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Joining the ribcage tiger club with this little guy. Taken from Yoni Zilber's IG, and done yesterday while he's guesting in Asheville. Super nice and humble guy. Couldn't have asked for a better experience. Might be a new B&G enthusiast because of it. He has got some 20+ year old B&G tattoos that look no older than 5 - heavy and fine line stuff. Simply amazing. With that said, I will probably not get any more torso pieces for a long time haha. It was so worth the pain though.

That reminds me of a quote from the late great Rollo Banks: "...the basic premise of tattooing is pretty goofy. It's like, here you have this human body, like a beautiful piece of sculpture...like somebody owns Michelangelo's David and goes 'I just bought this and I want to get some fire and devils and things on it.'"

Grabbing and touching without consent are not cool. I'm an unattractive male and it's happened to me plenty. I've been sitting at dinner with my wife and felt my shirt sleeve being pulled up by a stranger so they could appease their curiosity ...and I don't think we should be telling girls that if a man invades their space and ownership of their own body they should find it charming or flattering. No one else should have control over what they see of you, least of all men over women given the track record and the culture we've created.

This conversation about taste and whether 'traditional' American tattooing really can be described as timeless is so interesting. It also ties in a way to a conversation I was having with my grandfather a couple of weeks ago after I showed him my tattoos for the first time. He's 89 years old in November and got all of his 4 tattoos during the 2nd World War whilst stationed in Germany. He has a crawling panther, an anchor, a swallow and his favorite, an eagle on his bicep. He got all of his tattoos in 1944 and he still loves all of them to this day, he says that getting the eagle was one of the best decisions he ever made 'its given me so much joy over the years'. Interestingly though I asked him if he ever wished that he had got more and he said no, he got just the number he wanted and stopped there. Now this is a guy who has lived with his tattoos for 70 years now, tastes have changed, fashions have come and gone and through it all he's remained stoked with those four tattoos he got in the 1940's! This got me to thinking about my own approach to tattoos and how different it is to his, like most people on this forum I'm always planning who I'd like to get tattooed by and have pretty much mapped out my arms and torso in my mind. But its easy to forget that those images of heavily tattooed sailor from the 1940's actually made up a tiny minority, my grandad was considered pretty heavily tattooed at that time. I wonder with the whole traditional thing whether we are chasing something that didn't really exist in the way we think it did, and whether he might be onto something when he said to me that if you want to continue to love the tattoos you have through your life then sometimes less is more... That being said its not advice I'm going to take, I cannot imagine a time when I won't want to get tattooed. Sorry if that was a bit of a rant and off topic, I just thought it tied in with the flavor of the thread.

Today a little bit of everything has been done (in just 2 hours), red in the arrow, the glove, the shoe, the nails of the fox, even more red in the man's face etc. Next time we have some small things to do (which we couldn't do today because it's in parts that were not fully healed from the previous session, and to tidy everything up. I talked to my artist about the 'blank' part in the fox, and aked if he was planning on keeping it this way (as i think it looks a bit 'unfinished') but he gave me a firm 'yes' so I guess that's how it will stay :)

@bongsau. Excellent post. Sums it up exactly. Took me 20...something years to hit solid neck and hands/ fingers. Even then at first I felt exposed, but they're my favourite additions because as mentioned above, it compliments who I am and the rest of the suit. Even the compliments from work surprised me. As I've mentioned before, I work health care at a majour metro hospital within Corporate Services. Even attending Executive meetings, I lay my cards and hands on the table, and when you can prove your able to talk the talk, people become more interested in what you have to say rather than the way you look. Breaking down prejudice is great.

Cruised out for beers and food last night. Young lady serving from the bar asks, awesome tattoos. She extends her hand, I shake it like I would anyone else. We chat for 5 minutes about tattoos. She pulls up her own sleeve to show me her sleeve work. She thanks me for the time, I say.. No! Thank you as she served me a beer for free. A pleasant, genuine exchange with respect which should be consistent with every engagement...in my book.

