Leaderboard

However in 1984, when Greg died, there were far fewer tattooers and MANY of them were less tattooed in relation to tattooers of today.

got this bad boy on Thursday. Earl is the middle name that my dad gave me. pretty fucking stoked on it.

To quote Lil B: "and also if your thugging super hard adopt a pet. honestly a cat. it will relax you. a baby cat at that. ASPCA I LOVE U! ADOPT BABY CATS!"

Yesterday saw Descendents, 7 Seconds, Dead Milkmen, Suicide Machines, X and a few others in Philly. Suicide Machines were on fucking point and I'm always surprised when so many other people are into 'em –– but an even bigger surprise was my own reaction, how important that one record (Destruction by Definition) apparently still is to me! I lost track of 'em after the Battle Hymns album and I guess they went a little more hardcore, but the few later songs they played were also pretty rad. Anyway, without getting weird about it, definitely a 35 minutes I wouldn't trade anything for. Super biased but I don't think anyone came close to that yesterday. Though X pretty much blew everyone else off the stage and kinda made Hot Water Music look like a buncha chumps. Descendents were fucking awesome, Dead Milkmen were a little rough and obviously hilarious and 7 Seconds kicked my ass a little bit and played super tight. All in all, pretty fucking rad day. And then drove home to BK, after a burger and coffee. SUCCESS.

Been on a Paint It Black kick the last day or two. The only time I saw them in SF I got to talk with Dan outside. I was talking about some bullshit that had just happened to me and all he said was "Dude, life fucking sucks 99 percent of the time. Just never forget that the 1 percent that doesnt suck is the percent that is worth living for."

Ron Wells did this! Love it. 2 weeks ago got work from chad koeplinger and jondix, no pictures online but once healed I will grab some. Also working on chest and arm with thomas hooper...this was the last blog update. Eisen Flower. « Hoopers Electric – Meditations in Atrament 2011 was busy....I see 2012 being more of the same for my wife and I.

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:

Hi! I'm Lance, nice to finally be a part of this. I swap time between Los Angeles and San Francisco for work. San Jose for tattoo work. I've been following this site for a while now and figured I'd might as well step up. Hope to be a useful contributer and learn some history and about the art/artists in the process. Cheers! Lance

I know every one is pretty busy currently but anyone want to try for a meet up soon?

My assumption is that this thread is about 'tattooers with little to no tattoos' rather than tattooers with no 'visible tattoos.' From reading posts in this forum by tattooers and the tattooed, tattoos above the collar or below the cuff, should be a rare thing, and only arrived at after basically 'running out of room.' Of course, running out of room completely negates the point being debated in the thread's subject line. Not having 'visible tattoos' but still having tattoos, is NOT akin to have 'no tattoos at all.' The issue is not about having enough, but about having any at all. That's where eye brows go up for me, maybe not for other people. I mean, I don't think plastic surgeons are required to have BOTOX face in order to be taken seriously. In fact, I would actually take them less so. edit: The issue of what constitutes 'enough' is just parlor rhetoric. The 'just' is not meant to be snarky. :o

Who's Dari? ;)

ohh Thad Ritchey https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_YTu60sNz6s/TW6cBoOm3-I/AAAAAAAAAq4/oWATrHXOWLY/l_eda4555db5b148ca9bac2504cd116504.png

Guatemala international airport was not a very good experience. I wore clothes while i was in Guatemala city to conceal my neck tattoo and arms. Gangs is Guatemala city have been on the rise the last number of years and anyone who has tattoos could be easily be considered an active gang member regardless of nationality. In the villages and jungle region it was not a problem, as they do not see or deal with the gangs as often as people in the city. I became lazy when we were leaving the country after 30 days, took my turtle neck off at the gate and was immediately prompted to strip down and be searched in front of all the passengers waiting to board. Thankfully my mother, who is from Guatemala, was there to talk with security. the security was very polite, but noticeably intimidated by my tattoos, which was very weird for me. it was an eye opening experience that made me realize that tattoos are not as accepted in some places as they are in the states. Would still drop everything to go back tomorrow.

Kittens are the least stressful thing in the world. Hella chill.

