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By Robert Ryan at Electric Tattoo, Bradley Beach, NJ http://robertryanofjudah.tumblr.com/image/70126340846

Hey. HEY! For some people that is a normal sized dick.

i had a show open recently here are a few pieces that were in it... hope you enjoy

Oh I'm aware of it. It's sad and not such an antiquated form of communication. At this rate 2 generations from now will barely be able to read a damn font if its not Helvetia or Times Roman. Pathetic. I give value to the fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination that this provides way over texting and video games, besides all the other benefits like BEING ABLE TO READ.

@CultExciter, that el-p/killer mike might be the heaviest thing on your list! Heard a couple tracks on it. That last killer mike that el-p produced sounded real good too. Here's stuff that got played this year: Uncle acid and the deadbeats-bloodlust Lycia-cold The smiths-singles collection Diiv-Oshin (shoegazing type stuff) Esoteric-Paragon of dissonance Immortal-Sons of northern darkness Magnetic fields-The charm of the highway strip Hot Water Music-entire catalog of releases M83-Hurry up, we're dreaming Darkthrone-Black flags and dark thrones Mark Lanegan-first 5 albums Dark Sanctuary-L'être las - L'envers du miroir (neo-classical) Also, I've been watching lots of leroy troy playing old timey banjo tunes on youtube.

Top ten of what I actually listened to and enjoyed most in 2013, edited to not have duplicate artists, and in alphabetical order: Current 93 - Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre Graveyard - Hisingen Blues GZA/Genius - Liquid Swords Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son King Crimson - In The Court of the Crimson King Matthew Sweet - 100% Fun Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath My Bloody Valentine - m b v Saint Vitus - Born Too Late Wu Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) I'm old.

I'm a few sessions into my front piece with Horitomo. Here's the latest. And yes, everything in this picture is to scale.

A good read. Apologies if it's been posted before. Horihide still practices the dying art of hand tattoo Hand tattoo artist Horihide is one of the few tebori practitioners who remain, as body ink carries a stigma in Japan and young apprentices are few. GIFU, Japan — Hidden away in the backroom of a modest apartment in this central Japanese city, one of Japan's last remaining hand-tattoo masters is preparing his tools. Over the last four decades Oguri Kazuo has tattooed notable geisha and countless yakuza, members of Japan's notorious mafia. Today, the 79-year-old artist, known professionally as Horihide (derived from "hori," meaning "to carve"), is working on a client who is a little more subdued. Motoyama Tetsuro has spent hundreds of dollars, traveled thousands of miles and waited more than three decades for a session with Horihide. The Japanese-born American software manager wanted the master's ink in his skin — a living legacy for a dying art. With old masters passing away and young apprentices lacking the patience to learn the painstaking craft of tebori (hand tattooing), many followers believe its days are numbered. "If you know the master, why would you want to work with someone else?" asks Motoyama, 62, who first received the outline of a dragon by Horihide on his right shoulder in the 1970s. Motoyama lost touch with the master — who works only by word-of-mouth introductions in backdoor locations — before the work was complete. Last November, after a 30-plus year search, he finally located Horihide and traveled back to Japan from his home in Cupertino, Calif., to finish the piece. Japanese tattoos are steeped in thousands of years of history and bound by rigid tradition and social mores. This distinguishes them from American tattoos, which are largely personal expressions of individualism. Japanese masters spend years perfecting their craft and learning the stories behind the tattoos, derived from woodblock prints and Chinese folk tales. The body-suit tattoos, spanning shoulders to below the buttocks, can take hundreds of hours to apply and cost as much as $20,000. Banned during the Meiji period, irezumi (literally "to insert ink") remains underground today; many hot springs and bathhouses still bar tattooed individuals. Artists such as Horihide work under a cloak of secrecy plagued by associations with criminality. Still, social stigma has not put off the soft-spoken Motoyama who, with square glasses and salt-and-pepper hair, appears the epitome of respectability. Although the grandfather is happy to show off his tattoos in California, he, like most, is careful to hide his arms in Japan behind long sleeves despite searing summer temperatures. Controversy is now flaring up again. Last month, the right-wing populist mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, ordered all government employees to voluntarily divulge any concealed or visible tattoos. The 100 or so discovered to be inked, who mostly work in waste disposal and transport, are likely to face an ultimatum: Get the offending tat removed or find another job. Such pariah status has led to a decline in tattoo masters, with Horihide estimating that there are only five or six left who can do the traditional black-and-white tebori as opposed to the machine-operated colored tattoos. (Horihide offers both.) "Specializing in tebori is not commonplace," says Kip Fulbeck, an art professor at UC Santa Barbara, who is organizing a 2014 exhibition of Japanese tattoos at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles with tattoo artist Takahiro Kitamura (known as Horitaka). "For one, it takes a great deal of time to traditionally learn how to do it correctly. It's also a much slower tattooing method, so it takes much more time. [unlike machine tattooing] it's very subtle, it's very quiet." Although Horihide has eight students, none can yet draw their own designs and just a few are learning tebori. Horihide became an apprentice at age 19 and spent five years learning the craft. "It was very strict. In the morning you have to get up at 5 o'clock and clean the house. If you didn't do it right, you could be beaten," recalls the artist, as he sits cross-legged on the floor, carefully filling in the yellow hues of a tiger on Motoyama's other shoulder. "But nowadays young people can't do that. Some people who want to be students ask me, 'How much can you give me as a salary?'" He laughs, shaking his head. "So things have changed." As a teenager, Horihide fled to Tokyo after a street gang fight. When money ran out and hunger started to gnaw, he saw a sign offering room and board to a tattoo apprentice. Despite lingering prejudices surrounding the once-forbidden art (the ban was lifted in 1948 by the occupying forces), Horihide carefully practiced on his own skin — scars of now faded squares and circles on his thigh today. Past clients were largely the yakuza and an occasional hot spring geisha, who marked themselves with phoenixes, dragons and killer whales. Horihide's memories of the yakuza — who provided generous gifts — remain fond. "Younger people do not know how to be courteous and do not know how to speak to me," he complains. Today, however, his clients are largely construction workers and firefighters, members of fraternal organizations who are traditionally tattooed. Asked what a popular design is, Horihide describes the Japanese carp. When caught by a fisherman, the carp does not thrash around like other fish, but remains still, quietly accepting its fate. "So Japanese guys take the spirit of the carp," he explains, "rather than struggle against fate." Motoyama pulls a white T-shirt back over his head and then buttons up a black shirt — carefully hiding both the dragon and newly inked tiger, which still bubbles with small specks of blood. "Today, tattoo artists just use a stencil and copy designs," he says sadly. "With Horihide's designs, every one is unique. [but] in the long run I don't know how long they can survive." Horihide still practices the dying art of hand tattoo - Los Angeles Times

