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Hi! First, I want to say that I really appreciate this forum. I've been intensively lurking here for a few weeks now and I love how sincere and respectful (most of) the posts/posters are. It seems to be a rare thing in forums like these for people to be genuinely helpful, nice, and laid back :) So, Thanks to all of you who are here and contributing in such helpful ways. I have this disorder which is causing the motor nerves in my legs to die off. This, of course, means that the muscles in my legs are working less and less and less... and it hurts. For the past 2 or 3 years, as it's been getting noticeably worse, I've been HATING my legs. They let me down. They are betraying me by failing and by robbing me of my ability to do the things I used to love to do and the things I dreamed of someday doing. A few months ago I started dreaming about getting more tattoos. (I have two now. Old. Not the best quality maybe but I love them anyway :)) I am planning now to start tattooing my legs. Sort of a "value-added" idea I guess. Over time they're becoming less functional, but maybe more beautiful? Definitely MINE. And... total bonus... instead of feeling self conscious about people watching the way I walk I can choose to believe that they're admiring my tattoos! So. That's it. That's why I'm here. I am excited to start.

From Iain Mullen today. So happy with it! Had a great time and it wasn't as horrible as I had imagined going over the elbow.

Ran across this interesting little teaser on youtube for an upcoming documentary on NYC tattooing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OApQA-ZPaoc Featuring Richie Montgomery, Pete Giaquinto, Ronnie DellAquila, Mike Perfetto and Tony Polito Got another trailer here Looks like it's going to be released early 2013 sometime.

Throwing in my tattoo in the hat. This was done by Eddy Deutsche a week and a half ago.

Todd Noble

I posted a crappy photo in the Latest Tattoo Lowdown thread a a few days back. I finally got a good picture of the progress on my backpiece. One more session to finish the two angels and tidy a few bits up and it should be complete. Tattoo by Paul Pearson.

Any art collector that hasn't considered buying some of his work is failing.

"How many people would go under if they couldn't get pre-made needles anymore?" "A lot" "This table wouldn't" That exchange is fucking gold.

Tattoo Age | VICE Thom is Up.

Three words: Japanese squid pants. And welcome!

on breaking in to the business of tattooing. A good laugh. Contact me at [email protected] for availability$20 shipped in the US $25 outside of the US

This kills me , follow the evolution of a Bob Roberts Battle Royale backpiece complete with soundtrack ... The Battle Royale Tattoo by Bob Roberts

Loved it!!

About to watch this. Gotta say--I love the pics of Daisy on Instagram that @Graeme and @Pugilist put up--she looks like the sweetest thing. Love the cat pics too, of course, being that's mainly what I post as well, but that is a special dog.

I would say the subject matter they paint is very similar and the color palette as mentioned, but Conn's stuff has so much more going on and is looking for a much bigger effect. Cleen looks like he is trying to keep it simpler. If he was trying to rip off Conn, I think he would make his paintings a little busier, try to incorporate background elements that Conn uses. I think clearly Cleen has been influenced by Conn, but that can be said for pretty much this whole generation of tattooers. Same with Dan Higgs and even Aaron Coleman, I see a lot of these guys in the tattoos people do everyday, and I don't think people are ripping it off, they are just doing what they think looks cool.

Chris Trevino, Jason Brooks, Tony Hundahl, Jay Chastain. Chris will have the longest waiting list, but he is probably the best non-Japanese Japanese tattooer in the world. Jason Brooks is fucking incredible and unique. Jay Chastain is also a great tattooer. I just got tattooed by Tony about three weeks ago, and he told me he is usually only booked a couple of weeks in advance. I got a hannya mask from him and it is really nice. Ben Seibert works with Jason at Great Wave, and he is getting to be as good as the rest of them. Paco Cendon is also in Austin and does great work. Also Rock of Ages just posted their upcoming guests which are Matt Arriola, Thomas Hooper, and Robert Ryan.

This looks awesome!

@slayer9019 I just found your holiday sweater. Slayer | Christmas Holidays Jumper | Jumper | Officially Licensed Music T shirts, Hoodies and other merchandise.

I sat for 7 1/2 on my ribs, well technically I sat for 2 1/2 and then drank a pint of vodka and slept for the next 5. I'm the worlds biggest sissy, really I'm like a 3yr old girl with a skinned knee when I get tattooed it's horrible. The next longest was 4 1/2 by Eric Inksmith last year. It was right before he started touring, his first time using disposables, on my calf. I tried to crush my skull by squeezing my temples to distract myself. It was right before the state fair, I had to stop and buy a cane at walmart, my leg was so swollen I could barely walk. The longest I ever tattooed was in my first year, payday weekend at Ft. Campbell, tattooed from 10am til 4am, with only breaks to setup and break down. My hands were numb from my fingertips to my elbows.

