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Got this today from Jef Whitehead

Hi guys, I'm very new to the tattoo game. Besides two little flash special guys, this is my first and something I'd been wanting for a while. Eli over at Smith Street did it this past Wednesday. It's not healed yet, but I wanted to get a picture before my leg hair grew back. So stoked on this!

I fucking love that @jade1955 just gets tattooed by every incredible goddamn tattooer that comes through London! ON TOP OF IT.

For me it's not like re-posting things from various places on the internet should be forbidden here. Once we upload it, it's public anyway. That's why many tattooers watermark their images. I was commenting on they direction some of Last Sparrow seems to be taking. I thought we were supposed to be intelligent ant thoughtful. Yeah we can goof off every now an then and have a laugh but on the whole we can be an interesting and intelligent bunch. Last Sparrow is 'better' than other forums and sites because of the effort it's owners and users put into it. If the only effort we can muster is to copy/paste a url, then we are on the down slope. Artist/tattooer credit, contact information, location etc, it important. Even for someone 'everybody knows'.

dammit now everyone is gonna be asking for 'Pendleton Panthers' hahahaha for real though, the tattoo is awesome. The copy cats of it are gonna be awful, can't wait to see them!

nobody ever said you had to be the best to be famous

"One of the top 10 tattoo artists in the country" Really? which country? Moldavia? Latvia? (My sincerest apologies in advance to any Moldavian or Latvian board members I may have offended in my attempt at sarcasm).

Scott you sat like a fucking champ. Props for sure you made me and a whole lotta other dudes look like pussies, we're all like hell nah, no way we're gonna sit that long without some medicinal buffer. You got a lot of open space anytime you wanna get tattooed and we're around holler... I know Richard didn't mind working on you at all... And it's nice to have clients that do their own homework because they are into it... Thanks a Bunch! Let me know if you need anything. Glad you made the drive back to OKC safe, we just got back to the motel 30 minutes or so ago, LONG DAY, but so good in a full way.

@Kev I'm booked in for Monday with El Monga. He's doing a couple of guest spots in London after the Brighton Tattoo Convention.

First session complete, around 5 hours. Still have some outlining to do for the dragon claws and phoenix coming up from my thigh/bum onto lower back. Was surprised how much the kidney area hurt...as bad as ribs! Cant wait for next session.

yeah he opened up early to draw it out. Your jag is sick I have bruising just like you lol. Yeah he is effecient and layed a cool tattoo for me If Jenn posted 3 hrs thats what it was LOl what the hell do I know I was chanting to my gods for reprieval HA

I'm just showing off..I never got good grades in school,so I'm trying to make up for it on here.I had Diego Brandi as my number one pick too,but Rory Q beat me to it.I like his work probably the best..Although I've met a few Italians in NYC,and they all had work from Luca & Alessandro@ Sante Sangre. I do like doing the research to finding good tattooers.I do travel a lot,and always like to get tattooed when traveling.Also my great grandmother is from Naples,and i wan't to visit there someday,and check out the town she is from.

Jennifer I had a great time except for that big ass bastard stabbing my fucking side for hrs HA. It was a great experience one that I would very much like to repeat when our paths cross again. Hope you guys have great travels and I will look to keep up with your posts on here untill I nut up and get a facebook or other social networking thing you guys use.

I just got back from a richard stell session and everyone gave props for the way I sat. I tried to be modest but towards the end if someone handed me a pill and said this will make it all better I would have cheated and took it lol. I think your spot on ursula about eating well and even taking some snacks to eat while getting tattooed

It's a mixed blessing. I went five years at my old (rented) place without a rent increase; and then the building changed owners, my lease was rewritten and I had a $100/month rent increase the following two years. Had I not moved I'm sure it would have kept going up and I would have eventually had to move out. When I bought my house, I put $25k down (which was a kick in the nuts) but quintupled my space, was able to customize everything (hardwood floors, rooms the colors I want, etc) and ended up living the dream. Then the skylight had a leak. $1000 out of pocket. Still... I still pay the same as I did in 2007 and even if I don't refinance I'll still end up paying significantly less than the rent paid by most of my peers.

It kinda sucks that many of the 'live' threads on this forum are turning into tumblr.com. I noticed it first on the backpiece thread. People just re-blogging shit without credit or comment. I thought we were here to discuss, hopefully to learn and grow, not mindlessly spread/spam something we saw and liked.

haha. I've lived a charmed life.

