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Needles and Sins posted a link to this interview with Mike The Athens, and it's a great one, so I'm sharing it: Mike The Athens | heartbeatink.gr

Some progress photos on the piece Martin Lacasse is doing for me at Olde City Tattoo. Just started color at the end of the last session. Excited to start seeing it come together.

I actually bought my first 4 snakes from Constrictors Unlimited. Here's what came in the mail yesterday...

Note to self...change name to Wilhell.

Thank you @Graeme, @hogg, @Iwar and CultExciter! Fingers crossed that is going to be a good one. Little scared that the tattoos going to suck ;) Hannya/snake on thigh from Rubendall and maybe a mermaid from Ichibay - - - Updated - - - ...and what is @Iwar nagging about?? SF? Mecca? Start his backpiece? Grime? Wtf?!?

Haven't posted in a bit... Session number... 7 or 8, I think, from Mike Rubendall today. Finally hit the ass, which made my ribs seem like a breeze. About two months ago Thomas Hooper finished my torso: And then one from Scott Campbell about 3 weeks ago:

1 Shot Rib Tattoo (5.5 Hours) by Tim Hendricks at Gold Rush Tattoo .

This guy has really good technique too. Do I want to listen to him? Fuck no, give me some Sabbath.

You're not offending anyone here. It is excellent that you've come to a place like this to learn how to not make a mistake in obtaining the artwork you want. Now, in order to clarify; "black and grey" is generally spoken of as "realism" - mostly like non-color photographs. There is also "blackwork" which is mostly just black (and a wide range of sub-styles therein). Slow down. Stick around and read posts for a couple of months. Drink in the pictures and the discussion on the board. Educate yourself to the process, the styles and the artwork. Wait and see what resonates with you. The journey is fun.

Nice one! I'm getting zapped by him on Saturday. Not to speak for @Pugilist but she's getting tattooed by Mike Rubendall. A friend of ours is getting his first tattoo at the convention on Saturday, I'm trying to get him to come out after he's done. He will have earned a celebratory drink! It's going to be cool meeting you and your wife!

Me and my wife are in. I got my ticket in the mail the other day and just booked a tattoo for Friday night. The metro is pretty easy to navigate, for those who've never used it before and if you are new to the city you owe it to yourself to see a bit more of it than just the convention. It's an amazing place. If I can get the time off work I'll probably head down a day or two early just to do some sightseeing. Looking forward to the whole thing!

I've noticed it's often what they don't say that speaks loudest. Over the last week I stayed in an upscale hotel and had breakfast each morning in their restaurant. Most of the other guests were on business trips or expensive wedding parties. I got lots of surreptitious looks from curious people. Most were fine. It didn't bother me. But one or two of them openly glared at me. It was strange, but I ended up feeling kind of sorry for them. They had nothing better to do than try and make someone else's day a little worse. (It didn't work!) The hotel staff on the other hand were great. I think they enjoyed having a polite, good tipping, friendly customer than the stuffed shirts who were generally unpleasant to everyone around them. In all my years I have never had anyone say anything openly nasty or unpleasant to me. I've had the usual "what do they mean" questions over the years, but for the most part people leave me alone about them - unless they are tattooed themselves. Then I often have a good conversation, swapping our experiences and finding out about artists I hadn't known about. I'm curious to see if anyone gives me grief from a religious perspective. I suspect my reaction would be to yawn and move on.

This is coming up in a little over two weeks, so who is going and is interested in an LST meetup? I'm going to suggest that we meet up for drinks at Le Cheval Blanc at around 9pm on Saturday. It's at 809 rue Ontario Est, a couple of blocks away from the Berri metro station, which is itself four stops away from the convention. It's a brewpub with solid beer, a nice selection of imported bottles, and great music and atmosphere. They have a limited food menu too, but if anybody is interested in getting something to eat beforehand we can do that too. Who is up for meeting? Me and @Pugilist will be at the convention both Friday and Saturday so if you see us (you can recognise us by our tattoos because I am sure I won't be the only hairy guy most likely wearing a black t-shirt there) say hello!

Finally got A Bob Wicks girl head from Eli three weeks ago. Will post a healed soon

And I am also stoked to tell that I got an appointment with Mike Rubendall too.

Beppe Strambini in Verona, Italy. Ink Addiction

This is a great idea, but I am also going to suggest going to Ron Henry Wells because his wolves are super amazing, especially if you want the weirder side of things:

Don't stand a chance but here's my tattoo from Mike Wilson, inksmith & Rogers FL 1 hour 45 min, inner arm

Many thanks. It took about three hours. It wasn't too painful, I've had a lot worse. Getting nice and comfortable is the main thing as keeping your arm stretched out in the same position for a long time is no fun. It does swell up a bit but the good news is that it's one of the quickest healing tattoos I've ever had.

@Graeme better hope that some other folks want to join because otherwise he will be SURROUNDED BY HISTORIANS! The horror.

I've herd that in respect to piercing but not tattoos.. Being that ppl far older then Jesus had tattoos, it wouldn't be unbelievable that 'Jesus' had a tattoo or two... ;)

I don't think he has any convention plans. He did not bring it up and I just sat with him for 6 hours on Saturday. The best advice I can give you is call State of Grace. They are super laid back and will answer your questions.

