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I can speak from personal experience on this subject. Over the years my weight ballooned to 17stone (238 lb.). I'm around 5ft 6". Didn't stop me getting tattooed in fact it made me feel different about my body. I was transformed from a fat bastard with a couple of tattoos to a fat bastard with a lot of nice tattoos. Great. However due to my size I did feel that getting a nice tattoo on my ribs was out of the question. The change in my attitude towards my body has made me think more about the obvious health issues and after spending so much time under the needle I thought it would be a bit of a pisser to bow out early. So I lost around 56lbs and I got my rib tattoo. I've still got a little way to go and carrying all that excess weight has left me with a bad back, knees, type 2 diabetes and stretch marks (those areas I wouldn't get tattooed although I do know a tattooer who enjoys whip-shading stretch marks as he has a sticker by his work station stating so). My only advise would be to choose a good tattooer, take advantage what you've got and get something a decent size. As for what other people think, fuck em.

5'10", 89kg/196lb As a fat woman: fuck body hate, get tattooed. To elaborate: being both fat and disabled, I've had issues with my body for a long time. The act of getting tattooed (facing a chronic pain and sensitivity problem) and the act of BEING visibly tattooed is, for me, extremely empowering. I'm not the typical "hot tattooed chick", and it is glorious. It's a way to take back this vessel I've been cursed/blessed with, and to feel more comfortable going through life in it. Plus, tattoos are awesome.

You will look no more "ridiculous" with tattoos than anyone else! Get tattooed, get what you want, fuck the world. I don't tattoo so I can't answer your questions about working with skin and placement but I can't imagine it's that much of an obstacle. @Shawn Porter posted a video a while back on his OV blog, an awesome awesome Dave Lum video, where his shop helper -- a woman -- was talking about how she hated her legs and her butt. How she was self conscious and never thought she'd get tattooed there, but once she did get some coverage on those areas, she loved them. Maybe the only big folks you're seeing with a significant amount of work have some not-so-great tattoos.. or maybe you're just freaking out cause you've only got one so far. But if you've got the itch, you've gotta scratch it, and everyone else can go to hell. Truly. Apologies if this was too strongly worded.. I had the night off, some beers were consumed. The only people I don't like with a lot of tattoos are dickheads regardless of their tattoos.

Hermit crab I got from Deno at Kings Avenue on Thursday!

I know plenty of overweight people with awesome tattoos. Fuck what people think. You only get one life. Live it.

nice! saw that on his instagram. liked yours the best of the bunch. my good friend is on the lower right.

tattoos make everything look better.

I think good tattoos are still going to look good on someone who is very overweight, while bad tattoos are still going to look bad. If you've got great work it's going to speak for itself. I know a couple of pretty heavy guys (tattooers, incidentally) who are pretty much covered, and as with anyone else when you look at their tattoo it's the quality of the tattoo you see, not the diameter of the limb it's on, IMO. As mentioned above a pet peeve is really tiny tattoos scattered around. No pun intended, but 'go big, or go home'. Just to add, Jade1955's post is great: I find it fantastic that someone's love of collecting tattoos could be the driver in taking the steps needed to lose weight ... To get more tattoos, but (arguably more importantly) probably significantly increase their chances of living a longer, more active life.

Not a dragon but this shows what is possible - Tim Lehi Blackheart Tattoo S.F.

I feel like you don't need to worry about whether a tattoo is masculine or feminine. For me, in 99% of cases, it's the female body that lends the femininity to the tattoo, not the image. Honestly, I've always thought there was something really sexy about tough as fuck tattoos on women. My girlfriend has a real tough dagger on her forearm, and no one would ever think of her and the word masculine at the same time. In my opinion, the overtly "feminine" touches that I see ladies add to images to try and "girl them up" just take away from the power of the tattoo. In summation: a dragon would be fucking awesome.

A little cuticle action by Dave Kruseman as he touched up my thumb sleeves yesterday! The tattoos are holding up amazingly well!

I will try to get an updated photo of them tonight when i get home from work! But here is a photo not too long after they were done for those who haven't seen them!

Plus one for dragons on women. Bonus points for dragons on fat women.

