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had a couple hours with derek noble yesterday. couple hours left and its finalllly done.

As far as tattooing goes, most Japanese, traditional style work is based on folk tales or religious/devotional stories or artwork. So Japanese stuff is a mix of Buddhism and Shinto. Shinto being Japan's 'Old religion'. Buddhism grew from a sect of Hinduism, in India. Many of the Buddhist tales involve long arduous journeys to spread the new religion to the people of the world, starting with Tibet, through China and it's surrounding countries, eventually to Japan. In India, Buddhism was mostly a small sect or cult but in China it took it's own flavour and was adapted to suit the climate, existing folk tales and myths. That version of Buddhism travelled to Japan and mixed with Shinto to evolve into it's own flavour of Japanese Buddhism. That's what we see in traditional Japanese tattoos. Many of the Japanese gods and mythical beasts have equivalent Chinese names, sometimes tattooers use the Chinese names. There are very few people working in a strict Japanese traditional style. Most tattooers, especially outside of Japan tend to work in a more broad 'Asian' style (although they focus on the japanese style). Taking elements and stylistic touches from traditional devotional artwork from across Asia. As @Kev already mentioned most of the decorated skull tattoos are based on real decorated skulls from Tibet, like the example above. There are also smaller, more cartoon-looking skulls that could be mistaken for sugar skulls. They are often used as decoration around ritual instruments or artwork. You may have seen Filip use them as decoration on a larger skull's decorated cap. Because other Asian countries don't have much history of decorative tattooing, it's not really possible to follow their example directly within tattooing. But the religious designs are awesome and people want large tattoos. That's why you find a mish-mash of broadly Asian influence wrapped in a mostly Japanese frame or background. The interesting this is, the more you delve into the histories and myths of various distant and unconnected cultures, you notice many of the same elements. Swastikas, winged spirits and pyramids are good basic examples. (As a side note: it was cool to stand in a temple in Japan and notice Borneo style tribal patterns on the panel frames). Jung called these 'Archetypes' (although this refers more to conceptual ideas and relationships, not graphic shapes) I call them 'fair game' for including in tattoos. It's my opinion that it's one of our jobs, as tattooers, to understand these elements to better apply them to tattoos and to guide the style and subject of our work more in line with historical or human tradition. Wether we admit our understanding or explain these archetypes to our clients is of no consequence. This is one of the many reasons I'd rather tattoo a witch/crone holding a twig instead of a gent holding a pipe. But that's another story. I don't want hippy clients asking me to channel their mystic history into their Celtic, Navaho, Saxon, Russian armband/finger tattoo. Nor do I want to stick an eye in a triangle on anything and everything. I tried to shed light on this, but I think I just muddied the water more...

Just yesterday someone came in asking about a cover-up on his neck. I quoted him 200, he stands there for a minute, and says 180, so I told him 250. But wait he says, you just said 200. I did and you said 180, I don't haggle. While I have no problem working with someone to keep it inside their budget, I refuse to haggle with price shoppers. He did set up an appointment though, for 200.

