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I´m going to finish my backpiece by Marius Meyer in two big sessions, the 25th of April and May 10th. Looking forward to it! Also have appointments with Chris O´Donnell October 14th, Timothy Hoyer Oct. (the date is not set yet) and Tim Lehi October 18th. Will try to get a banger from Freddy Corbin at the same trip.

too close! to me :)

I had a not the same, but similar type of experience with a tattoo I was kind of embarrassed of after joining LST--because it was a stereotypical printed-out-from-google-images solid black stock image of a lotus...certainly nothing that would get anyone excited here... But when I went to Spider Murphy's last summer, 3 of the tattooers were looking at my tattoos and I had to show them that one because it was directly under what I was going to get from Paul. Paul --and the other guys specifically said they liked that one. I was like, "really??" They liked that it was solid black and the simplicity of it and thought the placement was good. They liked my arms, too, with my more recent work from Memoir, but it just surprised me that they said such nice things about that one. That's one of the things that makes the shop experiences so good. If you are only on this forum, you might think all your work has to be this or that...but the more time spent in different shops you realize, it's all good. My black lotus was done at an L.A. street shop and the guy did a solid job.

Come on man, leave some tattoos for the rest of us!

hahaha I am on spring break now so I can't say I'm doing anything shitty...but the thread title cracked me up. :D

My signed Horitomo cat prints just came in the mail ::happy dance:: Have to get to Michaels for some frames tomorrow. :D

Happy to oblige! My first tattoo was a long time coming. I'd been watching my friends get tattooed in the 1980s and was fascinated by them. Unfortunately, this was an era when everything (around my crowd, anyway) was wizards and vikings. Black and gray. Never really appealed to me, though the artistry and talent was clear. I kept thinking about getting one, but kept failing to find a design that really appealed to me. I kept visiting shops (there were not nearly so many back then) and I finally just said "fuck it" I'm getting one. I walked into a shop that recently opened near my home and pointed at a tribal armband and said "I'll have that one." I didn't look at his portfolio, I didn't know what questions to ask either. I knew even then I wasn't getting exactly what I wanted in terms of design, but more important to me was the act of getting tattooed. I never covered the tribal up. I simply got lots of tattoos surrounding it. Its dated, but the artist did a good job and its held up very nicely.

Listened to the first episode,and the Garver interview was the best part.Yesterday I listened to episode 4 bad women tough tattoos.My only gripe is that Troy will ask the person a question,they will start to answer,and he will interject,and answer the question himself.Its like dude,just let the people answer the question themselves.The part where he's interviewing Tamez,& Elwood,there was a lot of that.and then the interview was over,and it was like I wanted to learn more from them.The interview with Mina was better because he didn't interject as much.

He has a "name" but one of the things that convinced me to go to Ron Wells was seeing a picture he did of a bunch of walk-ins last summer. They weren't in his "style" but he did a beautiful job with them and put evident care into them. I certainly appreciate that. Another reason why people might choose to go to folks who get mentioned a lot here is just being too new to getting tattooed to fully trust their own judgment. I don't think this is an *entirely* bad thing. It can be following the crowd, of course, but it can also happen because you respect the opinion of the person who recommended that tattooer to you. - - - Updated - - - @SeeSea, in my nonexpert opinion your back looks great. There used to be a lot of drunken bullshit here but I edited it out.

Lots of big names out there but the future superstars have to come from somewhere right?

******** IREZUMI MADE AN IMPORTANT POST EVERYONE!!! ********* There is ALWAYS someone better you have never heard of........You DON"t have to go to people who have a "name" just because they have a name! I think most people here don't do anything like that because everyone here usually posts about liking the style of the tattoo artists they seem to be choosing! It's like in music when you see an incredible musician BUT you know there is some kids sitting in his/her basement jamming away who could probably already blow that other guy off the stage! It's like that with anything....including tattooing! My heroes.....especially now that i am tattooing....are those people who just go to their shop everyday and tattoo for the love of tattooing! They put in their time....make beautiful tattoos that last.....if someone walks in and wants a name they do it....if some one wants kanji they do it....and if someone what's a full on dragon back piece then they do it! Usually no egos.....just a humble person who loves what he does and has been blessed with the talent and skill to pull it off! ;)