I fuckin' love squash!

Not counting the three little dots on my right big toe (that I darkened when I first picked up a machine last year), my first real tattoo was done the day before Thanksgiving of the year I turned 18 at the Sunset Strip tattoo parlor. Shock was the artist. We went there because that is Nikki Sixx got tattooed in 'Motley Crue Uncensored' and that was where I had decided I would get my first tattoo. It's a small (palm size) Celtic knot piece with a Pisces symbol in the center at the base of my spine. I went with my best friend, she got the same tattoo, same place but with a Gemini symbol instead of Pisces. She has since covered her back with tons of crazy work, but I have a big idea for my back and have not added much to it since then. Lots of tattoos in other places, tho! Looking for a pic of it. :)

Im too hungover to think about squash. Shes coming to Oakland on monday. I should have a shipment of squash for @MsRad if history repeats itself. To keep with the thread though, I ate at the new Rudy's on telegraph by the fox theater last night. I had a burger but cant recall what it was because I was hammered. I know I had a laguanitas IPA there though. my head hurts.

^Whoa. Rachi Brains has done some pretty awesome ones:

"Ok... I think we may have it..." *tattooer walks back,looks* "Oh, uh actually if we..." *wipes of stencil starts again - 'centers' * "And there we have it. Perfect"

Here's one that Cris Cleen did on Erik Jacobsen. Cleen's wife also has one that says "Cleen" (I think), but I can't find the picture. I always liked the idea of wedding band tattoos.

LOL True It was a funny picture in my mind tho . Just imagine spending about 30 mins getting the placement of "Racist" just right !!

came across this on Facebook, done by a guy named Michael Bergfalk...

Me too, I am excited for those who are going and to hear all about it. SF just around the corner and geeeked about that aswell

Thanks for uploading those photos as I always enjoy seeing the work coming out of State of Grace.....glad you decided to finally set up an account

The VBS series on tattooing has really made me proud. It's almost like the first time I read Tattoo Time. It reminds me of why I fell in love with the tattoo culture and art. It does not make me want to vomit like the other pop culture tattoo offerings for the masses. I'm really stoked on these videos.

Got this one 6/7 months ago from Steve Vinall at The Family Business. No real meaning behind it, just something that settled in my mind after moving to London last October.

My first tattoo was some kanji. Yes, I can admit it lol. It would have been 12 years ago and I got this in a local biker shop near where I grew up. The place was a classic walk in shop. Flash covering the walls (not the best flash but everything they needed for their clientele) The guys in there where rough as guts, but to their credit the shop was pretty clean... even if they where smoking up a storm in there. I had got it thinking it meant "Good Luck" or "Good Fortune"... I was wrong... (kinda) As most kids are, I was stoked with it and went around showing my friends and all was going well until I showed my chinese friend Alex. He asked "What's that say?" to which I replied "Good fortune", to which he simply replied "No it isn't." and starts laughing until he's almost in tears. I asked him what it meant and he refused to tell me. He said "if you went and got a tattoo without doing the research then you can live with it". Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuu At the time I worked night shift in a internet cafe/online gaming centre which was rarely busy, so for the next 3 nights straight all I did was try and find out want it meant. That and trying to convince Alex to tell me. Third night, it's 4am and I am loosing my shit. I could find one or the other character but not the two together. (I admit I probably wasn't looking on the best sites but eh). Anyway, its 4am and this cafe was below a few English language schools in the Brisbane CBD. There weren't may people in there but I noticed that there was one asian guy sitting playing Counter Strike so I walked up, tapped him on the shoulder and just said "excuse me, are you chinese?". Poor dude shit himself (not literally) and cautiously answered "y...yes". "Awesome!", I pulled out the chair next to him, sat down and said "whats this say?" He breathed a sigh of relief, smiled and tried to figure out how to explain it to me. My heart was in my throat thinking the worst all I could think was this is going to be bad - Alex was laughing so hard its going to be really really bad... The young chinese guy looked up and said "it means 'Better Life'... its a really good symbol. we say it at new year and for luck". My response was "so its a good symbol? its ok??" he smiled and nodded. I was cheering to say the least. I gave him his time for free on the machines, and then went upstairs to see Alex who was working in another shop. And told him what I'd just been told. He looked at me and said "I know. I just wanted you to shit yourself for a little while until you learnt your lesson" So kids what have we learnt? Your chinese friends can be real assholes sometimes ;)

Awesome. Some good stuff probably on there. Check out the Drag The River channel and Old 97's channel as well. And the Uncle Tupelo one!

