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Got an email back from Scott Sylvia today about the RVA convention. Stoked!

Just got this croakin' hypercolour lizard yesterday: by Teddy Kardos IG: teddytattoos Teddy is doing a guest spot at Shades of Grey in Edmonton, AB. He works in Newcombes Ink in Halifax, NS under King Len Langille. He is also the lucky(?) bastard that wears the infamous full torso reaper made by OllieXXX. We had a great time doing this technicolour bearded drago! Stay tuned for next week...I have a 9am hallowe'en appointment to get a pretty epic neck/collarbone piece hehe (!!!). Saw the sketch this morning and WOW I am pumped. Very exciting month tattoo-wise for me.

I adopted the most utterly adorable leopard gecko last night. I've been wanting a snake again for some time, so I think this will be a good transition. It's previous owner was a piece of shit who neglected the poor thing. One of its eyeballs was dried out like a raisin, it's missing a bunch of toenails from joint suffocation, and its tank was filthy with shit, dead crickets, and dead maggots. Gonna pick up some crickets today, I have no idea when was the last time it ate. Kinda stressing on the possibility of it getting sick from its previous conditions, and hoping more toes don't fall off (there's still shed skin stuck on em). But I'm in love with it and can't wait til it's all settled in. LOOK HOW CUTE!!!!!!

I'm jealous of all of you who are going. Take lots of pictures please.

TODAY!!

Finally I've got another tattoo coming up. Booked in yesterday with Aaron Coleman at Immaculate Tattoo. Looking to get a panther on my calf when I head down to AZ for my cousin's wedding in December. Can't wait!

My 21st wedding anniversary this weekend (yeah I know I was married aged 20 :) ) , so off to London for some drinking and eating .

Yes let's have fun and talk politics,wheeeee!

To quote @hogg, "You make smart decisions."

Pumped! My wife has an appt with Mr. Stewart Robson of Frith St. today at opening, so I'll be hanging around there if anyone wants to come say hello. Me: Long hair/Acid King T-shirt.

As I'm shit at taking photos I'll post up some proper pics in the appropriate thread closer to completion . For now here's a taster taken from Ian's IG after the first session , mines the dragon head on chest dated 7th Sept . Instagram

This post needs photos! I love, love, love Ian's work.

Hey apprentice tattoo artist from Alb. NM. I have been watching the interviews for a while now. Awesome stuff great way to learn about individual artists as well as the history of tattooing. Love what the web site is doing. Very positive and informational site for the tattooing community! I didn't know you could register with the site until my teacher told me that you could. He was pleasantly surprised to find out that I already knew about the site and had been watching the tattoo artist interviews for a while now! Keep up the awesomeness LST!

Sucks. The double-standard of training/employing people to kill (or to support those who do), but rule-and-regulating how they can decorate their bodies, is part of the American schizophrenia. Glad my service (USArmy, Infantry) was Vietnam-era.

They do this every few years. Army, police depts., etc.. This will change once we need more recruits again.

TODAY!!

I love this tattoo, and it is one of the first large Japanese tattoos I was ever exposed to, and I would like to know who did it! The woman is Shoko Tendo, a woman who wrote a memoir about being a yakuza boss's daughter. I have not read her book (I was searching for more info about the tattoo when I found her name and stuff), where perhaps she reveals this information, and I have only done a very cursory search and comparison of signatures to tattoo artists I already know. So with that all said: does anyone have any info? Drop some knowledge on me!

dooo iitttt! yay LST! and convention! <a little excited, maybe>

I downloaded it to take a look at it and then deleted it because I don't see it being at all useful. I don't see it having any advantage over something like Yelp, which is pretty shit for finding out about tattoo shops anyway because it seems like everybody who writes shop reviews on there is a moron, but at least I can use it to find something to eat when I'm travelling. I'll continue using LST as my tattoo guide.

I'm so excited for everyone going to the convention this weekend. Take lots of pics! Balls to the employment news @real meta . @beez /waves hand: "you are perfectly healthy. You will not get sick."" On a side note. I emailed Adam Guy Hays about starting a back piece. Even though he's on vacation in Japan (getting tattooed by Horiyoshi 3, the dirty bugger), he has taken the time to message back :). He seems down, and apparently might even be doing guest spots in the pacific northwest next year, which would be rad to cut down on the traveling I would need to do. My wife also got an appointment with Whitney Fromm for some sunflowers and almond blossoms on her shoulder (in June 2014). This will be the misses' first/most detailed/involved tattoo. She has just a few simple, small pieces. She was rather amused at how excited for her I was.

Thanks guys. The best part is I can keep getting more work done by him. More good stuff to come without waiting years.

Fuck everything. An O'Donnell tiger and an O'Donnell snake together? @Roca53 might not win this contest, but he wins life.

This journey is finally complete...just a little bloody. By Chris O'Donnell

Totally agree Justin K Broadrick is one of my all time musical heroes , he can do no wrong !

I suppose big is relative to the size of the person getting tattooed too so 14 cm will be huge on a small person and small on a huge person. or whatever lol . I don't like filler I like space or if the skin is covered its part of the art . Filler is such a shit word for a lot of effort and hard work by an artist. Id hate to ask an artist who's work I respect for "Filler"

This is where it becomes a tricky question. What is "big?" If it's 13-14 cm across, that's considered a small tattoo by some, large by others. I guess there's always filler.

seriously post some pictures here and on instagram. need to live life vicariously through you lucky west coasters this weekend.

I can relate to this so well working in emergency medicine and being a woman. Though most of my ink is hidden, occasionally I have to change in the shower or something like that happens. 98% of people think it's interesting. 2% think it's a license to say something obnoxious. Staring is fine. Commentary is unheeded and unneeded.

