Leaderboard

Got this a couple weeks ago from Justin at Blacklist Tattoo in Portland. In a little over a week I should have another new tattoo to post and then three days after that I am getting my back piece lined and shaded.

sky james was nice enough to tattoo an image off his flash sheet he did for the book on both kayla and i. both are zeis/bill jones referenced. they were done with a zeis machine built by steve turner.

craig brown from portland. Craig Brown Tattoo or Craig Brown - Historic Tattoo *** 503-236-3440 *** 2001 SE 50th Portland, Oregon 97215 he did one of my favorite sheets for the zeis book so far.

This lovely rose and cut throat razor by Mario Desa, in the ditch of my arm. And these little buggers on my thumbs by Stefano C. And a waffle with a scoop each of banana and pistachio ice cream at Amorino before.

Iwo Jima Eddies stomach is the shit

That is BA! Thanks for the treat. Can't help but love a tattoo you can see from across the room and know what it is but that can be seen from across the street, very cool. All said and done, it's the skill, pigment and the care of the artist's that tattoo "for the long run" e.g. those whom, with the foresight and forethought, that tattoo with longevity in mind and not a pic for the portfolio. This is to say that, when someone enters into your establishment and a tattoo you did 21 plus years ago is still holding well in pigment and they are there for another tattoo and not a "renewal" then you have validation that you have been doing "true tattooing in it's intended form" for those 21 plus years. Dye lotts and maintaining proper pigments is a major key in the answer to the question posed here as longevity is the goal. I think we all can admit to ourselves that if you do a color portrait with a dozen shades of this and another dozen of that and still another dozen shades of another color until you have forty caps of ink from varying suppliers then you can expect a somewhat tye dye effect in the long run of the life of the tattoo and the smile on the customer, ha! Mixing down the individual color and creating multiple shades from the same "tried and true" color lott's should yield the best results for longevity sake. I started maintaining my "dye lotts" in the early 80's and still have pigments I stocked from back when and what started me on that road was when I had read George Burchetts memoirs where he spoke of the difficulty he had in searching and collecting "ink" in a day and age where most if not all of what you could obtain was of quill pen "ink" variety, it almost begs the question of "what" he used when he tattooed the Queen out of her Doctors"surgery" as he called it. A fine example of obtaining good pigment in more recent times would be when "tribal" came to be so popular in the USA, simple bold black.....it was like everybody was stumped for finding something so simple and I was one of those spending loads on what some claimed was the best, I threw out several tubbs of stuff I had good money in and reworked for free what boomeranged back while experimenting, ha! Truth had it that pitch black was always around all along, it just took some mixing to create something you would never use for detail work as it needs to be at that "stain" value. Anyhow, I always bear in mind the longevity of what I do whether portrait or Pegasus, makes for good rep return business and ultimately is what should be considered "proper" in tattooing for the sake of the trade.

One of those tattoos looks like the Kool Aid guy, which would be fine except how do you need someone to design that for you?

Thanks everybody - sorry for missing this one. should be fixed now, let me know if not. ;) @Gia Dobson @Lochlan @Shannon Shirley

Man there is some real nice work in this thread, my faves are, as have already been mentioned, Valerie Vargas and Sarah Schor and I'd also like to add Xam.... And I may be a little biased but Dennis Pase, this is my fantastic lady head by him...

andrew stickler and jef whitehead both tattooed images off the sheet they did on me. no pics though.

it may not be a popular opinion, but i really don't like those kind of tattoos on the first page.. stuff like that is usually the bottom end of poorly done 'neo-traditional'. the attached picture by chad koeplinger is great.. i guess it helps it's done well, and is tasteful.

awesome thanks yall!

holy moly - thanks for pointing this out! should be fixed now, let me know if not. @Lochlan

lars frederickson has a questionable forehead tattoo

I had to come back and see the Robert Johnson tattoo. Ah, sweet devils music. Love that.

Angry birds Rio is hella hard. 60% of the stress in my life is angry birds.

