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Heavy hitters already this month... Done by Stefan Johnsson @ California Electric

Snuck down to see Stefan Johnsson yesterday, guys a certified genius, robbed this from his Instagram, cannot recommend him highly enough. [/url]

Victorian Dolphin by R.J. Hitchcock at American Graffiti Tattoo in Sacramento, CA.

Holy shit!! Thats so cool! I got a rose yesterday by Joshua at Peoples Art Tattoo in Copenhagen. The banner says mom in danish.

PLEASE we don't need to resurrect old Bubbleberry threads.

Lets put this to bed with this timely shot of Lemmy

The price is the price, whatever it is. It all depends on how bad you want to get tattooed by someone. Just for the record, Chris Garver over Gogue all day every day in my world. I can respect what Gogue does and his artistic ability, but not the kind of tattoos I would want to wear, but again just personal taste. I think the best Gogue tattoos I have seen are on Nikki Kasper from TAM. she wears them well. What can I say I am a sucker for tattoos that look like tattoos.

El Carlo Aloha Tattoo Spain

No re-wrapping for me - despite the tattoo artist advising to do it for best results, and knowing people who have done it and healed great. I burned myself once (as in flames) and the "burn victim treatment" did not work. I don't know the biological reasons for this. I've browsed and lurked for a while and though I reckon lots of folk know, I've not seen it mentioned - My lifestyle is largely intense weight training so when it comes to healing, at the forefront of my mind is nutrition. Don't worry, I'm not one of those tedious protein-shakers. In my mind my skin is the same as the rest of my body. If I hurt it, I give it what it needs to mend itself. Anyway - here's a couple of foods to munch on that'll help you heal... Salmon - the fats are really good, also the protein for healing skin (and everything else). Carrots - lots of vitamin A. Chillis - Good for skin (vit E) Olives, olive oil - fats. When I say fat, of course I mean the healthy ones! WATER - I go through almost 5 litres a day and have done for around 15 years. Essential for life, essential for skin health. You don't need this much, but remember cells need water to do their ting. I know enough about nutrition to know that people just don't want to hear "healthy eating nonsense", so if you want to find out all about the vitamins etc go look it up. These aren't fancy foods, I tried giving some examples of everyday foods that folk may not appreciate for the magical foods they are. Always nice to know you've long been doing something great for yourself! Remember also that protein is very important for your immune system - been years since I've researched all this, but I think it's around the first 20g of protein you get in your tummy goes straight to work on your immune system. Don't dweeb out on the diet plans, just reach for the stuff that isn't in smiley face format or crusted in salt and flavourings. You'll still want your creams, ointments or whatever - my post here is to help address the wound from the INSIDE. Have a lovely day all! John

It's a fathersday gift to my mom since my dad is an asshole ;)

Saw this on IG had to share here... Stefan Johnsson

Hi Lynelle and welcome to LST. Tattoo artists tend to be pretty good at drawing and placing tattoos, if you let us know where you live we can suggest some quality artists in your area.

Another day, another trip to The Pearl. I'm working on filling in my right arm at the moment. Today Tim Pausinger added a couple of smaller tattoos. First, a very traditional "lucky" with four aces above it, and second, a sailor girl head that I've wanted for a long time now. I also had a couple of touch ups done, so I'm sitting here with both arms taped up tightly wondering how I am going to get a fork up to my mouth. /searches for a feed-bag

I just finished a session with Garver and it was worth every penny!! He drew up my tattoo in the same day as the consult and was nothing but humble and professional through the entire process. His rates are not what has been posted here on this blog! His fame has nothing to do with the fact that his work is outstanding!

I think the majority of responsibility lies with the artists, I'm not absolving clients who say I want exactly this tattoo, but I suspect most of them think what they are getting is more original than it is. Instagram needs a #shouldhavegonetoshige hashtag.

it's so colorful! makes me happy!

I've posted this before elsewhere on this site but it's beautiful and worth a look .

I like what Troy Denning has, both the beads and the bonji.

Knives & Needles: Tattooer Deb Yarian... Nice, @Deb Yarian! This a great interview with great pictures! Family + food + a dash of tattoo - what more could you want? Thanks for the meatball recipe! :)

Glad you liked it!!

I like how Rihanna asked for the best tattoo artist in new york city, so this guy's friend, instead of sending her to a great tattoo artist, sends her to an average one because they are friends. Seriously?

And did I read that right, when the artist said Bieber will realize one day he has bad tattoos? Is he for real, putting shit on his body and not telling him it's all bad ideas... The article is so badly written...

Thanks. As you may or may not be able to tell from the photo I am black, so that provides an extra bit of a challenge to the artist, but as you can see things worked out well. I'm probably around Chris Brown's complexion but A) I have better tattoos and B) I'm not a total douchebag. I thought it was worth mentioning since the issue of how tattoos come out on darker skin seems to come up on the internet a lot. Maybe I should dig up that older thread on here that I saw about the topic. This is awesome. The last year of looking at tons of tattoos has really given me an appreciation of traditional work that I didn't have before.

I'll give this a shot. Done this past April. Jamie Macpherson Unity Tattoo in Vancouver.

Chris Garver Invisible NYC - - - Updated - - - not sure how to add a lager pic..

I will get this going. Here is my dropping the F bomb tattoo done by Cory Norris from Classic Tattoo Grass Valley CA.

Here is cell phone photo of my latest by Jeff Srsic at Redletter 1 in Tampa:

It's only outlined but I'm proud to say that I entered the Backpiece family.....:rolleyes:

Hard to get a good photo and lighting but here is a healed shot of my front, does need some touch up work on it but I am in no rush to get them done hurts to much! Artist, Tristan Bently

Hi all. My name is Lucky Malony and I work at Anatomy Tattoo in Portland, Oregon. I've been tattooing for 15 years. I like tattoos that look like tattoos. Not sure what else to put on here. Here are some recent tattoos and paintings that I've made.

