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Hi there, my name is Dave Sobel and I'm a tattooer. I've been tattooing since 1990, Starting in Los Angeles, and now in Maryland for the last 21yrs. I'm really crappy at talking about myself. I love the fact that this forum has rules aimed at protecting and respecting this thing that I love and have devoted the last 23yrs of my life to.

Outer thigh finished. A bit bloody.

I have an appointment with Marius Meyer January 31st. We are going to finish all the backround on my back piece, and some lines on the dragon.

@RoryQ Thank you! All credit to Tim Pausinger. And Yes, I am going to do my whole front. I've got another artist at The Pearl who is doing a large piece on my stomach. I'm looking forward to it, and terrified all at the same time. It is going to be a black and gray tattoo taken from a New Deal era relief on the Dept of Health in (I think,) Duluth. Unfortunately, I've moved in next to a donut shop and the image is going to look a little stretched. :(

I've got my next appointment on my back project set for Jan 1st. Helluva way to start 2014, if I do say so myself.

I think superstition is relevant only when you believe or partly believe. It's intellectually interesting to me to read about (for example) Asian superstition or religion in tattooing terms, but it doesn't worry my reptile brain or cause unease to me... Because I simply don't believe, on any level. I'm not even really too worried about Christian iconography... Devils even! Maybe reflective of the very a la carte Catholicism of my upbringing. What worries me would be jinxing myself in the sense of tattooing something that signals hubris, complacency etc. 'Counting my eggs before they hatch' and so on. To give an example, a lot of Martial artists / soldiers / cops seem to get warrior-themed tattoos or macho tattoos. My mentality is that I try to avoid something like that because on some level I think it almost dares the universe to come along and give you a crushing injury of some sort that puts paid to all that. The closest I have to a macho tattoo is my shin dagger, probably.

I want to wear those to my office next Halloween, then take them off at lunch and see if anyone notices.

The only reason I would buy a PS4 at this point is for the new games coming out in the next year. Right now I am squeezing in every last bit of Skyrim-romping I can before we cave and buy the PS4 in a few months (once it's available again, it's been a nightmare trying to hunt one down around this time of year). @Diehardonvhs I really want to play Papers, Please. I've only heard good things.

got commissioned for this pair. loads of fun

Chad Koeplinger made this on my upper arm when he visited Oslo in October. Hard to get a good picture because the tattoo wraps around my arm, but you get the idea :)

Hey Folks, We all obviously have our personal reasons for getting tattoos. I thought it would be fun and interesting to hear thoughts and experiences regarding getting or not getting a tattoo because of some superstitions, personal beliefs, cultural customs or taboos. Apologies for my very long-winded dialogue below. My own perspective is a bit of a double-edged sword. I’m American born Chinese, raised in the Lower East Side/Chinatown of NYC. My parents and grandparents are/were Buddhists. My maternal grandmother (Grams), who had a major role in my early upbringing, was a devout practicing Buddhist. I’ve never been religious but was always respectful of the customs and beliefs. It was Grams who naturally started me on the path of some of these beliefs and informed me of some of the more peculiar superstitions that ended up influencing my tattoo choices later on in life. As most of us know in Asian cultures, tattoos are still a taboo subject and subculture. However I’ve never been one to go with the grain so much but I ended up getting my first tattoo in my early 30’s. My first tattoo was a koi with water and cherries, done in a Japanese motif. I’ve always loved goldfish and koi as a kid and I remembered begging my grandmother to get them for me. Grams would flat out refuse. You see, while goldfish and koi are considered good luck, if they die, the Chinese believed your luck dies with it. Being very conscious of that, I figured a tattoo is permanent and the koi would “live” forever. It just so happened that when I got this first tattoo, it was at the end of the same year Grams had passed away. Part of it was in honor and remembrance of her. My next tattoo was of a dragon, my Chinese zodiac sign. I received a stern lecture from my mom on this. Even though she accepted this path I was on with getting tattooed, she had indicated it was bad luck to get my own zodiac figure tattooed on myself. It would be in conflict with one’s self. Too late I explained to her and we’d just have to see what the eventual outcome with be in my destiny, hahaha. Now when I had decided to get my back tattooed, a lot of odd things popped up that I had to consider. First, the literal connotations of getting my back inked, the Chinese would say you are getting stabbed in the back, bad karma. Of course didn’t take too much stock in that and plowed forward. Next, while I am in complete awe of most back pieces and overall tattoos for that matter, I had made a decision not to get any religious or associated figures tattooed on me. No Kannon, Buddha, demons, Monkey King, etc. You get the idea. It is considered bad luck and disrespectful to get a deity tattoo, let alone on your back where you would be “resting on them”. It broke my heart as I adore the powerful and serene image of Kannon riding a dragon and although life is short and one should always try to get what they want, I just couldn’t see myself breaking away from this belief. To the point I was scared I would “anger the gods” and have bad luck for the rest of my days. Hence you’ll notice in my gallery, my tattoos comprise of creatures and florals and will continue with this theme until I’m “done.” One thing that’s never been spoken of in a negative light is that it is okay to get a mantra or chant or just Buddhist scripture tattooed on yourself. These would act like talismans or amulets to ward off evil or bad luck. I’ve recently been researching Sanskrit and Bonji characters that I will eventually incorporate into my collection.