Since we are talking about Austin, why not Jason Brooks, I have been looking a lot at his stuff lately. Or Scott Ellis at triple crown. I also think it's important to be patient to find a good tattooer, that you like to cover your tattoo and give you a tattoo you can be proud of. On the other hand, I can also understand not wanting to wait a year to get tattooed and there are plenty of guys who do top quality work who don't have huge wait lists. Whatever path you choose i hope this thread has helped.

A bunch of guys who have been around a long time sitting down and talking sounds good to me.

Courteousness is key. It shouldn't matter who you are, how many tattoos you have, what you're getting, etc., you should be treated with courtesy. There are so many great tattoo artists out there that I can't be bothered by getting tattooed by someone who is rude or is a dick. It's also bad business sense. A couple of years ago my wife @Pugilist emailed a very good local tattoo artist about getting a tattoo (for what it's worth, it wasn't the easiest tattoo request) but instead of just saying that he wasn't interested in doing it, he sent a really assholey reply...though, curiously enough, he didn't actually say he didn't want to do it. It was probably good in the long run that he did that because that got her looking into travelling for tattoos, which led her to Stephanie Tamez at Saved who is completely amazing both as a tattooer and as a human being, and who is now doing a full back piece on her. There's a few thousand dollars that the first guy potentially deprived himself of. Obviously, that courteousness goes both ways. To me, that means appreciating the fact that tattooers are often busy and might not respond to my emails as quickly as I'd ideally like, that appointments often run late, that when they suggest something it's often to make a better tattoo, and so on and so forth.

started today with my boss... we decided that since we put a backpiece on my chest, we should do a chestpiece on my head. EDIT: just realized i forgot to mention... by Josh Cruse, of JP Cruse Professional Tattooing, in Wichita, KS. i'm used to posting things to my friends on Facebook, where i don't have to clarify as much.

Cleen is definitely coming into his own. He wouldn't be the top of my list of people who I think bite Conn. That said! MUST GET TO CALIFORNIA AND GET TATTOOED.

Awesome ! even if this is your only tattoo IMO well worth it to be wearing good tattoo. Nice to see your so open to suggestions and taking sound advice!

Figured i'd bump this thread with a little update. Today was deadlift day and I managed to lift 120kg, which is a new PR for me. Every time i break a PR it boosts my pride and self esteem. It's a direct result of my own hard work and that's the best feeling ever

If you want your head tattooed get your head tattooed. I don't have mine tattooed, but I have seen it done, and the recipient didn't seem to be doing that bad.

Thanks guys, and I shot both of the artists suggested in the previous posts an email and I'll wait and see what they say. Sorry if my writing earlier was hard to read, I was posting on my iphone.

I would say the wait for a good tattoo seriously outweighs getting a third coverup! I would forget about assuming and shoot an email/phone call his way and see what the wait is, or even if there is any significant wait time. You never know he could be available, at least maybe for an appointment to see what needs to be done. While I am far from a tattooist I can say it does like kinda light which does work in your favor. That being said, there might be other good artists in your area as well. @CultExciter I forgot the "I" in that statement. I missed it

I'm leaving for New Zealand tomorrow. Getting my thigh tattooed by Simon Erl on Saturday, sight-seeing for a week and then starting colour on my back with Jelle on the following Friday!

I don't that's always a pre-requisite to have both arms finished before having 'permission' to do other spots. I did the entire back of my head when I was heavily tattooed already but in as far as visible tattoos I had a left arm sleeve and nothing on my right arm at all. The people that tattooed me even back then were friends that knew my commitment level and didnt try to talk me out of it. As far as pain level goes, I mentally prepared myself for the worst tattoo I've ever had and that made it easier to deal with when it turned out not to be. IMO my side/ribs were worse, armpit was worse, ass-cheek was worse.

Mike Shea. DO IT!

I don't know how serious you are about the cover it up part, but if he's thinking about covering it up, his wrist is the wrong place to get it. He should write the script on his wrist with a magic marker and spend a few days seeing how he likes it before he gets it permanently tattooed on.

My goal of 2013 is to get tattooed by Xam.

