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Whew, I didn't know if I could sit through all this. Even Nathan was skeptical, but I wanted to finish. We didn't get a full on battle scene, but I loved what he came up with even more, especially the detail in the drowning hand, the ship, and of course, Poseidon's luscious locks!

Horitomo September 23rd! Woohoo!!! :: happy dance ::

Finished the outline yesterday and posted some pictures to my blog thing

The obvious elbow tattoo. Scott (Skotydont) Fox, Columbus.

got some dots and lines by alvaro flores in melb: planning to turn this whole arm into a blackwork sleeve by works from jondix, gerhard, anna day, kenji and others when/if i get a chance.

Can't go wrong with a Lehi tiger.

So I finally got my chest piece. So happy with how it came out. By Valerie Vargas of course.

Bum progress. The ass and thighs are just plain nasty, and I don't recommend that anyone get them tattooed. :) Done by Mark Armstrong, Sacred Art Tattoo Manchester

First one since June (aside from a little Halloween special). Matt Arriola.

Got my study from Kore Flatmo today. It looks absolutely amazing. Getting started on my back piece (a turtle back) in June. Needless to say, I'm extremely excited!!

Hello Everyone, Been poking around these forums for a while and figured I'd register and talk about my experiences. I'll give a little back story and show you what I've had done. I always wanted to get a tattoo but kept putting it off because I was nervous about the pain and how my body would react to it all. In September of 2014 my friend Jason suggested going to a convention in San Francisco and I thought that would be a great time for it. Before the trip Jason and I ended up going to a shop and I got something small. I was pretty relaxed walking into the shop but once the machine turned on I got nervous again. I had this one placed on the upper portion of my calf. I thought it was a nice concealable spot and it was meaty so it wouldn't be that bad. I felt the area twitching for most of time but it came out fine. So October rolled around pretty quick and we flew out to San Francisco for the convention. At the time I didn't know what style I wanted but I did know that I wanted to get an owl. So my friends and I were walking around looking at all the different booths and Jason suggested Katja Ramirez from Rock of Ages. So thats what I did! From this point I decided I wanted to go for my entire right arm. A few weeks after the convention when I got home I added a little more. Done by Andrew Stortz (he did my first tattoo) @ Hobo's/Congress St. Portsmouth, NH Here's more progress on the arm: Done by Andrew Stortz @ Hobo's/Congress St. Portsmouth, NH Done by Jebb Riley @ Hobo's/Congress St. Portsmouth, NH Kind of an interesting scenario with the next two... Hobo's and Congress St. are a 5 minute walk from each other and my friend and I both had the same time appointment but at different shops. Chad Koeplinger was guesting and Jason got on the list really early on. So as I'm getting the my work done Jason shows up and says Chad wasn't ready yet and he'd get a call when to come back. So he waited while I got the one below done. Done by Andrew Stortz @ Hobo's/Congress St. Portsmouth, NH Jason was getting a mandala and to kill some time I got this... Done by Spencer Scott @ Hobo's/Congress St. Portsmouth, NH Last week I had this done, forgot to get a picture when it was fresh. I didn't explicitly ask for it done upside down, it was a weird space and I thought I'd work. I ran it by the artist and he said it'd be fine. Done by Spencer Scott @ Hobo's/Congress St. Portsmouth, NH My future plans are to complete my left arm with either color traditional or Japanese, still in the decision making phase. Thanks for reading, -Rich

I did my first tattoo. I have been in my 2 year apprenticeship for around 7 months. Apprenticing has been one of the most challenging and humbling experiences of my life... until today. All of the grapefruit, melons, and synthetic limbs in the world could not have prepared me for the intensity of tattooing a person. In the words of my good friend, Albie Rock, "that first line is a real gut-check, m@therf#$er!" With the support of my teacher, and the confidence of an amazing client, we all made this Ohm symbol, together. My head is still spinning and I have yet to fully process the reality of what happened today. The highlight was receiving this picture from the client, thanking me for choosing her for my first tattoo and saying, "I love it! It's perfect!" I mean, we both know it's not perfect, but, in a way, it is. I learned so much about myself as a person today. It's not always about completing a flawless piece, it's about being a part of someone's journey. It's about being real with someone for a moment in time. Anyway, I don't know if this is appropriate for the Introduction section, but this is truly my introduction. I have so much more to learn... but that ever crucial tattoo #1 is in the books. Here's to many more. Thank you for reading. I'm spent!

