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I was waiting to post this until it was healed up and haired over. Chris O'Donnell. Completed at Saved Tattoo, Kings Avenue, and Chris' private studio.

@CultExciter Next level shit, man. Super stoked for you. I got my foot did by Antonio Roque this evening. Picture's from his IG.

Never posted this here, Kevin Leary Family Tattoo, Chicago.

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

Looking forward to meeting Paul Dobleman at the end of the month for something small from his Psychedelic Stories contest flash sheet! I'm sure it will make me want to go back for something bigger and custom...but it is a 6-7 hour drive for us. Paul Dobleman: Psychedelic Stories February’s WINNER! | TAM Blog

Starting on my back tomorrow from a nice kid in Fort Myers. I really loved a drawing he did and had been meaning to get a piece from him ... It's an adaptation of a sailor Jerry Indian lady head. Taking a bit of a leap of faith in him, but I like his work a lot and love the drawing. It'll be his first back piece but we aren't going to fill it completely edge-to-edge. Finally getting my alligator piece from Heath Nock at Handcrafted Miami a week or so. Had to stop myself from booking with Destroy Troy while he is in town for the convention next week. I really want a shark skull hat tho! Btw, I've missed y'all. It's been a crazy few weeks at work and I've just not spent much time on here.

I'm a total O'Donnell fanboy. Dude is humble and brilliant.

I'm a brewer and recently started brewing in a brewpub (not the sort of place that attracts beer nerds though) after nearly five years in production brewing and maybe it's because I'm not very used to interacting with the general drinking public, but I'm constantly amazed at how little people know about beer...which would be fine except for that so many of these people pretend to know things. Like probably about two or three times a week as I'm milling grain or shovelling out the mash at the end of lautering or whatever, people will watch me work and then talk to themselves about how those are hops because it's like the only ingredient in beer they know is hops. If I'm not too busy I try to educate people if they're interested and show them the raw materials and let them smell and touch them and try to leave them with a better understanding of brewing than they had when they came into the pub, but yeah, most people have no clue.

I'm really just posting this to get my post count up haha. Apologies. I know most of you are into traditional here, but this was the first proper back I've done and I was fairly happy with it.

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

@youthcrewalex once you figure out the dates call the shop If you tell the counter person or mike your coming from bloody england he will get you in.

Y'all may have seen this stained glass piece I've been working on for a few weeks on the Instagrams: Brokeback lady skull based on Mike Fite's banner/bizcard as a gift for him from myself and a good buddy of his. I have one of his variations on it on my thing. Waiting on the wood framing stock to come in so I can ship it off to him. Doing the piece was a big feat for me and I'm super happy how it is coming out. I look forward to doing more adaptations of flash as I grow my personal collection.

Also, Chris O'Donnell's tattoos look so much better in person than in photos. Granted, that is most tattoos (though I have seen some that look better in photos and that's pretty wack) but the thought that this actually looks way better in real life is super rad.

Oh shit! This must be the coolest tattoo I've seen in a while. I love everything about this one. Fingerwaves are fucking sick and every detail, down to the texture of the rope, is rad looking. You must be so stoked on completing this.

....when you don't get asked for a deposit at the shop because your such a regular.

I got to do my first dragon yesterday!!! So much fun, I really can't wait to do the color. I'm pretty sure we're gonna turn it into a half sleeve, so that's exciting as well. There are no words to quantify how difficult traditional Japanese tattoos are, hahaha.

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

Map out the general elements that are important to you, get your reference material together, then approach the appropriate artist. Listen to their feedback, and make a plan for the tattoo. Knowing what you want is great, but the more constraints you throw at the artist, the less creative they will be able to be. Your responsibility is to do the homework and find the right artist for the job. Their job is to take the idea and make it look as awesome as possible.

haha, thank you! I was reading about the contest on the TAM blog and told @DJDeepFried about it. He encouraged me to write about that time, telling me it was "sure to win". He was right! I don't know how many people are sending in stories, but it's a fun idea. I was following the "Asshole of the Month" contest, too...but had no stories for that. ;)

I just looked up and read your winning story, awesome!

I love that tattoo. That's the kind of tattoo that makes me want to be your friend because there's no way you can have that and not be a cool guy.

Wow! That's the attitude that every great tattooer had when they started. I've never worked in a tattoo shop with Photoshop. I've never showed a customer digital mock-ups or proofs. I can show a customer a sketch and have them in the chair before I could even open the file in Photoshop. That's not 'cos I'm old and slow (I was a graphic designer for a decade before I was a tattooer) I use a copy machine % +/- every day. but sometimes it's much quicker, ant the end result fits better if I draw it on the skin with pens or markers. Nobody was born great at lettering but you can bet your paint-bucket tool that they didn't get good by tracing fonts or typefaces.

Oh shit that's awesome!