Here in the VA Beach area I've been tattooed by Dave Voegeli at JD Crowe's Ancient Art, he's done my entire lower leg and just did my knee this past Saturday, my buddy Nicolas Fox at Classic Tattoo in Richmond, and Rempe at Hold It Down in Richmond. Nic is starting a big fudo myoo on my back at the beginning of the year, but other than I can't get a lot of visible ink due to being in the navy, so that sucks. I also plan on getting some stuff from Scott Sterling in the near future since he works at Crowe's shop, he is one of my biggest inspirations and an awesome guy to talk to.

Always appreciated. The first big tattoo I ever got was a heart with a banner that says "Live your heart and never follow."

^ I will repeat, LIBRARY. It's free and you don't need to keep it like yet another rock in a box. We need to become less absorbed by the digital age. Next thing you know schools will be doing things like phasing out cursive handwriting in favor of texting..... Had a good laugh at the nose picking book reader haha

Nothing wrong with any of the Wu-affiliated records going on here. Good stuff, @Graeme! and @CultExciter, I haven't heard that Red Hare record, but I liked em when I saw them in the summer. A lot of other cool stuff on your list, too!

I'll list mine, don't judge me (no particular order): El-P & Killer Mike - Run The Jewels Deafheaven - Sunbather Violent Soho - Hungry Ghost Inspectah Deck/7L & Esoteric - CZARFACE Church Of Misery - Thy Kingdom Scum Red Hare - Nites of Midnight Dead Confederate - In The Marrow Morne - Shadows Diarrhea Planet - I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams Russian Circles - Memorial

I can usually stomach to see pretty gross shit, but that video takes the fucking cake!!! I'd rather watch Two Girls and a Cup before ten more seconds of that thing. Damn @TaeTae! I should have taken your warning more seriously.

last nights efforts few nights ago

real solid work everyone. keeping me motivated! quickie from this morning, shitty webcam photo as always

There was a dude at the bar yesterday who was FUCKED UP on who knows what... more than alcohol, that's for sure. I think that was the first time I've ever actually had to tell someone not to touch me. I think I've gotten pretty lucky so far with people being rude and entitled, but I gotta say this thread was the first thing I thought of when he was all up in my space.

October 2014: Chris O´Donnell - thigh, Timothy Hoyer - calf and Tim Lehi - upper arm. Fuck, can´t believe it yet..

My wife got a bit more work done on her back. Started some shading and coloring. A bit dark up there because she is covering up a righteous old piece! - - - Updated - - - I got a bit more work done too. Getting close.

Greg Whitehead, Scapegoat Tattoo, Portland OR All pinched from his instagram. @cltattooing humility is a great thing, but from what I've seen, you're killing it too and should be included here. That Pharoah's Horses you posted in the tattoo of the month contest this month is a great tattoo period, not just great for a young tattooer.

Have not posted for a while but had to show my new piece off! Done by the very talented Valerie Vargas

Here's my stab at it. Let's start at the top row from left to right: Gobu sleeves (five tenths) with hikae (chest plate), Shichibu sleeves (seven tenths) with hikae, classic munewari with gobu sleeves and thighs or basically a gobu munewari, next is a variation of the munewari with hanzubon (shorts) where the inner thigh is completely filled in with tattoo work, full body suit or donburi soushinbori with nagasode (long sleeves), the back piece diagram is kame no koh (turtle back) then the last suit is a shichibu munewari (seven tenths).