Fallout 3 is one my favorite games ever. I think it was my #1 favorite until Skyrim came out. If you're into RPG's it's a must-have, and if you're not, it's still probably a must-have. I've always been a PC gamer, but I'm tempted by the PS4. I've always been jealous of Sony's exclusives. Might cave and get one next year when they have some solid games out... played about 30 mins of Last of Us at a friend's house and wanted to get it real bad.

Again, not a tattoo but a suit design including rosary beads. Slightly off topic but one of the most amazingly detailed designs I have come across. By Frankie B Yoshiaki

@Brock Varty I'm going to second what @CultExciter says about Fallout 3. It's an incredible game. I don't have the Game of the Year edition, just the regular one without the expansions and there's more than enough depth in the game by itself that it's worth playing through a few times because the vastness of the world and things to explore seems almost limitless. Skyrim is about the same, but with swords and magic.

I'm about 16 hours into Fallout 3 (for the third time). Man, this game is fun. It's the first RPG (albeit action) I've ever really gotten into. I'm gonna play Skyrim next. My mentor bought a PS4, and he is kinda "meh" about it. I think his kids are into it more than him.

I was massively unimpressed with everything the new generation of consoles has to offer so I built a very nice gaming PC instead....couldn't be happier! Been playing Metro - last light, which is excellent, and Assassins creed 4, which has its faults, apart from sailing the high seas with shanties, which is ace. Also playing through Papers, Please, and Spelunky, both of which are fantastic. I picked up the Witcher 2 as well on the steam sale - not got around to playing it yet, cant wait though!

cant be coincidence that this video wont even play!!! - - - Updated - - - very interesting thread! I love reading about superstitions with regard to tattoos as well as the traditions. I also love tattoo symbology. it was for this reason I went for 7 butterflies first, stars with my kids initials and changed my idea of getting a masked owl to instead wanting an eared owl- preferably the European eagle owl. I love reading into different cultures and discovering powers behind animals or symbols or flowers etc. no doubt I will continue downthis path with all future tattoos!

Update: I still look like Burt Reynolds with a better mustache.

Came across this by Bunshin Horitoshi

Saw Black Sabbath play their only London show last night with Uncle Acid as the opening act , all the old favourites came out (with the exception of Bill of course ) and for me the highlights were the rendition of " Black Sabbath " and Iommi in fine form . Getting home after the show was suitably metal as London was engulfed in the worst fog I've ever seen which caused our river ferry to crash forcing us to disembark the vessel and subsequently miss the last train - proper Doom ha ha .

Who: Shawn O'Connor shawnocconor.ca What: bad assfrog (Sailor Jerry flash!) Where: Ink Machine, Edmonton, AB Canada When: at a touchup appointment...station was already setup, however i wasn't in the mood for a minor neck touchup. Why? because it's a god damn sailor jerry battletoad! we were shooting the shit and i was flipping through a jerry flash book. i was like yeah buddy that's a sweet frog! shawn is like yeah buddy i've never done a frog before! we looked at each other and than said let's go buddy! add some pink in the belly! done on whim! took like 15 minutes lol RIBBIT :cool: this retarded little frog tattoo captures everything i love about the tattoo experience. the best. - - - Updated - - - also got this cool headless owl from Jon Gray (from Hamilton, ONT...guest spot at Lucky Strike in Edmonton, AB). It was from Jon's own painted flash. 2hrs. Ollie walked by and turned up the volts on the machine and Jon was flying. it was funny. good time and good tattooer! <nuff side ass, en joy>

A little Christmas metal..

Popped into The Pearl this morning to catch a session with Tim Pausinger before he left for the Xmas holidays. He basically finished my chest piece. In January we'll link the shoulders and arms to it. He is also going to do some spider webbing between the tattoo and the bottom of my pecs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A picture taken after last sitting, by Matt Shamah

Saw this on FB today.. Kick ass piece and awesome to see it getting recognition!!

