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tony hundahl drew this reaper on my thigh tonight @ pagoda. he asked what i wanted to do so i just showed him a spot and let him do whatever he wanted.

Horitoshi 1 (foto from his instagram accnt) lines and shading done now. Color next week! (Please delete if it's weird to post in progress work here)

3.5 hours last night. One more short session to finish, but I plan on expanding it so who knows how long it will take to be completely done. My mom took me last night b/c my husband was on duty for a summer "fest" our little town started putting on...this year Florida Georgia Line is here so last night there were over 16,000 people out at the fields...our town is maybe 5,000 population. Mom seemed pretty fascinated by the whole process, and really enjoyed visiting w/the artist. I'm quite certain she didn't expect the shop to be as nice as it is, and didn't expect the artist to be as friendly and talkative as he is. Not sure I can ever get it into her head to get a tattoo but it would be cool...maybe when I get my tree frog reworked she'll be more on board w/it.

Soon!! Shit, looking forward September 19th - Marius Meyer October: 12th - Timothy Hoyer, priv.studio NY 14th - Chris O'Donnell, KingsA NY 16th - Jeff Rassier, Blackheart SF 18th - Tim Lehi, Blackheart SF

I got in! Getting a wolf crawling down my leg in a few hours.

Here it is. Franz is an awesome dude and he doesn't mess around! Done in an hour! Super happy another gap is filled.

Terrible ipad photo I just took of mine. Done last year by Curly - Lionel's Tattoo Studio (TCGB) - Oxford, England.

Cash was definitely king since the ATM in the hotel lobby ran out of money on Saturday afternoon. I went up yesterday with @huggernaut. Neither of us were getting tattooed, but a few friends were. It was a great time. It was reallllly small, especially compared to the conventions I'd been to in the past, but that worked to its advantage. So many heavy hitters all in one room putting down serious work. The Kings Avenue booth was packed to the gills in the middle row and everything I saw them put out was dope. A back wall was lined by Ron Wells, Chad Koeplinger, Steve Byrne, Tony Hundahl, Marina Inoue, and a few from Inksmith and Rodgers (among others). I had friends get tattooed by Ron, Grez, Chris Stuart, and others. I had won $100 from their IG contest, so Justin was nice enough to know who I was coming in, catch me, and get that all situated. Since my appt with Scott fell through, I spent it on the With The Light of Truth book and a shirt at King's Ave. And some cookies at Vegan Treats! All in all, the convention was great, and I hope it becomes a regular thing! I saw @chrisnoluck's tattoo in the other thread. Did anyone else go? Thoughts?

i agree with everyone recommending you to wait & get some smaller tattoos first. i just finished my back up a few weeks ago, i know damn well if i would have jumped in the deep end and got my back tattooed first, i probably never would have finished it or even finished the lines. back tattoos are no joke; they're a very big commitment between you and the tattooer, your pain tolerance, and of course your wallet. nothing ever works out well when it's rushed!

I'll be around checking things out. No tattoo plans, but who knows... I'm into both poutine and brunch. Anything food related I should say.

Yup. Recommendations, bragging and info always welcome.

I had one of my favorite feisty retirees yell at me about my lower leg tattoo today. "WHAT is THAT on your leg?! Why would you do that?! Your leg looked perfectly beautiful before! THAT LOOKS TERRIBLE!!" I just thanked her for her input and we got back to discussing books. I think we're still friends. This same person once body-checked a customer in line ahead of her. She's a bit of a firecracker.

Welcome to LST. And you're not alone; @Reyeslv is also vegan. ;)

Added my little clownfish to the mix last night.

I feel tattoo schools belong in the same category as fortune tellers, ghost hunters and colon cleansers. It's all a big hustle, and it's literally better to just throw your money out the window.

Okay....you seem to be getting good tattoos by solid artists........ BUT.......slow down!!! I know.... "You won't give a shit what they look like when you are 50".....at least that's what I hear all the time.......but I promise you when you are 40 you will care! ;) I just am trying to pass some important advice on to you and like a lot you probably aren't going to listen BUT tattoos do age and if you take care of them and yourself then they age well! Just be smart please??? You are lucky.....most young ladies your age don't start off getting quality work! You're heading in the right direction......just slow down.....and be smart babe! Welcome to the forum!

