download from my phone. Of course Inksmith and Rogers are family so the trip they was great as always everyone working there is smokin,please watch for Eric Inksmiths interview in TAM, also Jennie and Ledann Peaces...I also have a great article coming out in Penthouse "The Penthouse Guide to picking a tattooer or how not to be a dummy hanging on the dummy rail" I tattooed the editor for penthouse on during my trip to NYC with Bob Roberts in october...they got weak and hired me to write one. Shot at 2011-12-24 Shot at 2011-12-24 Shot at 2011-12-24 Shot at 2011-12-24

Some pals of mine are having a gallery opening at New Image Art here in Los Angeles. Come on out and see some very cool installations. I wrote a little blog about it, like to see it? Here is goes....... http://www.jetblackstains.com/2011/12/drugs-crew-x-new-image-art.html

This is all pretty interesting, for some reason I didn't expect there to be such varied answers to it- glad there are though :) For me, I think I could easily be with a guy who didn't have tattoos, as long as he was interested. If I couldn't have a good conversation about tattoos in any way, I probably wouldn't see the point. I already bore friends who aren't interested, haha. My best friend doesn't have a line on his body, but he still knows about tattoos and is really interested in them (just says he doesn't want them on his own skin- he'll change his mind, I reckon). If he wasn't interested in tattoos, I don't think we'd be best friends, because I'd bore him to death about work stuff or whatever magazine I'm shoving in his face at the time! When it comes to attractiveness, I don't think tattoos are that important, they're just a really great bonus, as long as they're good tattoos anyway.

Not the best photo in the world, I tried to lighten it up a bit, but here's a tattoo I noticed on a Blackheart visit recently -

Rob Benavides submitted it to the TAM issue 4 and it is dated 04. Dont know if he was first...

Kahlil is doing my back piece. He is a great artist and a super nice guy.

Anybody mention Kahlil Rintye? Ed Hardy's Tattoo City I've been a fan for quite some time. Timeless stuff. There is some weird amazing spark of life that just oozes from his stuff.

I was probably drunk, sad and listening to Lucero.

Boom! Facebook Friend Sleeve Tat Is a Hoax, Artist Says [VIDEO] I, for one, am relieved.

There is so much to chew on. Where to start. I guess, time does distort perspectives in alot of cases. I used to think my pop's was heavily tattooed. I know my mom was when she was alive. She even had a monarch on her hand. Then, years later I started hanging with my pop's as an adult, and I remember, being shocked, when seeing his tattoos, that he really wasnt as blasted as I had remembered as a kid. I mean he was heavily tattooed. But by this time, I had full sleeves. It was odd to wrap my head around, the distortion of my childhood perspective. When I started getting tattooed, you were either an adventurous collector which consisted of the norm, you were a stripper, in a band, a convict, or a tattooer. The adventurous collector, didnt reveal their tattoos unless they had crossed the line and jumped head long into the freak catergory. I dont mean freak in a bad way at all. It was just how society treated them. They were people who went way out of the standard of the norm. Past the military regulation. Past the caution of their tattooers advice. Past what their family thought of them. They jumped out there, when no one else was out there...just to do it. The price they paid was being treated poorly by their peers, their families, by society in general. Not all of course. Some, and I still think this is a variable, had mental illness. Attention seekers, one shot ponies trying to make a name for themselves, being a freak. The magazines pushed this into the limelight. I saw quite a few people dive into the trend because after a couple shots of themselves in the magazines, it seemed they became addicted to the exposure. Every magazine for a stretch, you can see them having more tattoos in a short amount of time. I won't name the obvious. All you have to do, is look back in the archive of the rags. I thought I was heavily tattooed with my half sleeves and chest panel in the early nineties. I was to my biker boyfriend. Then I met a young woman in Sacramento that blew my mind. She was younger than me and had her entire body tattooed. I loved it. I had known Elizabeth Weinzirl, and a couple other heavily tattooed women. But not any around my age. I had been the freak amongst my peers, until I met this other young lady. It was inspiring to me. She was beautiful. My point being. It wasnt so common to be obviousily tattooed. The norms hid their bodysuits under their fancy suits and white ties. The little old swinger lady carefully dressed herself while in public as to not stir a commotion of interest in her until she wanted to reveal her secret. The rest of us, didnt care what anyone thought and we werent trying to be apart of a clan. Then, the mtv generation hit. Every dumb fuck from every part of the planet wanted to purchase the look of a rockstar. Neck sleeves, hand tattoos and socks. Let me tell ya, you get those boys naked and it was a huge turn off. They had run the course backward. It was a turn off to me, because of the time I came from. I was brought in through a different door, so to speak. So, in the beginning of my career, there was no, tattooers being tattooed vs. norms being tattooed. We were all in the same boat living on different islands. As society became more seasoned to the art of tattooing. I noticed high end restaurants in SF and NYC hiring tattooed beauties as servers. It had become schick. And it certainly was. Main stream had caught on, with how beautiful tattooed people can be. The only shortcircuit feeling I get from people now, is those that get tattooed to be apart of the scene. Example. Look at when the suicide girls started. It was hot!. All those lovely punkrock grrrls I had never seen naked, were displaying themselves for the world to see. Difference from then til' now. Those first bunch of grrrls were the real deal. Most all the ones that came afterward, got tattooed to be like them, or they simply got tattooed to be a suicide girl. I hope you can see the comparison Im trying to make here. Its like watching the eighties style cloths come back into fashion and the youngsters are wearing all the crap the cool people didnt wear back then. They are caught in a trend. I definitely have been caught in a few myself. Guess thats how we learn. What you see now on tv, is because its a trend. Its acceptable, so the networks seem to be marketing towards those that they think would be interested. They too, and Im thankful for this, have missed the mark. As some of you may be experiencing. Its past tense now. So, once they see that with their ratings, they will move on to something else that strikes our fancy. Im too old and fat now adays to be sold to the public. Especially on tv. The tv shows came after my prime. We didnt have internet, websites, even some of my close tattooer pals in the industry, didnt know what I could do. They didnt seem to care who was doing what unless they were in a magazine to confirm their talents. And if a bunch didnt know you, then who were you but someone slinging ink to get by. I guess another way to explore this, is if I had a kid, he/she would be in their mid twenties now. Possibly heavily tattooed or not, having been raised in a tattoo household. Being a different generation. Even my kids, if I had had them, would not know how it used to be, accept from the stories I would have told them as to how it used to be when I was a kid. Sounds like repeated history. :) Is there a moral? If you love tattoos, then wear them. Just make sure you are doing it, because you love them and not because everyone else does too. Respectfully, Mikki ps. Sorry Deb to rant on your topic. :)=