Im so jealous im dying................. damn not knowing how to drive

When I began getting inked, I had only two weeks before separated from the US Army (honorable discharge) after five years service in the Infantry. My last duty station had been Coleman Barracks, just outside of Mannheim, West Germany. It sucked, and the (albeit, shortened) tour ate it. So, "how do you react to stares, JB?" Nowadays, just fine; 37 years ago? Like you wouldn't believe. I'd give people "hard eyes" and a "get super-aggressive real fast" attitude. Back then, ink had a secondary (primary?) role of non-verbally "giving someone the bird". For some reason, that was important to me. Thankfully, times have changed; people, too; and so have I. Since coming back to the US, summer of 2004, I've had nothing but pleasant, polite interest from people in my tattoos, if they respond to them at all. Maybe it's that the tattoos, themselves, have always been classic, traditional American designs -- with the exception of a few places, all my work is "sewn-together" flash, designs from sheets on the wall. Nothing anybody gets angry about. I especially like the stares -- and the conversations that follow -- from age-appropriate women of a certain type.

I'll be going for my longest session to date on Nov. 7th with Brian Bruno. Pretty much spending the whole day with him which is either 7 or 8 hours. Wish me luck.

There's "stippling" (which I've only seen in online photographs, and then, only in "neo-tribal" designs), and then there's the traditional "dots 'n stars" (which -- dammit! -- I still need to get done to complete my chest/shoulders). I like the stippling-as-shading, but I wonder how -- in the long-run -- it'll hold up; specifically, will closely-spaced dots run together, like closely-spaced lines often do? And, would that, necessarily, be a "Bad Thing"? Makes me think of the moderating effect that Time has on gray-scale work. Dunno. I do like the stippling as "background" for some women's filigree tattoos -- call me sexist... whatever... but a bracelet like the one the OP linked-to (on a woman) is definitely eye-catching. :o

I don't think age should be the criteria. I think any prospective tattooee should have to pass a common sense and maturity test 1st. Same goes for having babies or "owning" pets. Naturally, some people would be plain-skinned, childless and lonely forever.

SNNAAAAKESSS! This Saturday. Bay Area Convention. I am very excited. And I am *not* getting sick.

Finished this guy today. Added a vajra bell and a key to finish it off before background. Probably going to get prints made, when I can find a suitable printer.

I had said to myself that I wouldn't do any more tattoos at least until the scottish convention, perhaps not even until my planned trip to New York in the spring.. BUT then I got a text yesterday from a swedish tattooer that I respect a lot, asking if I wanted to get a discount tattoo from him so he could work overtime on friday instead of waiting around for a concert. Aaaaand that's how good I keep my promises to myself! So Friday evening now spells "tattoo of Joakims left foot". We're going to do a rendition of one of my own drawings that he likes a lot, he even wanted to get it tattooed on himself. I am slightly scared, I hear it's a horrible spot.

In an ironic twist of fate I'm 99% sure I'm going to get laid off tomorrow. I ain't canceling my appointment 'cause fuck the world.

I have a reaper on my calf. This past summer a little dude saw it, looked up at me in awe, and went "Woah." It totally blew his little mind. That was the best.

Hey all, I just joined and started flicking about thoroughly enjoying this thread only to come across this guy here! I live in melbourne and the guy with the chad koeplinger in Rough Operators post is my good friend who I was drinking a beer with only hours ago. This piece looks amazing now that its fully coloured and complete, I'll see if I can find a photo somewhere! Small world, great thread! Here's a sizzler from El Bara, from Madrid.

I got tickets to see Neurosis in January and I am super stoked.

don't really care what machines the artist working on me uses....but i do prefer coils since the quiet rotarys kinda creep me out because the simple fact they don't sound alot! i need that sound to zone out.

I just re-read this thread and it reminded me of something funny. The first tattoo I showed my parents I had a much nicer reaction than when I show them newer ones. I usually get the "Ok, show me the new tattoos." When I visit. Although I can say they are getting much more bold, and bigger.

It's always weird cause everytime you get tattooed it feels different so it's hard to say what hurts less. I really don't have a clue. Coil does sound more aggressive for sure. In regards to the getting through the pain.I have much respect for people who sit through long tattoo sittings, I wouldn't say I have a high threshold for pain, but I guess if I want to get a tattoo I have to find a way to get through it. The best advice I have ever been given is to sit there and take it. You can take pain killers, rub cream on there, or whatever ritual you have, but the only answer is to accept the pain and try to relax, at times it sure sucks, but to me that's part of the accomplishment.

It all depends on how specific a piece you want to end up with. If you're letting the artist have free reign and you're both familiar with the image(s) you want done, then no reference materials would be needed. If you like a specific style of Oni or dragon or samurai or you want a specific pose or other prerequisite that you want incorporated then you should bring that. Otherwise you can browse his porfolio and indicate which pieces really hit home with you so that he understands how to proceed with a drawing.

i always tell people to get the tattoo they want, where they want it. don't let friends or others opinions of size/pain/location of tattoo affect your decisions.

My only tattoo regret was starting with a small one. That's covered up now though. As long as you can afford it, I don't think there is such a thing as going too fast.

Just start covering your chest. Unless you work at a Wall St. branch where you have to be shirtless W/O tattoos. That would look ridiculous if that existed.

After going big, I go home; I prefer to shower there.

Never believed in the whole "small starter tattoo" deal. How about those people getting full bodysuits by Horiyoshi III? I am sure some of those people had no work to begin with and commited to heavy coverage from the get go. If I could do it all over again, thats what I do. Have one tattoo and one only!

really?? haha, thanks. i think ed hardy, scott sylvia and chad frickin' koeplinger are where it's at for me. there's other guys out there doing some awesome ones, but those are my WW_ _ D's for eagles