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That's what tattoo artists do. They take your idea and draw it up for you... People on the tattoo forum don't do that. Also, doing great, thanks!

@petiloi and @beez, such great work on both of you! I love Diamond Club. I was lucky enough to see Bill and Junii yesterday at the Japanese National Museum in Los Angeles. I also got this in LA from Horisuzu: Perfect fit. I'm so happy with it.

Started this little guy with Chad today at Lifetime Tattoo in Denver pic stolen from his instagram

I'm still waiting for my paycheck and endorsement deals.

I started volunteering for a wild bird rescue center. It's literally a crappy job, but I love being around and interacting with the birds. Usually they are baby birds that fall out of nests, or birds that were injured by cats/dogs/cars. I get to clean cages, floors, aviaries as well as prepare food and maintain the facilities. Occasionally they'll have me help with the feeding and care of the birds. So far my favorites have been the hummingbirds. They'll buzz around your head because they're just naturally curious and not too fearful of humans. I also get to work with swallows, ducks, sparrows, finches, pigeons, doves, and quail. I do this for 4 hours per week and it's been very rewarding despite having to constantly clean up bird poop.

Soooo, I was trying to take an all-things-tattoo-hiatus until October but the boys were getting tattooed so I thought "Oh, I'll just get a little gap filler from Paul" (like I did the previous day with Bryan Randolph)...and this happened. No really, I can stop whenever I want... Paul Anthony Dobleman - Spider Murphy's Tattoo, San Rafael, CA

Have you considered getting into bodybuilding?

I will say first off that I don't work for Yelp and I don't own a business reviewed by Yelp. (And I read between the lines when I use Yelp.) But I read the FAQ and I design algorithms and some of this makes a lot of sense to me. Ignore all this if you want ::shrugs:: but it at least partially explains your rating and can help you improve your rating going forward if you wanted to. So, I'm repeating my Yelp quote from above for completeness: Sifting through your Yelp reviews, most of your shop's "not recommended" reviews are by people with 0 or 1 friends, and have posted only 1 review - for your shop. Also, there are a large number of reviews for your shop all in a few short periods of time, all made by people doing only 1 review - for your shop. And all of those reviews give your shop 5 stars. Some of the 5 star reviews include one from your owner and from someone simply complaining that there are bad reviews! From the Yelp FAQ, they use a software algorithm to detect trends like these and tag them as not recommended. From an algorithm standpoint, these look like fake reviews designed to inflate your rating. You could easily have gotten those reviews by having all your friends sign on and create "fake" reviews. As you might suspect, this happens all the time on Yelp. Now, you say that the reviews are genuine, but you, the business representative/owner, took an action to influence your reviews. Yelp doesn't like that behavior (lots of 5 star reviews from people only having reviewed 1 business in a short period of time). As a consumer, I would look askance on those reviews as well. Also from the Yelp FAQ: So, now that you understand how Yelp works, you can game Yelp back. If you want a review to be recommended, ask your clients to post the review RIGHT AFTER they get the service, not by making a mass call for reviews all at the same time. The reviews need to be randomly spaced out in time. And tell some of them to give you 4 stars - which is still a great rating. That will still help your current rating and have less of a chance of the review being rejected. Also, ask your owner to respond to negative reviews with a short, professionally-worded reply that shows you are being responsive, not defensive. My $0.02. YMMV

A few days ago the Daily Fail rolled out yet another tired old article on why tattoos are no longer just for bikers and sailors yada yada. The lady whose photo it used (without her permission) with an impressively patronising caption ("Fortunately most women don't go as far as having a tattoo 'sleeve' covering their whole arm.") has blogged about it here: Needles and Sins Tattoo Blog | "World's Worst" ... Tattoo Reporting

Remember I know nothing - I'm trying to go through the whole forum to understand the different types of tattoos, especially the traditional. I just saw the Ed Hardy video on black panthers that someone linked to on this forum somewhere - omg I had no idea of the tradition and wonderful simplicity of these panthers - I have so much more appreciation of them, now. I don't think I want one (yet!), but maybe I would like a traditional white tiger in the style of the panther - just black and greys (except for those blue eyes). I never would have thought I'd go for something that traditional - maybe the panther or tiger coming out of the traditional rose. Perhaps to get an appreciation for any art, it's important to see many good examples of it - the gallery is really helping me, and I'm "making" my way through the "What makes a good tattoo" thread. After all, I was attracted to tattoos from the beginning looking at my Uncles WWII Navy ones. Hope this is not out of line here.