The Donger is one of the best Chinese food deliveries in the east bay for sure. Their vegetarian items are top shelf and I'm not even vegetarian with my favorite one being the kung pao fake chicken. Then the fried wontons with cream cheese and crab could be currency! plus all their meat items, mmm! You used to be able to ask for a calendar when you ordered and they'd bring you a free scroll like one with badass tigers and dragons on them.

Mario I thought of your post the other night when I watched "The Next Food. Network Star" and THREE of the contestants were sleeved, one with hands and fingers, the other on to his neck. But Mario even in a convention hall full of people you manage to stand on your own with your unique and individual style sense --- and that's a good thing!

I got a 2012 tattoo in 2010. Fuck it.

i've hung out with mike before, am a fan of his graffiti and drawings, have nothing against the guy, but...his tattoos are awful. his style doesn't translate well to the body at all and he has no real concept of tattoo design and it seems no intention of learning how to correctly design tattoos and execute them well. it seems that the main reason people want tattoos from him is they are fans of his other artwork. you're better off buying a print or drawing i think. i also read that interview where he says flat-out that the clothing label pays him more so he quit tattooing. pretty fucking lame. but, to each their own. we all pay our own bills in the end.

For this round of The Three Questions I decided to turn to Ross Nagle whose tattoos I was introduced to via this forum when we started it. I was quickly impressed and it has turned into some email dialogues with him who I hope to meet and get tattooed by when we are in the same city hopefully sooner than later. Ross joined LST early in our launch and has been active since which is even more awesome because we get to see his new tattoos and hear from him often. Beyond his activity on the tattoo forums and tattoo blogs I regularly check his blog alongside several other tattooers and shops. I enjoy all his tattoos but really am drawn to his religious tattoos especially the black and grey ones with minimal if any color which in turn makes the blood on a jesus or crown of thorns or what-have-yous really stand out. The other cool thing about his shop and blog is that they regularly have some damn good tattooers guest spotting at their shop which they write about and post tattoo pictures of their tattoos while visiting. I strongly encourage you to get tattooed by Ross either at his shop Allstar Ink in Limerick Ireland and/or hit him up at a convention as he seems to be at many of the European ones. Below the three questions are someways you can checkout his tattoos. With that I give you The Three Questions and Ross Nagle (sorry no pictures of his personal tattoos were obtainable)...... Ross Nagle LST Page Ross Nagle Blog Allstar Ink Twitter Ross Nagle Facebook