This in-progress bodysuit is pretty breathtaking: By Horimatsu

I think some people mistake tattooing efficiently for tattooing fast. If you know what you are doing and how to do things properly everything goes alot quicker. Just because an artist can rock out a piece that would normally take someone 3 hours in just 1 it means he's efficient AND confident.

New guy from NOVA, currently working on a Japanese body suit by Horitomo of State of Grace.

When I click on them, the YouTube box says "This video is no longer available because the uploaded has closed their YouTube account. Sorry about that." Say it ain't so. Edit: also, sorry if this isn't the correct place for this. Feel free to move, modify, delete, whatever.

Agreed! Some very cool stuff on IG as well!

Nico softmachine tattoo Henning Jorgensen

Had similar experience with my thigh, I tried so hard to stop those muscle twitches.

@steve1461686340 No sweat, just figured I'd pass it along. Thanks!

@CultExciter Oh man, that's awesome. Bruno rules as well! Restos are great, but I miss chaotic Jena Berlin shows.

@suburbanxcore I was interning at Decibel Magazine when he was there. He and Bruno were the people I enjoyed the most. I was able to hang with the Jena Berlin guys pretty often. That's awesome. I love that guy. Therefore you must be a pretty stand-up dude as well.

@CultExciter Hahaha, no shit? Jon is one of my best friends. Best dude. He designed my freaking wedding invitations.

Welcome. Nice mix of realism and contemporary in your on-line portfolio.

I am one of the few people I know who writes consistently in cursive. However my handwriting was horrible up until my junior year of high school, then as I've been in college and I have to write constantly, my handwriting has greatly improved. Lol when I am trying to write fast though I use a mix of cursive and print. It's kinda sad they're phasing out cursive, it really does allow you to speed write much better than printing.

On the bright side, he lost quite a few pounds real fast...

He should just cover it up with a giant wrecking ball. :rolleyes:

Off the top of my head the story of Taira no Koremochi involves maple leaves.

Haha, I had a job like that once. They monitored internet use so I couldn't dick around on the internet without getting in trouble for it, but I could download Word files of classic novels from Project Gutenberg and read those. I have a Kindle that I got as a gift a couple of years ago and I liked reading on it, but I stopped using it once e-books started getting comparable to the price of buying paper copies of books. Basically I think that e-books are a noxious idea, and they are only worth it when they're significantly cheaper than buying hard copies. At least if I buy a paper book I actually own that book. I can sell it if I want to, the bookseller can't suddenly revoke the book for whatever reason, and I'm not forced to buy my books from a company that I think is shittier the more I learn about it. I actually found myself buying paper copies of some books I bought on my Kindle and that I really loved. I am currently reading Excession by Iain M. Banks and it's really good fun. - - - Updated - - - It strengthens the immune system.

Daryl Rodriguez at Hold It Down in RVA seems to be able to do anything and getting better all the time. Met him super briefly at the Philly convention two (?) years ago and started following him on instagram afterwards. http://web.stagram.com/n/daryl_rodriguez/

Note to self: do not enter tattoo of the month contest in October 2014.

I have a black and grey tattoo on my arm and I plan on filling in the rest of my arm with color tattoos. Kind of the opposite of your situation. Basically, moral of the story: get the tattoo you want. Your artist will be able to make them look cohesive and not out of place next to each other.

Put a pic up of the beginning of my front piece with Horitomo - http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/15-latest-tattoo-lowdown-page521.html

Hell yeah he is!

I'm going with Phil from Kingsave. He can't be more than 25. super talented!!

Alright... here goes nothin. Pharoah's Horses tattooed by me, finished in October.

I've decided to take my stuff in a more defined direction, here is a new piece along the lines of where I'm trying to go.

julio i'm with. you bust your ass to get a clientele and then spend every night at your drawing table doing day of the dead mary sleeves. or koi sleeves with cherry blossoms. could be worse i could be tired of doing cherry creek flash. or i could get up at 4 in the morning and break beef for quarters for three hours then make ground beef and then clean all the cases all in 40 degree cutting room floor. ill stick to finding a anew way to do marys cloke, hahahaha were all jackasses

back in the late nineties broads used to call the shop trying to get beauty marks tattooed on them. ala cindy crawford i guess. once such woman came in the shop and asked for one. i said NO. the boss was all.... come on dude. itll take you 2 minutes to do. i held my ground and said no. he said fuckit and did it. a week later she came back in wanting it bigger. a week after that she came in wanting it darker. a week after that she came in wanting it lighter haha. i looked over at the boss and asked him if the $50 he made that dumb shit was worth it. im positive all that weirdo did was look at herself in the mirror and critique that little spot on her face. fuck her and her fake ass beauty mark