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@jacobyoung I think I saw Matt working on that off and on... a friend of mine was getting a rose on his hand by Albrigo, so I spent some time hovering that general vicinity. Also, I got this at the same convention, from Ron Henry Wells. Photo from his Instagram...

Just started my historical figures sleeve this weekend (by artist Cecil Porter)

This is really awesome, I saw this reposted somewhere but the idiot did not credit the artist, I am so glad I know who painted this now, I just emailed him inquiring about a possible print. FYI, Freddy Corbin has been drawing black pin-ups for years, another reason to love Freddy.

You are correct about that! Turns out Mario desa will be there so I just emailed him about an appt. If I'm lucky enough and rich enough I can get both to tattoo my thigh. That's be a great vacation

Got this out of the Revisited flash book, done by Lee Brooker, Classic Tattoo, Red Deer, Alberta

That's what she said! Rob

New one from Erik Bartholomaus

Some amazing stuff posted here, wow! Here's my entry, by javi Rodriguez guesting at frith street

Just for fun, here is my finished dragon by Kore Flatmo. Its only eight days into the month and there are already so many amazing tattoos posted. Thats pretty awesome.

Appt booked with Tony. Guess well see what kinda tiger I get

I'm in Central Texas until the end of May... I'm seriously considering setting something up with Tony myself. I know, I know... I said I was "taking a break"!!! But, if I put it off until close to the end of this contract that's still "a break" right?

Finally got an updated photo together - this is after two treatments: My business partner has been extremely busy with 5 month old twins so our schedules never seem to sync up, I'm hoping to get a 3rd treatment this weekend.

To end the debate all over the internets... This is the only true 1-shot man-stopper pistol 50BMG In the palm of your hand. In reality there has been soo many statistics and debates over the years that to me show it really just comes down to personal preference. Like myself I prefer a wheel gun for reliability. While I've only had a couple jams or stovepipes over the years, nothing is more reliable than a hammerless wheelgun.

UGH! You make me jealous.

......

"it's so big! it's pretty... but it's so big..."

My mom...whatever, she doesn't like them, she doesn't understand them, but that's fine and she lives on the other side of the country from me so at least she doesn't have to see them. My mother-in-law, on the other hand...I am goddamned terrified of her finding out I have tattoos, plus she lives in the same city as me and has a habit of dropping by unannounced.

First of all, you should have read the newbie guide: Last Sparrow Tattoo - Newbie Guidelines Do not go posting a bunch of meaningless posts just to hit your 10 post requirement! If you want to ask a question right away - just post it in your intro thread. Your first ten posts consisted solely of "Welcome" and "LMAO".... You could just as easily have posted this in an introduction thread. Second of all, why are you asking us for opinions when it seems as you've already made up your mind?

Had my first of three appointments at The Family Business (with Mo) on Friday. We're bringing an old half-sleeve he did on my down into a full sleeve. Got the outline on and some shading, but I'm really looking forward to getting back in to follow on with it... April and May should see it finished. Also squeezed in a brutal drinking session with two old college friends, involving 32% strength beer from BrewDog in Shoreditch. Had to snooze on a bench in the airport before my flight back. Getting too old for this shit.

I'm an apprentice... I started to learn from Richard in 2002, then we all got a long so much I bought his partner Stace out of his partnership, which was Skin & Bones, a completely different business in the same building... As a business minded person I had to set down the apprenticeship, and focus on the piercing business, but knew I would get to be around and maybe get to have time enough to pick up a few things... It never happened, we maintained a partner relationship from then on... In 2009, we were reunited somewhat... after about 6 months, I was his apprentice again, and still am... What I have gathered from my 13 plus years in the body art profession is this, Tattooers or some of them, are a lot like teenage couples that don't think about the big picture, they get all hot and heavy and forget to take that pill or wear a condom, and oops a baby is born, and they themselves are still children... Babies having Babies is not an ideal situation in population or profession control.... Especially if you care about people and people getting good work. And Richard has always ALWAYS said... Taking an apprentice is like getting married and someone taking your last name as theirs.... And there is no divorce, that's forever. Hence even too risky for him to teach or just trust even a friend to tattoo... They are bound to you for the rest of their career, and you want to teach good tattooing, and it's hard to teach something that we should constantly be learning about... especially if you love it.

Tattoo by Chad Koeplinger done at Frith Street Tattoo in London, England Filled up the spot nicely! (and quickly 2 Hours!)

@Dan S, that kid Frank Williams tattoos blow my mind!

Either way you go you really can't go wrong! :D

why the sad face @lving4today ? Tony is great! :D

Just saw this! That's on Stan Corona of GTC. I believe it was done by Horiken (not Yokohama Horiken of State of Grace, but Horiken of Tokyo, IIRC). As far as I know, he tattoos entirely by hand, including the outline.

Ollie XXX is in Edmonton and he's a great traditional tattooer.

i prefer the classic lady heads early 1900-1940 ish (grimm,jensen,big ben,wicks) are some of my favs; i always get excited to see a classic pinup head or bust.looks timeless and tuff as hell,cant go wrong!!

Whaaaaat?! @jayessebee I don't know what's going on here and to be honest I think it makes me uncomfortable. So nice job.

My Mom hasn't seen my legs since I just had the one on my calf. My baby sister's graduation is coming up in May and I'm planning on "surprising" the family when I show up in a dress. I'm curious how my Mom will react.

I'm a grown ass man and I'm still scared to show my mom!