I looooove that, @Androosh!

Um, dude, we agree with you for the most part, but Tim Hendricks is respected around here. Also, LET THIS THREAD DIE! Started by a troll, so let it die

I watched one of those reality shows. Once. That was plenty.

The article says "Rihanna opted for an Egyptian-inspired ribcage tattoo as one of the many that she and Bang Bang have collaborated on." BUT, that tattoo was done by Valerie Vargas: Frith Street Tattoo | Rihanna Tattooed by Valerie at Frith Street If isn't just sloppy so-called journalism and that this punk is taking credit for other people's work...

I thought Valerie Vargas did the egyptian tattoo on rihanna??? Frith Street Tattoo | Rihanna Tattooed by Valerie at Frith Street

So this tattoo is on day 4 in the picture. I was advised to leave the wrap on for the whole night, this time being the first I've been told to do so. I must say I'm pretty amazed. No scabs at all, and no ink even in the peels!!

“So, before I left, I had said to people, I really wanna become a better tattooer technically and mechanically. I really want to understand what the fuck I’m doing. Cause I felt bad. The same way I felt like I was a jerk cause I never even had my grade 10, I felt like I’m a jerk cause I’m making a lot of money and people think I’m doing real good, and I am just flailing away. I got no fucking idea what I’m doing, you know? And I thought I really owed it to everything that came before me and I owed it to myself to try and master the craft, and that was part of it for me. For most people, there were other reasons. They were doing their best, or whatever. But for me, it wasn’t enough to be successful and have money – that stuff didn’t matter to me. I didn’t understand why certain needles were doing certain things. I couldn’t even wrap my mind around it.” This pretty much is the reason why I look up to Bill. Pursuing the craft of tattooing in its entirety is what I signed up for and I just really admire his drive to understand every aspect of the craft simply as a trade. It's a very honest and humble approach, and I think you can really tell when people do what they do because it just makes their soul happy. This rules.

I had a hellva weekend, sad it is over. Date on Friday, Saturday was BBQing/drinking all day, then followed by a late night session at Invisible to finish the background on my leg and get a session set up with Matt to get my knee done, Sunday was wake up to black metal and black coffee followed by oh so much more BBQing and drinking. Finishing off today with heavy doses of metal and a smooth single-malt scotch.

Got this Rock of Ages from Joe Ellis while he was guesting at Lab Monkey Tattoo:

Congrats @Eilin! So honored and humbled to be able to share this with you. Thanks to all the LSTer's for voting and much appreciation and admiration for all the mods on running such a great forum. To all the other participants, love all the pictures of your tattoos. Keep them coming as I'm enjoying every bit of it. Cheers!

long time lurker, first time poster. My latest from Andrew Slater, All for One Tattoo in Richmond, VA.

part of my back piece skull action.

Admins, could we add a button that will automatically post that OV Dan Higgs video talking about how tattoos go together for whenever there's a thread like this?

My first tattoo was a rose and dagger design on the very top of my right arm bicep/shoulder. It was done shortly after my 16th birthday in 1983. I had to show proof that I was 16 to get the creepy old tattooer to even let me into his dingy downtown basement shop. I had figured because of the placement, I could easily hide it from Mom just wearing a t-shirt. I was mostly right. I knew that it would have to be revealed someday but, I was in no hurry. Much to my chagrin, it happened sooner rather than later. My folks vacationed in Jamaica and had brought me back this shirt, much like a karate jacket, made out of a large cotton/linen sugar bag. I figured it was a good choice to wear over a fresh tattoo, loose fitting and all. As it turned out, the old guy was not only a creep (insisted I have my hand on his knee the entire time....didn't get it then...makes me shudder now...) but also a bit of a butcher. I oozed blood and ink for a day at least and of course, permantly stained the souvenir from Jamaica. Moms caught me coming out of the bathroom, saw the mess on my sleeve and asked what the hell happened there. I've never been able to lie to my mom (even at times that I really should have lol), so I smiled sheepishly and took my shirt off. She stood dumb founded for a minute, asked me if it was real and then smiled, shook her head and called me an idiot, in the most loving way of course. Lucky. Cool as hell mom. Last year I posted a pic of my most recent piece on Facebook with an apology to my mom and stating that she had likely not quite forgiven me for the first one hahaha. She's cool about it in her resignation :)

My first tattoo was pretty dumb, just this little power button symbol behind my ear. It's covered now but at the time I had already been getting pierced on my own, so when my mom saw it, she just kinda looked at it, said "hm" and left it at that. I did overhear her telling our neighbor about it though, it was a very matter-of-fact conversation. I think my dad made fun of me, it was pretty good. As I kept getting more, and eventually after I started tattooing, they've just accepted it as part of my life. Both of them are now pretty supportive, trust my tastes, and often look forward to seeing the new pieces that I have. I do know that deep down, it really bums my mom out that I will eventually be covered, but she also recently "got it" when it came to why people get tattooed/how much it changes your life in a positive light. So that's cool. I definitely feel like I could have it waaaayyy worse.

Do yourself a favor and call Spider Murphy's and see if you can get an appt with Matt Howse for the convention. (415) 460 6979

a pbr in my hand waiting for chrisvk to arrive in my town

Jon Mirro

Ami James for influencing the middle aged lady that works at the convenience store down the street and all the girls in my son's high school football team and Ed Hardy for influencing me.