Man, everybody already used my smart-ass answers but the Greg Irons quip was funnier than I could have come up with. But back to the original question. This is one of the newer approaches to tattooing that makes me slightly uncomfortable to be honest. Myself and a few tattooers I know and work with have noticed the trend of customers finding a sense of pride in how long they had to wait for their tattoo. As if that makes the tattoo more worthwhile. With some of the currently living/working tattooers mentioned in this thread, I personally know people (not even on the internet) that have tattoos from all of them. Filip, Horiyoshi III, Shige and Mike Rubendall. Yeah, they had to wait a little while for some of them but not as long as you'd think for others. Mike Roper is a different situation because he makes it deliberately difficult to get in touch with him, which answers the question posed above. But that wasn't really the question that was asked and it's rarely the question that gets asked. The question, or at least the implication, is "who has the longest waiting list' or "who has appointments booked furthest into the future". If I were to be snarky "who gives me the most bragging rights". For me the hardest people to get a tattoo from are the tattooers who are located furthest away from me. The ones where I have to get off my ass and do something about it. Time is easier to overcome than distance although patience is a different matter. It astonishes me that people call our shop from the outskirts of the city expecting us to change the way we work because they are catching a train to get here. On the other hand, we are humbled and honoured by the people who cross seas and continents to get tattooed regularly with us. But that's aside from the issue. Why is it a trend that makes me uncomfortable? Because I've heard people brag about how long they had to wait for 'x' artist and wear that information like a badge of honour. It feels almost as distasteful as bragging about who charges the most. Yeah, tattoos are for tough guys and tough buys like to brag and maybe that seems harmless, but it makes me uncomfortable and I have trouble clearly explaining why. Maybe it's because it's a phenomenon spurred on by the internet and the gossipy world of hearsay. Nobody calls and checks with the artists or shops they want to get tattooed at. Nobody travels down to the shop to ask the question. They just ask random strangers on the internet who have a lot of time on their hands and like to talk about something they know nothing about. Then the reality gets lost or twisted and in the end the real information is lost. I see this a lot with regards to the shop I work at. Forums are (or certainly used to be) bursting with 'facts' about how much we charge, how long we take, how far 'x' and 'y' are booked or how long their waiting lists are. Nobody calls the shop to ask and nobody suggests that the person calls to ask. I know that happens with a lot of things but it seems like this is starting to have a real-world effect, however small. People who wanted tattoos that we would love to do heard that we wouldn't tattoo them at our shop because we were so cool and busy and booked up for decades and rolling around in money 'n' bitches or something. We've heard of this a few times and it seems to be happening more. Yeah, we're busy, you may have to wait a little, maybe not. If someone has contact information, especially a phone number on their website it means that they want you to call. I'm not really going to touch on the tone of the "are they a fad or are they really worth it?" comment, except to say that if you have to ask, the answer is "no". Sorry to jump on this fun thread with a rant. I look forward to more witty quips.

Jon Gerhard, tattoo artist and owner of Lucky Drive in San Rafael, suffered a grand mal seizure on March 4th, 2011 and was diagnosed with a glioblastoma grade IV cancerous tumor located at the right frontal lobe of his brain. A benefit is being held for Jon and his family at Servino Ristorante in Tiburon on Friday, June 10, 2011 at 6:30pm. If you know a business that would like to donate a prize for the opportunity drawing or silent auction, please email their contact details to Sarah at [email protected]. 100% of the money received for the purchase of raffle tickets and silent auction items will go directly to Jon Gerhard and his family (he has two children ages seven and eleven). For more information, go to: http://jongerhard.blogspot.com/ Thank you!

Yes, that book has been a great resource for info. This book would not have been possible without Chuck Eldridge and Dana Brunson. So many people have been very helpful in piecing together everything. Right now I think we are close to having all the material needed for the book but we are still trying to track down any photographs of Zeis (they are hard to come by). One thing we really need is an original copy of a Zeis supply catalog. The one I have is a copy and I want to scan a few things off the OG catalog. If anyone has one you would be willing to loan me for use in the book please contact me. Here is a small list of artists (not all, still working out the details) that are contributing paintings of commercial flash sold by Zeis. Scott Sylvia Theo Mindell Scott Harrison Chad Koeplinger Jason Brooks Robert Ryan Timothy Hoyer Mike Wilson Tim Lehi Nick Colella Valerie Vargas Stewart Robson Bryan Burk Steve Byrne Tony Hundahl Nick Rodin Jay Chastain Danny Reed Shag Cory Lenherr Aaron Coleman Jay Chastain Thomas Morgan Charlie Roberts and a bunch more... Again its humbling how many people have been willing to help with this project. Zeis's influence on the tattoo world is much greater than I had expected. I hope we can do him justice and preserve his legacy for others.

Heres Mine.... Its a memorial tattoo for my grandpa we called him the buzzard. Was an electrician and taught judo for 60 years hence the "judo belt and electrical wires" Done by BIG5 @ Union Electric

I'm still partial to my Chest eagle from Bailey Hunter Robinson I get stopped on the street about this one I have from Scott Campbell all the time though But my current favorite is my ribs just finished by Chuck Daly

I bet she smells like sweaty leather and cigarettes.

Dude, cmon those stars represent my cousin's girlfriend's struggle with strength. And also honor.

What ever Chad Koeplinger does next

1) tiny lettering upside down on the wrist 2) paragraphs of tiny lettering on the ribs and inner bicep 3) even smaller tiny lettering behind the ear.

Huge sections of script on the ribs--in the shape of an owl!