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My Raijin and Kirin by Dave Cummings at PSC, in Montreal. It's all don except for some background to tie in my rock of ages below it. Stokes.

Got the peony on the inside done last night. The color is more like the first picture. That was the last part of the cover up. I have two more appointments to do who knows what. Expand the peony/water theme across the top of my back and around the frog that's back there, and add to the cherry blossoms on the other side, peonies and other flowers and wind bars. Whatever we figure out. He also added a little white around some of the cherry blossoms and outlined the blue peony again in some spots.

This is my frontpiece by Marius Meyer. We finished it about a year ago. Two sessions and a total of seven hours if I remember correctly.

Had my 4th session on my back with Chad K this past friday at Congress St Tattoo in Portsmouth, NH. I'm sure several have seen these pics already, but I love this thread and wanted to join the fun even if it's not a "full" back piece. Could not be more thrilled with it. I love Chad and I love this tattoo. He thinks only 2 more sessions till we're done! I think it helps that I'm a small guy. Less to color :) Lying down pic was taken by Chad night of, and the standing up pic was taken by my wife the next morning after that dreaded first shower. Lighting is terrible in the second pic, but you get the idea. It's so freaking bull shit that the pics always post sideways. trying to attach link to gallery photo which I think i was able to fix

My consultation is in a week! I can barely contain my excitement and nervousness. I am really fucking nervous. I am a total wuss about getting tattooed, this is going to hurt :(

Thanks for looking. In progress neo-traditionalish Japanese sleeve. Done by Shawn VanOven at the Shamens Den Binghampton NY.

It's been a while, but I just recently got back to reading the forum and looking at what other people are posting as far as new work. By way of jumping back in, it seemed like posting what I've been up to since I last participated in this thread is the right way to go. This might be a bit of a long one. Sorry. Sometimes you're in New Orleans. Sometimes you end up with a butterfly. Brent at Uptown Tattoo did this one: Jake Miller from Cathedral Tattoo in Salt Lake did this little ditch guy for me: I did a bit of a run of appointments at Great Lakes Tattoo. Erik did this one: Nick did this one: And Matt did this one on my calf: Javier Rodriguez at LTW in Barcelona made this crazy tiger head for me: John Raftery, who is also at Cathedral in Salt Lake now, did this snake while he was still in New York at Fun City: Ben Haft at Fun City did the tops of both of my thighs with a sinking ship and a rose of no man's land: And finally, Mike Suarez at Hand of Glory in Brooklyn was able to squeeze me in on Saturday and do this on my shin: I picked up a few little bits of filler here and there, too. Next up is getting my left knee done, I think. All of this has really just motivated me to start thinking about back/chestpieces. Further down the rabbit hole.

I have session #2 coming up on Saturday. More outlining. Specifically ass and leg outlining.

Inconceivable. If there's one thing I have learned at Last Sparrow it's that every tattoo has to have a meaning.

So sorry for the delay folks!! Been super busy these last few days, and the contest totally slipped my mind. Anyway..... The winner of Tattoo of the month February 2015 is my Norwegian buddy @Kai Eirik Espedal with this amazing dragon back piece by Marius Meyer. Congratulations Kai!! I look forward to checking it out in person some day soon. Please PM @steve1461686340 with your shirt info (size and male or female) along with your address. New contest will be up shortly!

Or better yet. Go to a shop and look at the flash/paintings on the walls.

The internet is kind of a shitty place to find tattoo design references. I would recommending buying some tattoo books instead, and then consulting a tattoo artist when you have an idea of what you want. Check out the "Tattoo Designs, Books and Flash" subform here. Here's a recent thread that might be helpful: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-designs-books-flash/5944-post-your-book-collection.html

3 hours this afternoon on the right hand side: across the kidney, ass cheek and that spicy spot underneath and in between. Lord God have mercy.

I know the boxer sold it for you! ;)

I have a lot of stippling on my forearm from Thomas and my answer is ask me again in twenty years and I'll let you know. My feeling is that, like all tattoos, how well it's going to age is a combination of how I'm going to age and how well the tattoo was made in the first place. I think that Thomas' tattoos will stand up because he's a really good tattooer and puts a lot of thought and care into his tattoos. Ultimately a tattoo will last as long as it lasts, and while I try to take care of my tattoos and myself, I don't dwell too much on the question and I try to get the tattoos that excite me.

Had my 2nd session with Thomas Hooper yesterday. Mostly dot shading and mostly sat okay for it. Much easier than the line work during our first session.

Pic of me getting worked over by Horitomo if anyone is interested. https://instagram.com/p/zjCmORIcF9/?modal=true

If you come to Brooklyn Friday night for the opening, it will magically make all the pain fade away. I promise (Ok, I can't promise that).