I just read all this. It's a wind up, isn't it? How to price a tattoo and deal with customers is stuff you learn before you even learn how to make a stencil. However if this is serious, decide what the work is worth to you and if the other person doesn't think it's worth the same, that's ok, don't take it personal, maybe they're naive, maybe they're ignorant, or maybe they just can't afford it. If thgere is a sign on the door saying open for business, people are entitled to come in and try to do business. Having a sign prominentley displayed stating the shop minimum and some examples of what you can expect for that minimum is a big help, for the customer and for the person who is selling the tattoos. I don't want to insult ya by going any farther on this because I know you have been around a while. Also, I'm not on here to tell anyone how to run a tattoo shop so they can open one up. Most of the talk on here is art criticism, or how to heal up tattoos, what's in, what's out, who's cool, etc...and some of it is very interesting stuff, seriously. I will say that a lot of the more artistic people are in the ha'penny place compared to the scratchers when it comes to hustle and street smarts. If one man's niche is doin $20 tattoos ina basement and anothers is doing $200 an hour bodysuits, thats fine by me. It means there's a tattoo out there for everybody, and everyone can have a tattoo if they want one. And before anyone forgets........Mike Roper tattooed in his bedroom for years, Filip Leu tattooed on the beach, Paulo Sulu'ape tattooed in a hut, Freddie Corbin tattooed in his apartment. And many of the tattooers the people on here look up to started out in their kitchens. And many of them tattooed cheap, or for free. Yea, freee, swallow that one whole. For many of them, their first introduction to tattooing was getting tattooed by friends in their basements. So, before we go demonising the "scratchers", getting tattooed on the cheap in a basement, kitchen or garage is just as valid as getting tattooed in a longhouse in Borneo. It probably costs about the same, has similar sterilisation, and the lines are probably equally shakey. Not to mention the spiritual/cultural/rite of passage significance of a ghetto kid getting a ghetto tattoo in a ghetto tattoo shop. At a ghetto price. None of this is intended as a defence for idiots doing shit tattoos cheap or for arteests doing average tattoos at extortionate prices. It's just me saying that much as I can hustle, tattooing isn't a business for me, it's a practice and if I can pay my bills living this way, then that's a privilege and an honour. And a blessing. I'm grateful that I have a bit of talent and a bit of hustle. I take pride in my profession and I don't sell it short, especially not for money. I hate to not tattoo someone, but sometimes the tattoo they want isn't the tattoo they can afford, and I don't mean only in monetary terms, sometimes the persons ego is a bit big and they think they deserve more than the are entitled to. The same goes for the tattooers. Anyway, I'm sick of typing, it's not my thing.

Hey All, As of right now, there is no plan for another season of Tattoo Age. It would also be safe to say that their will be no DVD. With that being said, all of these suggestions sound amazing, but probably will not happen. Tattoo Age has no "staff", it was just myself and fellow producer Lauren Cynamon, who also shoots and edits, along with 2 editors Shan Huang and Abby Ellis. We all still work at Vice, and on a variety of projects. The Last Sparrow community has been so encouraging with the whole series, and even though I am not much of a poster, I wanted to say thank you. Chris Grosso P.S. Personally, I think Freddy Corbin Part 2 and Mike Rubendall Part 2 are a tattoo nerds dream videos, but that is just me.

Holy shit. I really need to start keeping up with the introduction threads. This one is a real peach. Honestly, it really reminds me why I enjoy this forum so much. It would be really easy to go down the line and trash the new guy, but instead honest opinions are being given with thought and consideration. Here is mine. Drive to Austin, TX. Take about six thousand dollars. Go see Jason Brooks, Chris Trevino, Steve Byrne, Jay Chastain, and Tony Hundahl give them the six-thousand dollars to tattoo you. Then go back to Weathorford. Save up another thousand dollars and drive to Mesa, Arizona. See Aaron Coleman. Give him the thousand dollars to tattoo you. I checked on Google maps and that is about 40 hours round trip driving from Weathorford for both trips. Then sit down and look at the seven-thousand dollars worth of tattoos you have just purchased, and try to figure out how they did it. Then cry yourself to sleep, and burn every piece of tattoo equipment that you have ever bought on Ebay. At least this way you will have a few good tattoos to show for your efforts. I am sorry that I have not been as kind as the other members on here, but it has been a long day, and reading your insulting posts made it that much longer.

Motherfucker! I thought there was new episodes because the thread was bumped :D

Hi all, My name is Matt. I'm Debra Yarian's oldest son- debyarian on here. Looking forward to taking part in this forum.

when i lived in ireland, i used to get a lot of hagglers. one of the best things i had heard was to use the question, "how much did those shoes cost? and you're going to wear them for 4 months?" the shoes usually cost more than they were willing to spend on a tattoo for a lifetime.

