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Well, in that case, here's the other link that @dirbab asked me to post:

I spent a few hours at Frith St on Friday as Valerie did some more work on my sleeve. It was a really good session and it was fascinating seeing the tattoo building up and some of the gaps being filled. I don't really want to put images up whilst Valerie is choosing to hold off from uploading custom work to the net - I will let her decide if she wants to post watermarked images when the sleeve is completed. However, I don't think she will mind me posting a small detail of a skull. She did this 'free-hand', no stencil or tracing or even an image - just some sharpie lines from memory and then she just tattooed it on. Unfuckingbelievable. By the way the attached image is about the same size of the actual tattoo itself - the detail is incredible. I call him Pablo. He's my new amigo.

the best people that work in this style are unknown. i came up in l.a., and growing up id see, and still see to this day, people with really beautiful black and grey tacs, lettering and portraiture and other staples of "chicano" tattooing, but were done by nonames, in prison, county jails, firecamps and kitchens. it looked green! id always look at that stuff when i was a kid.it would almost always be girls. topless girls in sombreros on a forearm. and i remember always trying to get a good look at it. i still always try to look at it. a lotta this stuff was done in the late 60's to the mid to late 80's, with the heyday being in the 1970's. a lot of cool looking tattoos were made in the 70's. in the 90's it took on a different look. still cool but a little different. not as blue. no one invented it. no one started it. some people just capitalized on it. it become popular. not so long ago a lot of tattooers were doing that kind of work, bob roberts was doing it, ed hardy. the fad went out, and they went back to what they knew. but some people started with it, and stuck with ut. the two best known "names" for this stuff are negrete and rudy. i think they might be about the same on the art level, but i think negrete is the better all- around tattooer. jacks got him on lettering for sure, but jack is a beast on letters in general. negrete learned to tattoo in prison, so his work retains that purity, that packed in, dense, blueish black hue. hes good at more stuff i think, then jack. then theres lesser known but just as important arteests, like baby ray, brian everett and tony olivas. dick warsocki, romo, flame, creeper, lady blue, mahoney, montie and brown (RIP). all those people have been doing the kind of work your talking about, for a long, long time. i think some of them get associated with "chicano" tattooing, but in reality they did a lot of other stuff, a lot of biker style shit, or typical 70's tough guy motifs. They did as many sombrero girls as they did single needled grim reapers, starry space scenes, naked girls, pegasus and other winged creatures, unicorns, led zepplin winged dudes, butterfly's, zigzag men, Harley Davidson shields, vikings, castles and wizards handling business. That stuff is cut from the same cloth as cholo stuff. later.

@dirbab - really nice, lately I've been digging trad style daggers.... Some re-jigging of my get-tattooed schedule for the rest of the year. I know I am going to be in Japan in November and had been dithering about who to get tattooed by (or whether to get tattooed at all) - too many amazing artists to choose from, really. I ended up opting to try and synch it with my GF's sessions in Yellow Blaze, so I rang the shop yesterday morning and ended up having a chat with Shige. Long story short, I'm going to have a consultation with Tomo and squeeze in something ;).

seems like it. i know half of the artists mentioned personally and although they are top notch tattooers in the style of their choice, even they would say they aren't "masters" in every style. my list would be huge if i had thought this was a mention the great tattooers. but i thought it was referring to the most well rounded.

Aaron Coleman is up there too.

I totally know how much viagra and hookers cost, good Sir, and am offended that anyone would think otherwise! :D

I've seen bootleg redraws of my infamous SQUIDPANTS drawing and... It breaks my heart. I give and I give and I give, and what do I get back? WHAT DO I GET BACK?

Just had Sam Adams Imperial Stout last night, that stuff is really dope. SUUUUPER heavy stout. @RoryQ As far as cheap, crappy beer is concerned PBR and schaefer are my favorites. Not a lot of taste, mild hops. Think budweiser, but better. and @jade1955 you'll be less spooked out now that i drank 8 of them and now have 16 keystones. haha

hahaha I love this thread.

Nick Colella

Cats... If they were just a little bigger and we were just a little smaller they'd kill us and eat us.

Here's my cat related injury. He slipped off the wardrobe and luckily my head broke his fall.

Bill Loika fits the bill,old school to the bone ,tattooers tattooer,looks like a tattooer,the list goes on....

Jeff Zuck. One of my favorites... Jeff Zuck Rock of Ages

my friend soap owns a shop called lab monkey in Stirling, Scotland. I learned to tatto in the shop round the corner from his but thankfully he never hated on me for that ;). anyway reading his blog i came across a good link to a website documenting some of scotland's history of tattooing. ive visited it before many years ago but forgot completely about it, thought some of you might enjoy reading info on it Prince Vallar - Tattoo Artist

Here's a list of shops that are doing the Frankfurt Convention- 20. Internationale Tattoo-Convention 2012 in Frankfurt am Main - Künstler & Aussteller Andy@ Andy´s Tattoo- und Piercing-Studio Kitzingen is a real good tattooer.His shop is like an hour away from Ansbach.

