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Oh what the hell. My leg, done in November by El Monga Sasturain.

I might as well go balls deep with my second post and stick this in!:p My latest piece from Ross Nagle: As per my introduction thread, the top of the skull looks a little distorted because of the way my arm is turned but you get the idea. (I really need to get healed pics!!)

Admins, can we change @peterpoose 's status from "contributor" to "manimal"?

A healed shot of my Back piece:)

Forcing myself to use more black or learn how to use it better. Feel like I am improving but still have plenty to learn thats for sure.

Hello! I've been following this forum for a good long time and enjoyed reading the threads. I also decided to jump in after 27 years and got a tattoo of a crane while on a trip in Japan from Gakkin at Harizanmai in Kyoto. The tattoo itself took around 4 hours outside of the drawing I think. It was interesting and a good bit painful to say the least, though it wasn't too bad until it got near the end when my skin was just sore. Funny enough, it wasn't the needles that was the most painful at that time, it was the wiping the skin every now and then which felt worse. All worth it in the end! Gakkin did a wonderful job and I absolutely love my tattoo. Here's the picture of my tattoo

Congratulations @Russ though I don't know why you'd want to cover that tattoo up with an LST t-shirt!

Are you saying you are deliberately obtuse, rude and offensive to the tattooers and other workers at the tattoo shop?

And the winner of "Tattoo of the Month March 2014" goes to.... @Russ by a landslide with whopping 68 votes! Congrats Russ. Your backpiece is nothing short of amazing! Tattoo by Valerie Vargas (Frith Street Tattoo, London) Please PM @steve1461686340 with your shirt info (size and male or female) along with your address. Thanks to everyone for your submissions! New contest will be up later today.

Hi folks, Long time lurker but first time poster. Have been learning plenty here since I started paying attention!! Don;t have pics of all my tattoos so will obviously need to get that done asap. A quick run down of my tattoo history is as follows (in chronological order): - Pair of wings by Sean (I think) in Zulu, Dublin (a typical first tattoo, I'll leave it at that...) - 3/4 Japanese-style/koi sleeve by Jani in Wildcat, Dublin (again, in hindsight, probably should have been paying more attention/completed more research!) - Sand timer/roses on inside of bicep by Tyler James Densley in Seven Seas, San Diego - Latin Script by Kris Magnotti, Adorned NYC - Half sleeve on outside of arm by Ross Nagle at Allstar, Limerick. An owl on top of a heart with blood and webbing. - Gramophone on outside forearm by Kim Anh Nguyen in Salon Serpant, Amsterdam - Sugar skull/raven/panther head with roses on inside of forearm by Ross Nagle at Allstar, Limerick At the minute, I only have pics of my 2 Ross Nagle pieces. The Tyler James Densley piece is blurred out in the first pic. The top of the sugar skull looks a little distorted in the 2nd pic because of the stretch in my arm. The Kim Anh piece is on her Instagram, is there any way I can get that across to here?

Thanks very much for all the comments and suggestions. I popped in to Paradise Tattoo and chatted briefly with the guy at the front desk and he was very friendly and helpful. I also visited Read St yesterday and they were also great people. Spoke briefly with Alex (I think it was) there.

Thanks for this thread, @Dennis. I had never heard of Mike, and you fixed that problem for me.

All of the shops you mentioned are good solid shops! You/we are in a great area for that..... Welcome to the forum! :)

from the past coupla' finding it hard to go back to using colours

Allright, so I realize that I've upset some people with some of my comments here. I sincerely apologize for being a dick. I hope that you all will accept my apology. And to anyone who has said anything disrespectful or upsetting towards me, whether you feel the need to apologize or not, I forgive you. I now wash my hands of any negativity I may have put out here, caused others to feel, or otherwise brought upon myself. The drama is over.

