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I made posts on the facebook page because there were at least 5 of MY designs in there. None of the stuff I posted or really anything anyone else posted was actually "Shit talk". It was people just finding out about it, and being upset. I posted something about this on another forum, so instead of retyping it all, I'm going to go ahead and copy and paste it. "In a case such as this where the person can't even make a simple clean design she is clearly tracing shit off the net and trying to make her name on it. The owl of mine that she used isn't flash. It was a tattoo that I did on one of this forum's members as a matter of fact. The other stuff of mine that was used was from one painting that I made for another tattooer that while in flash form, was a one shot painting. No prints. So she traced it and added it to her sheets. These are all in a book that she was selling in Philly. Making her name off designs that obviously aren't hers. Tattooing DOES have a history of reinterpretation and appropriation, but there are lines. When I design flash for sale I don't care who tattoos it as long as it was bought from me and you aren't telling anyone that you drew it up. When it hangs in your shop or sits in your flash racks or book, my name is still on it. No problems at all. Go for it. When you use it instead of drawing something because you're lazy and then tell someone it's yours that's bullshit. Also, when people are tracing tattoos right off the net and passing them off to the unaware masses as their "clever" designs it's bullshit. And I completely understand, once you put it out there, it's liable to get lifted, but does that mean that opinions on such behavior can't be voiced and standards shouldn't be set against such behavior? Absolutely not. People need to say shit to suckers. Tattooers seem to forget that yeah there.s a big tradition of lifting designs and whatnot, but there's also a tradition of protecting what's yours. Either by booby trapping it, making sure your name is ALWAYS attached to it, or by keeping it off radar. In this economy I'd love to be the off the radar guy. Just can't make it work, and if I'm spending the amount of time drawing, researching, reading, collection references, and building a stylistic vocabulary that is at least a little my own, then yes, I should be protective of it. There's also the thing where tracing, and repainting flash by long gone, or otherwise retired old timers is different than repainting and then SELLING under your own name a bunch of shit being done by today's current people. Shit's gonna happen, people are lazy, everyone LOVES to say there's nothing new under the sun, but it doesn't make it right or true. Chick is a thief. Ain't nothing on those sheets hers and a huge amount is from current people tattoos. Not even flash. She was at our booth in Philly this weekend. She didn't even buy my set after selling her book with my shit in it." So to the person who was saying these things were never meant to be made public, and they were for personal use and to show clients, or to show clients, why even do that? Why trace my shit to show HER clients? So the people who don;t know ay better will see those designs as hers. That's not cool. Her illness aside, it's still a crummy thing to do to a lot of people. I take issue with how You've come in here using "our favorite medium to talk shit" and try to talk to us like we're 12 year olds. Sorry she's in a bad way with cancer, but my sister is fucked to the nines with cancer but I still think she's the shittiest person I know. If this was truly about the merits of the sketchbook, then just stick to that. Don;t bring up things that don;t matter to the argument to just try to drum up some sort of viewpoint on her like she can't be called out on this shit. I was AT Philly. She was in my booth. Talked to me. Still sold sheets with her name on in and mine, and other tattooers designs on them. None of those pages said anything like "designs by Wells, re-imagining by Jeiven." Which is kind of the thing you do when selling some shit that isn't yours. I didn't even know about this shit until a few days ago or I would have said something. And when get to Brooklyn next week I AM going to talk to her. Like an adult. So save the "you guys are all shit talkers" crap. Some of us are pissed. Look. I'm no tattoo genius. I'm just a dude making tattoos and trying to make clients happy like everyone else, but I work my ass off to do so. My library is huge and very little of that is tattoo books. I spend hours upon hours drawing and re drawing. Again, I'm nothing special, but why can't she do that if her stuff is supposed to be so personal? Go to museums and collect old books. Not facebook tracings. The sketchbook you said was so AMAZING is 98 percent CURRENT tattooers drawings. Not old Jerry flash.

I think this is more or less healed up. Bit of a rubbish photo but I'm only using the Mac. Got to get a proper pic later to forward onto Ching. The last session (face and headpiece) has settled down and blended in with the rest. And yes, I really am this pale. Over the rest of the year I am looking at a couple of smaller traditional pieces on my right leg, and then sometime towards the end of the year I am going to try and sleeve the rest of my right arm with Ching - got a design planned out already.

I joined just to contribute a photo of my neck-to-knees backpiece done by Dan Wysuph at Samuel O'Reilly's in Santa Cruz, CA. My username here was derived from the nickname I earned by spending so much time naked in their shop. I think Adam Barton originally coined it and everyone there calls me that to this day. It took 20 three-hour sessions over the course of almost 2 years. To answer an earlier question regarding healing, it is not sitting on fresh tattoo that hurts, it's sitting down or standing up, or just about any other activity that makes your clothes (or sheets!) rub the area. Also, having a wife to help with the cleaning aspect of the healing process was a huge help. -1891-

franz stefanik is gonna be there april 28- may 1st at wood. you should try to get something from him!