Cruised down the road to put fuel & air in the motorcycle this morning. Said to the Misso, be back in 15. Thought I'd extend the ride a little further. Next thing I know I'm banging the motorway north, then hit the Glasshouse Mountains, thought I'd better roll through a couple little country towns...oh, fuel stops needed & rolled a smoke. Not a cloud in the sky with a little nort easterly blowing @ about 17 degress. Rolled down the mountain, back on the motorway banging 6th gear cruising at $1.20 back to home. 4 hours later and 350 K's. Yeah! That was fuckin awesome. Not a care in the world.

It took me 10 years to bite the bullet and breach the collar. I thought neck tattoos would be a big change in the way I am perceived...by my family, friends, clients, strangers...overall it has been very positive and has complimented my personality and confidence. I mean the majority of my body is tattooed and covered. Why? Because I love tattoos, the commitment, the experience getting them, the healing and the aging. So why should I be afraid to let that show and hide who I am - an illustrated person. We use our hands for so much in our daily lives. I think hand tattoos are a very expressive piece of real estate (as is the neck line) - as a lot of these hand tattoos in this thread demonstrate. I am not sure for myself at the moment however, I feel it would be distracting for me to wear...not ready for the big stuff yet haha and I think personally the wait to get hand-blasted will be all the more rewarding. I think the outside-in approach of the younger generation...well...I think it trivializes the overall experience of getting tattooed. But everybody has their own opinions and reasons for getting tattooed. My feelings toward tattooing my own hands will likely change in the years to come as my tattoos age, my coverage increases (real estate decreases!) and my life-situation develops. Patience and waiting is part of the tattoo experience for me, much in the same way that spontaneous tattoos have their place as well. And there will be something satisfying when my skull and hands (in that order lol) are made. I think I will likely drop my sleeve cuffs down onto my wrists first and then maybe consider a smaller standalone pieces on my hands (instead of a full mitt style). I work as an professional engineer. I work for a smaller consulting company and have a flexible job. I am happy I waited, I don't think breaching the shirt line earlier on in my career would have been a wise decision. I didn't have the life experience and leadership qualities to backup my eng work and overshadow a rogue appearance. Now I am older, more experienced and have the respect of my peers in the industry for the good work and professionalism I have demonstrated. It is only recently that my clients and work contacts have started noticing and I have not been shy in asking about my tattoos (but, god, why does everyone have to refer to them as 'taaaaattz'?!?, really dumbs it down yknow) There is a time and place however and that is where you say "yknow I'd love to discuss tattooing with you at a later time, but perhaps right now this project meeting is not the appropriate forum". You'd be surprised how much respect you get as a young tattooed person from normals when you take charge of poorly timed conversation like that. On the flip side, when I am on a construction site for an inspection, the trades people comment on the tattooed engineer and frankly make me feel more welcome than say the engineer dork in pleated dockers who is too proud to get his shirt dirty. Tattoos make you an interesting person "maaan I bet that cat has got some stories mhmmm" but generally that is because you were an interesting person already before the tattoos. /and now...back to the thread...post some more great pics of hand tattoos ! :cool: - - - Updated - - - Awesome! love the space and size around your tattoos. Nice placement, and the tattoos are grrreat

Got the dagger done by Tony Nilsson at Blue Arms Tattoo today! Heart is healed. Stole his instagram picture(The black square is another piece he posted that isn't mine! Blacked it out)

Got a new job. Broke up with shitty bf. Discovered jagerbombs. Looking forward to starting my tattoo fund for whatever my next tattoo may be.

Scott Sylvia, Blackheart Tattoo, finished earlier this year. Sorry about the shat picture quality. Titty Sprinkles.

Finished up session #4 got a solid 2:30 hours in today. I've crossed that line where my goal is to not move, sit still, and take 0 breaks that way he gets to make the most progress possible. I feel like 1 and a half more solid sessions and background is done. We discussed extending the piece officially to thighs and the consensus is finish this first. Honestly my excitement is far outweighing The pain

New signature.

Word. I can relate to this 100%. There's no better feeling in the world than shattering someone's expectations based on how you look with a solid proven track record and a strong work ethic.