Thought I would throw in this little tatty from Kirk Jones.

Thrown me sides & a leg in, not me back yet I think. Anyway, back tattooed by CP, Brisbane Australia. Cheers.

By Jason McAfee at Temple Tattoo. Oakland, CA. B&G arm is almost done. Got a couple more gaps to fill. So stoked.

Been a while since ive checked back on here but heres a few pics of the panther and the parrot i got from Chad K at the Amsterdam convention back in May, its really hard to get a good picture of a shoulder but Chad drew the parrot to fit the space perfectly. Also a Mum heart i got as a walk in from Jordan Baxter at Black Garden a couple of weeks back, picture pinched from his instagram.

Info is starting to come out about Pagoda City Tattoo Fest, organized by Justin Weatherholtz (Kings Avenue) and Joe Johns (Wizards World of Tattoos). It'll be just outside of Reading, PA in early August. Instagram is @pagodacitytattoofest and it's putting out some names of people who will be there. It's shaping up to be a pretty good one.

Last week, Sarah Hurst of Vivid Tattoo, Knoxville, TN put a nice likeness of my submarine dolphins and SSBN patrol pin on my chest. My first ink at 61. I had seen a sailor getting a tattoo removed the old way - rock salt abrasion - back in the 70's when I was in, and that really scared me off (don't know what he had, but there was an old chief standing over him basically letting him now that if he cried out, he'd give him something to yelp about. Now, my grandfather served in both world wars. Lied about his age to get in WW1, and that I'm sure is when he got his tattoos. I only remember a couple of them - a cupie doll and a faked line. Someday I might get that faked line on my forearm. Maybe. I'm very pleased with my new ink. Not showy or perfect (the patrol pin has some wiggles and a run-away line, and the stars could be sharper). But, at only 4" (~10cm) wide, it has great detail - and the drop shadow was a neat surprise! These represent 10 patrols on USS Von Steuben SSBN632. A total underwater time of 2.5 years. Although my Lord and my family mean more to me, I don't have a design in mind that would represent the marks they have left on me. I guess that remains for me to represent.

Hey there, I'm Ashley! I'm 19, from MI and work with a ton of exotic animals! I May have a slight obsession with tattoos! Ha! I'm new to the tattoo world. Got my first one in the beginning of June. It's a wolf paw with a black/silver wolf with the night sky and a moon inside! I needed another..so I got another! I started a black and grey half sleeve of a snarling wolf stepping over another wolves' skull! My next appointment is in the beginning of August to do the background to finish the half sleeve! Now, I already set up another appointment in the end of August for another! Not sure what to do yet, either something my artist drew up, a snake and dagger, or an undead horse. Well, I don't mean to toot my horn, but I'm suppose to be getting a Raven tattoo by Bob Tyrell in September as well..fantastic, huh?!

What’s In a Name? | TAM Blog Hope you like it

not until he shaves.

Haha, I saw it on instagram and thought "poor fucking bastard". Looks rad, @exume, total tough guy stuff right there!

Jeez. Get a room.

@Graeme, the only advice I'd have to get this in the right direction is re-gesso or use your white paint and relayer. It's been a few years since I did extensive oil painting, and I was one of those *gasp* post-modern assholes. Mistakes made me happier.