An interesting Grime back piece Skull & Sword The patterns/details in the skull are really crazy, they look almost like vortexes or something? (especially in the cheek bones)

Whether or not they last is another discussion, but these are bad ass! By Ben Grillo Ben Leland-Grillo | Facebook I have no idea who did these, so if anyone knows please feel free to let us know *I couldn't find the 'Knuckle' thread

NOW we're talkin' partying. Hell yeah.

pearls before swine

You gotta love someone that has the balls to haggle over a cover-up on his neck. Sounds like this guy is full of good decisions.

The only advice I would have for what it's worth is I price all the hand painted flash on the wall when it goes up so people have an idea of what a tattoo might cost when they look around and update old sheets with prices that fit the costs of today periodically. It certainly hasn't eliminated all the price shoppers, but for the most part the people who are serious about getting a fair tattoo at a fair price have a good idea beforehand what price range they are looking at. It also helps me to price custom tattoos, when a person walks in and wants something drawn for them I can reference similar images on the wall to give them an accurate estimate The people looking to get stuff for free or way below value aren't worth dealing with and the price is what the price is for them.

This is getting out of hand. But while we're at it... these paintings would, of course, be originals. They'd also be like the Willy Wonka golden tickets that would grant you X amount of hours of tattooing with the given artist... something reasonable like a full backpiece. How do we get ahold of the producers?

Sorry if this has already been posted-

from tattoosnob americana in asia sa jin at yushi tattoo in seoul south korea

Second what @sboyer said! How about a downloadable digital version of season one? I'd be happy to lay down some cash for that too.

i would be willing to donate some cash to help a season 2 happen.

Permanent Mark | Tattoos, Travel Reality Show | Full Episodes | Spike | SPIKE full episodes and all.

I see what you are saying, but I don't feel the need to explain myself to a client. I've used that one on many occasions but it completely falls on deaf ears. Shit, some of the hair treatments some of these ladies get cost about $200+ every couple of months, but the same customer will still get upset about our minimum price name. I am not going to take my time & energy to try to change someone's opinion or rationalize my prices if they can't pony up the minmum price (believe me its CHEAP) for a simple damn cookie-cutter name at a street shop.

Stewart, great response. Was going to attempt to say something of similar ilk, but you do it more justice. for the TL : DR group.... I'll repeat something similar that has been said here before If you want to research Japanese tattoos, look at India, (and to get to India you must pass though China.)

I feel like I accomplished something over the last few weeks, everyone I work with has multiple tattoos most done on a whim or just walk-in to a guy that their friend got work done by and get a tattoo. We have a new guy who wants his first tattoo. He wants a dragon and one of my friends who I also work with has a dragon. I could see the young guys wheels turning so I asked him to look at david bruehls or fernandos work at think ink in norman oklahoma before he scheduled somewhere else. He said he liked my bruehl tattoo but he didnt do dragons. I smirked and said does everything you saw look good even if you dont like the image? well yah was his response, I encouraged him to go talk with David at the shop. He now has a tentative start of early april to get his first tattoo with a great artist who will give him a clean tattoo that he will be happy with for ages.

Sleep? What's that? I have a 3 year old, an 11 month old, a wife who has a herniated disk in her neck, I own a shop and tattoo full time. I really don't have time for sleep. But when I do lie awake in bed at 4am I think to myself, "what am I have for lunch"

Im with this guy. I work in the bronx where there is a 5-1, haggler-serious client ratio. I just dont mind the hagglers. they come in ask "how much for a sleeve?" I tell them my price, and I even tell them that im willing to work with a budget. they just say ok thank and leave. I believe that they are not serious anyways and I focus on those who come in and dont even ask about a price. you will notice there is a major difference in the conversation alone. hagglers just are not ready to get a tattoo. and if they talk you down and you tattoo them chances are you wont be into tattooing them and you will regret it and so will they. I dont ever try and explain my price. thier adults they should know that you get what you pay for. especially when every shop in the nyc area has that stupid "good tattoos aren't cheap, cheap tattoos aren't good" sign... i hate that thing. edit: i forgot to mention that we are also located across the street from "tuff city" so its easy to be right in between really expensive and really cheap.

