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I finally get to give this a shot! Dana Helmuth, 95% completed at Read Street Tattoo in Baltimore, the rest done in his private studio.

Throwing the hat in. Newbie getting his second tattoo, 4 months after his first. I got this skull and dagger from Luke Wessman in NYC @ Wooster Street Social.

3rd session done, 3-4 more to go to finish the top half and start/finish the bottom half:

The winner of Tattoo of the month "November" is my Norwegian homeboy @Wilhell with this crazy face ripping Oni, by none other than the great Tim Lehi at Blackheart Tattoo, San Francisco. Congrats dude! Please PM @steve1461686340 with your shirt info (size and male or female) along with your address. New contest will be up shortly!

3rd session over, that one felt even more brutal than the last. Completely finished the top of the shoulder and under part of the arm all the way to the armpit of doom(fuck my life that shit hurts). Top half of the sleeve nearly finished, this is the only pic I have for now, will have to post more once it's healed.

...a TED speaker asks: Juan Enriquez: Your online life, permanent as a tattoo | Talk Video | TED.com I thought it was an intriguing talk only because often, the negative reactions to tattoos have to do with them being "forever," and "what if you change your mind?", etc. It made me think about the young people I've known who've passed away -- their Twitter feeds, their Facebook profiles -- their online selves are frozen in time. The girl who passed away 12 years ago, would she still like those same TV shows she talks about on Twitter, or be comfortable showing those Facebook profile pictures? In the grand scheme, it doesn't f^cking matter -- those things show who she was at that time, and I don't think there's anything shameful or regrettable or embarrassing about that. We're all humans, and we all grow and change our minds and adopt new attitudes. Everything we leave behind -- tattoos, Facebook pages, message board posts, blogs, pictures -- is just a big, fat smearing of evidence of how we've personally tripped through life. Like the slime trail a slug leaves behind. Yes, you can quote me on that last one. I know it's elegant as f^ck. ::sips tea, pinky out::

Fuck! That is gorgeous, stunning piece.

Did not think that I would win this contest with all the killer tattooes from Jørgensen, Rassier, Shige, Shinji etc. So it was actually just for fun, but thank you all for the votes!

I met a girl, we talked tattoos, she's from az, shows me her legs done by roper, says they're friends and she can text him and give me a referral. Looks like I'm saving some money and flying to Arizona sometime this year. !!!! Also naturally me and this girl have been seeing each other. Life is cool sometimes.

Got this from Horimatsu in October. It was a great experience, he is such an awesome dude with some pretty cool stories to tell. Also I got this cattoo on a caturday so I kind of won the internet that day :D edit: can't figure out why the picture is all wonky but if one clicks it again for full size it looks like it is supposed to... edit2: oh, and it's located on the outside of the calf.

The Golden Age of Hong Kong Tattooing | VICE | United Kingdom At work so I can't watch this at the moment.. but thought i'd put it here for those who can!

Everything is healed properly so it's time post some pics of my completed sleeve. It use to be a 2/3 sleeve but had it completed to a full one. Let me know what you all think.

I have gotten tattooed by some fucking awesome female tattooers: Stephanie Tamez, Marie Sena, Maud Dardeau, Cat Bijou, Rebecca Guinard, Eilo Martin. While I do not specifically seek out female tattooers, I do think that as a women who cares about women a lot, I notice the work of female tattooers more than folks with less gender consciousness might. Does that make sense? There are so many women doing great work that deserve more attention than they get. I'd love to get work from: Virginia Elwood, Wendy Pham, Juni, Jill Bonny, Sheila Marcello, Claudia de Sabe, India Amara and LST's own amazing @cltattooing .

@marley mission Props on that BF run man. I can't even walk around the corner barefoot without a type of pain.