Got this from Eddy Deutsche yesterday, gonna add a body and some more to it in another session, which is gonna be awesome. Very happy with it as it is now though. Sort of a bad pic, but you get the idea

Tony Hundahl Rock Of Ages

I hate those things! They remind me that those people were cool because they didn't need tattoos to be cool and that I might be barking up the wrong tree with my obsession. Ha! The thing about ideology/fashion is you can't see it for what it is when you're in it. Look at any photo of yrself from more than a decade ago. You look silly but at the time you thought you looked great. At the same time that's what's great about tattoos--you're committing yourself to something for life when it's obvious that nothing is "timeless"--it's inherently stupid and in bad taste.

I don't think she's saying to apologize for it in anyway. But styles change, and even though traditional tattoos do have a staying power, certain elements won't be as accepted. I think it was Catcher in the Rye that said something along the lines of "no matter how cool it looks now, years down the line we'll all just look like those old people doing the Charleston." Should we apologize for that or let it sway what we get? Fuck no. But I'd be curious to see what collectors/tattooers/whoever think of my tattoos in ten-twenty-fifty years.

Thanks! Yea, I had a hard time deciding between color or b&g because his color stuff is equally as good. edit: Also @hogg, forgot to mention that your sweet ass rib tigers were a big inspiration for me getting mine.

That's beautiful, @sighthound! I was admiring it on IG yesterday. Yoni did a really nice full color tiger sleeve on my friend a few years ago.

I like knowing that my flight attendant on my next flight might be covered with tattoos under that cute uniform! :)

Seventeen bottles of black later, the world has a new definition for the phrase "fuckin rad"

I haven't posted in a while but here's one I did a few months ago.

My second tattoo. I love how the wings turned out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I also especially love smiling and being really friendly to those who have obviously made a snap judgement on my appearance! My boyfriend is a muscly, skin head with very vibrant traditional tattoos of a reaper, a devil and all sorts of dark things. But he is the biggest, kindest and cuddliest bear ever when you speak to him! So polite and thoughtful, a real gentleman. It still cracks me up when he holds the door for a little old lady and they look terrified of his kindness!! haha EDIT: I am not so sure my BF would be so pleased that is how I described him come to think of it! Ruin his manly image ;)

That's the thongs I wear on my feet too BTW, not the ones I adorn during drunky blunders. :p I used to get real angry with that shit, but ya know, if I kept getting angry with how people are in general, I'd be angry all the time. It's like, today I found out a dude I've known for some time, a dude I considered a friend, mentioned my name in front of a group of people & let the cat out of the bag regarding a something I have been doing at work that may not be entirely in accordance with local policy, but it's a something where no one suffers and it's for the better for all concerned...a little of the cutting of corners for everyones benefit. All know what I'm doing, but it's one of them things we don't mention. You's all get the drift I'm sure. For me, that's a matter of integrity. Loose lips sink ships. I didn't get angry, don't get upset...I now just wipe him from my circle of trust. That mole at my kids school, I make sure I go out of my way now to sit next to her, say hello & smile.

I have all different styles all mixed together on all different body parts! Where ever something fit from a specific artist or where ever they wanted to place it is where it got tattooed on me! there are plenty of things you can do to fill in and tie it all together! I personally like how my coverage has evolved over the years and with so many tattoos on me I have people crawling around on the floor half of the time trying to see all of them! It's not like you look at it and see one big scene or piece......it's like people look at it and see something new they didn't notice the last time they saw me! People who look at me all the time are always pointing to a tattoo I have had 10 years and asking if it is a new tattoo even though they had to have seen it before! That's my take on this....

And this right here indicates the bad influence she will have on her children who were born with the capacity to become open minded individuals. Maybe they still will. Some kids can overcome the harshness of their parents.

Couple more quick ones from Fergus Simms

Yeah, that thing is nuts! Nice work.

Finishing mah buttcheeks with Scott Sylvia next weekend, its like an Ukiyo-e Geisha and some swans. Worth mentioning that IMHO Scott Sylvia's Japanese tattooing has got to be some of the most underrated and unassuming out there...not sure if we'll finish but I can't think of anyone who tattoos faster, guy is blazingly quick. Looking forward to posting the finished product.

