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While waiting for a couple of tattoo appointments coming up I decided to get a tattoo while I wait. This one was by Nathan Draper at The Pearl. He did a great job and is a really nice guy, too. A good experience all around. Update: Please ignore my disgusting sock!

I just heard from Dave about a week or so ago and he said a friend just opened a shop in Stockton about 45 minutes from him...and they were treating him very well there! I am guessing this is the shop you saw him at! Who is Dave Gibson huh??? I had to chuckle a little but I can understand how some people might not know who he is now! Dave gave me a list about 8 years ago.....I asked him for a list of tattoo artists that had 40+ years in the craft that did solid work and he gave me a list of world class artists! I have been chipping away at that list ever since adding as many of these people's work to my body as I can! I owe Dave.....he really is partially responsible for a lot of the wonderful tattoo artists I have met over the last 8 years! Debra Yarian and Debbie Lenz were on that list and I was tattooed by both of those ladies two weeks ago during my trip to Ohio..... Yeah.....you met a legend in the craft! He seemed like he was going to retire and stop tattooing.....I've been on him about not stopping....and I was stoked when he said he was working a day a week again in that shop! Definitely go get something from him while it is still an option! And please tell him I said hello if you would! :) Here are a couple acetates Dave sent me a while back!

This one was given to me.

KABOOM!

I got this from Steve Byrne yesterday.

Go to Elm Street.

Cool tattoo, but how dare you get ink on your socks! Shameful! :)

would I be a total jerk for pointing out the irony in this design?

Got my first traditional piece from Chad K yesterday who was super cool. Just a simple wolf head on the top of my foot. Didn't hurt as bad as I thought it was going too and I must say it was nice to get a tattoo done in one sitting for a change! Super stoked to get it and am currently thinking about what I want to get on the other foot right about now. Oh and @Wilhell that's a rad piece and props to you for just one sitting.

Oneshot kirin done by Marius Meyer. Sorry, bad picture because it was finished late monday night.

This.

I just got my second tattoo! This one is also from Steve at Cloak and Dagger Tattoo in Dayton, Ohio. What do you all think? It's on my back under my neck.

Every time I see the scholarly skull design I think that I need it, even though I basically have one. I need another.

Gonna go down to WarHorse today and watch Mr. Wood work for a bit, maybe I'll catch a snake! >:P

One of my favorite book-related flash designs

every tattoo I do contains tiny particles of black sabbath.

Tanners dragon and koi full back piece by Ben Lucas. Professional Tattooing & Piercing | Chico, Ca | Eye Of Jade Tattoo

How horrible that you got a tattoo taken from the highest selling book series of all time and other people got it too. But yeah, claiming to understand things on a much deeper level than everybody else isn't hipster behavior at all.

whoa!!! I've met a different dude selling the same thing with the same pitch, that's nuts!!!

Let's see . . . at this rate you'll be covered at age 23 1/2. :rolleyes:

I'll follow! Thanks @CultExciter.

Andrew Conner. His instagram contact is "@aeconner"

finished this today, its 22"x30" and i hate the script but hey practice makes perfect... im far far far far from perfect haha

saw this thread and figured it might be worth checking out.. watched season 1 yesterday. WHAT HAVE YOU GUYS DONE TO ME?!

I keep thinking I need to get one of those as well. I suspect one lies in the near future.

I would also suggest Marco.

feelin that itch of a thousand suns... blehhh

In relation to MRI issues, remembered this from a few years back...

Super nice!!!! Chad is the Best!!!

Oh, I can add to this, literary tattoos, woo! From nearly three years ago by the up-and-coming superstar Jon Poverty. Did this wolf head with the words whittled down from an excerpt from The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy. ”He said that the wolf is a being of great order and that it knows what men do not: that there is no order in the world save that which death has put there.”

You could have also posted that you are the toughest dude ever for getting that in one go. How long did that take? Seriously amazing.

I support this shop and thread.

I got my first tattoo in 1999, lived behind a tattoo shop in a basement apartment. You used to walk in there and you had to wait in line, you didn't come back a month later to get a consult, and you couldn't even book an appointment, you waited till your name was called in a sea of people and if you didn't pick something off the wall, it better be something the tattooer wanted to do, or the tattooer would move on to the next person and you waited for nothing. I feel like my version of "tattooing" is different than is portrayed on tv or even some degree on this site at times, although there is a lot of good on here and I enjoy the discussion and the people here. We don't just get to see the cool parts and get the gratification of a new tattoo. Hanging out all day waiting for someone to walk in the door that isn't going to waste your time and possibly spend money. Knowing that 99% of tattooers are just trying to make a living and deal with whatever walks in the door that day and don't have a tv show or a year long wait list.

i am anxiously awaiting the statik selektah "extended play" record on vinyl. i need to go ahead and buy run the jewels on vinyl as well.

when I was a kid Dave would come through philly with Mike Wilson all the time. I got to go to Luckys about 10 or 12 years ago in San Diego. Real deal tattooing in a shop full of nothing but hand painted flash. Very cool!