@RoryQ I'm very jealous of both you and your wife right now!

Technically they're not the same squidpants- Cu's were clearly skinny jeans drawn in his unique etching style. Totally different.

Haha no I meant like I would probably not go to Hardy or Stell for a portrait, I probably wouldnt see Jondix for something colorbomb, I wouldnt see Stoney for anything that wasnt supposed to be done with anything smaller than an 8 round, etc. #notshittalk. I've just never seen a portrait that Stell has done, or the other things I mentioned.

... Its a polar bear in a snow storm with an advertisement tattooed onto it because of hard times advertising Flicker.. duh? (yeah can't see it either :( )

also other australians like Judd Ripley Judd Ripley in copenhagen is a great allrounder. Andrew McLeod at chapel tattoo melbourne Australia great trd and japanese work. For me there is too many to list, lots i like have already been mentioned.

crikey it should be fun, next year is gonna be better, they have rumoured to move it closer to the centre of town. should be goodtimes!

Here's a list of shops in Germany- Members 2011 Luke Atkinson - checker demon tattoos - Ratattoo - Tattooist in Stuttgart Don't know if this shop is close to Ansbach.I would call the shop and ask if they know of any good tattooers near her.

Mike Rubendall Richard Pinch Henning Jorgensen Stewart Robson Chris O'Donnell Filip Leu Horimatsu

why is this photo currently unavailable ? whhhyy ?

My .02-I do think a tattooer should be well-rounded and technically capable in all styles, but with the sheer amount of great tattooers in each style, why would you need one guy to do all those styles? Why would you go to Tim Hendricks for anything but an incredible black and grey tattoo? Or Chris O'Donnell or Trevino for Japanese? There's just so many people tattooing today, I don't think the way to stay ahead is to spread yourself across every style, but to choose one and excel. That may be a thread in itself, but I couldn't see going to one tattooer for every single idea I have.

I came in here to say Gilsdorf too. Also Cory Lenherr.

i just emailed him to see when/if hes coming back to nyc anytime soon cause i want a tattooooooo. i worked with him for a week when he guested at dare devil.

Never hold back. Ever. Shout it from the rooftops!

@seedpws post an image of your current piece and lets get some ideas going

On my ribs. Super pumped!

painting Don Nolan did to put on his back, but the tattoo never happened. at some point in time some moisture got in there and fucked it up a little. still ill. I have a better pic of it but this should suffice for now.

Chad Koeplinger. He was cool about it and actually got a nice, clean, accurate outline despite my writhing in pain the whole time! Good thing he tattoos very fast, otherwise itd take me ten sittings to finish! Everyone in that shop tattoos fast. They were knocking out tattoos faster than episodes of Miami Ink. ;)

A customer said ''leg sleeve '' I had to hold back, I wanted to blurt ''squidpants!''...hehe

tattooed on my calf by Mike Schweigert on my 18th birthday at Electric Tattoo, Bradley Beach NJ

My first tattoo story isn't anywhere as amazing as the gentleman I tattooed yesterday. This is his first tattoo , done 32 years ago by Capt. Jack Collidge in New Jersey and it's still amazing today.

Mom did the kanji for Mom on my sternum when I was 17.

i got the name of our street with guitar string and indian ink back in 91. I followed that beaut up with more horrible homemade script jobs like initials and nickname then in comparison a half decent cross and memorial. I am super smart so I covered it all with tribal once I got to college in 94 in some guys kitchen but atleast he had a tatty gun!

Im not sure how I never posted in this thread. Anyways, I was 17 and working at Applebee's when I met Ralph. He was a ex con Sureno who started doing tattoos on the side for some extra cash. Anyways, I decided to hit him up for a quick piece on my ankles. I have "Rise" on one ankle and "Above" on another. The fonts are shitty, the rise is higher than the above, and the E in rise looks like a C with a dick in the middle. Dont get tattooed by cooks from Applebee's.

Here 2 sheets I did for the Amsterdam Tattoo Museum, 1 has a celtic panther and the other has a panther/dagger/ rose combo.

I did paleo for a few months-cut deep, but couldn't get any sort of gains going as far as body weight and fat free mass. Now I'm doing simple carbs post workout (fruit/juice) and brown rice, oats, and flax every now and then. I'm all about pushing myself as far as I can go strength-wise, with looks being secondary. That being said, I wouldn't want to spend lots of money on great tattoo work if my body looked like crap. You can spray paint a turd gold, but you still got a turd when you're finished. If you're in better shape, everything about you should age better, including your skin/tattoos. My two cents.

Stuart cripwell appointment Next month,whhhhooooohoooooo!!! Ok sorry had to let that out.

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!

Not meant to offend i'am just having a Steffie (Graff) -laugh .

That you have to ask says it all ...

rock of ages done on a friend's dad. late 40s/early 50s. i believe it was done at Dad Libertys' in Scolley Sq, Ma. i posted a couple of others in the "old tattoo photos" thread.

my dachshund lucy and bert grimm.