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Finally have a new finished piece to enter the contest! Not expecting to win, but it's a good way to show off my finished tattoo by Kore Flatmo! The pictures were taken in May by Kore when we finished up. Yay! :D

I'll jump in. Josh Stephens, Hold It Down (That's my elbow if anyone was curious).

Hannya by Horimasa Tosui / Harpy by Chris Garver Pretty much healed up...

Lessons from Ink Smith and Rogers: Week 1 | TAM Blog

What the hell, I will enter this one, pretty sure everyone knows who did it, haha. Man that Kore Flatmo sleeve is great, that is who I am voting for this month.

Done by Vincent Moisdon at Colorfast Studios

Thanks @Iwar I'm pleased that some people are looking forward to this. I hope I can edit something interesting for those who care about such things. i hope I can get it finished by the end of the year. There might not be many new interview posts coming up over the next few months because I'm just starting to get stuck into the editing proper and there's already a lot of faces to squeeze in to the film. I still need to reply to a few emails and I'm honoured that people offered their time to help - I really do appreciate it. Danny is a member here at LST but I'll let him make himself known if he wants to.

Portrait of Edgar Allen Poe by Vinny Romanelli at Red Rocket NYC (a Poe-rtrait?), done this afternoon.

I have an appointment with Mina Aoki at Fun City, NYC on the 10th for a lady head. This will actually be my first full-color piece and first American traditional tattoo. I've been admiring her work on a colleague and decided I want her art as part of my collection. Then, on August 1 Chris Garver is doing a pin-up for me, posed and colored like one of Gil Elvgren's girls, but dressed as a punk rock goddess with flaming red Mohawk, rock t, trad tattoos, combat boots & torn fishnets. I'm seriously amped for this one.

This is on my friend Nate. Taken from Brian Bruno's instagram.

@Cork oh I was meaning more the ass than anything haha - - - Updated - - - Just realised the guys had put up a photo hat shows the whole thing. Stolen from The CatClaw Blog

Many of you know this already from Instagram, but on Saturday, @DJDeepFried and I (and our little one) drove 7 hours up to San Rafael so I could get my Psychedelic Stories tattoo from Paul Dobleman (Paul Dobleman: Psychedelic Stories Contest 2013 | TAM Blog). You guys did not lie, Spider Murphy's is one of the greatest places on earth. I got to meet a few of the other guys and they were all really cool. Paul was fun to talk to...just a great experience overall. I love the way the tattoo came out. I have now traveled for a tattoo! These were the choices: And this is what I got:

My Sweet Pea decided to be responsible, so instead of buying her a tattoo I paid her rent for July and bought her a bunch of groceries (and a couple things to unwrap of course!!) BUT!! Total win!! She decided that she wants to wait until she gets back to Denver to get her first tattoo so that she can have Marie Sena do it :D Hooray!!

Done by Corey Miller in NJ.

Thanks guys! I'm pretty fucking happy with it to say the least. And I know I'm in very good hands so I can't wait until its finished. Now to answering some questions... Yeah I was cheering that he had a back piece and so was Horinao when I first mentioned it lol. It doesn't continue down there yet but it will. I'm getting "Kami No Koh" or in English "Turtle Back" so it'll be half way down my thighs. Not looking forward to that Honestly, there is no schedule other than getting it done ASAP! I want to go back at the end of the year or Horinao may be coming back to Australia and staying with me while in Brisbane so some real progress may happen if that's the case (fingers crossed like you wouldn't believe lol) Sorry @Lance but yeah, I will be making you stare at another man ass lol. No homo, not that there's anything wrong with that! And to answer your questions - hells yeah its going to be full colour and a nice solid Kyoto style background ;) And as Lance has previously said, thanks for everyone who has been or still is sharing there back piece progression! And @WeRnDoG your back is beyond ridiculously good. Congrats man

Hey guys I wanted to give you all an update on the situation and I am proud to say that I will have the chance of getting tattooed by John Sultana himself at Saved at the end of september! :D I did not quite find an artist in montreal that I felt as confident with as John to do the job so I decided to go the extra mile down to Brooklyn for this massive project I have!! Thanks to all of you for the help and advice :)

25-30 hours @CultExciter?! That is insanely fast! If you can ever get a shot of the whole thing please post up. And yes people, I am attempting to have more man ass posted.