I took this photo and a bunch of others at the New Jersey State Fair in Cherry Hill. It was August 12th, 1990. It was a blast meeting Jack Dracula. He had such a crazy mystique about him. There were all kinds of crazy stories about him and I was afraid to meet him but he was a fun guy to hang around with for an afternoon. He rode back into town with us and told us old corny jokes. RIP Jack Dracula and Sonny Tufts.

My artist finished the eyes of my dragon last. He said once the eyes where done the dragon is alive and to continue tattooing it would cause the dragon pain.

@beez I've noticed that with most tattoo artists working in the Japanese motif, when tattooing animals and creatures, most won't highlight or fill in the eyes until the piece is nearly completely. We've heard the old saying that, "the eyes are the windows to the soul" and the Chinese take this literally. They believe when you "dot" the eyes or fill in the eyes, the creature should be complete and would come to life as it were. If it wasn't complete and "brought to life" it would bring bad lucky and imbalanced as you've indicated. If you ever been in a Chinese community and witnessed the Lion dances during the Chinese New Year or other special occasions, the event is started by the "dotting of the eyes" of the Lion with incense, thereby waking up the Lion to start the dance that wards off evil.

You should PM me your Gamertag.

Nice video I came across. A young Horioshi iii at around 4 mins 50 in.

I can understand that. I am so glad I didn't get any of the stuff I wanted when I was 14, I'd be covered in nautical stars and metalcore song lyrics. I "sit on" ideas for a few months to make sure I still like it and to help me formulate my opinions about what I want from the piece (I currently have several ideas in that stage :D), but it's not specific designs. And when someone who knows way more than you about something (anything, not just tattoos) tells you they think what you're doing is stupid, you listen. People like the guy I'm mentioning think they know everything there is to know about something, with no experience and no research. On this board, I'm still very much a "newb" and that's humbling and makes me want to learn and experience more; however, compared to this guy, I'm an expert on the subject. So when I tell him what will most likely happen with his design, and he goes out of his way to defy me and get his way even after I explain why it's a bad idea...that's not just a nervous first timer, that's someone that's choosing to remain ignorant and gets what they deserve.

Probably a half dozen times in the past year I've mentioned tattoo conventions to people, and they've responded with "So are the tattoos free?" I was baffled the first time someone asked me that, but it kept happening. I don't know.

The same dumb asses that wear Sons of Anarchy Leather vests and think they are bad asses.

This Friday will be my last appointment for 2013 with Mike Rubendall at Kings Ave in Long Island. Going to put more color into dragon on my back piece. Have several scheduled appointments in 2014 to finish things off and possibly start something new. Will post update with pics this weekend.

Yup. ...and yup. I don't know if I'd call my first tattoo "silly" -- it's just a black & gray ibis about the size of a pad of Post-Its -- but I would like to think that I'm getting better at recognizing really good tattoos when I see them, about paying attention to the artists behind the tattoos instead of just the tattoos, and appreciating different artists's styles, etc. It's gotten more fun now, and I see why an entire culture exists around tattooing. When I was getting my first one, I didn't know any of that stuff, and I didn't think it was "about" that anyway. (It was about me -- duh. ;))

I think you need to humble yourself first though.... Has nothing to do with confidence... - - - Updated - - - I know it's hard to hear negative feedback but you came here for information, and you're getting it.

That is disgusting and makes me sick to my stomach. I'm not sure who is stupider, you or your friend.

Gomineko is the treasure trove

Oh shit!

Mike wears crocs. Take that how you will.

Had heaps of fun with latest effort, definitely was not easy to do

Another by Jess Yen! Still needs one more small session(finishing toad detail), but we are mostly there! Done at the London Tattoo Convention over a couple of sessions.

This

Interesting topic, @ironchef! I don't have too much time to post at the moment, but it brings to mind a few things I've been chewing on for awhile now, mainly: what impact do the images you permanently mark yourself with have on your life/life energy, if any? Robert Ryan had some interesting things to say about this in his interview in the most recent Tattoo Culture Magazine (voodoo symbols and a guy dying soon after the tattoo was finished) (I'm writing this quickly, forgive me for any sloppiness!), and I remember at some point, somewhere (don't remember where!) reading that Horiyoshi 3 was tattooing his son and had not finished either one of the symbols or some of the characters...dammit...I don't remember and now I will be looking for this article to post here. The point is that something wasn't finished, something 'bad' or unlucky happened, and once the characters were finished the imbalance was righted. Soo...this is a good topic, and I will look for more interesting and specific references before posting again. And I'm definitely looking for the Horiyoshi article, grrr! Forgive sloppiness and quick posting! Will right THIS imbalance soon enough!

Scored this off Instagram .

Got this from Kyle Crowell at Torch Tattoo in Anaheim back in August.

The one I really hate is tats