It doesn't only happen to women. My tattoos are not fully covered by some t-shirts and I've had people who were basically strangers lift my shirt sleeve to get a look at them. And I - and probably most women - would consider a stranger grabbing your arm without permission to fall pretty squarely under the category of "extremely inappropriate".

I'm going to Ikebukuro tomorrow for a consultation with Horitoshi 1. Excited and a bit nervous. I keep on imagining (hopefully) paranoid scenarios where he explodes saying something like, "You want me to tattoo what!? How dare you!"

"...6 hour session...i was a bit sad that it was over" wat - - - Updated - - - Went to NYC for the first time and got this from Eli Quinters. I also got a lady head from Steve Boltz, which I am in love with, but all the pictures I tried to take were shit. Maybe I'll try again when it's healed...or maybe I'll just keep it to myself.

@rozone I know I've commented many times before on your hands, but they are so unbelievably good. The way that the hands are two separate designs that carry over into a single coherent piece is kind of blowing my mind right now. I'm so glad it worked out for you, Thomas is a really special tattooer.

We're all a little neurotic, welcome to the club...& LST. Rocked in this morning to have a look at this heavy, slam back of the neck panthers head tattoo, but gonna wait a couple of weeks until on leave as it's gonna be faaarkin brutal! After a bit of a chat, a couple of cold ones, we had one of them spontaneous moments and slammed an old time bird behind the ear & threw my kids names in. Nice & simple :) The only words I have tattooed on my skin. Good time tattoo Sunday.

I think there are tattoo styles that stand the test of time. So many of us on here get traditional flash that someone also got decades ago. I think in the future traditional tattoos will still be around, just better executed. Nowadays traditional still exists, but as an enhanced version of the old stuff. I only see tattooing getting better... Fads, like chrome tattoos, come and go. I think watercolor tattoos are today's fad, but traditional will always hold true.

I'm just saying that we should beware the hubris of mocking how ugly a former tattoo trend while thinking that our current tastes are timeless and will never seem outdated to anybody. I love my traditional tattoos, but I also know that they will look very much of their time and uncool to people somewhere down the road. Tastes change. No one and no style is immune.

Chromed out panther.

We're all a bunch of unoriginal bastards anyway. Waiting for chromed out shit to come back.

Ladies with animal headdresses and hirsute gents with bushy beards and/or curly mustaches may have reached the oversaturation point but I will never tire of tattoos with tattoos be they monmon cats or peoples.

A full back tattoo to kick off the month! Nice one. Better follow suit then. Tattooer CP, Australia. About 6 years old. Cheers.

Back-piece finished a few weeks ago. Valerie Vargas, Frith Street Tattoo, London

I'm so tempted to get a Tardis! In the meantime while I ponder what style and where, I might just get a small 11 tattooed for Matt Smith on my wrist or ankle.

Most of the time I don't take anything, but when Chad K tattooed my ribs I changed my stance on it.

Olde City at the time was very testosterone-y. If it was just Josh and I it tended to be Smiths, Van Halen, whatever. If the rest of the guys were in; god forbid on a weekend.... it became a "no, check THIS shit out!" You're competing with Dave Fox and J Goldberg for music rotation. It's going to end up metal or gangsta rap.

I really, really hope they play VH at my funeral!

We are a Queer positive shop so we have no - NO - shortage of every kind of person from every fringe queer community and it's AMAZING. The other day, a guy said to me "This new album is SO gay." and I replied "YES THAT IS AWESOME!" It felt mututally nice that when someone called something gay the first reaction we all had wasn't like "Oh, really? It's stupid?" LOL Anyway, as for the massage tables -- STAY AWAY from the ones that have the beams that pull out and you click them into the four corner legs. They're cheap cuz they're week. Try to find one that fold out as simply as possible with as little assembly as those are the ones that I've used for years and had no problem getting REAAAAL big boys and girls on top. It's a nice thing, too, to be able to tell a client who is scared that they m ight d amage your table by virtue of their weight to, "do their worst." Or similar jokey-type-thing. Really breaks the ice and let's 'em feel like no one gives a shit if they've got a few extra pounds. We just wanna tatttoo em and not judge.

Yes. I forget none of you are from Wisconsin. People don't know about other people here