Leaderboard

So I'm back from my trip to LA visiting Bryan Burk and Chris Conn :o I had the best holiday of my life in just three days! and here are the results! Panther is by Bryan Burk, Dark Horse Tattoo and The cat-lady is of course by Mr. Conn himself! Best tattoo experience I have had and probably will ever have, he is something special this guy :o

I just wanted to quote this and thank David for posting it. It's a great example of what I love about LST: it's not preachy or condescending, but it is sound, thoughtful advice. Thanks for posting it.

Just got this yesterday!!!!! 4 hours by George Campise.

Stoked my appointment with Greg Christian is tomorrow. Skull and snake time.

like empires, tits will fall. but, you still have many years before that happens and when it does, you can either get them put right back up where they were, or enjoy the fact that at least you had fun doing your chest tattoo while you were young

It's a big step no doubt, I would say getting a chest piece is almost like getting a neck tattoo for a girl, in the sense that it's going to be visible the majority of time. I don't know if drawing stuff on you will give you the full effect of what it will be like. I would say if you do do it. (Yes I know I said do do) push it out a little bit, maybe make it a next year goal to get started. I know I don't really know you that well, but I can tell you have been on a terror to get tattooed because of personal things in your life, and you have been getting some really nice ones. I am not one to talk about getting tattoos on a whim, but visible spots deserve some consideration. If time passes and it still seems like a good idea, then it was probably a good idea all along. Regardless you seem to do good picking tattoos and tattooers so I think the piece will look good. I have been struggling similarly with getting my hands done. I toy with the idea of doing my knuckles and then I was convinced I should do the spots above my thumbs and then I was like well I might as well just dive in and not half ass it, but as of right now I am not doing anything cause I am not 100 convinced. Plus most of the people who tattoo me, either have no hand tattoos or have had them lasered off, maybe I lack balls to ask them to tattoo my hands.

That's the best thing I've heard all month.

1 session, 6 hours it's an awesome tattoo indeed, even better than I expected. And even the ones who doesnt like tattoos, have to admit that it looks in my case better than before. And the main thing is that I like it, and I absolutly do :)

I'm making another trip out to Electric to get a couple of little pieces from Robert Ryan in June. I think that will be it for new tattoos until I start my back.

But if you want something that's going to stay perfect forever, get a print or a painting, not a tattoo.

Tattoos have drastically changed my life. For starters, I'm a tall awkward looking skinny kid. Like, 6 foot tall, 130 pounds, skinny. I have always been tall and skinny, and have always been teased about being tall and skinny. I'm 20, and now have a full chest piece, six big pieces on my legs, and a full asian sleeve on my right arm. Now, people don't notice the tall skinny guy at the pool/beach. Now they see the tall guy with a ton of tattoos. People come up and ask questions all the time, and when they mention me being skinny, they comment how much I kick ass for having so much work on bony places hah. Having the work I have makes me feel a lot better about wearing shorts, having short sleeved shirts, going swimming, anything that exposes my bony limbs. Reason number two how its changed my life, my love for tattooing and frequency of getting tattooed, led me to my job at High Tide, and my eventual apprenticeship. No more making coffee and bagels for this tall skinny guy!

got this lined up yesterday by Antonio Roque @ Black Label Tattoo Company in Frederick, MD.

finished, before: http://s1.directupload.net/images/130523/ihg3gsoj.jpg after: http://s1.directupload.net/images/130523/n8hyhstm.jpg

That Chris Conn piece is INSANE. Saw that he posted on his Instagram last night. Right when Chris was getting back into tattooing, I was lucky enough to meet him and chat briefly when he stopped into Kings Avenue Tattoo NYC. That is a KILLER piece you got there.

OMG those cats!!!!!!!!!!

top of my rt wrist back of my lft forearm these are both around 25 yo I know,they are funky old traditional :rolleyes:

Thanks I appreciate it. Im really tryin to make them fun to listen to for both the tattooers and enthusiasts.

Yes some really great advice here. Thanks folks its all much appreciated. One of the Many things I appreciate about this forum is good advice without being made to feel stupid :)

hello charlotte and welcome to LST! my advice is to you is to stand up for yourself and don't take any shit! and check out the interview videos and read through old threads on this here forum! Enjoy!