I work in a small community that is kept fed by a huge military base. Including the shop I work at there are 10 tattoo shops to service the area, 3 of which are reputable shops. The other seven have crappy artists and cheap prices. I'm sorry but I am not going to drop my prices to compete with licensed scratchers, the guys at the other reputable shops all agreed as well. So what happens is we try to send each other business whenever we are overflowing and they do the same. We all focus on doing every tattoo to the best of our ability so that the quality of our work on our worst days still kills the other shops. Whenever we do have someone saying that Joe Blow down the road will do it for cheaper, we refer them to our local wall of shame, it is a cork board that shows pics of tattoos that we have either had to cover or rework, a before and after. It helps to educate the public on what their "good deal" might look like.

Dude... You load up pictures of your homemade tattoos and ask for critique in your profile text. Maybe you should have included a disclaimer that negative (or honest if you will) feedback will result in namecalling and physical threats. Why the banhammer hasn't been dusted off yet is beyond me. That Bubbleberry guy was annoying as fuck, but atleast he didn't threaten to punch people in the face. With that mindset I'm sure you'll come a long way.

I didnt even read what Steward said, but it was so fucking long it has to be good!

The Tibetan skull is an indigenous part of Tibetan Buddhist imagery. Here's the real deal: Side note- as a Mexican, I don't really get the fixation on sugar skulls. Sure they're cool looking, but they're centered on a very specific, seasonal tradition. To me, it's like people getting Christmas trees 'cause they look sweet'. End of digression.

And there it is. Tattooers like Stewart -- tattooers who have dedicated their lives to tattooing, gone about it the right way so as to pay respect to the trade and lineage of the craft, tattooers who are not only fantastic artists but know the ins and outs of their equipment, shit, tattooers that work in a shop -- pretty much have every right to be a dickhead to someone with an inflated ego scratchin outta their kitchen. Because we all see this shit every day. Do yourself a favor and put down the "gun," draw your ass off for the next couple of years, and maybe if you're able to learn a little humility (and also how to draw) in that time, you'll get lucky enough to get some tutelage with an apprenticeship, or at least get someone to point you in the right direction. Good luck.

Tony Morrell's work is very similar to Filips. Tony has been tattooing for 21 years now and has worked for me at Jinx Proof for 15 years. he is mostly into doing big Jap pieces and is a great tattooer that is not very well known......and i don't think he gives a shit. just another reason why i like him. TONY MORRELL l 2012

That's because your old mate makes his opinions based on the internet and tv shows, not the real world. He obviously has never seen Oliver take walk-ins all day and totally nail every single tattoo drawing, regardless of style in less than 15 minutes. Then execute every tattoo, regardless of style, cleanly, quickly and accurately without rock star attitude. Just to make this clear, Oliver manages to give walk-in customers what they want and make a great tattoo that he can be happy with and other tattooers will appreciate. Think about that for a minute... walk-in customers who don't give a shit who he is... and just want a tattoo they can like.... great tattoos... It's a rare talent among tattooers and even more rare among 'artists' who make tattoos. Making great tattoos, making customers happy and having a great time while being so fucking cool to everyone else in the room and helping tattooers less experienced than him, yeah, fuck that guy. I'd hate for the guy who does my awesome tattoo to have a toothpick, like ewwww, gross, totally not cool.

It's easy to look back, It's hard to look forward.

chris's artwork is beautiful... you're welcome.......where Im at right now im sort of an... anomally? I get lonely.Not a lot of tattoo knowledge down here.''this too shall pass'' hehehe ,,another tattooer did that the other day,I asked the customer if they had gas..Im such a dick.

@Kev Hahhahahahahahaaa Holy fuck I'm gonna miss Canada when I move back to the USA in a few months eh. I hate to admit it but I have a strong feeling my pronunciation of "holy fuck eh" sound a lot like the guys on this video......

https://www.google.com/search?q=american%20flag%20pants&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&source=hp&channel=np#q=american+flag+pants&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=xGo&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=shop&ei=Ay88T8ysDav-iQKIhcCrAQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=6&ved=0CEoQ_AUoBQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=1045e76c1996e051&biw=1252&bih=567 About 35-40 bucks what a deal.