Made quite a bit of progress today with Fil Wood at Black Crown in Leeds https://instagram.com/p/0dTv7zmzSG/?taken-by=fil_wood

So today's Father's Day and my dad is celebrating the only way he knows best...by spending the day at the mah-jong parlor. My lady is working so that leaves me with a free day to my own devices to which I decided to mount and hang up the Horitomo cat prints I have accumulated. I love the entire series and the various ones that are not in print but posted on Horitomo's Instagram. Patiently waiting for more prints to come out and the much rumored book that collects all of the various tattoo cat incarnations. Hopefully one day I make it out to the west coast to get a tattoo cat from him...would be an awesome experience.

Hi All, Pushing 50 and never been inked. I've wanted tattoos more than half of my life but there's always been a reason not to but I'm a big boy now and it's about time I started making my own bad decisions. I had an epiphany recently and found myself asking "Dude, what's the worst that can happen?" so I've found a local artist whose work I like and I have a five hour slot booked a week from now. I've had sleepless nights worrying about what I'm going to have done - it's not that I can't think of anything, it's because I can't decide on only one thing - but one thing I do know: she'll come up with something far more impressive than I if I only let her have her creative freedom. So I'm gonna give her the broadest of briefs and let the chips fall where they may.

Hi Chaps, I am trying to plan something original for my other sleeve and I felt like I wanted to try and use famous, common, traditional flash images but in a realism style from 5 different artists. Nikko Hurtado will be doing the main top arm piece as I want my mothers portrait but i cant think of a traditional piece that could incorporate her portrait. Maybe a locket or something but I haven't seen anything like this in traditional. This is the only part that I am adamant that I want (the picture of my mum) I am no expert with traditional even though I grew up with loads of it, so I am hoping you guys could possibly suggest some that could work as realism. This could all be a bad idea lol I know the panther is a real famous one but I just don't think that would be able to be done in realism and not look like its traditional, plus I already have a panther :) The following is just ideas from my limited knowledge. I would like a cobweb on my elbow but done as a 3d with water droplets etc. Other pieces I think are famous and could work are Anchor, Ship, Dagger through heart, fighting cockerel, Devil with Pitch fork, snake and dagger. Thats really where I have got to. Do you guys think this could work or is it a terrible idea? What other images would you suggest? Cheers guys :)

A few of my favorites. None on me. First is by Gre Hale, second is by Nick Corbett and last is by Philip Yarnell.

Hello Peter. i've been using this app for about 2 weeks now and it's really great. You did a wonderfull job on this. The only remark i have is that once you clicked on a pin, the map zooms really close in on the whereabouts of the artist. For my taste to close because i find myself tapping on the zoom out button too much. Maybe for in the future we can search by style and find just the pins of artists who do for example realistic. Keep up the good work :)

@jen7 I was always going to get a tattoo when I "earned it." Lost the weight, sold a book, etc, etc, etc. I'm still overweight, and have always hated my body, but I can't even tell you how lovely it is to look in the mirror and like something you see. Instead of just going out into the bedroom to dry off after a shower, and avoiding the Hugh Jass vanity mirror like the plague on the way in, I twist around to look at my lovely back every time. Seriously, it's like when they painted designs on those dolphins and gave them mirrors, and they just twirled around and admired themselves, haha! It can be really hard to deliberately show people parts of yourself you don't like, or not think you're somehow a less desirable client because of your perceived flaws--and I don't always love the pics of my fat ass on instagram, ngl--but man, I am so glad I knuckled down and did it. I still get an upset stomach before my appointments, but it's so worth it.

Well, the outline of my calf is done. Most fun I've had recently. Hurt like a bitch on the ankle bone and Achilles tendon, but well worth it. Next appointment on the 18th i will post pics tomorrow as the wrap is still on

@heathenist I was mesmerized by that one on Instagram this morning. Should I be surprised it's on an LSTer?

i tell you what - i was putting off upper body work until my body looked the way i wanted it to - and then i was like - well shit - maybe this is as good as it gets - glad i decided to dive in as my upper body ink - especially torso - makes me enjoy what i see in the mirror more than ever - just go for it - aint none of us perfect looking

@Patrick Bateman - Jason Kundell is the artist.