I know you're clawing desperately for a way to be 'right' in this argument but this way of thinking would only apply to someone who is expressing themselves, for the benefit of their clients via their tattoos. Thats not the way it works. We get tattooed because we LOVE tattoos. If a tattooer does save space for the different 'periods', by the time they are a decent tattooer they should have passed through so many 'periods' that they have a shit-load of tattoos anyway. I still have space on one of my forearms. My bodysuit was finished before I did anything there. But like Bart said, that saving space, which isn't what this argument is about. I'm guessing you, a friend or your tattooer doesn't have many tattoos and you're trying to find a way to be told "It's ok, you're different." It's ok, they will get lots of tattoos eventually. But to put another spin on the argument: how many good tattooers (I mean tattooers, people who do tattoos that look like tattoos, not colour portrait guys) don't have many tattoos. There are a few, but not many. Also, this isn't a theoretical argument, where logic wins. "If this is true, then this must equal false" It's a real-life discussion about real things and when it comes to tattoos and tattooing: The tattooer is ALWAYS right. ;)

I don't take personal offense when people use slang terms I just kind of use it as a barometer for how in the loop a person is. Two people joking around in the shop might say "ready to do some tatzaps" and the other might respond "slinging ink all day long" and i know they are joking having a good time. However if some guy comes in and wants to show me his sweet tatz that his bro who has his own tat gun and ask how much it would cost him to get sleeved cause he bro would do it for $100, then that is annoying.

Got my first a few months ago, it's in honor of my wife and her family who is chinese. I asked specifically for a 5 clawed dragon which the artist had never done before as he was a Japanese specialist. Not the best pic, taken right after the final session.

If a tattoo artist walked into my school, half the boys would try to get tattoo on their face and necks as their first tattoo. We talk about tattoos a lot and I always try to express to them the importance of how your tattoo will impact your life. IMHO this guy above needed that talk.

oh man just looked at those first pics again. What is up with Hello Kitty dude?

"Buyers Remorse" is allot different with tattoos than tires......Choose wisely

a lil self restraint can be a tough thing......this is one reason why reality TV has so many visitors waiting for the next trainwreck yet majority of people claim to not like this stuff or drama.....plus everyone wants to be the next star or bash another for their attention when positivity will be much more powerful...the sad thing is the forums/threads like this get the most attention, visits, users online, etc when what we really want, why we started this was to give people a platform to contribute positively. We dislike having to close threads/post and/or delete them unless we absolutely have to. They happen like life and it is how we respond! We do not want to lose any of the tattooers or other LSTers......sooooooooo Here's my reply I wrote awhile ago in this thread and elsewhere Here is Scott's response

This shit is amazing. Your wife got played by some crappy " want a be " now you bitch when were not all boo hooing for her. There absolutely should be a tattoo artist only side to this forum because guess what... If there weren't the tattooers this would just be a forum. A forum about what? Exactly. Nothing. No tattoo, no tattoo appreciation. it's jackholes like you bubble that make tattooers not comment. You want us to not reply? You got it. Let's see how interesting this forum is with out us. Better yet go ahead and spread all you " know " with each other anyway you leech. Sorry to the rest but I do have to say I feel better getting that off my chest.

HAHAHAHA YES! CLEARLY that is what Scott Sylvia had in mind! A nice forum where non-tattooers (who have no interest in tattooing of course!) could ask technical how-to questions from each other without annoying a bunch of tattooers, who are hanging out, you know, "over there!" You sir, truly, are the limit!