End Of An Era And The Beginning... - Luke Wessman - Self Made Tattoo Artist There is some cool photos of Dave's shop in San Diego on Luke Wessman's site. There is just one angle of influence he had on tattooing, it's hard to really define what each persons role in history of tattooing is, but Mr Gibson definitely has one. I hear so many different stories about the guy good and bad, but his stuff speaks for itself and his influence is undeniable. Funny when I look at pics I think about how similar our shop looks to that, and then I read I find out there is a good reason for that, Terry Tweed helped him set up that shop. Our shop is not exactly set up like Terry's shop, but our owner spent a whole decade working at Terry's shop, so there is a lot of his influence on how a shop should be set up.

Go back and listen to every story he has to tell you....

@Delicious, who is Dave Gibson? My dear, you met a legend.

There's also the classic scholarly skull design: That one was painted by Chris Hold, but it's after a Bert Grimm design.

He rolled a natural 20 when he made that tattoo.

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!!!

Here is my tattoo, done at Cloak and Dagger by Steve.

Was it the Best Salesman Ever? http://youtu.be/14LpxQWDlAg

I'm still looking high and low for a copy of Artificial Horizonby Lungfish. Any tip offs would be appreciated. Lately my wife and I have been jamming old George Jones records.

i got a thriller vinyl from 4th grade will trade for ICP bumper sticker

aka Squid Sox Swap meet .

Having worked this job myself I can tell you what my experience was. a) How are you determining their pay? Do you pay in tips or are they guaranteed a certain salary per week? When I worked in shops it was for tips, the guy I worked for was nice enough to realize that he had to tip me pretty well to make it worth my while (he had a very small shop with only 2 tattooers) In a shop with few tattooer who can't afford to tip highly it can turn into working for way less than minimum wage, especially on a slow day. If your shop has more than three tattooers you should be able to split between you all tip a decent amount. If you are paying by the hour, you need to pay higher than minimum wage. When you pay someone minimum wage you are basically saying to the employee you must do the minimum amount of work to get by and your time is not very valuable to us which makes them not want to try hard. You really need to think about how much that person is worth to you. What is it worth to you not to have to scrub tubes and deal with customers? If you run a busy shop it shouldn't be a problem to pay someone well. If you are paying in tips you also need to make it clear to your tattooers that it is everyone's responsibility to pay the help, if one person decides they don't want to pay for that help it takes money out of everyone else's pocket and causes a very bad dynamic in the shop. I wouldn't want to scrub your tubes if I know at the end of the day you're not going to bother to thank me for the 5 customers I sent your way. b) Who are you hiring? The people I worked for were close friends. This made it difficult for them to say something to me when I made a mistake or did a bad job. This also made it easy for me to slack off when the shop was slow. Hiring someone who is knowledgeable about tattooing can be a plus when answering customers questions. Not everyone who is knowledgeable about tattooing wants to do tattoos for a living, and if the person is, just make it very clear that you are not looking for an apprentice and that you will not teach them and that while at work they are not being paid to watch people tattoo. You can also do what the other have suggested and try to find someone who has experience in retail or secretarial duties. Someone who's worked say in a hair salon at the front desk may have what you are looking for. c) Is there room for promotions? A few people I know who've held this job ended up quitting because most tattoo shops offer no room for promotion. Would you want to hold a job for more than 6 months or a year if you knew there was no chance of ever making more money or moving up in the company? I wouldn't. When someone is doing a good job you need to reward them for that, be it an annual raise, really good Christmas bonuses, or some other way of showing your appreciation in a manner that actually helps the person move forward. Maybe someone starts off as a shop helped and later turns into a shop manager? Or maybe they over time gain more duties like ordering your supplies or becoming a key holder who opened and closes the shop for you. d) Are you treating them like a shop bitch? People who do this job are there to help make your day go easier. They are not there to bend over backwards at every tiny request you have. When you treat someone like dirt it doesn't make them want to work for you, even if you are paying them well. I had a tattooer once spill his india ink in his pencil case the night before at home, instead of cleaning it up right then, he saved it brought it to the shop and asked me to clean every single pencil and pen and all his erasers, etc. This was a tattooer who usually didn't even bother to tip me. I cleaned his pencil case and never did anything for him again. This person is your shop employee, they are doing the things you don't have time and don't want to do, you should be thanking them for doing this instead of laughing at them and giving them shitty jobs on purpose. Feel free to mess with your apprentices in that way, not a paid employee who you claim to respect. So basically, hire someone who is smart and willing to work, pay them well and don't treat them like a slave. Do those things and you should be able to keep a good worker around for a while. In the end it's a pretty fun job with a lot of perks. I've heard of shops who had the same counter person for 10 years.