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New one got done yesterday. Super stoked. 2 lady heads 1 leg

@Ursula and everyone else who weighed-in, thanks for voicing up. In order to know what a good tattoo is VS a bad tattoo OR a bad tattoo VS a mediocre tattoo and so on, one must often see the difference. It's an open forum so this is part of it though we thought ahead, somewhat, and put some things in place... -Use the 'like' button because photos/tattoos that are most 'liked' rank higher and appear on the first pages. -Next, there is the comments section so leave feedback on both good, mediocre, and bad tattoos but be respectful. -Lastly, everyone starts somewhere in getting tattoos and more often than not we start getting bad tattoos first and it is not til we learn what a good tattoo is and/or someone offers constructive criticism that we realize I need to get better tattoos or some time passes and you take note its all bleeding together or its fading much faster than it should. This site is aimed at all interested in tattoos so all have the opportunity to learn and get better tattoos. Shit, I was in a shop topless the other day getting tattooed and I know when ever this happens around those who know tattoos I am going to get comments on my bad tattoos so I laugh with them while getting better tattoos.

I always have a good idea what I want. For me its important to choose the tattooer based on what they specialise in and excel at. I also take into account if I think the tattooer will enjoy doing the tattoo. If their heart isn't in it, it will show in the finished tattoo. Sometimes I will make my choice from some recent flash that the tattooer has produced. Of course the tattooer is going to be well up for it. I get a great looking tattoo and the tattooer has fun doing it. Like @Iwar said, though, its always exciting seeing the stencil for the first time.

the whole 'do what you want' fills me with dread, mostly cos every time it crops up bar once they never really mean it. it usually involves me having to think about ideas, since they arent giving me anything to go on and taking time to develop them into a design. the few times it's been requested of me, ive mentioned skulls or animals and i could see them shrug ever so slightly and then the words come out, 'i'm not really a fan of skulls...' or 'i was thinking more of a girl with a pocketwatch/magpie/victorian artefact...' my thing is, that if you just want something, ask for it, dont tell me to go crazy then say youre not into what i just said, specially when im not even pushing the boat out. it's not doing me a favour letting me do what i want, its giving me a headache, i much prefer some direction or a seed of an idea. the combination is much better than starting out cold. also, one week i might really wanna do a blood thirsty warrior and maybe i wanna do a 2 headed medieval dragon the next, my reference and influences change from week to week, i dont keep a list of things i wanna do, maybe some tattooers do but i dont. my conclusion on this is, only ask your tattooer for whatever they wanna tattoo if you are 100% sure you can live with yourself wearing whatever they come up with on your skin forever, and if you can't, then give them a couple of ideas or ask if theres something theyve been thinking theyd like to do recently and keep it open.

funny how perspectives change. 1 yr ago I might have watched an episode and figured out who oliver peck was and jump on the bandwagon. As it is today I know he is great tattooer and he is on my handful of want to contact list on possible backpiece. Now with the exposure I think to myself he will be out of pocket for a good while. I almost wish these shows wouldnt exsist so I would have a better chance to get in with great artists while the masses go to the $20 dollar tattoo fashion boutique

ROA is on my list. Just because I'm an atheist it doesn’t exclude me from appreciating the power and beauty of religious imagery. For me a tattoo doesn’t have to have a deep symbolic meaning or any meaning at all. If I like the image and want it tattooed that’s it.

This has been said before so I'm only repeating the obvious but goddamn there's some nice tattoos in this thread.

Damn....when did tattooing get so sensitive sally? Do tattooers care about the whole "this makes us all look bad" bull? So what, you look bad, world keeps turning and you keep tattooing. Its tattooing, no matter how mainstream it gets someone things you look bad just for doing any tattoo. This is a non-issue....shes an adult, she wanted it move on. People love to worry about everyone else and how they live.

Ok at the risk of sounding like a huge bitch i'm gonna post this anyways... As far as I know Scott and company started this site to promote good tattooing, and good tattooers. I've noticed lately in the members gallery there have been a lot of bad tattoos uploaded. Is this just going to turn into another tattoo photo gallery where anyone can post photos of every horrible tattoo they do, and then have people thinking that work is good because they saw it on a site that claims to promote only good tattooing? I feel bad when I log on and on the very first page there's awful tattoos being shown. Am I just a horrible person for thinking this or do others feel the same way? I feel like if I wanted to see average bad tattoos I could just do a google search or visit one of the numerous tattoo design websites. Is it wrong to have a moderator removing bad work at the risk of offending the person who uploaded it? We seem not to have a problem telling people in the forums when a tattoo is shit.

I can never get a booth tattoo cause I would get all scared. Haha his shit is eevvvviilll looking.

Oliver told me in Richmond that he's in it for the money. Hi. I'm Shawn and I ruin things.