First post here, I'm on the other end of the relationship... I don't have any tattoos and when I met my wife, she was already pretty covered up(thumb, wrist, arm, foot, multiple pieces on her back, ribs). I always thought it enhanced her features and was part of her and her personality. I don't know that it necessarily impacted my decision going one way or the other(I think her trunk had a much bigger impact :p) but I definitely always thought tattooed ladies were more intriguing than non-tattooed. My opinion on this has only gotten better the longer I'm with her, we've been together nearly 7 years now and married for 5 years (anniversary in 2 days) and I couldn't imagine being with anyone else, she's my best friend and if for any reason I'd ever end up being single again, I think I'd certainly add a checkbox on my list of criteria to include tattoos moving forward. I was one of those guys who always said I'm never going to get a tattooed unless I go all out and get sleeves done... I've always had designs and thoughts about what to do and what to get, but it was always just a thought. I was that guy you guys meet and can't stand who love to talk about tats but doesn't have any. Sorry! :confused: Well, she's been pushing for it long enough now that I was on a waiting list for nearly a year and am now booked for 2 sessions to get my 1st sleeve done in October. I'm so excited, I can't wait...

I think most of us are just professional tattoo enthusiasts, with a few stellar professional artists kicking around. We show off our latest work and talk about upcoming pieces. So share away!

training for 2 fall marathons - baltimore and philly did an 18 mile run yesterday and 2 hours of standup paddle board bit tired this morning - waiting for the fam to awake so we can hit the beach :)

Started "dating" someone. She was leaving for a month long Bali-trip the following week so we made the most of it, met ever day and shared beds for 4 nights. I'm surprised about how good something this new can feel. I'm a happy guy and I miss her now

Here's a healed picture of my back piece by Valerie Vargas at Frithstreet tattoo :)

So Chad finished my back recently. Here it is.

I would much prefer the occasion of the masseuse saying nothing versus having a conversation about it. It's like the dentist trying to make small talk while their in your mouth.

Started my ribs/the rest of my leg with Dave Cummings. I'll be in Montreal every two months to get this sucker done. Super stoked.

Hola Stephen, good luck

Gaahh, Bruno is so fucking good!! Great descisions my friend. That's a killer tattoo, and I'm a little bit jealous to be honest. I've Been thinking about getting a Nue myself for a while now. Such a cool design.

Finally got around to getting some pictures of my completed Nue half sleeve and chest plate. This was completed back in March by Brian Bruno at Absolute Art Tattoo and I can't recommend him enough. It's a really good shop full of great people.

Last session in last night, minus an upcoming touch up session. Mike

My mom came with in the shop with me for my first (25 odd years ago) - as my Aunt and Uncle got their tattoos as teenagers, on the streets of Mumbai, with a guy holding the batteries together with his feet, in 1969/70 - nothing I could do tattoo-wise would faze anyone in my family.

3 years later all color haha

Did the first session on my back yesterday with Dave Cummings. Really stoked on it.

Traveled from NY to SF this past weekend to skull and sword. Hungout with some of my favorite artists and what happened next is pure magic that only a stellar human by the name of Yutaro can provide. This is my Baku!

Got this from Steve Byrne yesterday, super excited about it: Based on this World War I German propaganda poster about the dangers of Bolshevism that I saw earlier that day in a World War I exhibit in town.

got my second tattoo from claudia de sabe today needless to say i'm extremely happy with it (and sore) on the back of my upper arm

To me its like, I really enjoy many types of photography, and I can get a huge kick out of graffiti if it's done to my liking. I also like reading books and a few pop cultural phenomenas are wonderful to me. But I don't care at all for tattoos that look like photos, graffiti on someones body, text-tattoos or pop culture references in tattoos. And even though I've been skateboarding for close to 12 years I have never seen a skateboard tattoo that I liked. If you ask me, tattooing is a quite specific thing and it should stay that way. Just because you like chocolate cake AND chorizo hot dogs doesn't mean a combination of the too will be better.

Well I live in the UK lol That said, I always apply SPF 50 before going outside :)

I'm a long time gamer. Got sick of my xbox 1 and traded it for a.... Wii u. I actually love it, go figure!

Thanks! A faked line is laid out so that it will pay out without coiling or twisting. The one I'd like is like this:

I won $100 through their IG contest today! Now to decide who to get tattooed by...

Did a quick lil post for swallowsndaggers the other day for PCTF. And, Black Heart along with Scott have joined up. Swallows&Daggers | News | Weatherholtz Announces Pagoda City Tattoo Fest