Discovered a great little studio called Wood Street Tattoo in my home town, Swindon, of all places. Got this skull as a walk in from a super nice guy, Kris Manyana. I think he did a really nice job.

LST rocks, anyone who knows good work will stare at you when your on the beach and you can just nod. Its kinda like how all bikers have a slight head nod when they pass another or any country guy in a truck throws 2 fingers while keeping his hand on the wheel on a country road. My advice is go give a nice tip thank him kindly and drive straight home and show us pictures so we can like your shit and tell you how badass your new tattoo is.

And another thing, Sully, this is such a bullshit statement: "Sue does not keep a Facebook or EVER advertise her work online and keeps her success and work popularized only by word of mouth and not internet hype in the TRUE FASHION of REAL tattooing." I would love to play up the "I don't participate in the internet" crap because WE ALL HATE IT TOO, but dude, doing hipster tattoos in Brooklyn you don't need to advertise on the net. Brooklyn/New York is it's own thing and really with the amount of people tattooing there, you'd expect the place to be dog eat dog, but it's not. TONS of people getting tattooed. Try doing that shit in middle of nowhere or some suburban town with five other shop. The language of the world nowadays, unfortunately is the internet. I hate it, but that's what people speak. In this economy, it makes sense to speak French in France.

Just my little 2 cents... I'm 57, put my first tattoo on myself when I was 12. For me, every piece has had a meaning, whether it was jailhouse hand-needle, or sitting for one of the greats. I never went for coverage, and some of the pieces I got along the way are fairly pedestrian...for someone else! What I mean is, I do have a few pieces of flash from the wall at the original location of Chicago Tattooing Co., but even the panther head cover-up on my wrist has a special meaning for me...the roses I got when I was engaged to my first wife, the dragon and dagger I got during a particularly iffy stretch of running and gunning, they all meant something TO ME, even if they were "just" flash off the wall. Other pieces I got with varying deegrees of thought, but always for a reason...mostly cover-ups of jailhouse work, but always with a meaning to me. The demons head on my left forearm is a cross between a standard Japanese demon that was pretty common in the '70's and the album cover of King Crimson's "In the Court of the Crimson King". The cloud dragon on my upper left arm is another cover-up, lots of black, and pieces of a dragon from flash, along with a LOT of hand-drawn stuff from Dale Grande. When I did finally, about 6 years ago, decide to finish up my right arm, it was with designs that I researched and picked for their relationship to me ancestors. The Runes tell the story of my lifes journey, the knotwork shows the complexity of life, the world-serpent is there, and Wotan supervises it all. To tie all that together with the work I already had took, if I recall, 5 sittings of 5 or 6 hours each. Thing I'm getting at is I can't even come close to understanding someone who would go out and toss a few grand on the table and say "sleeve me up" to an artist. It's kool, if that's your gig, that's your gig, but for myself, I want to be able to look at every inch of inked skin and remember... That said, yeah, I have plans for more, but money, don'cha know!!! 6 kids...it really cuts into your ink budget! I have a full backpiece planned, and some other, smaller pieces for my chest, then who knows, maybe someday I'll get ambitious and have Nick take a look at that left arm, see what else could be had there. As far as keeping fit, well, it doesn't cost anything! I still teach and work out at least 3 days a week. Can't lift as much as I used to, a long life of martial arts and motorsickles has seen to the arthritis thing being there, but I can still get in a ring with the youngsters and hold my own. Give it a try-nothing like the martial arts to keep you going! .02

And the award for Best First Post goes to @Nude Walter. Welcome and thanks for the pic! Dan's awesome, ain't he?

Anyone seen these yet? Japanese fart scrolls prove that human art peaked centuries ago

Ready for the lethal combination I have found myself in? I am young, know a ton of good artists and worse I can afford to have a session a week all year long. It is hard to say no! I guess "no" is not in my vocabulary either unless it is "no make that drawing bigger". At least I found this forum to help steer me down the right path. As a double edged sword I also find that this site adds to the itch to get tattooed

So when are you gonna come visit us in the frozen north? We can talk about Agent Coopers favorite pie.

Hahaha. Yeah man. I'm there about once a month for about a week each time. I guest at Three Kings. Be there from Feb 28th to March 5th.

My Wilson tattoos are my favorites. He did my hand and will do my other as well as several others. Got my first from him in 96 and when I talked to him again 4 years ago he remembered. He works slow but the tattoo gets done fast. Slow down to speed up is how he described it to me. I loved reading all the praise for Mike and agree fully with all statements. I am stoked for you.

Javier Castaño at Barcelona Electric Tattoo does incredible work.

i have an incredible painting from 2009, jef drew it, bert painted it. its mind blowing. one of my favorites.

A quick session from finished but decided to throw it up anyway. Regino Gonzalez @ Invisible NYC Soon to become part of a traditional patchwork sleeve so I guess I will be posting another every month there is a contest

Oakland HAMC ,thanks to 4Q Conditioning . Content warning

You can pay for tattoos with a credit card now? Hot damn, I'm young but I wanna go back in time. When you had to call people on a landline or write a letter. O well at least here in japan cash is still king.

