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Okay folks, quick update after yesterday's session. Great experience as usual over at Kings Avenue Manhattan. As I stated in my previous post, I took the summer off from tattooing and just jumped right back into it with a 6+ hour session with Mike Rubendall on my back piece. To get the real effect of this, check out the first two pics. Started off during the day and ended well into the evening. Needless to say I'm very happy with how things are turning out so far. LOVE the colors. Will be seeing Henning at the end of this month for upper back portion of this collaboration. Enjoy the pics and my goofy commentary: The man himself laying it into me...noon time shot Almost end of the session...about 7pm or so You want to talk about a shop with heavy hitters? Rubendall, Grez and way in the back....O'Donnell. And each one of them super down to earth and funny as well. Can't really ask for anything more. Messy and yes...painful Full on progress shot, what we managed to get done Left cheek and right inner thigh Right cheek

This is what happened to me today: Rudy Fritsch, of course. I encourage anyone who as a chance to get something from this man, very inspiring and unique in every way. Well worth the trip to Trieste (nice town!) where his studio is. I think that's it for me, no more tattoos until spring. Ciao! edit: not really necassary to comment on how much I love this tattoo. I do. A lot.

@Lance Well, I ended up looking for the copy you were talking about, and now I feel like flying to Korea and punching that guy. He's got a few other Shige copies up there as well. The weird thing is that Korea isn't that far from Japan and Shige almost certainly would have tattooed whoever got that backpiece if they'd been willing to travel. I don't know what the copier charges, but Shige doesn't even really charge outrageous money by cost-of-living-in-Japan standards. The original backpiece is amazing - I think the green foliage is my favourite detail. When I hear people say things like 'Shige's work isn't as good as it used to be' (seriously) I look at his recent pieces like this one and Uncle Allen's and wonder how they can honestly say that. Speaking of backpieces and approaches to handling plagarism: We all know that Smith St. prefers their work not to be posted online, and you can see their reasoning at times like this. When I was getting tattooed there I asked Steve Boltz about the kind of tattooing he did day to day, and I think I thought he was doing all medium and small pieces. Anyway, he was like 'Ah, I'm working on about eight backpieces right now'. Not just traditional, but japanese influenced too. Blew my mind, wasn't what I was expecting at all for some reason.

Having not been tattooed in well over 4 months, it felt like I went 12 rounds today in the ring with Rubendall, hahaha. We did a 6-6 1/2 hour session. I'll try to upload better pics tomorrow. For now just enjoy the ones in the Instagram feed. Goodnight...

I really want one from Jeff Rassier. Photos stolen from his IG.

Hello and welcome. It's always kind of weird to hear people say that they aren't *that* kind of person who gets covered in tattoos because, well, what kind of people do you think we are? Most of us are just more or less regular people who have chosen to decorate our bodies in a particular manner. I'd also say that most of us never intended to get covered in tattoos, it's just something that happened as we got tattooed and fell for the art, the experiences and stories, and the community surrounding tattooing. There isn't anything else, at least that I've experienced and had a part in, however small that is, that matches tattoos. There's also a thread here about wolf tattoos that will hopefully provide you with some inspiration.

Hi everyone, my name is Matt. 23 years old, from central Florida. Love my cat, baseball, and of course, good tattoos. Found out about the site a few months ago when I found the interviews on YouTube, and I've finally decided to make an account. I love all the great tattoos everyone posts and learning everything I can from you guys. I've attached pics of my tattoos so far. My cat (healed), done by Chris Buckholts in Ft. Myers, and a mockingbird (fresh), done about 2 weeks ago, by David Bruehl in Tampa. I'll be visiting DC this weekend, and am hoping to get something from Nikki Lugo! Should be cool! Thanks for having me :]

@ironchef looking strong as hell! 6 hours straight in that location...tough. Going to be hitting my lower half on the 26th. All work being done by Rodrigo Melo at Northstar NYC Mike

6+ hours yesterday with Mike Rubendall on my back piece. Check out full report with pics in the "Full Back Piece" thread.

squidpants. :cool:

I have really been digging on Adam Guy Hays' tigers.

this was done by me (kohen meyers) at dogstar tattoo company durham n.c. on a buddy of mine