Haha thanks again @hogg! The joke is... いたみ なくして 得るものなし or Itami nakushite erumono nasai, roughly translated: "No Pain, No Gain" lol. Like i said its an inside joke with the crew and probably not funny/just plain stupid to everyone else but it started when I was over getting my sleeve and figured why not? - - - Updated - - - Oh, and @Iwar those are dope. That Hannya looks so good and that Garver... what exactly is it? Lol either way is just plain awesome!

Leaving for Columbus, Ohio a week from today! Going to be at the Cleveland Tattoo Expo on Friday & Sunday Friday I'm going to be tattooed by @Debra Yarian......Saturday I am riding down to Youngstown to hang out and be tattooed by Debbie Lenz at her shop.....and then Sunday I'll be back at the convention to be tattooed by Dawn Marie Cooke! I'd like to take a ride up to Jr Tubbs shop too if time permits...... I am also going to ride down Monday to visit with Dana Brunson! Should be another awesome tattoo road trip!

@Swan Cult Classic Tattoo in Romford is where we recommend many people to go if they are east of London. I've seen very impressive results from Joe, who works there. Searching for prices online will not give you an indication of how much you will spend on removing/lightening your tattoo. Much like tattooing, the skill of the operator plays a huge part. Many places will let you know that they are using the latest equipment etc but your results and eventual cost will depend on the current state of your tattoo and your eventual goal. Session or hourly rate will not really tell you anything - 10 sessions at £30 doesn't mean that you will get better results than 5 sessions at £60 or 3 sessions at £100 or whatever I've seen more bad lazer jobs than I've seen bad tattoos. - Think about that for a minute. It's a lot. Visit in person or call to arrange a consultation. Ask to see photos of similar sized work. Many websites will show miraculous disappearance of small tattoos leaving no trace. It's probably a good idea to speak to the person who you want to do the tattoo too. Different tattooers use different approaches to cover-ups. Before anyone thinks about getting in touch with any TV people. Please look at the previous work of the particular production company. Endemol recently twitter-spammed hundreds of people asking about regretting ear piercings. I guess they're planning a show about how people regret tattoos etc. I'm not saying that's bad, just be aware of the editorial slant of any media you chose to get involved with. If I was being less fair, I'd say expect a freak show.

Giving this thread a long overdue bump! Stewart has posted up a lot of cool stuff at FST: On the Shoulders of Giants | Production diary these last few months. Clips from interviews with Ian Flower, Beau Brady, Danny Woodruff (who transcribes interviews for the upcoming movie) and a few FST regulars who talk about the shop from a clients perspective (and of course shows off the amazing tattoos they've had done there). Can't wait for this to be released!

Saw this this morning and thought it was cool. Justin Hartman at urban art Tattoo in Mesa, AZ I believe:

Starting a collaboration backpiece with William Yoneyama and Matt Mooney in a couple of weeks, very excited Matty D Mooney - Dagger & Lark Tattoo est. 1985 - Melbourne William Yoneyama - Dagger & Lark Tattoo est. 1985 - Melbourne

Got tattooed by Chad Koeplinger today. There's a photo up on his Instagram. I'll try and get photo up on here when I take the bandage off tomorrow. Awesome dude to hang with and hands down the fastest tattooer I've been tattooed by. It's mind blowing how quick he is. Really stoked to have a piece from him now.

Done by Horinao at The CatClaw Tattoo-Z Kyoto. Believe it or not this was just under 10 hours of tattooing in 2 days (6 first,4 second). So many damn lines!! Its based on one of Kuniyoshi's Suikoden prints - Tameijiro Dan Shogu Some parts didn't hurt anywhere near as bad as I thought then others killed. Granted it was just the outline though ;) - - - Updated - - - And my tattoo has a tattoo, fuck yes.

