Leaderboard

Josh Stephens, Hold It Down Finally making progress on my arm, really just the rest of the forearm left. Also, this is my first tattoo on this arm not done by Mario Desa or Nick Colella. Super happy with how it came out, if you're in RVA area, I definitely suggest checking out Hold It Down, super solid line up and a cool little shop.

Welcome to LST. I would say as far as an artist being out of your league? Never heard of it. If you want to get tattooed by someone just call the shop or stop by. The question about the imagery is, really it is up to you. While the image might have to be modified to make a good tattoo, I can't see why it couldn't be done. If you want to use this as inspiration, why not sounds like a great idea. I found my favorite tattoos were the ones that I gave a bit of inspiration, and let the tattoo artist be an artist. My least favorite tattoo was the one that was based off a drawing (Dante's Inferno). As far as questions go, your intro thread is the place for it! Ask away! Just a friendly reminder, don't try to rack up 10 posts as fast as possible, in attempts to make a new thread. That being said, it does not look like you are trying to do that.

It depends on the style you want. Do you want realism, or traditional? What body part? It's not always about how many years someone has been tattooing. You need to look deeper than x years. Look at the tattoos themselves. Guen Douglas also does black and gray, btw PAY ATTENTION TO THIS THREAD:http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/2396-what-makes-good-tattoo.html It tells you the things you need to look for in a tattoo artist, and how to see, based off of their portfolio, if they are good or not Also, the link you provided to that guys shop; I checked it out, and if I were you I'd stay away.

First time I ever heard about BitCoin was oddly enough, at a tattoo shop. There was this lengthy conversation about BitCoin while I was getting tattooed. Blew my mind.

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.

LiveLeak.com - Nonagenarian tattoo artist.

What @slayer9019 said - I don't think any tattooer is "out of your league" - it just depends on how long you might be willing to wait. If you like someone's work, give them a call or shoot them an email :)

I think that would look better in Color.And from the two artists you mentioned,it seems you like a mix of realism wt.neo traditional work. » Claudia’s Tattoo Gallery | Classic Ink & Mods Tattoo Amsterdam Yliana Paolini Artist// Tattoo// Artist WENDY PHAM Instagram https://www.facebook.com/misterptattoo

Hmm, how big are you thinking of going? And I think there's a few good artists at Salon Serpent https://www.facebook.com/salonserpenttattooparlour I dont know if you like that style, but definitely check it out

it ruled so much! fell off and got really muddy! successful evening!

Well NYC has a stupid amount of good artists, some are memebers on LST! I would recommend the following shops: Thicker than Water Daredevil NY Adorned Invisible NYC All the shops I feel have killer artists that are pretty diverse and could nail pretty much any tattoo.

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

booked in on the 8th and 23d to have more of the arm ive had lasered covered up! excited top look at that arm and like it again! with Jordan Baxter at hope and glory in Suffolk UK

Yea I had a few hundred BTCs. I was generating them back when it was just some dudes posting this crap on forums. Sold em when I need some cash for a longboard...mistake. Well you live and you learn. I'm just glad I shorted Apple stock and skipped on Facebook! (Whew). The concept of BTC feels so foreign to most, because people think that money nowadays is actually tied to something, it isn't. USD used to be redeemable in gold, not anymore. Moneys today are worth what people can get for them. BTCs became a valued commodity because they were used for "anonymous" transactions (aka Silk Road), and for moving money around to other sources without getting whacked with massive fees, or having to pay taxes on it. Without the underground markets needing such a device, this currency would be worthless. The reason the price dipped after the 200+ spike was the US Fed wanting to get a piece of the pie, and starting to monitor the transactions. This kinda killed the "value" tied to such a currency. Imagine if you get paid in JPY but you live in the United States. You never had to pay a tax on it, and you could make "anonymous" transactions to shady people, etc; then one day you find out that all that will change. Well that kinda makes you not want to get paid in JPY anymore now does it, because at this point it is more of just a pain in the ass. It is a cool concept, and interesting traders market (if your into Forex type-stuff), but I will steer clear myself for the time being. I also know of people who have lost a ton of money on it, but there is also a dude who bought a house with BTCs...madness!

It's like having a online account in EUR in the US. You would have to swap your BTC for USD to withdraw at a US bank. It is just another currency. The exchange rate is just less stable than a fiat currency. Most people view it more as like stocks since the price can be all over the place. Just to let you all know I sold my BTCs when they were around $2 a BTC....they sold for over $140 a piece....I could have been pretty friggen wealthy.

Belly Rocker by Chris Conn, Panther by Higgs, looks tough as fuck.

It probably just felt so bad because that outline was put on so fast 1 hour 15 minuets. Also you should move out here and get tattooed all the time at invisible! You'd never run out of good artists to get tattoos from!

One of the tattoos from the London Trip... photo and tattoo by Stefano C. at Frith Street. Great experience, amazing tattoo, and I got to go back three days later for matching tattoos with my fiancee from Jordan Teear. I'll have photos of those and a full shot of this one when I get home this weekend. p.s.- Thanks to their staff for being patient while I mulled over which shirts I was going to bring back for the homies... as well as telling me how to find Honest Burger. It was too good.

I finished this a couple of months ago and someone mentioned adding it to a contest. I forgot then, so throwing my hat(or leg) in the ring here. Dana Helmuth at Read Street Tattoo in Baltimore.

you look like you need some icecream and a hug.

Here i am looking like shit after Jordan Baxter from hope and glory blasted this rose over my elbow tonight! its a cover up and i love it!

Timothy Boor@ The Bohemian Tattoo Club and Gallery :

There are some outstanding back pieces in this thread and it's ridiculous. @ironchef I think you were at King Ave getting work done on your back while I was having my second session with Chris. I think it was on a Tuesday some time back in May if I'm not mistaken. I wanted to get a closer look at it but didn't want to bother you guys. As for back pieces go here is one that O'Donnell just did. Not sure if it's from anyone here but this thing is unreal.

You're not alone in having to hold off tattoos. After my next one in July ill probably have to put off tattoos for about a year. I'm hoping to pay off the credit card (ick) and then hoping to adopt a dog (yay!) and start saving for my dream car... A jeep wrangler (woo!) Thankful for this forum, so I can live out my tattoo dreams through every one else :)

Marcus Kuhn is in town guesting and he lat me snap a pic of a back piece that he's starting tomorrow. He granted me permission to post...

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

Based upon their Facebook pics, I would personally steer clear of that shop.

Freddy Negrete zapping Jack Rudy

There's also a really cool blog post here about Pinky Yun: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/blogs/gia-dobson/38-pinky-yun-my-freehand-dragon-tattoo-other-musings.html

I haven't finished working my way through this thread yet, but I thought i'd have a look for any mentions of Pinky Yun. On my back from getting tattooed I got talking to a taxi driver and he said that he loved tattoos but had only ever gotten a few in his younger days. I'm sure he said that he was something to do with the army - searching the sewers for bombs. He said that whilst he had been in Hong Kong he had been tattooed by Pinky, a dagger I think he said. Whenever one of his team passes away the surviving members had something added to the tattoo - I apologised and said that I wasn't familiar with the name, but the tone of his voice when he told me his name made me think he must have been someone important, so it stuck in my head. A couple of months later I ordered the tattootime box set and in the first few pages Don Hardy mentions that he was a great and influential tattooer and they have an interview with Pinky (although I haven't got that far yet) I hope I bump in to him again so that I can tell him about tattoootime and the interview with Pinky. Wish I'd seen the tattoo too. If I ever manage to get a picture I'll post it here. I think he would love to see the interview, he seemed so excited to tell me about it.