You will be great! The best thing about the back is that unlike arms and legs, you only have one.

The picture is too poor quality to make anything out, but it looks like it could be a sak yant tattoo. If that's the case, and you want one, don't go to a shop and ask for one, do it properly and go to Thailand and get it done. Ask for a design that will protect you from contracting AIDS from shared dirty tattoo needles.

First thought - birds don't fly under turtles. It may look odd to have that vertical arrangement. But, of course, I'm all about the sea life! If you are willing to have a diagonally down view, you could add coral, sponges, sea grass, etc., around him to frame it.

My initial two second reaction was aww.....wait... I love my kids. I wouldn't do that. What would they have done if their child had been born w/Down Syndrome...or missing a limb...or dwarfism? I had a coworker whose son tipped over a candle and ended up w/horrendous burns over quite a bit of his body..so to make him feel accepted by others...they what..should set themselves on fire? I don't get it. Seems more about the parents, look what we did out of love for our child..which strikes me that A. birthmarks will ruin your life and the entire world is completely unaccepting of everyone everywhere. And B. tattoos are the equivalent of "ruining" your body. I'll stick to teaching my kids empathy and compassion for others and "different, not less".

Thanks and no worries about using my post as an example. It's a valid concern, just not one that I have. I have thought about it a little, but it wasn't enough to slow me down. My chest rarely sees the sun. When it does, it's when I'm swimming with my kids...and we're super careful with the sunscreen with them, which makes it easy to remember to protect myself.

Here's a teaser. All the linework on my left leg is complete, and some of the dots/shading - but quite a bit of both remain. I've got another 10-12 hrs booked for April and June - so I'm hoping by end of summer I'll have a completed and healed half squid pant. - - - Updated - - - Whoa. Sorry about the huge photo.

Not mine but thought it was pretty sweet. John Reardon Tattoos - News | Brooklyn, New York Custom Tattoo Artist

Are you cray? He is totally that weird brown wizard with the animal poop in his hair. Let's be real.

I've been holding out on posting pics online of my Shaolin backpiece progress. But now the 'blackground' is just about complete and the time felt right to share my progress. This is 5 sessions deep, about 19hrs and we are getting some wicked momentum. Tattoo is being made by Steve Batt in Edmonton, AB. Thank you all for your LST kinship through this experience!

I teach a class for 11 - 18 year old olds. We have a YHEC team that we take to State and International every year.

full day with erin chance march 26th than back to back days may 1 and 2nd with matt lambdin, both working on my thigh to complete my leg sleeve

My first thought was I wondered if that is on Mark.

@DeathB4Decaf shit is sweet!

critique an owl for being an artistic interpretation praise an octopus for being an artistic interpretation

@sourpussoctopus Thomas utterly kills it with placement. He did the sleeve on my left arm and there are a lot of things that are really impressive about the tattoo, but the thing that I maybe enjoy most of all of it is how well it's placed and sits and moves. I think it's the tribal influence showing through.

@Tornado6 I'm gonna echo the placement argument here. A few months ago I started a new sleeve, and the first hour or so was spent finalizing the design and figuring out how/where to lay it on my arm. The artist went on to explain how the arm is basically a cylinder, so a cohesive sleeve is about creating an image that complements and enhances your natural movement. (I hope I'm doing justice to his explanation.) So when I bend my arm now, the bottom bird's wing creates this really nice spiral where before was just a hard, 90-degree angle. What I had originally imagined got changed completely, but it was absolutely for the best. I have no gift for composition, haha. Placement is important for a piecewise sleeve too, of course, but you can get away with a lot more with this approach. As for the feminine/masculine thing and how people will read it, I don't think you should worry about that. It's going to be on your body, so on days you are feeling more girly, your tattoo will complement it. On days you're feeling tomboyish, your tattoo will it as well. In a way, a tattoo is the ultimate accessory, so how you carry it can change its quality. I hope this makes sense.

here's my thigh tattoo, done by Mikael De Poissy

Super stoked that I finally got tattooed by Eddy Deutsche!

from my little nyc adventure thursday. pretty shit picture of this one and theres a lot of ink still on my hand that refuses to come off but oh well.. tamara santibanez @ saved tattoo, brooklyn, ny akira latanzio @ r&d tattoo, queens, ny

Whew. Side of knee done yesterday by Kevin Collins at Vanness & Fellows in Raleigh. I can't say enough about Kevin, Mark, and AJ. One of the nicest tattoo experiences I have ever had.