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!

Hello and welcome. I'm not a tattooer, so take my advice as you will, but given how guarded tattooers are about trade secrets I woułd probably approach this by finding an artist I wanted to get tattooed by first and then approach them about getting tattooed and raise this as a concern and see where that takes you. I also wonder if our resident tattoo removal specialist @Mike Panic has any insights on this.

I really doubt I will be able to make it this time....I will be all over Ohio the week before and I am thinking I will probably be all "traveled out" :( I will definitely make one of these meet-ups though at some point!

guy*aitchison is in your area. I think his website is still at hyperspacestudios.com

Congratulations @Shaun1105 !!

yeah day 7...i've almost done that aswell...but kinda blacked out with a beer in my hand instead of pizza...didn't spill a drop tough!

Yeah for day 7!!

I'm completely BLOWN AWAY! I never win anything...ever. And here I was co-winner of last's month's "Tattoo of Month" contest and I thought, life is good and YAY! tattoo related too! This is right up there with the LST win, wow life is good indeed! I'm hoping I can drop by Saved and get Thomas Hooper to sign the one print! Thanks!

Love those little pieces, @Duffa! All I could make out was "Daruma-no..." in the joke. So "Daruma's" something.

@Duffa, I am so stoked for you! That's a killer start.

omg @ironchef, I just saw you won those Tattoo Culture Magazine prints on Instagram! They announced the winner, and I clicked on the person and immediately saw your photo of the cat prints and knew it was you. Congrats.

That's fantastic. I would be standing in front of a mirror looking over my shoulder constantly.

Gogue

And also the mention that not all really good artists have a wait list.

Healed photo of a tattoo Marie Sena made on me before she moved to Denver. Colorado people, get tattooed by her!

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

Draw me like your French Girls....

I'll be in NYC that weekend getting tattooed by Grez.

that stiple shading stuff looks good if you use it in moderation, but I don't see why you wouldn't want a whole tattoo comprised of it, and why a wonky badly drawn design somehow becomes bad ass when it is shaded in that manner. Also I would agree that you have to try sometimes to get tattooed. Even a simple email may not always cut it. Call the shop, be polite to the help and just ask what the situation is, since getting tattooed by him means you are going to travel anyway, maybe their is a convention or something that you could book into, or if you can squeeze your way on the cancellation list that could work too.

I agree with a lot of this, and a lot of what I find uninteresting with everybody trying to do this "style" now is that it becomes too much about putting a certain technique up on a pedestal instead of using that technique, and many others besides, to create a powerful tattoo. It's the same thing with these guys I see on Instagram who are all about doing super whipshaded traditional. Technique is there to serve the art, not the other way around. And that said, you'll never get tattooed by somebody if you don't ask them because they "seem" busy.

I know this is the Bad Tattoo sub-forum, but let's all take a moment to remember how fucking cool Freddy Corbin's face tattoos are.

I am not trying to be mean, but the way I look at it good Music is creative, tattooing lyrics to a song on you verbatim is not very creative, I would say it's the antithesis of creative. Any good song should inspire strong imagery. There is so much tattoo imagery inspired by music, and vise versa. Look at the Social D Skeleton, Misfits Crimson Ghost, Tron and her Morrissey, Bikini Kill, Jawbreaker flash, etc. I remember the first time I talked someone out of getting a bunch of lyrics tattooed on them. They wanted all the lyrics to pink floyd wish you were here. I simply said why not get two fish in a bowl and the words "Wish you were Here" above it, it was the simplest idea and the first that came to mind, but never occurred to the client and blew her mind when I suggested it. Someone liking their tattoo is the most important part, but ultimately the point of this forum I feel is to open people up to ideas they never thought of, and help people get better tattoos.

Pretty young to be a total douche.... I had to work at it! CG

He has a machine. Next step, open your own shop.