The thing about this is.......the people I have mostly chosen have put their time in, in the craft/business of tattooing! It would be very hard to get a bad tattoo from some of them honestly......but then some of these guys are getting up in their years and the tattoo i get now may not be the one I would have gotten 10-15 years ago! Some never were the most technically great tattooers maybe BUT like I said....I am honored to have their work on me because they tattooed in a time when it wasn't mainstream and they made a good honorable living from it....it was their profession and they did it not only for the money but because they truly loved what they did! And on the flip side of this....the tattoo I got from them now will never be replicated again because if these guys didn;t share some of their "tricks"....it dies with them! ;)

I was once told, by one of my favorite people in tattooing and a gentleman and scholar, that you are paying for the experience just as much as the tattoo with the top notch tattooers today. I think collectors respect that. I think most people who are dedicating themselves to getting tattooed to full coverage are bringing something that we saw with Bert and Amund and George in the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. You see so many photos of people tattooed solely by those people, where today people would say, oh this is my tattooer, or I only trust this guy. I like that sentiment, unless of course you are the classic tattooee who only trusts some scratcher because he or she gives you a shit tattoo for less money than it would be to go to a professional. Collectors are all okay in my book, although I am not a tattooer.

2nd sesh with Seth Wood on my dragon 3/4 sleeve. Knocked out about half the background today, which he first drew on by hand with a Sharpie. Prob won't post any pics until there's a little more progress tho.

Fun little Impala on my forearm from yesterday. Artist is Clare Hampshire at Korpus in Brunswick, Melbourne AUS. Photo from her Instagram.

Here's my buddy Stanley...a 12-year old Sun Conure. And, of course, the matching tattoo...

only good tattoos* ;) a point of view that I fully agree with, sidenote

I never get too concerned about other people's tattoos. I don't know their story or how they came to have their tattoos. I also never crap on anyone about their tattoos (or clothes, or taste in music, etc). Life is too short to waste time and energy harshing on other people. Historically, I look at older tattoos and appreciate the tattooer and the client for paving the way for the things that came next. I have enormous respect for people who blazed the trail and made things easier for me. (Full disclosure - I got my first tattoo in '91 or '92. And yes, there are times that I shake my head and wonder what people were thinking - I just keep it to myself) Interesting question - thanks for posting it.

Papa. I am not stupid. 2 small boxes placed next to each other is not the same thing as 1 bigger box. DUH !

You know, he's doing much better now. He was just hungry all the time and they could not figure it out. Here's a pic.

Jesus @Wilhell. What a calendar. I'm heading into my local shop to get a nice little "Mom" flower as a gap filler next weekend from my regular artist (Keith Reed in West Chester, PA). It's been too long since I've gotten something from him. Then I realized my July appt with Grez is approaching pretty quickly.

Taxes. Outside of that everything is great.

Because of LST, I find myself looking at tattoos and thinking, "Needs MORE BLACK!"

THIS

Yea I love when I run across one of those. My friend got a really cool dragon by some guy that hell I couldn't even google a name for. Sometimes that feels a bit more awesome to me for whatever reason.

First - I love this thread - thank you for starting it! When I read this, I felt exactly the same way! I have 1 little tattoo (my first and only other one) that has *lots* of personal meaning, but at LST there have been many comments about hipsters, etc., needing to explain all the personal meaning behind the tattoo and that tattooers just don't want to hear out it, blah blah blah. So I never posted that tattoo, even though it means more to me than the full back I am doing. And seeing the work here, I've found myself not saying who my artist is, in case he's not considered up-to-par around here. So, I certainly understand the shame part - but a lot of that is on ME, who is sensitive to being judged as lacking in any way. Thank you for voicing that, @Zillah But ... then @Bunny Switchblade comes along and says this ... Thank you for saying that. I get nervous about being judged by my tattoos because no one in my family has any and I don't share at work or with many friends (yet). I don't want to be the person anyone is standing behind in the grocery line thinking my work is unfortunate. Thank you for saying this as well. Is this why I feel like I need to get a tattoo from one of these "names" in order to feel fully accepted here? My guy has some great stuff out there (in my inexperienced opinion) but jeez I find myself worried that my work wouldn't be considered a quality tattoo. So, I just have to buck up and say fuck it, even if people here don't think I'm getting something "good". Eh, I'm rambling, but like @Zillah, I'm kinda going through the little wondering-if-I-should-be-ashamed thing. But everyone here has been really nice and helpful, and for that I appreciate LST very much. And my post is not directed at anyone. Thank you for listening. It's actually pretty cathartic for me to share this.