Hello world of LST. I found this blog thanks to one of my co-workers who was telling me about it one day and also to Instagram after I saw Nick Colella post a screen shot of the recent Scott Sylvia interview (which by the way if you have yet to see it is absolutely incredible and opens your mind to the way a real professional thinks regarding this industry). I'm from Richmond, VA. and have lived here my entire life. I'm currently a front counter assistant for the shop I work for (Heroes and Ghosts Tattoo - Heroes and Ghosts | Just another WordPress site) and have been here since April of this year. Growing up in this city has thus far been awesome and especially since I have gotten into tattoos/tattooing. There's such a heap of knowledge and talent around this city that it's great to be able to call it my hometown. However there is also a vast majority of turd tattooers and scratchers, but I guess that's life and every place has those so I can't complain about that too much. I'm in a couple of bands (In Courage - incourageva.bandcamp.com : New Solution - newsolution.bandcamp.com/) and have been playing drums since I was in the 6th grade (1999). I love doing so, playing shows, touring, etc. It's just a hobby that I've grown up on that really taught me a ton about life and the world we live in. I recently bought a 1975 Honda CB360 motorcycle and that's becoming a great new-found hobby of mine to work on. Tattooing became an interest of mine when I was probably 16 years old, getting my first tattoo the next year, and the love for the art and industry has blossomed since then. I hope that I can learn and interact as much as possible through this Blog and I am very happy to be here now!

@ironchef Sooooooooooo... I hate you. With love, of course :) No but really, that is incredibly badass and you are a warrior for sitting 6 hours on the ass/thighs. Much respect.

These are my two newest. Just got them yesterday. For years I have taken my stress out on myself. The top of my left arm is covered in burn scars. The swallow represents freedom and New beginnings. The cage was where I was trapped. The cage is open. I am free.

I like you.

Thank you! Yes, I will extend it on the forearm. Dong Dong has a very unique, "mysterious" and flowing style, that I like a lot, right now. These pics are other works of his. And yes, I know YZ, too. I'm still considering whether to let YZ or Dong Dong do my next project, after this arm is done! - - - Updated - - - Oh thanks, I had not found these yet. Unfortunately these guys are a little inexperienced when it comes to marketing their businesses to the expat crowd.

Jeff Gogue just posted the Back Piece hes been getting from Shige over the past 3 years on facebook....Wow!!

In what could be considered small (town) man syndrome I will post my largest tattoo directly after my close neighbour to the north (@bongsau) most recent entry. Done by Ryan Gagne, Classic Tattoo, Red Deer, AB

ive been reading these forums for awhile now and finally made an account. ive been tattooing for 4 years and enjoy it more than anything. thanks for the support

Booked in with Stewart at Frith Street last week for a Pharaohs Horse tattoo in December. Looking forward to it.

This is must my .02, which you are free to disregard because I am not your tattooer. But! This is what I think would look great and compromise with your pull-up regimen. Blast out your ribs. There is a lot of really great space there for the kind of larger vertical design you have in mind. Or you could move the whole design more toward your stomach and have the tiger on one side and the horse on the other coming at each other toward the center. And while any exercise is going to affect a healing tattoo, at least it won't be in an area that gets immediate movement.

Either of those look good dude, so I'm all for 'em, especially since I haven't hung out in the LES in forever.

Oh and it's confirmed, I'll be at Deno's booth on Friday at 7pm. I'm planning on attending most of the convention, definitely Friday and Saturday at the least. Stoked to meet new faces and see familiar ones!

Finally, after two postponements in the last couple of months, I'm getting a mermaid from Ashley Love at New York Adorned tonight. I haven't been tattooed since mid-August, and I've been getting that itch recently. This is coming at just the right time! Posted pics forthcoming...

i'm imagining a funny scene of LSTers just strolling around the convention blurting "SQUIDPANTS" like they got Tourette's or walking up to a group of non-LSTers saying "squidpants" and getting a completely blank and awkward stare.

flipper fucking yes!!!:) took a look in the mirror and realized i also have a hellbastard tattoo and a eyehategod one....