This is a portrait of my boy Noah by Ray Wewerka (Flaming Art Tattoo) Caryford England. I love this tat as Ray actually took the photo of my boy months before I decided that was the pic for his portrait.

this might be my first post, been lurking for a bit. my first tattoo was a few years ago. my lady paid for it for my birthday. hurt pretty good, still didn't get the whole tattoo thing after getting this one, i got one more because of some coaxing from my brother...after that one...i'm pretty addicted to the whole experience. i think i've been lucky to get work done from guys who are nice dudes, personable and make the whole experience really unique.

So far my worst has been my sternum. Shit was awful! Done by Jr Tubbs in Ashtabula Ohio. Don't mind the man boobs....

If I had the cash, I would pay that many times, again and again. No problemo. I mean, fuck, these tattoo are all perfect! Sorry for hijacking the thread!!

Just writing this from the ryokan Im staying in while in Japan. A bit of a movable feast of tattooing-related holiday stuff over the past week.... Also laying the ground for some work next year. My girlfriend has been accepted by Shige as a client and will start her backpiece next year - amazing stuff, and I was slightly star-struck when Shige walked in the door of Yellow Blaze for her appointment. As she is planning a return visit to begin around this time next year, and because I know the dates we will be back over the next while (roughly), Im planning my own work around that. I am going to try and work in a few small pieces while when we are over next, and to that end I called into Harizanmai Tattoo in Kyoto today and spoke briefly with Gakkin about a piece next year. Also took in Horyioshi III museum in Yokohama and met his son and successor smoking nonchalantly at reception. Awesome trip so far!

First tattoo was "RISE ABOVE" on my ankles. It was done by a Sureño who worked in the Applebee's kitchen while I was a host. Its obviously a Black Flag tattoo. I was also wearing a Black Flag shirt. I was 17 and stupid. Oh, it was in his studio apartment and he smoked the biggest fucking joint I have ever seen outside of the Pantera Videos before he started as well. I mean, if you are going to get a Black Flag tattoo... thats how it should be done.

first tattoo is my chest piece, done by Chris Conn, January of '05. sorry for the crappy photo, and there's been some fading and aging, but i still love it.

I got this little Purple Monkey done yesterday. I know its on the cheesy side, but I got it for my daughter. I've called her Punky Monkey since she was born and her favorite color is purple, I let her pick out the design (she's four by the way) and location. It is also on my left arm which I plan on using for totally random stuff. Damn camera phone sucks ass, bad quality photo.

I've been getting tattooed more in 2011 than I did in the previous few years and after the Robert Ryan/Deno weekend, followed closely by the Thomas Hooper finger jawn... I had said no more tattoos in 2011. Take a breather. Slow my roll. So yeah. Appointment booked with Scott Harrison on 12th September. Fun!

These two pieces are the end result of my fantastic tattoo road trip to the Glastonbury area .The artist,Martin Robson ,is a cool low key guy and a great tattooer who made the whole experience as perfect as could be .

Ross Carlson of Living Art Tattoo & Artwork Rebels Portland tattooed this on me a couple weeks ago while the family was out of town. Party time!

Remember, as difficult as it may be to believe- there are many people out there who view many of our tattoos the same way. Hand tattoos, necks.

forehead tattoos questionable???? LOL. loch, forehead tattoos are always questionable. always. like totally retarded actually. haha. always.

more or less how i see it is that if you can draw it, you can tattoo it. i realize that's not 100% applicable, but it makes sense in my mind. as long as you have a good artist, there's no reason you won't be able to make that work. so get what you love. i think there's no reason to feel stuck because you're worried it won't work. i have no doubt there's someone out there who can make it happen. also, some shameless non-rose personal shares. my most recent and unfinished floral piece. jatropha and clerodendrums:

My wife's name is Felicia, and there's a flower called felicia, so I've got a few incorporated into a piece on my leg: I also have tons of roses, peonies and cherry blossoms, but I still want some nice Filip Leu-style mums.

Done in Petaluma, CA by Clayton @ Electric Oni Tattoo. My cousin Tori passed away, leaving her husband and 5 year old boy behind. She was the best addition to our family and she will be missed. She had the same tattoo on her forearm, but hers said "Angel's Wings Carry Me Home" From Social D. "Bella Demise" was her nickname, which suited her perfectly.