We are, indeed - a homely bunch. :rolleyes:

Monte Agee in Indianapolis does nice black and grey in a similar style. He's down to earth and a nice dude. Not sure what his waiting list is like but I'd say with any of the folks you mentioned, you might also check and see if they are doing any conventions. You might find that they'll be a little closer to where you live and might be able to tattoo you despite their normal waiting list period. Everybody does their convention appointments different so you might luck out. With all that said, I think its kind of in poor taste to approach getting a tattoo by just posting some portfolio pics from people and then asking strangers if those people will do what YOU want. Go out and visit people in your area. Talk to them, look at their work, and see how you feel. You're not obligated to get tattooed by someone just because you discussed your ideas.

All will be forgiven when you get a good tattoo.

I saw that and wondered if it was you! Too damn good, Lady! Congrats.

Stopped in and talked to Steve today to get the ball rolling. We both have a very similar ideas for this tattoo. I am very excited to see what he comes up with based on all of the ideas and examples i threw at him today.

I think the thing to remember is that everyone who is tattooing as a career got into it differently. There is very few tattooers I know that had a real apprenticeship. Most worked for free as shop help first. Learning to tattoo is a lifetime commitment and it takes years just to understand the basics. All the good tattoos posted on here are more than likely executed by people who are more than seasoned. Its easy to look at this industry from the outside and think it would be great to be in. You know, tattooers are on tv and at celeb gatherings, they look like they have lots of money and have spare time to be in bands. Shops are portrayed as super fun spots to hang out where you dont have to take life too serious. What could be better than doing "art" for a living and making money doing what you love?? I think a steady paycheck is better, health insurance is better, retirement...There are a huge amount of sacrifices that come with this demanding job. Its not all roses and especially not until you start to really get a handle on the craft and the drawing and coloring aspect. Just about the time you have something figured out, you get humbled right back down by something else or, maybe even that something you had figured. Now, tattooing is so mainstream, that a fair amount of people treat it with a lot less respect than they did say fifteen years ago. These are only getting worse with the amount of people now tattooing. With all that said, Support your Local Tattooer, give them lots of money in exchange for tattoos. Support the industry and the people doing the thing everyday and maybe someday, someone will invite you to clean the nicotine stains off their bathroom walls:)

got my elbow tattooed yesterday by Lowercase J

I tried taking a photo of my latest from Javi Rodriguez but unfortunately i have my right arm in a cast at the moment so it wasn't easy. I've settled for pilfering one from his instagram instead. Done at the fantastic frith street on Tuesday.

Grime put it on Instagram so I figured it'd be cool to post here. The ass section of my back... He said he wanted to wait to shade the center of the flower until he sees what other colors are used on the rest of the tattoo. Who am I to question? :D

Got tattooed by Matt Arriola at the West Texas Tattoo Conv. Super pumped on how this came out.

Tony Nilsson at Blue Arms Tattoo in Oslo, Norway is doing incredible girl heads in my opinion. I just recently started paying attention to his work and it is very solid. I would definitely love to get a tattoo from this guy.

The first commandent says: You shall have no other gods before Me. It doesn't deny the existence of other gods; just that you can't put them before YHWH. So I'm sure the creation stories had a little from Brahma, a little from Tiamat, etc. Anyhoo.. got off topic for a bit. I'm an atheist. I'm covered with religious work; Tibetan Buddhism, Satanism, Hindu, Christian, Hebrew, Christian Mysticism.... you name it. I don't really think there's a conflict with religious imagery on a nonreligious person. Sure, having Hindu gods on my neck has led to a lot of conversations about respect and culture (the best being a Hindu friend defending me to her daughter- "if you love Lord Krsna more than he does, why is he not on YOUR neck!". Gotta love my Pushpa Dashwani!) and the Baphomet on my hand has led to more than a few fun situations but by and large... It's no different than having Peter Pan tattooed on you. Which I do. Hah.

I am an atheist. I am also Satan. Well when I've had a few beers I am.

My boss is a literal christian, meaning he believes every word to be the truth. Creationist to the extreme, believes the old testament, yada yada. Overall a real smart dude and overall nice guy, but it just dumbfounds me. He's even open minded to atheism, just knows that he's right and you're wrong. I can't wrap my head around "believe this without any evidence, just do it" but no one applies that logic to any other thinking in life.

Im in no way religious but recently placed a giant St. Francis on my entire belly. It has a deeper meaning to me than its religious implications, so its all good in my book. Get whatever you want if it makes you happy.

I have a Christ Head,and a Mary tattoo i got around 10yrs.ago.But my belief's have changed somewhat.I just don't believe in a God that's in a place called Heaven.Or that there was a lady who gave birth to a son without sex.I heard somewhere that Christianity was a made up religion;and I'm starting to agree with that.After reading books like The Power of Now,and A New Earth,and some other spiritual books,i just don't know what to believe anymore.Now i wan't to get these tattoos lazered,and start over with some eastern religious imagery.

Dang, I wish people weren't so afraid of the word atheist. There's a lot of respect for religion from the non-religious in this thread. I think ROA and some variant of praying hands would be the only things I'd want tattooed because they're timeless. I do enjoy japanese deities and other spirits though. A satan worshipper with jesus christ on his neck seems almost like a mockery, but then again it's possible he got it before he became a satanist or maybe he just likes the way that long haired dude looks

I see what you mean, but at the same time, you can't believe in Satan if you don't believe in Jesus. He's part of the Christian story, right? I was raised uber-Catholic, then became a lapsed Catholic, then hung out in the agnostic phase before finally admitting that I'm actually an atheist. Some brainwashing takes longer to get past than others. :) But I have a sacred heart and a Mary tattoo, and I'd still like a ROA and a curly-bearded Jesus tattoo at some point. The imagery is gorgeous, and when it comes to my personal tattoos, that's all I really care about.

I tend to not grab anything out of someones hand that just came from their groin area. Pretty much the best code to live by.