Go ahead and lose your calm - there is no reason you should be OK with someone bullying you. I can't tell you what the answer is in your case but what I can say is...real men don't bully women.

Well, at least the design won't end-up lower than it started! Positive, yes indeed...

Hi everyone, Another former lurker/ new member. I have been checking out this forum for about a year now and have become a much more frequent visitor in the last few months and decided I might as well join. Seems like a great thing is going on here. A wealth of info and a lot of interesting people. At the age of 44 I am still what might be considered a novice with 5 tattoos (not counting a few little hand poked things I did myself at age 14...haha....I still love them). And my tattoo experiences have been rather few and far between. First one at 16, second one at 17, then a huge lull until my 30s. My 5th and largest piece was done just short of my birthday last year. I have had a fascination with tattooing since childhood that has never left me. Even through said lull, I stayed interested and was a big fan of tattoo publications throughout the 90s. I remember quite clearly reading the Freddy Corbin "Mr. Niceguy" article among others and now wonder if I still have those mags in storage somewhere. Nowadays I am hooked on "Tattoo Age" and "The Gypsy Gentleman". IMHO, they can't make enough of those and I've had to watch them all a number of times. My first tattoos were not terrible, but not great either. But, they are mine and I still dig them. I have become quite fussy however, in terms of who puts needle to my skin. The turning point was getting a piece from Tim Hendricks some years back as a walk in in Miami. It is just a small, very simple traditional piece but, the quality of it turned my head. I then knew what flawless line work and shading looked like and it ruined me, in a good way. I had no idea who Tim was at the time but, I sure found out and have followed his work ever since and have made it a goal to have him work on me again. Flight from Toronto to Cali are a bitch on many levels though lol! I have the itch almost constantly and am always thinking about where and what my next piece will be. I am foremost a fan of American Traditional and have become a fan of Steve Byrne, Valerie Vargas, the crew of Smith Street and countless others. I also love traditional japanese. I also have a serious fascination with the work of Thomas Hooper right now. I am rather jealous of folks who live in near proximity to these great artists but also know there is a lot of talent right in my backyard. My last pice was done by Tim Pausinger at The Pearl Harbor Gift Shop in Toronto. Great shop and Tim is a fine young man and talented tattooer with many great years ahead of him. I would love to hear from people about artists in this neck of the woods that they have experience with and would reccomend. I do quite a bit of research but, sometimes it gets kinda mind boggling with so much info out there. Sometimes my eyes begin to cross and all the shit looks the same ;) Anyways, thanks for reading. I look forward to becoming an active member of this community. Cheers! - - - Updated - - - Oh, I would be remiss if I did not mention Scott Sylvia's interviews as an obsession of mine along with the Tattoo Age and Gypsy Gentleman docs. The interviews are awesome and educational. My fave has to be the Oliver Peck one. Fucking hilarious! What a character!

Hi @guitguy - great introduction. I'm in Toronto and I am a big fan of Tim Pausinger as well. In fact, The Pearl has several great tattooers and I am working towards getting tattoos from all of them (Bill Baker, Glennie W, Lissa Vino, India Amara, Tim Pausinger, Daniel Innes, and most recently, Nathan Draper.) I tend to stick to The Pearl and the guest tattooers they have coming through on a pretty regular basis. In the last few months they have had visits from Nick Collela, Mario Desa, and Nikki Lugo. I missed Mario last time, but managed to get in to see Nick and Nikki. Looking forward to hearing about your next foray into The Pearl.

Beautiful work there Eilin ! Congrats ! Chris Conn's work is a new fascination of mine and I don't mind saying that I am rather jealous!

scott sparks has had enough of his sickfacetatts. .@svintmaney | You are all wondering if I am really getting my face tattoos removed, and the... | Webstagram - the best Instagram viewer .@svintmaney | Two sessions in.. More apparent results are known to be visible after 3-4 ses... | Webstagram - the best Instagram viewer .@svintmaney |

Thanks guys, I will most likely be looking into other shops to get this tattoo finished. Appreciate all the input!

As a side effect of my work I've seen the fronts of many, many an aged woman and I'd have to say that you're out of luck here. Gravity will win in the end every time. Sorry.