Just bought my ticket for madball with H2O as an opener. They dont come to the Netherlands often so I'm excited as can be:D figured i'd share that excitement here

This depends if one is a theist or atheist "satanist". In terms of thiestic Satanism one worships demons usually based around the judeo-chritisan religions. Athiestic Satanism usually uses the symbolic demon to represent man's animalistic nature and moral values. So yea your pretty much correct. I would say that most athiests can find correlation with their ideals within the athiestic satanism when you remove the shock-value symbolism. I did a great deal of research in my personal quest to find a religion eventually bringing me to realize I'm just a plain old athiest.

I see what you mean, but at the same time, you can't believe in Satan if you don't believe in Jesus. He's part of the Christian story, right? I was raised uber-Catholic, then became a lapsed Catholic, then hung out in the agnostic phase before finally admitting that I'm actually an atheist. Some brainwashing takes longer to get past than others. :) But I have a sacred heart and a Mary tattoo, and I'd still like a ROA and a curly-bearded Jesus tattoo at some point. The imagery is gorgeous, and when it comes to my personal tattoos, that's all I really care about.

Yeah Ink wars. It was an excellent show.

Even though I own most of all Hardymarks publications I went ahead and purchased the ones I didn't own and replaced the rest with new copies. I paid quite a bit for the flash books. I believe I found the #1 for $200, the #2 for $120 and the #3 for $220. It's more than I wanted to spend, but you can't put a price on things like that. Everyone said that the Flash From The Past book would be reprinted and it never was, now everyone is wishing they would've just paid the overprice. I was always taught books and art would be the best investment I ever made. Buy the books and don't look back.

Found another one...

I just want to remind everyone of our #1 agreement for this forum- You agree that you will not: 1. use the Site to personally attack, threaten, stalk, defraud, incite, harass, or advocate the harassment of another person, or otherwise interfere with another user's use of the Site; So sometimes we all can't get along, but we can be civil and respectful. Please always try to contribute to this forum in a helpful way, we're still a young forum and we want to grow in a positive direction. Posts and exchanges written in haste and anger or with the intention of inciting a negative response can escalate quickly, and that doesn't serve anyone. If a situation comes about where you absolutely cannot get along with another LST member, you have the option of going to their profile page and clicking on "Add to Ignore List." Please try to work out any issues with the other member whenever possible and only use this as a last resort. The rest of our rules are here, if you'd like to read them: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/bugs-issues-how-navigate-forum-questions/57-last-sparrow-tattoo-forum-rules.html And thanks again to everyone for being a part of this community, dispite the occasional growing pains, Dari

I'm getting an overtly religious tattoo. People I know have been very funny about why I would do so as I'm definitely an atheist. I don't need to believe in god to like the art (especially catholic and orthodox) and besides my atheism doesn't translate into anti-religious feelings. Therefore I don't feel uncomfortable with this at all. Western society is full of Christian imagery and custom from hot cross buns to celebrating christmas and most of us engage with it on multiple level's taking on the aspect we identify with and ignoring the rest. I don't see the appreciation of the artistic side of religious art as being much different. Also a large amount of religious art and custom's have roots that can be traced back even further to paganism or Judaism or before even all that ultimately (although I'm absolutely no expert). For me things like the ROA or praying hands or Jesus portraits are things to be appreciated aesthetically and if people see more into it that's great for them.

How the old school boys do it-Bill Loika ,Tattoo Peter Amsterdam.

One of the greatest contributors to the LST forum @MsRad seems to have fallen off the face of the earth (or this board at least) the last few months. I wish she would join us again, and I bet I`m not the only one.

Im in no way religious but recently placed a giant St. Francis on my entire belly. It has a deeper meaning to me than its religious implications, so its all good in my book. Get whatever you want if it makes you happy.

Do what Tim said! Go to HardyMarks.com and buy every thing they currently have available so in 5 years you won't have to pay $200 for a $40 book. Worth it at either price though. Make your money back doing one tattoo out of each book. Check out the Book Mistress too. Even though I don't really like her, she's got some older out of print books on her website from time to time. Both websites charge out the ass for shipping outside of the USA though, so be warned if you aren't living there.

I want to not care and shrug it off and pretend it's not even a blip on the radar, but I'm probably gonna end up watching at least one episode, then getting kind of generally bummed out like I knew I would. I think a big part for me, as a tattoo-getter, is when your average Joe wants to name drop people simply because they were on TV, and not because he picked up a book or your buddy's old magazines or tracked that person down and actually got tattooed. Or hell, even likes that person's work or could tell you why it's any good (or not good). Because it doesn't mean anything to that person other than just a name on TV. That seems to be hardest part for me to get past. But people are gonna watch the shit out of this show, so get ready..

Made a Jamie Oliver recipe last night for pork belly tacos. Fried them in paprika along with haricot beans, served on corn tacos (store-bought) with greek yoghurt and a salsa of ripe tomato and avocado diced.