This year I seem to have more students who constantly have their nose in a book than ever before. And ironically enough, for an English teacher, I'm not at all well read when it comes to YA literature. So, on the recommendations of my seventh grade students, I read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. It was definitely kinda sappy and young adult-y, but all in all it was ok. Next I read Divergent, which I pretty much hated. Haha. Maybe the movie that just came out is good, but the book is not. I think next I'm going to check out The Maze Runner. Kids are really into that right now, too.

I'm going to say that piercing is totally not my thing, but I went with @Pugilist when she got her second set of lobes pierced and I was really impressed with the piercer and the level of professionalism, seriousness, and dedication he has towards his craft. It reminded me of tattooing in that way. I've been dismissive of piercing, and I'll admit that I don't really "get it", but you're right...live and let live. And don't go to the piercing equivalent of a scratcher.

12 days and counting until my life gets ruined by some hand tattoos courtesy of Thomas Hooper...

Reading Gaiman's 'The ocean at the end of the lane'. So far I'm not liking it as much as other Gaiman novels I've read ('American Gods', 'Anansi Boys', 'Stardust') or the short story collections if I'm honest. That disturbs me somewhat, because I want to like it. The narrator is a 7 year old boy, but even taking into account his age he's so annoying that I'd like to see him drowned in a sack, frankly speaking. Got some interesting stuff queued up next. I bought good condition second hand copies of Dan Simmons' Hyperion and Endymion series to re-read. Curious if they are as awesome as I remember them being.

I entered this into the contest a few months back, but that was when it was a half sleeve. The top half is done by Lillian Chen in Yorktown VA at Ancient Art and the bottom part is done by Stacy Mcleaf of Chrome Gardens in Gettysburg PA.

visited belgium on friday and got this little birdy from guy rubicon

That panther rose hybrid. So killer!

9 tailed fox by Horimitsu at NYC tattoo convention.

This thread always has the sickest work! Here's mine, just finished a few weeks ago:

I think i am on instagram now @panthersandeagles

Battered and bruised! Had my first session on my back with Chris over at Kings Ave this past Thursday. I managed to get through 4 hours to complete the basic outline with the exception of the hair on the severed heads. Saving that for the next session along with the remaining background. I'm super excited to continue to work on this and see it progress over time as this is what I've been busting my hump at work for the past year now and it's absolutely completely worth it.

Proud to be beaten by that tattoo. Haha.

Here's my satyr lady head from Marie Sena all healed up

Damn that tattoo is just so good! Congrats @Eilin

@Reyeslv has himself a full page spread so we can see every detail of that piece. And who can forget @cvportagee's kumonryu flanked by sparrows, on the opposite page before me. anyone else in the catalogue? I feel there's someone missing.

I want a bodysuit from Roland.

I think you and me understand entertainment differently, son.

I love your cat!!! Odd to say but...uh, your butt is pretty cool, too.

its an app for your smart phone. Do they have those in Iowa? :)

That's a pure hipster thing to say :p:p

only started using instagram so i can follow tattooers. realy couldn't give a shit what my friends are doing.

You rhymed so I now follow you

I do have to say horiyoshi3's instagram is one of my favorites right now

I got a tattoo from this kid named Bahn (sp?) at St. Martin's Tattoo on Khao Sahn Road in BKK. Magical, magical place.. It's a skeleton key and the perfect souvenir to remember the trip by.