Leaderboard

Got this dagger from Steve Byrne this past Friday at the Pagoda convention. Super stoked on how it came out and the convention was great! It was very cool to see such great tattoo artists and people all in one place. If I didn't leave when I did I probably would of walked out of the convention broke and with a few more tattoos.

Was told I might fit in over here. Back piece done by Josh Damnit Classic Tattoo Upland CA. Took about a year and a half (slow and steady). Couldn't be happier with it. Tribute to cousin who passed.

Wait, wait, I'VE GOT IT. If you don't know, better go J.D. Crowe!

I'm not sure I see what the problem is. It doesn't look like it came from somebody's kitchen, it looks like somebody did his or her best with a not very tattooable idea, and honestly, your post reads like a bad yelp review.

Here is mine, done by Erick Lynch. About 8 years old at this point. The praying hands/snake were done about two years prior to the rest.

Hi! Michele here, from Fat Kat Tattoo in Keyport, NJ. I haven't belonged to a message board in about 10 years, so I am pretty shaky on the internet socialization thing. Been tattooing since 2003, started my apprenticeship in 2001 under Mike Callahan and Troy Chartier. I have been at Fat Kat for about 8 years. Figured it was time for me to be more active in my profession, instead of being a creepy wallflower who doesn't talk to anyone. So,hello everyone. If you like self deprecation, fart jokes, weird Victorian stuff and cats, we'll get along swimmingly. That's about it. Check out my work, if you feel so inclined. I'm on instagram as michelefromhell or the shop's website is fatkattat.com Thanks for looking.

Looks like clean line work. Was this something the artist drew up or did you bring your own design?

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.

In order to shake things up at home my wife and I have started playing board games. They are providing a nice change from watching tv or playing on the ps4. So far we've been playing Ticket to Ride, Eldritch Horror, Forbidden Desert, and Letters from Whitechapel. I'm always interested in sugesstions... Maybe I'm setting the threshold a little low for "awesome," but whatever - its fun.

having the best summer in a long time traveling around germany with awesome company. Will travel around here till the weekend and then I hitchhike back north to sweden to hang out with @Johannes again. Never would have thought that someone started talking to on this forum will turn out to be one of the best friends i ever had. LST is truly something special

Wait a few months before doing anything.

A TV show does not a legit shop make. It looks about as good as a small not-very-tattooable design can look. Guessing you were happier with the drawing because there were solid black lines.. and the design looks like a mess because there's no black, so you wind up with very little contrast. Did you ask for no black? Should be easy to cover up. Here: Best Tattoo Artists | Top Tattoo Shops and Parlor in Los Angeles | Dark Horse Tattoo Los Angeles

So, this week I turn Social Security eligible, plan to take a nice ride Thursday to celebrate (weather is supposed to be great!), also plan to visit the Knoxville Tattoo Convention Friday (I know it will be small-time compared to many, but it will be my first, and I love to people-watch). Saturday the plans are to ride with my hottie to Nobody's Bar and Grill in Murfreesboro (about 150 miles) for BBQ with a bunch of GoldWingers from all around Tennessee. The first three weekdays we have classes, but it is a fun one to teach. Kind of shaping up to be an awesome week!

I'm seeing Dan Higgs perform in two weeks. So, yeah, that's pretty fucking awesome.

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)

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

So Chad finished my back recently. Here it is.

Hi there, Thought I would introduce myself as well as ask for some advice if that's ok with you guys. I'm attempting to get my first tattoo (I'm 31) and I am looking to get a custom, creepy-cute, haunted house tattoo. Think Disney's haunted mansion in Disneyland Paris and Scooby Doo cartoons. I would be looking to get this done in bright and girly colours (magenta, turquoise, violet, yellow) on the top of my left arm (quarter sleeve). I'm based in the North West (UK) but am willing to travel to the right artist. I have already seen a few artists but I would really appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations of who I could go to. Thanks for your help ;)

Also just talked with @haervaerk and I will meet up with him on my way to sweden when i pass through Denmark. Let's see how many scandinavian LST'ers I can meet the upcomming months!

To go from that IG to another's, like State of Grace's, is mind boggling.

Some of those were just brutal. I can't bring myself to follow the account.