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

http://imgur.com/93pGHLl My new tattoo by Toni Donaire at Blue cat tattoo (barcelona) We did the whole shin in about 7 hours. The pain was completely bearable but man was i tired by the end of the session! We finished at 00:30. The guy is a young promise who has only been tattoing for 5 years. Really nice guy

I've been lurking for a while, just soaking in the atmosphere, but I suppose the time has come to formally say hello. So, hello! I'm tattooed (a little), but I have bigger plans (don't we all?). A little background - when I was in my mid-teens I decided I wanted a tattoo. I was underage, but I approached my mother and told her. I'd grown up around tattooed men (think old Navy type) so to me marked up skin was the norm. My mother said she would consider taking me to get a tattoo. The following day she and my grandmother came home, both sporting tattoos of their own. Apparently they wanted to beat me to it! I was so shocked and actually thought they were transfers to prove a point. No. My grandmother had got a tattoo. Needless to say they couldn't stop me after that. I was taken to the same shop five days later and got my first one. It was flash, not what I would pick now if I could go back, but hey, we live and learn. Anyway, great forum and community! I love the banter and knowledge you guys seem to have. Hopefully (when the time comes) I'll be showcasing my own new ink. :)

i love jersey but seriously people dont walk around busting someone's balls that they dont know - those encounters dont end well - and yes - people get shot - especially in certain areas - just because theyre...there

in jersey that could get you a bullet in the head

Yeah, seriously! He wasn't hostile, was more like pleading with me, but I snapped at him "because I like it!" I was hot and on a mission to find water. I'm about 2 mins away from getting tattooed by him. Excited!

Works for us. We are staying on the Plateau again. Pretty easy to walk almost anywhere from there.

I'd maybe suggest Saturday pre-convention brunch because if everybody is getting tattooed Friday, and I believe @BrianH said that his appointment is then as well, it might be hard to coordinate in terms of time because I'm assuming that at least Brian's tattoo is going to go late, plus it's a convention and everything tends to run a bit behind anyway, etc. However, I'm sure we'll all see each other on Friday and I'm totally into exchanging phone numbers, etc., and meeting for food/drink after. There's a Biermarkt near the convention, I haven't personally been to it, but I assume it's pretty much the same as the one in Toronto which I haven't been to in probably over a decade, but they have food (including poutine!) and a good selection of beer so maybe that would work? For brunch, what neighborhoods are people staying in?

Some rando on Bathurst St just said to me in passing, "why? Why did you do that to yourself?."

Standing outside The Okey Doke right now. 4 people ahead of me and only Franz is working soooo... I dunno if I'll get in :(.

Erin and me will both be coming for the weekend. I'm getting tattooed on Friday evening, but who knows - maybe I can find a way to get something on Saturday as well. We are down for anything. Brunch could be fun too - then off to the con! Perhaps an evening meet as well for some drinks?

And it's coming up soon! So for an LST meetup, who is planning on coming? If you're coming from out of town, what days will you be in town and what day(s) will you be getting tattooed? We could do poutine and drinks again like we did last year, we could do a pre-convention brunch, but let's figure this out!

I can't believe its almost been a year.

Hehe, Power line-up! Nina have an appointment with Sylvia. She is getting the same motiv Hardy did on Higgs back. I'm jealous!

Looks nice! It's been neat to read this thread from the beginning, and see how all of this has progressed and your thinking along with it. Thank you for sharing that - very insightful.

Some of my best pieces were just an idea and my tattoo artist took it from there!! Rather than use someone else's pictures you get your "own" one of a kind piece! Or use someone else's picture and they make it your own by tweaking the original design!

Thanks for all the nice words. I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do next and I may have a plan. It changes on a monthly basis, because so many tattoo styles and designs appeal to me. But, I think I'm actually decided now. The first plan is to design a shoulder cap tattoo incorporating moths. I'm thinking full colour. I don't want to come too far onto the arm, but will touch onto the collarbone and spread out further at the back onto the shoulder blade. This led me to plan two - I already have swallows on my other shoulder blade (15 yrs old and in need of touching up--I think one is missing its beak), so I'm hoping to do a similar shoulder cap tattoo on that side, but with birds. I have an artist in mind (found via The Brag Art List), so I'm currently collecting pictures to begin the big design. It's not going to be a quick thing, and I doubt I'll be getting new ink soon, but it's exciting thinking I'm starting down that path again. It's two years since my last tattoos!