Welcome! Tata's et al: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/5371-ladies-thread.html Somewhere in the aftercare section there is talk about self care - I become more flexible under much duress, and used a lotion handle when things were not as raw. Amazon.com : Kingsley Lotion Applicator On Wood Handle : Bath And Shower Products : Beauty Driving after - yeah, tough. I rolled a towel and put the towel against my back and the seat at a place that had NOT been tattooed that session. Driving got uncomfortable - 3-4 hours for me.

Latest session with Fill Wood @ Black Crown in Leeds. Gotta say, the underside of my buttocks is really tender right now. https://instagram.com/p/zVIWUtGza9/

I had the seventh session on my back yesterday and we finally started in on the colour and crushed the tiger. There's still a bit of shading to do in the water, and we're still figuring out what to do with the snake with regard to scales or patterns, colours, etc., as well as what colours to do the maples, but I am super stoked on the progress we're making.

Session 2 done yesterday, plenty left to do but its crazy how different it looks from the end of the 1st session. Borrowed this pic from Marius' instagram page. Started with the fine line scales on the snake, then the black in the skull and finally some colour on the snake. All told it was probably 5 - 5.5 hours this time around.

I received the tattoo so I figured I share a pic. Will re-post when it heals. Got it done on Friday night. This was taken at the shop. I was bigger then I expected but very glad with the size. Omitted the rays around the head and had an idea about a halo but I decided to leave off & revisit later if I change my mind. Thanks to all who shared thoughts/opinions etc whether you liked the idea or didn't. ( or whether you like the tat or not lol )

Wendy Pham out of Conspiracy Tattoo in Berlin, Germany Super detailed and whimsical work. Instagram

While I can relate to being pissed off about general rudeness, I feel some things tattooists need to lighten up on. Basically being unknowledgable about tattoos in general, asking questions we have heard a million times before, bringing references on phones, wanting stuff that is too detailed or won't work. A gentle approach goes a long way. The way I look at it, I patronize a lot of business where I don't know jack, and I don't appreciate being treated like an idiot for not being in the know. A good example is when I went back to my local print shop. I was asking why I couldn't open a certain file which was a flash sheet I had scanned to a tiff file. The print shop guy snapped at me "ITS A MULTI PAGE TIFF FILE!! YOU CAN'T OPEN IT UNLESS YOU HAVE PHOTOSHOP!!" I am like ok, can you change it to a file that I can open? Again snappage "I CAN'T DO THAT! YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE ORIGINAL IMAGE!" I am like "ok, I have that, could you please scan it again?". I also had them saved as PDFs for easy printing. So he was like "I am just going to change these PDFs into JPEGS". I said I would prefer to have both, as the PDFs print original size and all. Even more snappage " UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO PRINT THEM OUT, THERE IS NO USE". I calmly explain to him that they are commercial art, of course I am going to print them out. Then I ask if I have the jpegs and alter them, they can be saved into PDFs again, right? More snappage "ONLY IF YOU HAVE PHOTOSHOP!" The guy was literally yelling at me. Needless to say, I won't be doing business there again. Think about that the next time a customer says asks about things that seem readily apparent to you. A lot of times people are not trying to be difficult. You are the expert, not them. Try and take this into consideration.

1. People bringing their kids to the shop. Nothing pisses me off more. 2. People canceling the day of the appointment OR them "forgetting" they had an appointment. Thanks for the deposit and wasting my time. 3. Asking how much "a rose" is or how much "some letters" are or a how much a "medium tattoo" costs. Fucker, how much is a new car or a bag of groceries? I don't know! 4. Trying to get me to price match with other shops like Im Walmart. 5. Parents that bring their kids in to get tattooed, even though they dont approve, and act shitty to me when I do the tattoo. 6. When a client's friend is with them while getting tattooed and they tell their friend, "its almost done"... um... did i say it was? no... it isnt. 7. Clients who talk with their hands or keep moving their head fast when Im tattooing them. 8. Clients I dont know on a certain level that think Im their therapist. 9. People who think I love L.A. Ink. and "have to get a tattoo from Kat Von D before they die". 10. Clients that put their friend's opinion before their own. I was bitter towards people before becoming a tattooer from working retail... it only got worse. I could go on all day. Im really not an asshole.

people think i'm joking when i say i like doing tribal, too. and i've actually said to a few customers who were really freaked out "you don't HAVE to get a tattoo. i know its popular, but it's ok not to have one."

That's a good point, the pass on. I dig it. If it's something I don't have any interest in like a shit-ton of Celtic animals with intertwining knots I pass it on. I don't do intricate Celtic work enough to be great at it because I don't have any interest in it. Upside-down names and that shit- all day long- I'm your guy