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After nine sessions and around 55hours we have finished my back piece tonight. Healed pics to come....I am extremely happy with the end result and relieved to be finished.

got this last night. Chris newport Hope and glory Suffolk UK

I'm adopting a dog on Saturday!!!!! I can't fricken wait! Just had to share :) It's been about 3 years since the last love of my life passed and now that we're finally settled (not moving anytime soon) we are taking the plunge! This is going to be my fiance's first dog ever & my first dog all to myself (no parents or brothers to share with), so it will be an interesting life journey for both of us. I promise to keep the doggy spam to a minimum :)

Not to minimise what you're going through, but you've only had the tattoo for a couple of weeks so give it some time. When it comes down to it, by getting tattooed you're doing a pretty heavy thing by permanently altering the appearance of your body, your perception of yourself, people's perception of you, you're maybe coming up against taboos...it's a lot to take on, and I don't think you can really prepare yourself for it beforehand. I think it's okay to have complicated feelings towards your tattoos. But really, give it some time, and if you decide that you really can't stand being tattooed, there's a lot of really great stuff here about tattoo removal.

I can understand why people could be put off by threads like the ones Dan started because this is a "Tattoo" forum after all. But I think all forums tend to have random threads and sections because that is where our personalities shine. We're all here because we like tattoos, but chances are we share a lot of other interests, like dogs and cool stories, etc. I'll miss Dan. His dog and family stories were great. Zephyr reminds me a lot of my Dads dog and Dan kind of reminds me of my Dad! Huh! But this is a good opportunity for all posters to reflect on how we want to present ourselves on the Internet. It's hard sometimes to sound like a genuine human being with text only. I know Delicious meant no harm. I've come off bitchy in the past. It's real hard to approach issues on a forum some times. Just be aware.

I work with a gentlemen name Kelly Edwards, and his tattoos are fucking incredible. Super nice, super helpful, and super knowledgeable about tattooing. I do wish he would get a better phone for photo quality.

DAMN YOU!! So jealous man, looks incredible! This is the only time I'll say this to another man... lets see them cheeks!!!

Got this a few weeks ago at Electric 13 in Austin from Zach Taylor, who was gracious enough to come in on his day off to accomodate my schedule. Really cool shop, great experience all around. p.s. I apologize for the photo size, but people here like to see detailed photos of tattoos, right??

I figured I'd post a couple of in progress pics of my arm/chest. Martin Lacasse at Olde City. All the linework in about 3.5 hours. Sorry for the lousy phone pics. It's based on the Yoshitoshi print attached. The lower samurai is pretty closely referenced, but the severed head on his waist in the print is on the chest panel and he went nuts with the ghost/shadow samurai on the top half of my arm. One session of shading done so far, another in 3 weeks. -Update- Little better photo of the top w/ shading.

There are like a million versions of this design floating around. Some without the cap maybe a candle behind the book, or oil lamp. UPDATE Funny didn't read through whole thread, just posted this. Great minds think alike i guess.

In my opinion I think we as non-tattooers really don't have all to much to say in this area. While yes we are getting the tattoos, all the backend stuff like references, inspiration, etc are not understood by us. We just don't do it. I treat it like people treat me at my job in computers. They don't ask me how I did everything, they just expect some magic and a positive outcome. Also since I like to stick to classic imagery I know that my tattoos will end up looking pretty damn close to a million other tattoos. I mean really how many skull+snake tattoos do you think have been done before mine, and how many will be done after. While sure I might be a bit bummed out if I saw an exact replica of mine on someone else, whatever, I still got mine!

Graeme is right. In time the tattoo might not being something you even think about or see anymore when you look in the mirror. It's brand new so it's fresh on your mind, so give yourself a chance to stop dwelling on it and you'll hopefully at least stop being upset about it even if you decide that you aren't going to get any more. As for me, I just finished a chest panel on my right side so now both sides are done. I had a brief moment of "Have I gone overboard?" which was immediately followed by "It only seems like you went overboard on the chest because you need your sleeves extended to 3/4 and your back done to balance things out." So the blues don't last long for me. I love catching site of my tattoos, knowing that they're there when they're covered up, and that my 21 month old daughter says "Kitty!" every time she sees the lucky cat on my inner arm.