@semele that's really helpful - thanks. I don't have a desire to appear untatttooed and work self employed and anticipate doing so for my whole life. Being the only trade I have ! I've seen a few pharaohs horses design that come down between the breasts to the sternum and up to kind of should/collar. I'm gonna go buy me a sharpie tomorrow. Might try and persuade my ten year old to draw it for me haha - - - Updated - - - @David Flores yup I totally hear ya. It's not something I'm aiming for in the next while for sure. I was actually just talking to the guys in the shop I go to today and the verdict was I'm definitely trying to completely disassociate from my 'old self' and it's definitely time to stop and enjoy the ones I have without always healing new ones.

Reminds me of a joke I heard once: What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages? ......... Trilingual What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? ......... Bilingual What do you call a person who speaks 1 language? ......... American :(

Don't worry, I'm going to make you learn Polish soon. Then you'll be able to understand my mom and grandmother when they plot to feed you more. Also the getting drunk thing works for real.

The way I got better tattoos was continually seeking out people that have more knowledge than me about tattoos, listen to what they say, pay attention to what they do and visit the people and the shops they talk about. People get bad tattoos because they don't do these things and they think they have it all figured out before they walk into a shop right down to how much the tattoo should cost. You don't have to be artistic or cool or even special to get a good tattoo, and having a good tattoo doesn't make you speical either (despite what your mom told you) you just have to be smart and humble enough to let the people who know what they are doing do their thing and be open to their ideas.

Jeff Ensminger suggested that if I wanted to bring Bactine in, he'd be happy to use it. Works wonders during those 4th-6th hours.

Always excited to see the internet working correctly. May as well share my LST success story, ha. I always wanted a tattoo, but all around me I always saw garbage, so I only had really dumb ideas for pieces I wanted done. I also spent all my money on drugs and booze so thankfully none of my bad ideas came to fruition. After I got sober I started thinking more seriously about it and during my research found LST and some blogs with quality work, I finally realized how awesome tattoos could be, versus the shit I see walking around town. Almost done healing my first piece, super excited to collect more!

Awesome print!

Okay, okay, okay...who have you NOT been tattooed by??? My goodness you're a walking art gallery of some of the best! Beyond jealous. ...and that tiger head is crazy amazing.

awesome.

I got this yesterday from Andrew Conner. The first image was bogarted from his Instagram.

You are assuming that everyone out there has a creative mind and/or appreciates art. It ain't so.

Apparently the producers (or their reps) were in New Orleans this week, 'cuz I saw on Facebook this morning that many of the local shops/artists had turned them down on offers to get involved for next season. I was so proud. :)

terrible photo and taken on the 3rd day of healing but here is my latest by Steve Byrne:

Here's my entry!! Done by Joseph (Jet) Diprojetto at Love Hate Tattoo in Rochester, NY:

Planning tattoos and getting them is fun for me. Then, having them is great, too. So, they make me happy. I don't know if they've changed my life...but they enhance my life for sure!

Got this fella from Deno.

Just for the heck of it, I'll throw in my right arm 3/4 sleeve done a couple of years ago by Henning Jorgensen when he was guest tattooing at Kings Avenue Tattoo (both the Manhattan and Long Island shops). This picture was actually compiled by Henning and shared with me. Enjoy!

My newest tattoo done by Ron Henry Wells:

1stly, your reason for getting a tattoo is not that unusual. Go for it. Good that you're doing plenty of research. I'm not personally a real fan of most tribal, but at least Pascal in that particular shop seems to be doing better than average. A picture of the actual mark and scars would help the tattooists here make an opinion of how hard this might be. Lastly, don't worry about "not being creative". That's part of what a good artist is being paid to do. Go with your ideas, references and deposit and discuss what you want in detail. He will draw something up and you two can tweak it if/as needed.

Tattoos are just tattoos. That would be like saying everyone who got an anchor tattoo is a sailor or everyone who got a tribal tattoo was a cage fighter.

exactly!!! so true. i don't give out any free advice. if you're in my chair getting tattooed, you can ask me whatever you want (if you're a tattooer). i get so many emails from complete strangers asking about my pigments, machines, watercolor, etc. even non-tattooer customers who ask what size needles i'm using...i tell 'em a "#6 murphy" to throw them off. they always act like they know what i'm talking about! even on this forum, i'm keeping my mouth shut on critiques.