I've got an appointment scheduled at my local shop on the 22nd this month. I'm already all geeked up and excited. I told my artist to come up with something cool Yoda inspired for my upper right arm. I can't wait to see what he comes up with. Upon finding out, my wife asked why on Earth I would get another Star Wars tattoo when I already have a Darth Vader one. I told her, "Duh, I have Vader, but I need Yoda to balance out the force." She just rolls her eyes. ;)

Thw whole "women have higher pain tolerances than men" thing is total balls - It has been debunked time and time again. Its just an urban myth due to the whole childbirth thing. Google it. What I have mainly found is that there is no correlation between men and women when getting tattooed - It's all about the individual. I have seen some women scream the house down and cry their eyes out for a very small tattoo in an easy area, I have seen some men sit and get their ribs and crotch carved up by a VERY heavy handed artist for eight hours without a single complaint. I have also seen some men who cant sit still for ten minutes at a time due to the pain, and some women who fall asleep because the pain just doesnt affect them in any way whatsoever. Everyone is different!!!

Ribcage really and truly, honest-to-Wotan, hurts. Don't do it.

Actually, about that "women have a much higher tolerance" thing - I have been researching an article about pain, how the body handles pain and how each person handles the pain of getting a tattoo. I have always heard the "women have a higher pain tolerance than men" trope, and it was a given as far as my assumptions pre-research - turns out it is not strictly true! Here are a few links with some information - prob best used as a jumping off point, but interesting and helpful, to say the least! Gender Differences in Brain Responses to Pain Do men and women feel pain differently? How Women Work I know as far as pain and tattooing go for me, I concentrate on my breathing and everything is fine. It becomes warm after the initial sharp feeling, and that's that. I actually started this research because the last time I was getting tattooed one of the artists said he couldn't believe how calmly I could sit regularly for 6 hours at a time. (Really it never occurred to me to do it any differently! Hah!). I responded with the "women have higher pain thresholds than men" answer, and filed it away to research. He said he uses meditation to get through pain, and he can sit for about 4.5 hours before he's done. Hopefully it will be an interesting article when all is said and done. If anyone has cool pain info, point me to it, please!

I have a yoneyama snake in my leg as filler, he also did a hermit crab/skull on the side of my knee. Two of my favourite tattoos! I usually never post my own tattoos but Williams work needs showing off

another Yoneyama:

I've found, in my experience, that the best tattooers are the nicest and most professional ones. Tattooers that have big egos and harsh personalities are probably just overcompensating for/grumpy about their sub-par work. Just my $.02.

Had to laugh the other day. I work with this one guy for years, he always wears a static-control lab coat due to the area he works in. We all have the coats, he just wears his all the time. I was driving home the other day from work and i'm passing him on the highway, I see a tattooed arm leaning on his door, he sees me coming up on the left and pulls his arm in. Another closet tattooed freak on the payroll. Rob

My back. Finished with Chris O'Donnell. Couldn't be more stoked on it.

I'm tattooed damn near all over, and I can safely say that the ribs were far and away the worst for me. Way worse than the ass, spine, kneecaps, and feet. Listen to what Killercook76 says in the post above this one. All of it. But hey, you're 16, and as such, probably don't give a shit what a bunch of old strangers on the internet have to say. Signed, An Old Stranger on the Internet

Why would an artist disrespect their client by letting another tattooer do that same custom design? Please let's keep this forum to real-life things instead of strange flights of the imagination.

Me and @Pugilist are moving in a month but before we do that we're going to stop in at the shop around the corner and pick something rad off the wall. We're considering what @JeffK did with his lady and choose something for each other but I'm not sure there's enough trust in our marriage for that.

Done by Darcy Nutt while she was guesting at Providence Tattoo :)

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

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

Look what I just stumbled over! FST: On the Shoulders of Giants is a documentary film, currently in production by Stewart Robson, a tattooer at Frith Street Tattoo (FST) in London. This project is expected to be completed in late 2013. Shooting started in August 2012. Stewart has interviewed his friends and colleagues, some of them world-renown in tattoo circles but all of them have worked in the cramped infamous basement shop in the heart of London’s seedy soho district, to share this portrait of one of the most interesting, vibrant and influential modern tattoo shops. FST: On the Shoulders of Giants There's a bunch on cool teasers from the different interviews on the blog too. I'm super stoked for this to come out! You gotta share stuff like this with us @Stewart Robson - - - Updated - - - This was great by the way! (Also by Stewart)

,,,when us men think it's ok to shave our legs

stupid brunk tonight, went to my stepdad's best friends daughter's grad party. hoply shit. so many jello shots, tequila, malibu, beer... I cant bevevn function. so much fun. had a balst.

looks like we have a winner for tattoo of the month :D

Did this massive Jesus today slightly smaller than A3

Let me know when you're in Breck

Don't get tattooed.

@CultExciter thankyou :P just finished this one

You need to stop posting awesome beers on the instagram dude. I'll also add Laguanitas having Undercover Shutdown back in stores has given my liver an excuse to write to its congressman. Goodbye Sober Day.

@ChrisvK that sounds just about perfect. Can This thread also be used for mumbling shite in when your sleeping tablets hav taken affect but not knocked you out yet ??

...you get stressed thinking about what you will do when you have no empty space for new tattoos even though you still currently have plenty of space.

I use the whole message board for this.