Diego Brandi from Subskin Rome used to work at the Family Business when I was in there a lot. I saw some really good work from him. In my opinion, anyway... Some of the symbolism is a bit off-the-wall for me, but you did mention neo-trad and I know some people are into that. I thought this one would solve a problem for all those people who seem to want upside-down tattoos on their forearms.... Home

Foxes dressed in human clothes and the usual name up inner arm in olde english. I think hand tattoos on non-tattooed ppl are going to be even more prominent. And whatever the next big pop star decides to get tattooed on them. I'd love a wizard tattoo , heres my fave , by Franz Stefanik :

(X) Sharing a booth with John Poverty Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention February 10th - 12th 2012 Philadelphia Convention Center 1101 Arch St. Philadelphia, PA 19107

Just watching Neill Marshall's 'Centurion' with Michael Fassbender and Olga Kurylenko again on DVD. I love Marshall's movies... They're like badass updates of the type of movie I used to like watching as a teenager, except with decent actors, scripts and special FX. Probably his best movie, for me, is still 'Dog Soldiers' - best werewolf movie ever.

I wish I could cancel it but between SOA, Justified, Iron Chef and the Housewives, I can't bring myself to do it. Don't judge me.

My names Lyle Sutton, im a union electrician in seattle washington, i love to travel and collect tattoos from various well known artists. its become a passion of mine . i've collected works from Jason Kundell, Matt Shamah, Phil Holt, Curt Baer, Joel Kennedy, and a plethera of other amazing artists. almost out of room! ha! looking forward to starting my back with Adrian Lee in April. first two session on the 21-22nd of april. this site seems rad, excited to tat chat and scope out bitchin work from everyone. Cheers!

Oh damn straight out of my old hood! Oh yea and just to give you guys a heads up, when I lived in Newark I couldn't find one half-decent tattoo studio. He might actually be the best in Newark.

Glad you accepted my invitation! You have a great collection and we're stoked to have you. Welcome!

Dave's the guitarist for Jane's Addiction - WTF do the Foo Fighters have to do with anything here??

Will do,it's going on my right hand and wrist. I don't normally get like a little kid,but I think it will be appreciated here :)

karl hedgepath, jinxproof, yes MD.

cool please bring your new toy to show and tell

Posterboy, there's nuthin stupid about what you posted, in fact I feel it is an area often overlooked by the first timers, they always want to know what to do at the time of getting a tattoo and never consider the before and not to mention that it's nearly impossible to reach those individuals prior to their first tattoo. The proof is in the pudding, prep and shave a dry area of skin and it will accept the tattooing with more difficultly and the skin itself will respond with more trauma than "conditioned" skin. Supple skin will ultimately heal easier from the conditioning due to the response of more active and healthy dermis. Now with this said there are areas that do not conform, such as the nape of the neck due to it's glandular oils and there are areas such as the neckside, underarm, nape of the knee, etc. that will generally be of the naturally conditioned. Other areas such as elbows, kneecaps and areas that will visually look abrasive prior to tattooing, as individuals differ and even gender and age will play a part as well as geographical areas with their respective seasons, i.g. Winter seasons lending to dry scaling skin. But you have hit a nail on the head when you insist that conditioning the hide helps for the acceptance of tattooing. As to the general query of what helps to maintain tattoos over long periods of time, all animals contain the proper amount of brain matter to tan their own hyde and embalming fluids work well also, ha! I have a full funeral paid in advance because I'm takin my tattoos with me, no crematorium for me but being an organ donor I can help a few people out and maybe even lend to having someone learn to play the piano withe the Hammond organ in the attic......

One time, knowing that my cat was scared of the sound of the vacuum and that my partner was about to start vacuuming, I picked up my cat in an attempt to soothe him. I still have a pretty good size scar on my hand from that! A couple of weeks ago I opened a gate the wrong direction. It swung back and hit me in the head. I had to get 3 stitches above my left eye!

Here's the best advice I ever gave someone. I was at the shop waiting for my dude to finish a tattoo on a soccer mom type who was jumping all over and freaking out (this was before he even started!). She saw the tattoos I had and asked me the same question, how can I sit better. My reply? "Don't be a fucking pussy and just sit there" She didn't like the comment and I could tell, but god damn she sat through that tattoo without a complaint. I used to be the same way, and I took that same advice. Don't be a pussy. Just sit there and take it. If you can't, take some pain killers, they really really do help. I went from not being able to get tattooed longer than 30 mins to having a back piece and a lot of other shitty spots without too much trouble. I have also found that eating right on a regular basis, working out, and staying hydrated all help too.

had to place this one from the panther thread. edit Bryan Burk

I am not into facial tattoos on my self, but I think there is a fine line of what looks good as a facial tattoo and what doesn't. For sure no tribal on the face unless it is your heritage.