This is absolutely amazing! Sadly to be a downer, and I know the subjects been talked about already elsewhere, but this piece has already been copied by someone else and can be found on Instagram if you search #Shige. Not inspired by, but straight up copied by the person's own admission. I refuse to link it. A sad state for a custom piece designed for a specific person :-( At least Gogue's is the original and everyone knows it.

Meh... just tell anyone in the vicinity.. "I just buy what my wife puts on the list.". While you're out shopping, put odd things in other people's carts when they're not looking. Condoms, depends, sanitary napkins, etc. Rob

Cool, another old Flipper fan here. Used to spray paint that fish on rural roads, and draw it all over my notebooks back in the 80s.

This right here. Holler!

I love Flipper and have thought about getting the Flipper fish tattooed... ...but I am a dick who actually started getting tattoos in my 30s so I kind of missed out on the crappy punk rock tattoo period of my life, which on the one hand is great because I didn't fill my body up with shitty tattoos, but also sucks because I think I missed out on something important by not getting those tattoos. I think I'll get some eventually...the bars almost for sure...but I'll wait until I'm a little more covered and use them as gap fillers.

I'll throw this one of my cats in the ring. Done by Grez at King's Avenue.

Welcome. There was a poster recently who got her wrist tattooed and was concerned about the visibility of it, especially in terms of employment, so think very seriously about what it will mean to have a tattoo that is difficult to conceal. Are you in a line of work that accepts visible tattoos? Are you willing to possibly commit to a life of wearing long sleeves even in the summer if people don't accept your tattoos? I'm not saying don't do it, but just tobe aware of how people might react to it. Some nice script could be nice, but you could also look into images that convey a similar meaning...how about a big Fudo Myoo tattoo?

no rules anymore......

Hell yeah man, can't really go wrong either way. David is a super laid back dude, and obviously a great tattooer. I'd love to get something from Mike Wilson at some point too. Good luck deciding!

Welcome, and awesome tattoos.

awesome!!! :) - - - Updated - - - hahahaha black dads hahahahaha!!! i know for sure the last dad of them certainly got himself a nervous breakdown havin his nephew from west philly in his house...his son is not much better...

I'll second his advice, and actually it's almost exactly what I was going to post. I highly recommend stronglifts, but I've heard good things about all of those. Gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time can be pretty tricky. Rather than doing 5ks, look into HIIT training, basically uses intervals of intense cardio (like sprinting), and is much better for burning fat than just doing steady paced 5ks. As far as diet goes, I've never done it and I don't understand it at all, but I've heard good things about carb backloading. This diet probably isn't something that is sustainable long term, but from what I hear it can be good for gaining muscle while losing weight (and still getting to eat junk food). I don't really know, but might at least be worth looking into. - - - Updated - - - I'll never understand pairing shoulders and traps. Shoulders are part of your arms, traps are part of your back, why wouldn't you train them on that day? Maybe I'm missing something.

Or half an octopus.

Ever since I became aware of what the world of tattooing is, I've also been aware of the closely guarded secrets and the policy of not sharing the gold. And it's a good policy. Not everyone deserves to see the end of the rainbow. And then there's other times where I see that keeping everything to yourself or the immediate close circle isn't always necessary, or that it's more like brass not gold. I also scanned the Rudy interview from the same old copy of TA that I scanned and posted the VyVyn article from in that other thread. I tried to make the scans less crooked this time. Seems to be the best place to post this.

Getting a panther in a week by Garver!!!!!

Might as well work on the other areas of your body until "takes forever" stops being the worry and "I'm so excited, when can I start it" becomes the predominant feeling.

I will never cease to be amazed that people this awesome exist.

Here's mine, done by Chad Koeplinger at the 2013 Montreal tattoo convention.

I read an article in I cant remember what magazine many years ago that pointed out that almost every question we get asked about our tattoos can also be directed towards a new teen mother example: "did that hurt?" "what do your parents think about that?" " you know you're stuck with that for ever, right?" "i cant believe you'd do that to your body?" "why would you do something so irresponsible?" etc., etc.

Wow. Just.... wow. So i'll be tortured by a cat, a fox, disembodied wings, two birds and a baby devil in diapers. Interesting. So alot of peeps are going to get tortured by Jesus!