I concur with @bongsau A great artist is worth the wait. I too waited around 24 months before I got a consult with the artist who is doing my work now. I had almost forgotten about contacting him and being on the wait list when I finally got the call that it is my time to come and see him. :) Worst thing was I was on holidays for about 6 weeks when he rang so had to postpone it further. :( Waiting sucks big time when you want the art now, but from my experience even a 2 year wait has been more than worth it.

Got this tiger shark on my calve 3 weeks ago from a dude named Brad Dawe who owns Hell or High Water in Moncton, New Brunswick. Finally healed! But still a bit shiny.

@Kinglambert this is fantastic! really love the composition, placement and most of all the story behind the imagery. awesome!

Why leave it alone? Because your octo-forearm-tapus is barely healed, you're not 100% satisfied and there is 10 pages of internet-design-by-committee, constructive feedback, and indecisiveness in your thread. That is why I'd listen to Marley's good advice to let the thought sit until you have more confidence in the direction you want to take the upper arm to tie the whole thing together. Go enjoy the summer sunshine, let the octopus heal and pick up where you left off in the fall/winter aka tattoo-season. What's the rush?

in all seriousness - maybe the idea would be to leave this tattoo alone for awhile - put some ink somewhere else

I've been avoiding my ditches as long as I could, but a few sundays ago I decided it was time. jason ochoa at greenpoint tattoo put this rose in there and now that it's healed, I'm stoked to do the other arm. it didn't hurt nearly as bad as I expected and it was pretty much healed within a week or so using tegaderm. definitely a believer in that shit. if there's a thread discussing that stuff, let me know and I can share my experience. anyway, here's a healed pic:

Eddy Deutsche cover/blastover from a couple of weeks ago in Oslo (Marius Meyer studio). It was such a fun day, so cool! Also met the legend Carson Vester. He told us some crazy stories! Who said he had lost it? New: Old:

Third session done. I'm so over the moon happy with it. Also happy wasn't another session on the butt/thighs.

One of my favourite artists!! Love his work. - - - Updated - - - Holy s**t!! What a difference. What is it with italy and amazing artists?

@exume I love that piece. It's absolutely bad ass!! Here is my contribution. Also by Chad. Finished about a year and a half ago. I went a bit smaller. One heck of an experience. Some very rough moments for sure!!! Chad is the best though! 2 sessions.

I got a thing today. Hard to believe it too me almost 33 years to finally start. A fun Percy Waters bird from Greggletron/Greg Whitehead at Scapegoat Tattoo. I stole the picture from his instagram. Side note: I really appreciate this forum. I went to my appointment totally prepared and actually knowing more than the average bear (which is still only a very little, admittedly), and he kept asking me 'are you sure this is your first tattoo?' He kept talking about how pumped he was to work on somebody who'd give him creative license, who knew about Good Tattoos and what makes them good, and...yeah. It made me feel really good. I'm pretty sure I learned all of that here. He would probably thank the forum too if he could. Haha. Booked my next appointment for October. IT BEGINS.

Sorry to be off topic with the way this thread turned out but regardless of any "witchy witchy" (whatever that means) or other current tattoo trends. Sometimes we gotta take it back and look at why?... Not just why you got a particular tattoo but why certain symbols are grouped together in the first place. Female figures and the moon make more sense than most associated designs. - As a side note, Diana worship became very popular in Europe in the early 19th century as part of the revival of earlier religious ideas by the middle classes (who had more time on their hands, probably because of the Industrial Revolution) which led to more works of art, visual, written and performed that included these ideas and symbols. These are often the very works that modern tattooers appropriate. Remember that some tattooer, somewhere knew this when they included a moon in a design of a lady head. (or they took it from an illustration by someone who knew.) Then it was imitated because it looked cool or resonated in some way. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I strongly believe it's a tattooers job to understand the mechanism of symbols and apply them to create relationships that have a deeper value than just looking cool. There's nothing wrong with looking cool and often I don't bore my clients with a lecture about the historical connections with the symbols I include. I just try to make their tattoo look cool. Hopefully one day they will discover the meanings and connections behind the symbols and realise it makes the design slightly richer. Sorry to derail yet another thread with a boring self-righteous rant...