Your fat. Don't wear makeup, don't dress nicely, don't have fun, don't leave the house ... period. Just stand in a corner and perform self flagellation. Or, you can just live your life.

OW! @Bunny Switchblade, I remain glad you're back on here. :D

When I first started getting tattooed somebody suggested that it was odd that someone so skinny should get tattooed (I'm 5'10" and 140lb soaking wet). Go figure... I say your body size and shape shouldn't matter whatsoever in your decision as to whether or not to adorn your body with art. At the end of the day there are fat trashy people with trashy tattoos, just as there are skinny trashy people with trashy tattoos. The subject matter, artist, choice of placement and how you present yourself are ultimately what matter, not how much you weigh.

Most of the bigger tattooed ladies I have seen (or tattooed) had something tiny done on them. I am personally not a fan of teeny tiny tattoos on anybody (especially if they're of the super girly variety or consist of microscopic text) because I believe that bigger is better... and I believe the same for larger ladies too. When I see a big woman with a tiny butterfly on her ankle I think to myself how cool it would be if she had a giant tiger or panther or dagger/skull or something. I love the look of people with great tattoos no matter how many extra pounds they might be packing. And I have no doubt that when I have more extensive work on myself, I'll feel a little more comfortable in my own skin.

Quick Tumblr search:

If I am not mistaken, a lot of the fat ladies in circuses and ten-in-one shows at the turn of the century were also tattooed ladies. And, I would bet a lot of money that everyone here would agree with gougetheeyes.

Just got off the phone with my grandmother... i asked her if she wouldnt mind me getting a tattoo for her and she really loved the idea (also very flattered despite the fact she doesnt like tattoos all that much). I asked her what she would want me to have that she liked and she said butterfly, or heart, with her name. So now I have the idea for my next tattoo, I have to wait it out until I get the funds. The wait begins... as does my search for the perfect design. :)

If I were to get lettering I would check the stencil, knowing how to tattoo and being a good speller do not always go together. Clearly the tattoo that started this thread has way more things wrong with it than spelling as well. I know someone personally who tattoos and has dyslexia. He has been battling it his whole life. When he started tattooing 20 years ago people weren't getting ridiculous amounts of script lettering on their ribs and it wasn't too hard to make sure a few words were spelled right. Nowadays about 40percent of people that walk into his shop want lettering of some sort. He makes people write it down and check the stencil just because he knows he is apt to misspell a word especially when you are doing large amounts of lettering. Also if the customer misspells a word he may not catch it for the same reason. Needless to say I haven't seen him misspell anything but I have caught a few mistakes on stencils. But he has does some of the cleanest traditional and black and grey work in town and even his lettering is super clean. I would rather have a mispelled tattoo by him than some shitty lettering spelled right.

I saw a girl come into the shop with a memorial piece she had gotten done for her father. "Daddy's Little Angle" I suggested instead of covering it up, we just put a speed square underneath and say he was a carpenter.

Well I am slightly nervous about putting up a pic of my tattoo for some reason, anyway it is only part of the tattoo and I feel it is ok to post it as the tattoo artist doing the work posted this pic on his instagram page. Artist is Tristan Bentley works at Ocean Ink in Miranda Sydney Australia and yes the octopus is smiling :D, the photo was about 2 minutes after we were finished for the day.

Of course, as soon as I go to Europe, Deno goes to the states, and is far away when I get back. grumblegrumble.

And they are! :D The first thing I thought of was Shige or Horiyoshi III. The Yellow Blaze site only shows a phoenix on a woman but Horiyoshi's got a dragon up there though: Horiyoshi III Official website | Tattoo Portfolio Go for it!

Getting bigger tattoos is great advice; I don't know how many big guys I see at the gym with these tiny tribal bands or whatever that just look silly. The only thing I would consider is whether you plan on staying your current size or if you plan on losing. If you plan on losing, I'd wait to tattoo areas that could see lots of stretch marks like belly/lower back/thighs until after you reach a target size. Either way, we're built to fall apart ;)

@Delicious . That's awesome! Amund Dietzel made some great flash that I think would suit your idea very well (both the heart and the butterfly). Or check out the Spider Murphy's flash for some more sweet butterflies. I got my first tattoo based off a story that my grandfather told me when I was really little.