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/gallery/member/17110-after-touchup.html&imageuser=50665 8 years, Two and a half physically under water. Ten Strategic Deterrent Patrols.

damn

@Cork, so nice man, congratulations!

i have merrell vapor gloves model - very minimalist - love em but for running i have been using five fingers for about 5 years i think cant picture using anything else woukd love to go total barefoot - especially for a marathon but it takes a lot of work to get yourself to that point fartherest i have done on the road total BF was 10 miles and lets just say i paid harshly for that one

She's in Columbus, but I think Eva Huber is really cool - Instagram Jen Munford in Ann Arbor is solid too, if you wanna make the drive - Instagram Midweeeest

Welcome Sara and good luck with everything.

Welcome! I'm sorry your first tattoo experience was a bad one. I'm sure there are people here with better knowledge of tattoo artists in your area than I have, but the first person who came to mind is Brenda Flatmo in Cincinnati.

Hi and Welcome :)

Congratulations @Wilhell! Great tattoo.

Well, here's my entry. By Markus Lenhard - private studio in Berlin - work in progress cheers!

congrats!

I don't really like taking pictures of my tattoos, but I'll contribute to the thread :P one pizza with heart shaped pepperonis and one noise punk tribute http://i.imgur.com/pa4ltn1 http://i.imgur.com/h5JMO91

Welcome! Sorry to have missed your post. Yes, there is some great stuff here, isn't there? [emoji2]

got this beauty from nick oaks on his visit in toronto @ the okey doke beyond happy with the turn out

Congrats, Bunny! I imagine finally getting that tattoo after seven years of waiting is a very satisfying feeling. Greg and I didn't get to two tattoos last night, since we got an unavoidable late start. We did go with the creepy Lo Pan hand holding a dragon that we were joking about the last time I was there. It's pretty much all a result of talking about Big Trouble in Little China with he and his coworker when I was the last one in the shop on my last appointment.

I get SO MUCH wonderful hatemail because of that post.

Sorry no pics. I got a chance to look through a pile of Dana's secret stash of Roper pics, some are pretty good. I also got a chance to scroll through Bloodwork Bodies. Man, that book is amazing. The green dragon is in the book, I had to steal a clean pic for you guys. Not to mention it was good to catch a glance at @hogg's ass on more time.

The tattoo community; where dudes peer pressure other dudes into getting half naked, and nobody bats an eye. :D

Been trying to improve, starting with getting a clean line. Also found the 4 colours i like to use and have decided to use only these colours.

haven't posted much lately but here's one i painted last night.

Getting something written in a language you don't understand yourself is always my answer. It's like owning books you will never read.

Don't know if this is quite the right thread for it, but it's a pretty good story anyway. As I was having my back tattooed I sent progress photos to my Dad via e-mail because he wanted to see how it was going. A couple of his workmates had tattoos and he'd been keeping them in the loop too, because they were interested in the progress. Anyway, after it was finished I sent through a final photo and Dad has it up on his computer screen at work with a few of his buddies looking at it when his boss walks in. Everyone goes sort of quiet and the boss strolls over and looks at what's on the screen. Then he turns to Dad, shakes his head, chuckles and says "Mate. Imagine if your daughter came home with a tattoo like that!' 'Actually,' says Dad...

I live in eastern Kentucky where visible tattoos, especially those that don't look like they were done in someones bathroom, are pretty rare. I've noticed this kind of odd thing that a lot of older people that I would think would be more likely to react negatively seem to like them. I had one older lady approach me and ask if I had put any lotion on my arms that day. She said the colors were really pretty and proceeded to give me lotion from her purse for me arms. I was raised to be rather polite and make it a point to be. It's always fun to have someone look at you funny and then hold a door for them. That always gets interesting reactions.

Hello this is Vladimir, originally from Slovakia (where i started tattooing circa 7 years ago). I live and work in London, currently at a shop called Timebomb. I love traditional/ neotraditional style, real old good HC/punkrock, skateboarding, vegan/vegetarian food:) I want to thank the authors for this site- done with integrity , respect for tattooing and full of super interesting stuff and artists I have been always looking up to. Thank you!

Dude, you think Atlanta is bad, come to Nashville... That said, I never get tired of the reaction.