Thread closed, user banned.

Now you can't use commas??? LMAO I doubt you have talked to any real tattooers because all of them would have told you to go fucking die! ;) Do you also tell your students that no one will hire them? And that you are preparing them for a field that is already over saturated with good solid tattooers......not to mention the crappy ones like you have instructing them? LOL......this is a joke! - - - Updated - - - Best post of the year!!!

Really excited with this fresh one on my knee, Tattooed by Norbert at Hunter and Fox in Sydney.

Good times :)

Wow @beez! You are a trooper! Can't say I've ever tried or wanted to try 3 days of consecutive tattooing. I bow to your stamina. It's all looking fantastic. I like how your tattoo has organically turned into a quasi-3-way collaboration piece. I knew you were going to get Shad to work on a snake but not Dr. Claw too (Or perhaps I forgot?). Was this part of your plan? Or did it just pop into your head one day? I dig his work. Really nice guy too from what I could tell, chatting briefly with him, when I picked up the Horitoshi book from there last year. Drew's work is crazy good! Lucky you, getting to see him work on a Suikoden piece. He and Chris Brand are blowing my mind with their interpretations. That skull is awesome too! Some good stuff there @cltattooing. Really good. Stabby indeed.

@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.

Sometimes I think it's the opposite - that they frown on people with tattoos, but YOUR tattoo is okay in their book so you are somehow the exception to their negative opinion.

Especially!! full back tattoos. A lot of people just do not appreciate what is required to sit through a full back tattoo. Time is not the only factor in the equation. Haha, I had a mate who already had quite a few tattoos. Then he decided to smash full back rolling on to arse cheeks. He got through outline and a quarter shading and that's where it stopped. Then made some bullshit excuse that he was hitting a needle shy stage. That was 3 years ago. What a waste of such an awesome tattoo.

my $0.02 don't rush. just bankroll your funds until you have the amount you need to commit to the piece. then pull the trigger, get outlined and get regular appointments to keep progress going. it was 3 years ago i decided what i wanted for my back. and then 2 years ago when i reconnected with the tattooer of choice to make the tattoo. life got in the way and couldn't start it last season (winter). looks like I will be getting my measurements next month to start soon. then 1-3 seshes a month. i would rather heal it up quickly and regularly like that and I'm sure from an artistic output point of view buddy tattooer may prefer to not drag it out. who knows where your life will be in a couple years or if your tattooer will even be in the same spot/city/country. at least that's the way i've always been tattooed. save your cash up in your underwear drawer and then commit and bang it out when the time is right. there are more than enough half-finished tattoos walking around, especially now in the summer time. don't be another statistic!

You're going to have that back piece you're whole life. You don't want to be looking at it wishing you had waited.

I was 18, it was three days after my birthday and i was finally at the legal age, my artist is an old family friend who works at tattoo paradise. I'm part Irish so i wanted something uniquely Celtic that few people would get and found an old drawing of a Celtic warrior with a la tene tattoo sleeve and thought it was perfect so he designed a variant for the first piece to go on my shoulder. I wasn't scared, mostly excited, but i didn't know what to expect. The guy is great with first timers, he explained everything he was doing and when he started he told me he was going to do a quick line so i knew how it felt and then when i was ready he'd really start. It was very painful, naturally, but he helped me get through it and we had some great conversations so all in all i had a great time. i have to say the worst part was the healing afterwards being sore and having to be careful when i slept, and i survived the dreaded itching and was able to carefully scratch the untouched skin in and around the tat. To me it's very special because it was my right of passage to become a man.

My back is going to be one huge Tibetan skull. Start with Mr. Flatmo in January.

@SStu Not me buddy but I know who you are thinking of, big Chad K tibetan skull on ribs!! When I think tibetan skull this always pops into my thoughts, I think this could be the holy grail of all tibetan skulls. Shiges' bodysuit by Filip Leu,legends!!