The best way I have found to heal lower leg tattoos is straight after you have it done take an anti-histamine and then once you are home try and keep the leg raised as much as possible. I sleep with my legs above my head when healing lower leg tattoos. I also take one anti-histamine a day until it's finished scabbing. I dry heal so all of my tattoos scab a lot but I've never needed to have one touched up. Oh and FYI I got 6 lower leg tattoos in as many months plus my knee and this method has healed them all perfectly and without any real tenderness

here's my new one from duncan x, from a bruegel engraving

I usually tell people that I got mine so have something to look at if I forget a magazine when I go to the bathroom.

Some killer stuff in here! for perspective: Done by Greg Christian while he was in NYC at Wooster St Social Club I had made this appt a while ago and was really looking forward to it. Thought for sure it would get canceled after the Hurricane happened and flooded the city, leaving downtown Manhattan without power all week. Luckily, Greg made it to NYC last minute and I got this tattoo from him a day after the power came back on. It was a really cool ending to a very shitty week. Very fortunate.

got this outlined yesterday by max kuhn. looking forward to finishing it.

Was talking to a buddy the other day who got tattooed by him a few weeks back and it sounded like an awesome experience. And you're exactly right.. for those that want it, go get it! For those that don't, you have nothing to worry about.

That classic Eddy Deutsche jam .

Well for whatever reason Mr. Conn isn't replying to our emails. Having heard that he's charging $500 an hour though, I kind of don't care now. Anything I'd want from him would be at least a two hour deal and there's no way I'd pay anyone $1000 for a hand sized tattoo. Fuck that. He's an amazing artist but I can get just as good of a tattoo from Mike Wilson, in the same town I live for $150 an hour.

I prefer the pea-cocking aspect of visible tattoos. Attract mates and deter foes.

Aaron Coleman (not sure if these have been posted before or not?) Immaculate Tattoo - Home

the problem is in my opinion is that just because there are more and more tattooers everyday the ratio of hard working creative and original ones are falling off.. part of self promotion is you have to make yourself and your work public. if not no one outside your town would really get to know your work. its obvious valerie is an amazing tattooer, with that comes all the no tallent as clowns who rip everyones shit off. i think its sad that people arent just willing to sit down and learn to draw a girl head with an animal head of their choice. instead to rip it off. then there is the part of a customer wants the exact thing. fine . try to steer them away but if they are persistant dont fucking publish it on the internet.... i love how people are called out on it...

Jaycel, I got the tone of your post and the intention. Although the intention was sincere enough, It's great that you realised, or have started to realise that the principles of most other crafts can seem to be applied but don't translate well to tattooing. Mostly because tattooing is a permanent mark that somebody has to live with and carry with them every day of their life - There is a responsibility that comes with that, although I'm reluctant to discuss it (and other subtleties of tattooing) with non-tattooers as it's easily misunderstood and mis-used by laymen. The reason any discussion of this type is met with hostility from tattooers is firstly because of the responsibility I mentioned and unlike other crafts, tattooing has magnetic attraction for people who wouldn't involve themselves with any other craft-based endeavour. Many of these people are not prepared to undertake the work necessary to create good tattoos. They are only prepared to do the steps they think are necessary to make sick tats. Here's the bit that may get me some shit. Getting an apprenticeship isn't the holy grail. An apprenticeship from a shitty tattooer is worse than no apprenticeship at all. What's that you say? No good tattooers are prepared to teach you? Well there's a reason for that. That doesn't mean you should let an incompetent fool enable you to become a more inexperienced incompetent fool. This is the part non-tattooers ignore when they spout on and on about 'sticking it out and finding an apprenticeship, doing it the right way' It's not right if you are taught wrongly. Many many shitty, inexperienced tattooers have an apprentice. Some of those apprentices have a lofty sense of self-worth and think they are 'real' tattooers because they cleaned the toilet of a shitty tattooer for months. Eventually the work you create and the way you conduct your affairs becomes more important then the way you got there. Mel, I seriously doubt that your dad could make a shitty machine better. Maybe better looking or better constructed, but without knowing how to tattoo, or having a great tattooer teach you. It isn't possible to make a tattoo machine work well. If someone came to me asking for an apprenticeship with pretend tattoos drawn on a mannequin, I wouldn't take them seriously at all. An apprenticeship isn't an art school mixed media project. There are a million smaller things to learn before you get to that point. If any budding tattooers/apprentices read this, the important thing to remember is - Never take advice from someone who isn't a tattooer. Even better, don't take advice from someone who isn't teaching you.

"I fed a fish to pelican in Frisco Bay.."