Ah Stewart, our 'explains things so people can actually understand" guy strikes again! Thanks man.

I'm a liitle creeped out everytime Dave sez '' canvases''.........''It puts the lotion on.....''

I'm sure Billy's constant arguing, eye rolling, head shaking, and excuses didn't help. He did get some sucky clients, I mean canvases, but you play the hand you're dealt.

I watched Jack R and Brian Everett do portraits in a motel room about 20 yrs ago ,after a car show in Nor Cal,that made these peoples portraits look like they need to keep drawing.I remember in the middle of it all they asked me to run up the highway about 10 miles, in my custom 64' chopped and shaved Cadillac I built, to go and get more A&D from the gas station in, Buellton? No It was Santa Nella, ''Split Pea Anderson's''. An honor. Using the internet as reference still freaks me out.Most of the people I deal with lately can't figure out how usually,I don't use reference, I suck it out of thier heads and draw it on thier skin.

You know what show I would watch religiously? "To Catch a Scratcher"- Follow a professional tattooer and a health department representative as they meet-up with Craigslist kitchen scratchers and expose them on live TV. Network producers- PM me for my billing information.

@capcanada the main difference is the clam flavour in the clamato.. gives it this distinct taste.. i've tried cesars and bloodies in all kinds of places and no matter what you do, without the clam it's not the same! the tomato beer sounds interesting. i love tomatoes and beer is alight too...

@JAllen Thanks a bunch for that! This is what i love about this forum, people from all over the world know of shops that are within my reach that i never heard of. If it wasn't for forums like this where people actually take time to talk youngsters like me out of going to the first shop they can find, i'd probably have horrible tattoos on my now, instead of one decent one that cost me a few months savings but i'm very happy with. Thank you all for educating me on the fine art that is tattooing:)

I drink wine and listen to Lucero. It doesn't help and makes me stay up later usually... but fuck it. At least I have cheap wine and lucero.

shoot arrows at my bathroom door

Having lived in the West Country, UK for most of my life it would have to be Bristols Les Skuse. I would have loved to have been tattooed by Les, he died in 1973 a couple of years after I got tattooed for the first time. Here is some of Les Skuses work.

Dealing with different people everyday is hard. It's a pain in the ass sometimes, and depending on what kind of a shop you're in and where it is can dictate a lot about your clientele. Just because you're a tattooer doesn't mean that you magically get amazing, smart, considerate, thoughtful clients. They are the unknown quantity of this job. So they can be tough to deal with. Commiserating with your peers is a way to blow off steam out of sight of the clients eyes. It's hard to care this much about what you do and not get bummed out or frustrated at times, and it's unrealistic to not address the realistic frustrations we deal with. HOWEVER, when you become the constant bummer, or the constant super tough dude who only posts about how much their clients suck, well yeah, I agree. There's so many of us, and we all have off days so it sometimes seems like there always someone complaining, but a large part of that is that individually, our off days all come at different times. There's bound to be at least a few people having "one of those days" on just about any day of the week. I think gathering on the internet has it's pros and cons, and one of those cons is that it's hard to gauge accurately the climate of tattooing as it appears in forums like this. Don;t get me wrong, I agree, Lizzie. I do. I love my job more than any job I've ever had. Even more than the idea of any other possible employment. It's something I obsess over, have dreams and nightmares over, and something I spend more time than I probably should thinking about. I'm not one of those guys who tries to down play his enjoyment of it so that he can seem like he's "keeping it real", and Im not one of the dudes who tries to equate tattooing with a job that's so obviously boring and mundane so he can walk around talking trash about people who try very hard at it. I love tattooing. But there IS that frustrating element. Sometimes it's healthy to vent to people who can understand you're frustrations because there aren't many who do. I'm glad you made the thread though because it's always good to get out of that way of thinking as soon as you can. Thanks.