Nice. Ben Grillo kills it. Definitely on my hit list. I would love to get a back piece from him on my forearm. :)

Well just a quick update, I have sent my rough draft off to two different tat artists, one in Chicago which is supposed to be really good, and the other Joe Shit recommended to me in my area. I have to admit, the artist Joe recommended looks to be an absolutely fantastic artist.... So, I will see what these two gentlemen have to offer and I will pass along the input and hopefully a more refined rendition of my sketch. A big thanks goes out to Joe for all of his research and recommendations!!!! Thanks Bud!!!! And Semper Fi....

So me and a friend were talking about this the other day. When we started getting tattooed we always did all of the aftercare instructions as prescribed. This involved numerous applications of Aquaphor, lotion, etc etc. As time passed (and we were getting tattooed very regularly) we have done less and less to our tattoos. I simply wash them with super-super-hot water the first couple of days to get all the gunk off. At this point I pretty much just dry heal all my tattoos unless they are "ultra crunchy" feeling. The results at least for both of us have actually been better. I heal pretty much a day before my next session (2 weeks exactly apart), and my tattooer has always been amazed at how fast and clean I heal. While I am not sure if it related to the person tattooing us (same person) but I know we have pretty different skin. Anyone else use this method?

Seeing all the dogs (and ohhh those faces) made me start really missing ours again and looking them up on the internet, checking out rescues and such. That dog and I were at odds from day one and I still call her "that f-ing dog" but she was a good girl.

going off road segwaying tomorrow... its awesome i swear

To go from the stuff that was originally posted to Danny Reed is what I like to see. I wish more people would listen to input from people who know a thing or two.

Yeah Matt rules. I wish I would have gotten tattooed in the shop but my convention experience with him was equally as pleasant. Just walked up, said I want a spider and he said cool and drew it on. Also there is only about 4-5 colors in mine as well, super simple yet super fancy. Good balance, good dude.

Stopped by Tattoo Paradise last night to chat with Nikki about a lady head idea. I explained it, and she was basically like, "I would totally crush that." I love it when the artist is just as excited about an idea as you are! Now I just have to decide when to get it (and where to put it). I'm moving apartments next month, so I'd like to get that over with first, then go in to get it.

I just want to say this here, that Matt Arriola rules. I had a great time getting tattooed, and I think the experience itself was very pleasant and easy going. In my opinion he is doing some of the best traditional work out there, his stuff is not wonky nor is it overdone, he really strikes that perfect balance of being able to do so much with a relatively limited color palette. My tattoo has five colors in it, Black, Red, Yellow, Gold and a little bit of white, that's it and it's perfect no more or no less needed. Also for a guy that has been tattooing in like 5 different countries in two months, I basically only had to wait a week and a half to get tattooed, He didn't want to do a consultation and I didn't want one either, I didn't have to stand in any line, wait three years, win some sort of lottery, bid on anything on ebay, I just emailed him that I wanted one of his spiders. When I walked into the shop, he said, hey" i'm going to draw this on is that cool?" and "I'm going to get kind weird with this" That was the only discussion of design. Everyone has their own thing, but for me I appreciate this kind of experience, and it really is my ideal situation to get tattooed. When the tattoo goes this easy, you don't mind a little bit of a drive and staying in a hotel for a night. Also much thanks to Ernie Gosnell at Lucky Devil South and Mr Wrath and the whole staff at Bulldog Tattoo Parlour in Lacey for the hospitality. If you don't know who these guys are you are missing out.