This dude is so pretty its probably appropriate to post here .Rudy Fritsch is an awesome tattooer who currently resides at Milano City Ink ,check his distinctive style. Milano City Ink Srl

Day 4 (Final day Part 1): Masato and I wake up early so we can head to Kyoto and do a bit of sight seeing, but mostly to go to my most favouritest place on earth Ryoanji Temple (pronounced sort of like Lou-anji). I can't explain why, but i just feel so calm and at ease there. And since the last two times I'd been back I hadn't been, it was on. On the way to the station as always we stopped at LIFE to grab food and Masato got stuck behind this sweet little old woman. she was so cute. I love Japanese packaging This guy was close second as my new hero. look at him, he's reading! hahahahahahahaha ;) We got to Kyoto and I still hadn't gotten the Catclaw guys a present (wasn't sure what the tattoo was going to cost, I never ask so wanted to wait to see how much I had left) so I got them alcohol. Nothing says thanks like a good stiff drink lol After chilling at the shop with the crew for a while, I made my goodbyes and Masato and I set of to get eats. Pedo-bear game machine We went to Sukuya? (pronounced sort of like Skuya) I think that was the name of it, either way you order here and then when a seat is available and your order is ready you get this GYUDON! not sure if thats how its spelt but its either guedon or gyudon? either way its beef and rice and its awesome. with Miso and unlimited tea for about $2.50 australian. once again, fuck my country and its food prices. We start making our way to Ryoanji and pass these little fellas Once again I'm amused for quite a while and Masato is shaking his head at me at this stage Tram #1 to our final destination All aboard I tried to take a sneaky photo of a woman in traditional dress... but I think she was on to me lol Random wrap letterz in the middle of no where

Day 3 (Part 2): So once again, Horinao just drew the background directly onto my skin. And once again I was in awe as to how the fuck he turned these straight, seemingly random lines into these beautiful, perfect finger waves. Shits was crazy! He drew it all, we went and had a quick cigarette before we started and about 4 hours later my sleeve was complete. And it looked pretty damn good if I do say so myself ;) Horinao wiped down my arm and realised he'd missed a small spot of background so we did it, second wipe down and we took some photos. At this point he realises he missed another spot so we go back to get that. Third wipe down and another missed spot is noticed. At this point both Horinao and I are laughing our asses off, Rina and Hiro look over thinking "wtf?" Not sure what Hiro said exactly, but I could tell he was giving Horinao a little bit of shit. Horinao turns around, says something and Hiro just went silent. Horinao looked at me with this super cheeky grin from behind his face mask and laughed, so I did too. Not sure what was said, but I do know funny when I see it in any language. While I was getting tattooed, the guys got a delivery of these massive spring onions, and Rina-san asked if I knew what they where. When I responded in japanese she thought it was awesome and we all had a good laugh. When we'd finished up Rina presented me with a bag of said spring onions. I have to admit I was slightly confused, and Hiro could tell. He explained to me that it was a present for Grandpa for letting me stay with him and Masato and for helping make everything happen. It was I guess a 'small' gesture, but it really meant a lot and solidified the fact that these guys are part of my Japanese family Much love and respect. (Lol I just made the timer) Finished product: I'd asked the night before if I could take Masato and Grandpa out to dinner to say thank you for letting me stay. I wanted to go to 'OhSho' which is a chain of chinese restaurants and it is the shit. Masato wasn't sure if Grandpa would be down (he's a bit fussy) but he said he'd ask. To Masatos' surprise Grandpa said yes and it was on! Heading to the spot in the whip Blurry photo but you get the idea waiting... Hells yeah!!! this all up was about $20 Australian... in Australia you'd be looking at $60+ easy... fuck my country is expensive. Done and done. Stopped at life and stocked up on candy etc to take back home. The next day will be my last day here so Masato and I plan to go back to Kyoto and this time do a bit of sight seeing and not just seeing the inside of Catclaw (not that I really minded ;) )