I kind of love the @shitsluts IG. Bad tattoos are so sad.

The lines should have started at or ended at the heart bursts, I think. And, for a real explosion they would all have emanated from a single point at different velocities to form the initial heart. It isn't all that big or bright, and from a distance (unless your legs are regularly up high in the air or people are regularly on the floor looking at your ankles) looks Ok.

Can you post an example of the type of tattoo you expected?

Weird Victorian stuff isn't really my thing, but I am into fart jokes and cats and I checked out your instagram and you do some nice looking tattoos, so welcome!

@bnanners - "might fit in over here". Heh AWESOME!!! This is an incredible piece. Wow.

This tattoo rules it is so smooth and perfect, I would love a tattoo from Paul Dobleman. Really hope you win this month, saying that I have pretty much hit like on every tattoo this month. They are all great! Everyone wins.

who knew the chocolate industry was such a bloodsport :)

Everybody is getting killer work at the moment

That rules. Steve Byrne definitely tattooed his ass off all weekend. Almost everyone else I walked past had downtime at some point, but he was constantly busy.

I can't like stuff on my phone, but this whole post is really rad

OMFG @shitsluts on IG takes badness to a new low. Can't unsee... Feel unclean... My guess is this won't be up for long.

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

Shes getting it on her thigh. Nice, do that - Amazing motif and perfect getting it from SS!

@taaarro, that is looking great so far. The hair is awesome

Thanks Mike and Vanessa! got more work done last night so thought I'd add the pictures here too, since it goes w/the thread.

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.

Got back home yesterday after a week long kid's camp. My oldest son attends and so for the last 5 years I've volunteered so I'm there to support him if he needs it. I am pretty tired and I have very little voice left, but I have no regrets. On a (very slightly) less awesome note, I wore long pants all week in case any of the children were frightened of panthers; and to avoid offending any of my fellow volunteers (it's a christian camp).

Just got tattoo today by Eli. The whole crew is super cool and the atmosphere was great. Here is the panther he did

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

Dean Bloebaum at Infinity here in Portland made this one for me. He has a few cobras in his flash and I've always liked his skulls, so I said "Cobra-dagger-skull" and this is what he came up with. I'm stupid stoked with how this turned out. Edit: Even before the color was added I thought it was pretty cool.

So here's my super awesome lady head by Kim Anh Nguyen, done at the Montreal Convention last year.

I'm gonna submit the smallest tattoo to win the monthly contest (ok, not really, that back, gahhhh)! RAT HEADS GET NOTHIN' BUT CHEESE Y'ALL, done by Cody Miller at Blackheart. Photo pilfered from his Instagram.

First day and the contest is over.

My daughter is five so I have some time before this becomes an issue but considering how much time she has already spent inside our local tattoo shop I will clearly need a strategy when the time comes. I'm thinking that if she wants a tattoo as soon as she turns 18 I will pay her to wait. But I will pay her in money towards whatever tattoo she ultimately decides on. The longer she waits the more money she will have to spend on getting an awesome tattoo. Of course this could backfire and she could end up with a full back piece of an infinity sign exploding into a flock of birds. Life is full of risks I suppose.

My mother thinks my tattoo is great. My father think my tattoo is better than most tattoos, but he dislikes tattoos in general unless they are really simple and have no color, so that's the best I can get from him. He wasn't happy that I spent so much on it, but I used money I earned myself so it doesn't matter.

I never knew scrimshaw was a term for it, that's rad. I've often admired this style of tattooing and not really known what to call it, other than "looks like an etching or lithograph." One of my favorite artists who works in this style (and I feel almost bad because I am constantly telling people about his work, I just really think it's so beautiful) is Max Buchi. He travels a lot, mostly between New York and London these days. some good stuff:

I have recently become obsessed with this sheet of E.C. Kidd flash (from 1912! 100 years old!!!) which I believe is from the Hardy book Flash from the Past, and am very seriously considering getting one of the beautiful dragons off of it. Love love love everything about them.

I called some shops in LA,and the guy at Shamrock Social Club said IMG - Dr. Christopher Ho is the best.I called Brother Greg,and he said he uses a place in Costa Mesa called Laser Tattoo Removal & Tattoo Lightening in Southern California by Tat2BeGone