Just did 19 hours on ribs with Carlos Torres, 1 session:)

Welcome to my world. :D

been a bit since i've posted anything.. i've been working on a few projects lately, one being a new zine. 16 paintings, full color & spiral bound printed on cardstock. only made 10 of them and am expecting them from the printers on wednesday so if anyone wants one shoot me an email, they're $8ppd in the US (will also ship internationally) -- [email protected]

heres one from last night, Ill post another when she's healed.

I don't even care that I just spent the last 30 minutes browsing the Sephora website.

I love the humour in them. There's not enough funny art.

I've gotten four tattoos at Tattoo Paradise and can highly recommend the shop! Scott M (who doesn't work there anymore but is guesting there sometime now or very soon) and Dave Cavalcante have both worked on me. It's a clean shop and the guys and gals are fun.

Welcome Esther. Get over to Stab City and visit Ross Nagle.

So last month was kinda slow on submissions, which I speculate was due to the sheer epicness of the few that got posted early on. Makes me wonder how this months contest is gonna play out... The rules: The tattoo picture that gets posted in this thread for March 2014 with the most 'likes' for the month wins! The contest starts on the first of the month and ends on the last day of the month. Your tattoo picture must be posted in this thread (both tattooers and tattoo customers can win) in order to qualify. Include with your photo/post...tattoo artist name & tattoo shop. You MUST be the one who has the tattoo or did the tattoo. You can 'like' as many tattoos as you want. It can be a finished or in progress tattoo. You cannot enter the same tattoo in more than one contest. Can't wait to see 'em!

Hyottoko from Civ at the West Texas Tattoo Convention...

the longest one shot I have ever done was with Jess Yen for 8 hrs last summer. that first beer after it sure did taste good ! LOL

@peterpoose I'm trying to even visualise how you'd do 19 hours... Incredible. Did you start at 10AM and go right through into the night, or how did it go? Breaks for food? Dd you guys have a few drinks? Enquiring minds want to know...

I'm a big fan of Matt Bauer. Not exactly bluegrass, but he's from Kentucky and plays banjo, so he checks those boxes. His music is beautiful and a little haunting. EDIT: For those that know what I look like, that is not me.

I have the same thing happen to me, still, with a 2+ year old tattoo. Changes in weather (specifically increased humidity), sweating/heat, all that good stuff. Usually goes away. I've asked others about this too - they have similar things happen. If it doesn't bother you (hurt, etc) then I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Don't forget Have Fun Be Lucky in Baltimore.

I personally used to use the term tatt and ink, but never something silly with an added s or z. In general, making words look snazzy by adding an s or z just doesn't look "coolz" to me. That being said, I actually had no idea up until I actually struck up a conversation with an artist that some people might find those words offensive. Most part of my life the only tattooed people I hung around with were my uncles, whom never really spoke about their tattoos, and a person or two on the internet. The one thing I still refer to that some might dislike is calling the tattoo machine a tattoo gun, but this is more a force of habit. I actually spent most of my life thinking that this machine was actually properly dubbed "tattoo gun" by the people using them. That mainly came forth through the magazine that I used to scour for new clothing where they referred to a little pendant for a necklace as "tattoo gun". Also (and this might come from my strong dislike for most (!) tribal tattoos) when people call them "tribalz" with a Z. To me it's just, come on, you're making yourself look like an even bigger idiot.

Welcome @Padji To get the Instagram picture you could always screen cap it and the edit the picture, cropping out whatever you don't want. There may be an easier way but I'm a technological illiterate. Paul Aherne in Spilled Ink would be my pick for Japanese, traditional or most street shop type bits and pieces. Classic Ink in Temple Bar has Tommy (Triple T) who, I'm told, has a lot of history with some tattooing legends like Bob Roberts, Freddy Corbin etc. his traditional style is very very old school. Also does some nice script and fine line black and grey. Interesting shop to look in on, a lot of hand painted flash on the walls. There are a few reputable realistic black and grey / colour realism guys in Dublin but it's not my thing and can't really recommend anyone. Frankly, the best tattoo shop in the country, by a country mile, is Ross Nagle's AllStar in Limerick. The footfall of guest artists through there is unparalelled. It's worth getting the train or driving down to. Chris Crooks is a train ride away in Belfast. Long waiting list but his 'new school' Japanese is very popular here now. His shop White Dragon also has guests like Yang and Ching from East Tattoo come through also, worth a look for oriental style tattooing. Luckily London and other Ryanair destinations are also on out doorstep.