Day 3 (Part 1) Got another good sleep, so was well rested for the final day! All we had to do was the background on my forearm and I was keen as mustard to get it done. Got up and thought I;d take a photo of the stairs in Grandpas' house because the back story was pretty interesting. Not sure if you can see the angle the stairs are on, but its pretty steep. Old traditional Japanese houses where like this incase bandits/enemies came into the house and this way it would be more difficult for them to quickly get up the stairs and anyone on the top of them would have a better chance of defending their position. Anyway... I start the walk to the station: smart like dump truck Grab breakfast Universal Studios Train Osaka station madness round #3 This was a Hello Kitty display made up of little individual photos of people. I wasn't the only one who thought it was cool, this little girl got away from her Mum and bolted straight for it with 'grabby hands' out stretched and she was gunning for it! Her Mum came in out of left field, scooped her up and the little girl was not a happy camper... lol. On the way to kyoto The Shinkansen (Bullet Train) track ...next second... The Shinkansen Still heading to Kyoto... Get to kyoto and on the way to the shop I stop off at a Ukiyo-e store just near Catclaw I haven't had the money to buy anything from there... yet. But if you ever go to Kyoto stop in there nearly there ^^Like a... ^^Rina-san 'working' lol (I gave her shit about it to, Horinao and I had a good laugh... then he told her to plant more crops lmfao. Before we started, Horinao, Hiro and I where discussing what I might get for my back piece. I kind of wanted to go reasonably traditional so I mentioned maybe something from Kuniyoshi's Suikoden series and while we where sitting around Hiro gave me a book of designs to look at. Horinao walked passed, shook his head, smiled at me and got down this epic book from The International Tattoo Institute of Japan that had all of the 108 prints stripped down to just the line drawings, as well as images of the originals in the back and the accompanying stories. I came across my favourite Ukiyo-e print 'Tanmeijiro Genshogo' ad that basically sealed the deal. Horinao was stoked on my choice, and Hiro agreed it was a good strong image and not to common which I was happy with Rina-san and Horinao-san trying to translate the story for me (Much respect!) we got there and I learnt a little bit more.

Day 2 (Part 3): After lunch I head straight for the studio This seems like a good sign... (see what I did there? :rolleyes:) Hiro-san finishing of a sketch for new years cards (In japan christmas is kind of like Valentines day, where its more about boyfriends/girlfriends and for kids and New Years is the important family time) Horinao-san getting ready to bring the pain on me lol. Before we started, I asked what colour the Koi was going to be, as up until this point we hadn't discussed it lol. Horinao and Hiro grab my arm and start debating in Japanese what was going to work. And to be honest it was pretty damn funny. I couldn't understand everything, but Hiro would make a suggestion and Horinao would either kind of nod and agree or at one point he just turned and gave him a look as if to say "are you stupid?" Horinao looked at me, shook his head and we laughed. They then agreed on something and Hiro asked if I liked blue. (Hiros' english is better than Horinaos' but he's the boss so he knows what he needs to know lol) Well blue it was :) After about 5 1/2 hours the Koi was finished and it was time to head back to Osaka. Thankfully, it was the fleshier part of my upper arm so it wasn't to bad. The worst part was probably when I was laying there, then all of a sudden I felt this dab of vaseline on the background right near the crease where the arm and torso meet and all I could think of was "wait a minute that was done... THAT WAS DONE!!!" but it was quick so no complaints. I thank the crew and head out back into the cold... and it was cold lol. It was 0 degrees at this point. Night life baby How awesome is this building! (apologies for the photo, every now and then my camera just does whatever it wants and I have no say in it) After about an hour on the train I get back to Osaka and start heading back to Dempo. While waiting for my next train I came across my new hero How awesome is he!!!!! (possibly she) but either way, I stood and laughed at it for a good minute. Random things in Japan just crack me up. I'm sure people are making comments about the crazy Gaijin, but I'm ok with that. Pretty much got back home, had a shower played some video games and passed out again so once again nothing real exciting (it was to damn cold lol)

Day 2 (Part 2): I have to take 2 trains to get to Osaka (Umeda) station and start making my way through the masses The masses The Roof I walking to the Hankyu line, I'm looking around and not paying to much attention to whats in front of me, I look up and just burst into laughter because of this Sure it may not seem that funny, but it was the last thing I thought I'd see and with the angle it was on, i though it was gold. another shot of the station The train to Kyoto lots of bridges The guy in the hat in the background was singing his ass off and it was dope. Sure, other people seemed to be a little put off by it but I thought it was fantastic! And he seemed happy which was the main thing. I was trying to get photos of all the hillsides and the Autumn leaves on the train ride but it was hard to get decent pics from an express train ;) I got to Kyoto and grabbed some quick lunch from Mos Burger (I love that place) and stumbled across these guys