Yeah! You'll be in with Bob 6 days before me. Can't wait to see all the LST BR pics in a few weeks.

I got a brand new dance/ err body step back/ Tell me watchya gonna do/ (why it smell like it do?) He gassen'/ He gassen'/ He gassen That's all I have right now, but that's money in the bank with the right beat;)

I'm pretty keen on that whole goddamn sheet. Especially like that intriguing little spider up in the corner.

Blends in that are super smooth!

If I had that on me, I'd be known as the nude one too.

@RoryQ that is just amazing. Stunning backpiece!

PS if any of you guys end up coming down to get tattooed, come say hi to me, I'm the ugly guy that sits all the way in the back of the shop.

@The Hyena - Check and Mate. P.s come to Australia.

i went and looked at his stuff on the intervebs, there's some nice work in there and even cooler if all of that is hand poked.

Our space isn't too big, but we pack them in there pretty good. Here is a pretty recent photo of the shop. It's not the whole shop, but it's the only current one I have. I took this photo from inside a car that was up on the lift.

Not to derail this thread any further but you should hit up the http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/lst-get-togethers-tattoo-conventions/1503-nyc-meet-up.html thread. I know we are due for a meetup soon enough.

oh a lighter note...you're coming NYC?

24lbs of turquoise beads and 7 smallpox blankets, should be enough. I mean hell its what we paid for Manhattan. ;)

A polite "what should I bring" isn't out of line. Quality work is priceless, but living in the real world means budgeting; so once you guys get the design sort of worked out, asking for a ballpark isn't a faux pas.

First, let me start by saying as a disclaimer that I, as an independent poster, in no way represent Last Sparrow Tattoo. - (Sorry @Kev had to steal this line from you.) First point. Just because someone is a nice person or they are sick, doesn't mean they can't do bad things. A person's physical state or personality has no bearing on whether a course of action was right or wrong. Second Point. I didn't see anyone talking bad about the shop. Third Point. You stated that you don't know this forum (or read anything outside of this article), but you made generalizations about the going-ons of the forum and how it is unreliable. While it is the internet, in my opinion it is a very informative forum/blog site. Also you stated that ". No one ever gets outed for being unsterile or for overcharging for their scratch tattoos, but somehow this has made your 'recent news' list? POOR FORM GUYS!", there a a number of threads that we out people for being scratchers and any form of being unsterilized. Fourth Point. I personally trust the opinion of someone in the industry (some here have been in it for quite some time) over the thoughts of people outside the industry.

Hands down best tattooer at any style or genre, he can draw ANYTHING and tattoo ANYTHING... Richard says, "best tattooer in the world".

Im with some of the other comments....although i personally have done some of these things... prosthetic painting? pinstiping? etc.... what has this got to do with tattooing. how bout acetate etching, needle making, hell toilet cleaning. maybe have some drunks show up and haggle price....these things have a lot to do with street shops.

Yes, he is fast. More importantly, he is one of the very best tattooers around.

I think the next challenge should be when Oliver Peck tells the contestants to "Build a tattoo machine out of hair dryer parts. You will have one hour to complete this challenge, and it must have three speeds".

Got this Jerry pig from Josh Sutterby a couple of weeks ago (the photo is from when it was fresh). Guess i'll have to get the rooster on the other arm now!

When I got serious about art, I started by redrawing Eddie Poferl stuff. Then I bought the SJ books, started drawing those, and redrew the Eddie Poferl stuff because I had 'cleaned up' the EP stuff the wrong way. IMO, SJ is still the best for learning shading and layout. Now I go out and find the stuff they referenced in the first place and redraw it for efficiency of line. It may sound weird for a non-tattoo artist to go through this process, but when it came to learning how to draw and paint powerful images, there isn't a system that works as well this has for me.

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.

My two cents: you should return there for this tattoo. That's a great shop, and I don't know of another in Sacramento that comes close.

is that the bay area beast move? Raaaawwwwwwwwwrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

oh yeah duh

Here are some funny tattoo pictures I recently found that are questionable forehead tattoos. It seems like I am seeing more and more of these lately with only a few good and majority of them being just ridiculous. Also here's a good article on a father-son forehead tattoo combo I found:

Occasional bouts with unemployment (and an upcoming wedding!) has seriously hindered the amount of tattoos I've been able to get this year. Just makes me appreciate 'em more and hopefully plan my space better.

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

thanksgiving run down: field roast en croute with hazelnut and cranberry stuffing maple glazed brussel sprouts with dry roasted hazelnuts wild and brown rice pilaf with curried squash and cranberries mash potatoes with vegan sour cream corn caserole stuffing with apples herby salad with baby heirloom tomatoes, corn, and balsamic vinigarette home made cranberry sauce and home made gravy pecan pie bars chipotle sweet potato pie with coconut milk whipped cream and chocolate cookie crust. i made it a little too spicy but it was pretty good none-the less. might try a version cut with pumpkin later this weekend.