Why don't you email him? He probably has a long waiting list but that gives you time to save your money. Sounds to me like a dream that is perfectly attainable.

I've done it a couple different ways,last summer with Jess Yen,I paid a deposit & made the appt without knowing what or where I was going to get the tattoo,the only thing I told him was that I had a $3000 cap,otherwise I trusted him 100%, and I have paid a dep & got the appt in aug of this year with an amazing artist(Phil Garcia),and I have discussed the "basics" of what I want,but he is free to do what he wants with those "basic" elements and I trust him 100% also,and I know whatever he does will be perfect,or I wouldn't be going to him.this time with Phil,I don't care how much it is.

@Dumpleton the sword/scimitar and roses are awesome! @Graeme keeo doing more of that, it looks great! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Congratulations @Russ!

Absolutely stunning! Thanks for posting. The bird in the Namakubi Hair Completes the Nest painting is so menacing. Also love all the iPhones and modern gadgets.

Just use the first line. The rest of it is something you can know for yourself or tell someone if you feel like it. But that phrase alone can convey the idea of all of the rest of the text without suffering aesthetic design of the tattoo. I'd also suggest not using a silhouette outline. I can't think of anyone with a silhouette for more than a few years I've talked to or worked on that was still happy with it 5+ years down the line. The question always is "what can you do with this?" In my opinion 4 words in a banner or two & an image is a concept to work with. Any more than 4 words is usually pushing it, again in my opinion. As always everything is case by case. Solid advice by Graeme also^

Jinx proof in DC is another good shop.And some more in MD.. Instagram Instagram Instagram

Jason Ochoa - GreenPoint Tattoo, Brooklyn. Straight off the wall, great guy!

Hi i'm Jake, 24, I'm from a small town about an hour outside London. I've been getting tattoos since I was 18 but have only been seriously getting into it in the last 2 or 3 years thanks to this site helping me to understand good tattoos. I have mostly smaller tattoos at the moment, but I'm working up to getting some bigger stuff. I've had the pleasure of being tattooed by Chad Koeplinger, Valerie Vargas, Eli Quinters amongst others. I'm also going to be travelling to New York next week and have appointments with Steve and Dan at Smith Street. Thanks for reading and I look forward to meeting some of you.

Born in 1986. Did you think I was older? Am I too young to hang out with cool older folks like you and @Graeme ???

Um, because you can have the best of both worlds, and all you need is the right shirt. Hiding tattoo's are not the only way people accommodate those around them. We all adjust the way we even speak depending on the situation. Why is this so hard for people to understand when it comes to tattoo's. I know that some of my patients would feel uncomfortable if I had visible tattoos. And yes I care about their comfort level with me. It is part of my job to care. My work is a large part of my life. Will I decide then that, "Oh well, I just won't be able to have tattoos" Why should I have to choose between the two, when I can very easily just cover them?

Wow I'm so glad I've never had to do any of this kind of stuff. I've never emailed an artist, and the only time I've had to set up an appt besides in person or a quick call was with actual real mail, and only because we were not previously friends but still within 1 very close degree of separation. Granted, he doesn't even have an email address, and neither did I at that time. But the point that I'm getting to is that getting a hand written (not a printed one in my opinion) letter gives a more personal touch and adds an air of serious intent. I'd suggest that if there is a shop address it's probably worth doing. Real letters via real mail; It's way cooler than email and prob a good chance it's gonna get you noticed and possibly put you closer to the top of the stack.

Here's a Kore Flatmo tiger and snake back piece picture....

Goddamn, Filip Leu.. those maple leaves! On a similar note to Perez's post, I really love Sid's tattoos. Would really like to get something from him at some point -- bigger the better!