Nice post, @Pleadco. Seriously. I'm sorry to see Dan go, but we are not in the business of begging members to stay if they say they wanna leave. All of us mods work full-time jobs and several of us have families, so you'll understand if we prioritize certain things. @Delicious, Dan did post in the Random Crap forum, a subset of the Off-Topic forum. If he had posted this in the General Tattoo Discussion forum, well, that's one thing, but I think you were a little out of line. I'm not defending his response to you, but I can see how he might have been put off by your comments. It says a lot about LST that flare-ups like this are as rare as they are, so please miss me with any potential "LST ain't what it used to be" threads. I'm proud to be a part of this place, and I thank all of you for helping to make it what it is. Except for Bubbleberry. Fuck that guy.

where is your shirt?

Got this from Chris Garver last week at the Amsterdam Tattoo Museum pop up store (Sorry if the picture is really big. Posting this from my iPhone). Pic stolen from their instagram.

There's something about her hair...

Please as I stated before if anyone has a disagreement with another user, please take it to PMs. I am locking this thread since it has turned into an argument. In the future to quell any further incidents such as this and ones in the past, I might start locking threads. If anyone would like to talk about this further please PM me or the user you would like to talk stuff out with. Thanks, Your friendly LST mods!

Don't pretend like you won't be begging to see my cheeks when they are done, haha :P @ian @CultExciter Looks great @WeRnDoG I'm looking forward to seeing the full thing.

True true. I guess I'm just a square, plus I dont have any tattoos on my arms. Excuse while I go cry in the shower.

Well...pissnshit I liked Dan and I liked hearing about his wife and dang dog. The other forum I belong too, the jewelry one, there's like...4 guys that post there on any sort of regular basis (as can be expected ha), and two of them are the most prolific posters, especially in the off-topic board. There is one thread that has about 400 pages (random thoughts), but mostly it's about as random as random can be. Pictures of the one guys little baby shrimps, then a thread of that guys dogs in costumes, then a thread asking if we women carry our purses all the time, then a thread of screen shots of the main off topic board for when the topic titles as you read down the screen are in a funny order...all from the same guy, and maybe in one day even. Now granted, there's a jillion people on that forum but still. I'm friends w/some of them off the board, and we have a G14 classified FB group, and I do consider some of them "real" friends--we even have another group just for our animals. I think Dan is kinda like me. I'm a sharer, once I'm comfortable w/a group. Sharing doesn't bother me, it encourages camaraderie and helps a person feel like they belong. I have a hard time remembering that the internet is made of people I don't know. And plus, I came back to the thread to specifically ask him about his dang dog dangit.

Welcome to the forums :). If you need any advice this is a great place for it. You can ask your question here, or use the search function to see if it's already been answered. On another note, based upon this you love to sit on the couch in a motor home playing Zelda, leaving the door open at rest stops so animals can come inside and help you paint. I fully support your obsession with Zelda, and welcome again.

Now he's on my list too. Thanks David!

No worries dude, we've all been there. Your tattoo will still be there waiting for you when you are ready :)

For father's day, my wife gave me a copy of The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt. As it says on the front cover, "If Cormac McCarthy had a sense of humor, he might have concocted a story like Patrick deWitt's bloody, darkly funny western." I love it, and i think that @dcostello and @Jake might, too.

If the tattoo is wrapped by the tattooer that is the last time anything happens to it. I have never had much problem healing, but I am getting my knee tattooed in a three weeks so we'll see how that goes. Actually I'm getting my knee and my ribs tattooed on the same day. I am an idiot.

When I first met @gougetheeyes I used one of his tattoos as a reference haha.

no carez. no everz. but seriously. and only because it's late. sure, don't rip a tattoo. it's bad form. but, ideas are ideas are ideas and nothing is new or original. sorry, girl heads that you draw look like the girl heads that chris conn draws that look like girl heads that mucha drew.

I'm starting to plan out a new tattoo! With only one tattoo (right ribcage) the asymmetry is starting to bug me (I'm super anal retentive), so I'm planning something out for the other side so I feel more "balanced". Once again it will probably be something super girly and brightly colored, I'm thinking possibly flowers (orchids, irises, lilies, my favorites). I love the planning process!