There are two Superman trailers, btw: Same video, but the audio is different. One is Pa Kent (Kevin Costner) and the other is Jor-el (Russel Crowe) talking to Clark/Kal Depending on what theater you go to... you get Crowe or Costner. Incidentally, both of Supe's dads have played Robin Hood.

The Oi! Lympics!

davidbruehl- Print for sale $40 shipped PayPal [email protected]. I've extended this til the 23rd. Proceeds are going to my friends the Montgomery's. Their son died suddenly a few weeks back in a sudden accident with a gun. The proceeds from this print will go towards all the costs associated with the tragedy. The prints will be done on nice paper through Rebel Reprints, so it won't be some Kinko's garbage. Please share this. https://twitter.com/davidbruehl Just passing this along and I dont have FB or twitter but wanted to share If this is not ok I apologize update: this is not for me and I do not know the montgomery's , but Having just buried my son aswell this grabs at my heart

had x-rays done along with l5 s1 being out I have this nice little alignment issue no wonder the last 7 yrs have not felt good

Got this last night at Anthem in Gainesville FL, from the Last Sparrow board's own Tim Strating. Pic doesn't do the colors justice. Could not be happier.

Just got back from a consultation with James Spencer-Briggs...we are set to do a tiger on my arm in August!! So psyched.

I've always wanted a dragon tattoo, but the only pieces I've ever seen were on men and well ...manly. I think dragon tattoo designs could be amazing using the contours of a woman's body. With that said, do any of you know/seen/tattooed dragons on women? I would just "google" it, but every one here seems the best at pulling images from every corner of the internet. Also curious if any women on here have some dragons or what your opinions are on dragons on women following the publicity of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo? I seriously considered giving up my dream of having a dragon after the American movie got so much attention. (Noomi Rapace's tattoo was better in the Swedish version......)

This rules!

Damn... Thats amazing.. wish she was closer :( Can't wait to have the funding to start mine.

Hi, I am joining this forum in search of a like minded tattoo loving community! I currently have four tattoos with one regret...soon to be lasered and covered. No particular single style of preference but I at the moment I have some "new school trad" in both colour and B&G, some wildlife realism and the piece to be covered is a b & g piece applied by quite the butcher in my earlier tattoo seeking years. I see myself eventually being fairly extensively covered in a mix of styles with the overall impression of a tattoo scrap book...as much as I love looking at full and cohesive body suits I feel that that is not the way forward for me. I look forward to making some acquaintances and learning some more about the industry/community/culture or whatever else you would like to describe our world as! I hope to meet you soon! Alex

@ltholley those little videos are great!

@David Flores Ate at Sol Food for the first time on Wednesday on the way back to the Bay Area from Healdsburg. It was great. Get the shrimp combo plate and the coconut pudding. Can't wait to see what you get from Cripwell!

Another stroke of genius from Horitomo. This is on Geordie Cole owner of Tattoo Magic in Melbourne, Australia. He is also a great tattoo artist.

Not my taste, but it looks well done. you can have the shading changed, shouldn't be a major deal. BUT QUIT PUTTING VASELINE ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You really don't need any greezy shit like that on a fresh tattoo. Some light, hypoallergenic, unscented skin lotion is all you need, and not much of that.

St. Sebastian:

Timothy Hoyer...KILLING IT!

Just came across this one by Max Kuhn, had to share.

Zach Nelligan- Triple Crown Tattoo, Austin,TX:

Tim Lehi masterpiece based on The Wild Hunt Of Odin, 1872 by Peter Nicolai Arbo .

Mine here, done by Stevie Edge at kaleidoscope tattoo in Sydney.

If you go to good tattoo artists you will not have a problem. Do some styles mix better than others? Yes. Does this mean you should avoid any style? Probably no. Try searching the forum, as there is some wealth of information covered already and you can get answers to almost any question. Check out the following threads. http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-advice/1641-mixing-styles-themes.html http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-designs/1208-clashing-different-style.html http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-advice/797-collecting-different-styles.html

One down. LOTS to go!