December 2011, Day 1. So the night before I'm heading back to Japan, a few friends came over and well... lets just say I only ended up getting about an hours sleep. I thought this wouldn't be to bad because it means I should in theory be able to sleep on the plane. We leave from Brisbane at about 6am to head to the Gold Coast, tired and everyones heads hurting like shit, we make it all sweet, slow down to a reasonable speed and throw me out (not really but it sort of felt that way - I wasn't doing well... lol) After just making the check in time due to being stuck in line, i get threw to the security check area and get caught up in every check. Not that I had anything on me but it was still kind of annoying. Finally board the plane and the thing is packed! The last few flights I'd been on, I'd been really lucky and was able to get 3 or 4 seats to myself, hells yeah! Anyway, I still scammed a two seater to myself so i couldn't really complain. After 9 hours, we touch down in Japan and it is COLD. I mean really, really fucking cold. Like 3 degrees cold (37.4 degrees fahrenheit). Ok, so I know many of you Americans and Europeans will probably be laughing your asses off right now, but please remember that winter for me is maybe 2 weeks of 6 or 7 degrees and its more like "bugger, maybe should put a thicker jumper on". It's just not that cold in Brisbane! So after putting on basically every piece of clothing I'd brought with me at the airport I set out on the train to meet up with Yosukes' brother Masato and his Grandpa - Hiroki Ogi-san (from now on we'll just call him Grandpa) with whom i will be staying for the next few days. For some reason my batteries where already dead so I had to stop and get some at 'Life' supermarket, where Masato met me. We grabbed some snacks for later, i got some batteries and then we headed home. That night Masato made 'Sukiyaki', and it was goood lol. Masato Cooking Was thinking about making love to the heater... but I refrained. (The whole 'good manners' thing) Sukiyaki!!! Thems shits was delicious :) Masato also made this^^ I can't remember what the name of it was, but I didn't really like it. In my defense I did still try it AND I'm not sure if you can see it, but there is a skewer in there and Masato asked if I liked "beef tendon"... I said I'd never tried it, and to be fair I would consider last time I was there I did try chicken hearts (taste was ok, but the texture kind of didn't work with me) I placed a piece of beef tendon in my mouth, was in there for almost a second and I politely and subtly of course, took it back out. Masato and Grandpa laughed their asses off at me lol. After dinner, Masato and I went upstairs to play video games, eat snacks and catch up. A chance for him to practice his English and for me to practice my Japanese. ^^ These things are the best! They're bean puff type chip/crisp things and they are dope. More snacks One side of my room The other side of my room where my bed is. In the corner you can see a shrine for Grandpas' family, but mostly its a shrine dedicated to his wife. They where together for 60 + years before she passed a few years ago, and they where each others first love. Every day, both morning and afternoon Grandpa goes and prays to hear to let her now how much he still loves and misses her. The first time i stayed Yosuke warned me of this because he didn't want me to think it was weird, or to freak out if I heard strange chanting. I told him straight up it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard and the last thing it was was weird. Grandpa is the man for many reasons, but this is gets a lot of respect from me. Anyway, that was pretty much it for day one. Nothing too exciting, except for arriving in Japan haha, but pretty much went to sleep by 12am so I could get up after a good sleep and head to Kyoto to get down to business! Next episode, Day 2 coming up... right now.

I got tattooed by Chris Trevino in 1997, right before I left Austin for SF. He said he had just done a guest spot in SF, so I asked him what the coolest tattoo he did on the trip was. Now, for those of you who are familiar with Pre-100% Japanese Style Chris Trevino, you know that "coolest tattoo" also meant "craziest tattoo." He went on to describe an insane armpit-to-waistline rib piece that involved, among other other things, a jackelope wearing a fez, a waterfall of blood, and a lady with a beehive hairdo making the devil horns with her ring and middle fingers tucked away in her special pocket. I couldn't really get my head around it, but that was the case with many of the tattoos Chris described to me. Fast forward to 1999, when I finally had enough money to get tattooed by Eddy Deutsche. I went to 222 on my lunch break and booked the appointment with some guy at the counter. We got to talking about my tattoos and I mentioned that I had work from Chris. He said, "Oh yeah, he did my ribs" and lifted up his shirt. It was that piece! And the guy was Jeff Rassier, who is in a league of his own when it comes to putting weird (and awesome) tattoos on people.

i sent you some loot.

Troy is going to be holding it at the Convention Center this year; last year was... difficult. Hopefully there'll be a little more room this year.

This was published in Forbes?? "Men are allowed to be a little more rebellious and punk rock.. where as women, not so much." What'd my sister write this thing???