If I walk in to a record store and choose to spend my $20 on a Justin Bieber CD instead of the new Bluejax CD, am I "taking food from your mouth" or am I simply choosing not to give you food? Because one of them is clearly theft and one of them clearly is not. If I buy the Bieber CD (or don't) and just download yours, your situation is the same - no one has taken anything from you. Copying someone's tattoo almost certainly deserves a good ass kicking. Depending on your moral system, it may indeed be a corrupt thing to do. But it is not theft, and though breaking copyright is considered a crime, it should not be. Let's look further at what extending copyright to works of art/craft like tattooing would do. Under current copyright law, protection lasts for the life of the artist plus 70 years. If that's how it was back in the day then none of us would be able be wearing Pharaoh's Horses tattoos if the original tattooer didn't license the image. And even he wouldn't have been able to tattoo it without the permission of the original artist (John Herring Sr. [maybe] for you trivia buffs). What if someone copyrighted the idea of putting a dagger through the head of an animal? After that it could be a particular style of rendering lady heads or roses. Next thing you know the only option for all of us is text tattoos of bible verses and portraits of our own kids. And infinity symbols. Thanks a lot, copyright. Further reading on a bit higher level than the simple (but catchy) ditty in my youtube post previous: Against Intellectual Property.

I disagree completely. Using inspiration from someones work is one thing but a direct replica is another.

I really hope that nobody opens the copyright can of worms onto tattooing... imagine all of the published reference images or commercial imagery that's used in tattoos. Even if the suit is between two artists, I feel like it would set a precedent for larger entities to totally shit on the tattoo community.

I got to hang with Marcus for a bit today, he said that the Japan episode was all set to air until they figured out that the Japanese Translation was all wrong. They're going back in and correcting it and he hopes it'll be finished around June 23. Even more exciting is who he plans to film with next, I'll give a hint, they discussed it and this person agreed to do it while at the Paris convention...

What the hell. Chris O'Donnell. NYC. - - - Updated - - - @Graeme, I expect to see that arm up in a day or two :)

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

although not true television, I'd like to take this moment to mention The Gypsy Gentleman (Marcus Kuhn's - The Gypsy Gentlemen - Home) and Vice's Tattoo Age (Tattoo Age | VICE). Both very educational shows, and a true testament to how tv and tattoos ought to come together.

Meh, whack... everyone gets the tattoo they deserve, I guess?

I would like to see a Eastern Europe/Russia episode. I think it's high time some of those guys doing mind blowing work out there get a little love.

I agree with Mario (again) but I'm trying to ignore most of the back-and-forth boring shit about encouraging beginners like it was some kindergarten project and just say: Price is dictated by demand. That's it. If people want your stuff they will pay whatever you ask. Regardless of quality. But you did lay out your work before some of the best in the world (I don't mean me, btw) and expect it to be well received. Even after you declared it your first attempt. Sell something when you've learned to do it properly, not the first few clunky attempts. I went to art school and worked as a professional designer/illustrator/etc for almost a decade. I don't think it helped my tattooing too much. I learned how to take a brief from a client as a professional. I learned a bit of art history at university. Those were plus points. For me the worst influence art school has on potential tattooers is the sense of entitlement that it fosters. Art school 'kids' are taught that they have a special vision or gift. Taught that hey have a duty to broadcast their vision to the world and the world should think itself lucky to feel the rays of brilliance from a living genius. Tattooing and drawing tattoo designs teaches you (if you are lucky) that you are the current incarnation of an artistic lineage and that you are borrowing everything, attempting to take care of it for a while, to pass it on to a later generation. It also teaches you humility and the value of hard work, in spades. If smiling.politely had wanted advice, they would have asked how to improve the drawing before painting it. Instead they chose to seek acceptance and a confirmation of the 'special vision' probably with the hope of an offer of a tattoo apprenticeship. Genuinely, I wish you good luck with all those things but if you expect people to pay you money for something, it better be the best you can do. Especially in a saturated market. Be that tattoo style 'art' or whatever you choose to pursue.