You mean Tattoo Wars, right?

Wait, what??? "Timed tattoo competitions"... I had a big rant typed out, but then just realised that "Timed tattoo competitions" was almost all that needed to be said to make my point ;)

I've noticed this too, but I just figured it was unfortunate souls posting pictures of tattoos on THEM, not stuff they'd tattooed. Either way it's kind of a bummer, but what are ya gonna do, y'know?

"I cant believed I even watched this trailer. Made me sick. Why Oliver Peck is involved with this project, I cant tell you, but I guess at the bottom line, money talks. I cant even begin to get in to the problems with this type of programming. What good can come out of timed tattoo competitions between a bunch of people who think they’re “the best”. What kind of attitudes about tattooing is this promoting? No good ones. They’re just going to milk money out of our industry for as long as they can, while using bullshit ideas and clever editing to put false ideas in the general public’s head as long as we keep letting them. It’s a damn shame." - what a tattoo artist posted on tumblr about it.

Here's my observation: First: It's T.V. so surely it will be edited and somewhat scripted so that it will be appealing to many types of viewers. Second: There will be valued members of the tattoo community as well as a few not so well known tattooers on the show. Third: If you are looking for something to get out of the show other than what it is designed to be, I'm sure you will be disappointed. So, if you decide to watch the show, great. If not, so be it. Nothing wrong with it either way. The simple fact that there are many tattoo related shows on T.V. now and then has the tattoo community and the general public frequently discussing the pro's and con's of both sides of this issue. So my take on this is as long as there is and interest, there will be shows and big business making money with advertising and such. So what. The B side is that it also generates exposure to our industry (good and bad) which generates more clients which in turn equals more money for us as tattooers. The traditions of our industry are being changed but not lost. If you stay true to your own personal beliefs and practices regarding our industry then you are doing your part to keep the values alive. Never let someone else change who you are. Be the best YOU can be and continue to grow everyday and better your craft and ability to provide a quality produst and good service and you yourself will succeed in what ever you do. So in closing I believe there are valid points to both sides of the commercialized tattooing epidemic. I simply say use it to your advantage and move forward. No one is holding a gun to your head and saying watch the show or conform to the present depiction of our industry on T.V. I plan to start everyday the same. I wake up spend some time with my wife and kids and then head into the shop to paint, draw and do my best to improve my skills as a tattooer and learn a little more everyday. I can live with that. So no matter which side you may be on, remember one thing, you have to give respect to get it. Jay

Oliver Peck is one of the hosts and I guarantee he's not a corporate asshole just in it for the money. Go watch his interview and then come talk shit. I don't know anything about the show really, and I probably won't watch it as I don't watch t.v. at all really. Also there's already a thread about this which I'm to lazy to find and post the link to.

Dave navarro is in it, so it must be cool!!!!!!!

You should get a consultation with a few different tattooers do bounce ideas off of,and to decide which one you click with. Hope Gallery Tattoo - New Haven, CT Murray,Jae,& T.C.@ Flying Tiger Tattoo David Page tattoos tattoo artist Newington, Connecticut portraits neumas custom Nautilus Tattoo Tracy@ Lucky Soul Tattoo Off the Map Tattoo : - Massachusetts Tattoo Studio colors art space

@Cork its a no win situation right? how many times have we each used at least one of these words at some point unknowingly? live and learn, haha

Arriba arriba ,El Monga .

I'm not sure I'd call myself an atheist, per see. I'm just not religious to any faith. That said, I'm leaning heavily toward a Rock of Ages back piece (with a twist) in 2012. I'll have the time and the money to do it right. That image just screams "TATTOO" louder to me than any other design I can think of. I figure if your gonna do a ROA, it ought to be a full back.

jaie devore at perfection in austin it stares at the purple one on my other leg

Well looks like I am going to be getting tattooed regularly. Just started my lady head over at Invisible and am booked out till the end of March, then follows another artist. At the end of it I will be consecutively tattooed for over a year solid with a month break at most. I have a feeling my itch will be satisfied for awhile!

1) I bet those hinges hurt like f#ck 2) I'm pretty sure there are butt propellers in the 1001 Tattoos book-I'll see if I can find the pic when I get home. That guy is the epitome of getting tattoos for yourself-total opposite of the bro sleeve guys at the gym.

just got this one sent my way but don't know the details

There's this great new site called Snopes.com you guys gotta check it out, it's AWESOME!

I can't help it but whenever I hear Rock of Ages I think of Def Leppard. Definitely some awesome pieces in here though.

So what your saying is we can go to bubbleberry's profile and click on the Add to Ignore List.I wish i could do that to some member's of my family.

some new knuckle tattoo designs sent my way.....

Mine say "HUMILITY"