I don't want to be a dick about it, but if you think that Beppe's tattoos and that Mario's tattoos look more or less equivalent, you really need to learn about tattoos. There are plenty of resources here on the forum--I would start with this thread about what makes a good tattoo--watch the artist interviews, watch Vice's Tattoo Age series and the Gypsy Gentleman videos, read Guen Douglas's guide on how to examine a tattoo portfolio, and then come back here, because it's a waste of everybody's time to suggest other shops and artists to you if you don't even know how to look at tattoos in the most basic sense.

Apparently the answer is a lot. They barely showed him and I was looking forward to a epic smack down. Those tattoos were awful. Not one of the contestants in the last two years could pull off a Japanese tattoo. I always assumed it was a fairly popular style, but none of these people seem to have any interest. When Made Rich or what ever his dumbass name is insulted Japanese tattooing as simple and I attractive, I was waiting for Denning to come over the desk and smack him. Everyone on the show is a "portrait specialist" or into photo realism. I don't get it.

Jesus was the first tattoo recipient. Haven't you seen the famous pictures of those big old fashioned needles that they used to tattoo his hands and feet?

the trick is going to be finding an awesome artist. Don't just settle.

I completely understand, but i will say this. Two words: @Iwar Fundoshi lol He has now set the bar pretty high though

If you went to Bert Krak and asked for this....he would draw you up something you would love....I am sure of that! Good luck with your search.....

@CercleRouge - there are no words.

Just so everyone is fully aware, John totally rules. We used to work together before he moved to AUS, and I've seen this guy do some pretty killer stuff with his paintings and tattoos. I think this will be a good thing :)

Just in case you don't know - very few reputable artists are going to reproduce a previously issued piece. Tweeks could easily be mandatory.

I kind of feel that most traditional wolf tattoos are based on a handful of designs so that if you wanted a tattoo like that it might be easier to find someone in your area--or travel for it if you're inclined towards that--who does solid traditional and get them to tattoo it.

If you ever need someone to bounce some ideas off, me and a friend had a business for almost 8 years of selling and breeding morphs of ball pythons and boas. He is still going, but I have since stepped out of the business. I could also introduce you to some people that might be really helpful as well. I absolutely love ball pythons and the various morphs. Just PM me.

I've had both here in the US. The "gauze" I had wasn't REALLY gauze, it was more of an ABD pad with a plastic outer side. Anyway, whatever they put I leave it on while I sleep and don't open the bastard till the morning to clean and toss the old dressing. Here's how I look at it: Either way is fine. I don't think the absorbant pad is going to suck out any ink. It's just soaking up sweat and plasma and blood, ANY ink would be oozing out anyway with the plasma and other fluids. The plastic wrap, same, it's uncomfortable maybe but it'll keep your sheets clean and be a barrier for the giant open wound you just paid for. When the plastic wrap was used, the dudes always taped a folded paper towel to the bottom rim to catch any dripping ooze. Taking either off right after exposes the tattoo to a world of bacteria, even if you're cleaning the thing. SO I say leave it on, let what's there be there, in the morning toss the crap and never re-wrap. I know some people re-wrap for sleep. I don't like creating a moist/body temp environment on my giant open wound for bacteria to have an orgy in. THAT'S ME. I've done the re-wrap and it's never done anything one way or the other but cost me plastic wrap. So blah blah blah, I don't think it REALLY matters and it's a personal thing.

Also i did 72 hours back to back in 8 days:-)

One of my all time favourites by Ivan Szazi .

On Sunday, @Paul A. Dobleman added three horsepower to my right leg. I'm still stunned at how beautiful it is. He just added it to his LST gallery: pharoahs horses with rope Tattoo Picture | Last Sparrow Tattoo

Today was the third session on my Tamatori-Hime sleeve/chestpiece. It took 5 hours to put in some background on my upper arm :) (There is some old kanji on my upper arm that's in the process of being covered) And this is the complete picture of how it is now:

Those damn rollerbladers waxing up the curbs and rails!

Finally done after 16 hours. Rodrigo Melo out of Northstar Tattoo in NYC.

Why is it a shame? People like what they like. If everyone liked everything the same it wouldn't be a competition. Plus the tattoo in the lead currently is an amazing hooper sleeve, which isn't traditional.

Here is a little piece of mine :-) This dragon sleeve has been done last year by Bonel of Corazon Santo in The Netherlands, which is currently working on my other arm (and a Phoenix backpiece on my wife :-) )

Okay @SStu I bet you wouldn't get something from that Born Weird book. I DARE you to. Did I do that right, guys?

El Carlo Aloha Tattoo Spain

fuzi....could we please never mention him again on this forum? i kinda wanna punch him in the eye for doing what he does. skin molester! he's in sweden now i read somewhere...should i go and punch him in the eye?

so far i am enjoying this backlash against tattoo reality tv with things like this and the gypsy gentleman. i am curious how it will pan out down the road.

Hate Vice but these look like they might be really well done. Damnit!