I flew from SF to San Diego and back in the same day just to get tattooed by Ben Grillo. It was a great experience all around (the Cuatro Milpas burrito was a total bonus!). I also got a souvenir tattoo from Horiyoshi III in Yokohama, but that's not why I went to Japan. It was just a wonderful part of a trip my wife and I had already planned. On that note, I'm more into the idea of getting small souvenirs in other locations, but not planning the trips around that. Small pieces are about all I have room for these days, anyway.

bus, then coach, then underground - 3 hours or so (one way). to Frith Street. it's amazing how lazy some people are when it comes to doing basic travel to get the best tattoo.. obviously some people *aren't* lazy like that.. the few people you ever see with good tattoos, normally.

Man that lady with the Goldenpalace.com tattoo on her forehead did it for 10 grand. Crazy. Mom sells face space for tattoo advertisement | Deseret News

i would also like to add luke francis. he works at everlasting tattoo in san francisco and does great, clean work and beautiful soft shading that i dig. we went to high school together and were pretty friendly. he moved to sf a few years before me. when i moved up here in 2001 and randomly saw him working at anubis warpus at the time, on haight street and later got a tattoo from him shortly after he started at everlasting, in 2008 i think. check him out at Everlasting Tattoo - San Francisco, CA

Though we had a brief flirtation with trying to get Fratbros (fratbroz?) to call tattooers "Squids" cause they "fuckin shoot ink, man"... but that never really worked out. Would have loved to send in a bro to one of my friends and have them address him as a Squid. Haha

tat-zaps, tat-wizard, ink, get some ink, inked up, get inked, tatted, color bomb, trad, neo-trad...

Like doing meth?

I haven't been tattooing very long, so I feel awkward replying to shit like this. But here goes. I like the act of tattooing. I love watching pigment go in the skin, seeing the line as it's being pulled across the stencil. I love it. So when I get requests for annoying shit, or things I'm sick of,(and denying that you ever get sick of shit is fucking retarded. We're humans. We get sick of shit. Period.), I try to just get past it in my head and think about the application. Not that I'm applying a tattoo that I hate, but that I'm applying a tattoo at all. And get right back into that mindset of enjoying the work aspect of it. Without trying to sound like a wagon jumper, I too like tribal. I love watchign the black just go in solid as fuck. I know this dude is just some dude looking to look just like his boys, but in my head I'm thinking, "man, this shit is going to make your buddies tribal look like shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!". I just try to get in that zone as much as I can. The clients though.... None of us can control the chaos that is our client base. That is the unknown quantity part of the job. Lots of shitheads, and lots of people who don't actullay want tattoos. They just want their very own "me too, guys! I did it too! See!" story. They spend hours trying to find the least tattoo-ish, most benign design possible and stick it somewhere no one will ever see it, because to them it's just proof that they did it too when the stories start flying. I try very hard to pick my battles, read clients and choose which ones would be receptive to some swaying. Not into something completely different to stroke my ego, but into a better planned out version of what they want. Just gotta pick the battles. Can't do it with everyone or you burn out, and you can't responsibly be the guy who says "fuck it, I know this will look, age and heal like crap, but i'll take your cash." All the time banging rainbows up their ass telling them how good of an idea it is to keep them and their dumb friends coming back for more. Regardless of how it will effect responsible tattooers who try to do a good, well thought out tattoo for the benefit of their clients. Just gotta do what I can to sleep at night, like trying to explain to people that upside down is upside down. I try. If they get it, awesome. If not, I'll at least try to do it clean. Sorry for the ramble. I just felt it on this one. I felt that I need to make an ass of myself on the internet. Word.

I try to do everything I can. I have bills and rent. I'm not the best tattooer and haven't been doing it as long as a lot of you guys. So, if I think I can't do a tattoo justice I will pass it to someone that can. Some people want ghetto ass shit and will get it done from some joker that's gonna probably fuck it up. Or lip tats, etc. So if it's do-able, I will most likely do it. It's also common sense, like don't tattoo some 18 yr old kids face. However if the guy who has a bunch of crap and has done prison time wants a face tat...."Get in the chair bud."

"fuck her and her fake ass beauty mark" hahahahaha...YES.

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.

I once did 17 lines around this dudes arm. Different colors. I will never do not a single line/stripe around any one ever again. Stupid sweat sock arms