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I completely understand this perspective, but at the same time I have to disagree. While tattooers might have lots of experience and knowledge, they still aren't properly trained to do the type of research that academics do. Academics go through years of methodological training (via coursework as well as personal research experience) in order to be able to accurately analyze whatever subject they are studying. These forms of analysis can obviously vary from highly advanced statistics to more qualitative cultural analyses, but the point remains, it takes a lot of training to be able to do this stuff correctly. Sure, if you're just looking for basic history encyclopedia kinda stuff then that's one thing, but much further than that tattooers probably won't be of much use. That's like saying studies of the workplace are useless because you could just go talk to a worker. Workers (doesn't matter the profession) might have a pretty good understanding of the workplace, but that doesn't mean they can produce adequate research on that workplace. As someone who is working towards their PhD, I'm probably pretty biased though. As far as a college course goes, that's another story, college courses and academic research are two very different beasts and those who have argued that a lot of it would be dulled down rubbish are probably right. Basically, reading the academic research on tattooing is probably a lot more valuable than taking a college course on tattooing. As a sociologist I sometimes get the urge to study different facets of tattooing, but I think it's probably best to keep these worlds separate. But I'm pretty big on compartmentalization and keeping different parts of my life separate.

I told my teacher a funny story that had to do with a gardening experiment and the law. One of his clients canceled the night after so he tattooed this design on me. :cool:

Headline should read "Tattooer Discovers How To Use Shadowing in Tattoo Design" - - - Updated - - - Over-shadowing in tattoos to get the 3D gimmick makes me think of airbrushing. Airbrushing looks good on a boogie van, not so much on the skin, my $0.02

Please for the love of god do not perpetuate click bait article titles.

I just ordered the Mick book. Goodness, this is why I AM ALWAYS BROKE!

yesterday's session...

Up to this day nothing can beat this for me

Ok, this is my fat back after 7 hours. It is just roughed in and needs a lot of work still, but it's a great start! Go big or go home.

Hi, posting at you from northern europe, Finland, to say i really like the site! I've found out about a lot of great artists and got good advice from here in my time lurking. I've been meaning to register for over a year since i found the site but i've put it off for not having any good recent photos of my tattoos, and i thought if i just register maybe i'll finally put the effort into taking some. I got my first tattoo 6 years ago at 18 and ever since i've been steadily adding to it a few pieces a year more or less. I decided very early on im going for full coverage but im saving the hand and neck tattoos for when im 30 if i still feel like it. Anyway, i managed to dig up some pictures, most are from artists instagrams i think. In no particular order: by Hexa, used to own Precious Tattoo, not sure where he works from now. Hexa Hexa Hexa Oni by Javier Betancourt at Ocho Placas I think i heard of him from here, theres so many crappy shops in Miami it was a chore to find something worthwhile but man am i glad i found him. Crow by Gustav Fröberg, also did my lower left arm which i dont have any pics of upper left arm is JPWikman no better pictures yet sorry Demon granny is by Hexa again In the last picture you can see a peek of the rooster on my ribs started by Jonas Nyberg and im gonna get that one finished up at the Helsinki Ink Convention next weekend! I'll try to get better pictures of all of it or at least the ones i dont have any of and post after i get back from the convention. Hopefully with a rad cock! :D

A lot of work has been put in, but that is just not my type or style. Somehow, I dont really like it.

Does he have an advanced degree? I don't think he completed his MFA at Yale and as far as I know never went back. But still, he would be in the extreme minority. Sure, a tattooer with a PhD would be perfectly qualified to conduct research, but there aren't really any active tattooers that I know of who have this qualification. I'm sure there are some, but probably not many.

Nailed it! :rolleyes:

That's what legs are for!

Today's cupcake: Reese's cupcakes with marshmallow peanut butter frosting covered in a chocolate shell. Also on the menu: ass fire. https://instagram.com/p/0q7CxFiOzE/

Li'l Horitoshi frog by Junii :) Very hard angle to photo!

The mechanics of a coil machine vs a rotary are different, the way the needle moves in/out of the skin and the feel/feedback it gives the tattooer. To use a coil machine effectively a tattooer needs to understand how to build/tune/setup the machine for the way they tattoo. And that may be why a lot of tattooers use rotaries these days...convenience. Rotaries are more forgiving in terms of overworking the skin, lighter weight i.e. reduces strain on the tattooer, they are easy to procure, good to go out of the box and can facilitate faster tattooing (if you they know what they are doing). Coils can achieve the same things but come with a steeper learning curve to understand the mechanics, optimize the geometry of the machine build and dial in the tune for their method. My tattooer who uses coils exclusively, he knows how to setup his machines and can spec a machine build to compliment his methods. And boy, you can feel that control when he tattoos. wow. He can really achieve the subtle details, the smoothness in his gradients because of the way he can achieve finer control with coils, that perhaps could not be achieved with the out-of-the-box characteristics of the rotary. His coil tattoos heal like butter everytime like clockwork. Because of the optimized setup, experience and skilled hand doing the tattooing. I also have another tattooer who is on the rotary train (the first rotary I experienced) and runs it bastard hot (sounds like a coil) and can utilize the rotary to compliment his speed and methods. His rotary tattoos hurt like hell, however go in smooth, colours stay ultra-bright after long-term healing and he is FAST. Me...I like the LOUD noise, I like the pain, I like the mechanics. So whichever side of the rotary vs coil debate my tattooer is on, doesn't matter because I gain a better understanding of the big picture of tattooing when I'm on the receiving end of either method. I just love good ol ELECTRIC tattooin! The louder the more electric the better :cool:

My opinion = this one is way too small

:) My first exposure to tattoos were the kind made in kitchens with guitar strings and India Ink from the record store (if you were lucky...) They were very rarely paid for with cash. I don't have any of these, but I sure do know a lot of folks with them.

On day four of my calf and it's doing well. It was only linework this session, but I'm still surprised that it's not peeling yet. The area at the top of my foot where the tendons connect looks like it will be the first, if it happens at all. Worst was the first two days, hobbling around the first and then trying to wear my work boots that come to midcalf the second. Can't wait to deal with how it'll be when we do the shading. Then I think about the color and I'm like fuuuuuuu...

Sorry, I don't see fat. I see an awesome turtle on some nice skin with beautiful hair. Is color planned? I've only seen one sea turtle in person (and the light filtering through the water may have shaded it) that had green/yellow tones.

I have some near-twenty year old ink I was considering getting reworked. Then I watched a show on Velocity about these guys who totally rework the innards of hot rods but clear coat over the faded paint to preserve the mojo. "It'll only be original once", they said. So I slapped some Aquaphor on those old tats, looked at them in the mirror, and smiled, remembering every moment that led up to those early decisions. "They'll only be original once."

im flying to la to start my back with bryan burk next week, appointment got pushed back a couple times, but finally after hundreds of wasted airline tickets were doing it haha. hes flying out that night so my appointment got moved to 10am. oof. going to be dead tired and after have no where to go until my friend gets off work at 8pm hahah

I don't know how to share this type of Instagram post, and certainly can't from my phone, but here's a link to my chest tattoo, done today by Steve Byrne at Rock of Ages. http://instagram.com/p/0i-naeNBEe/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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!

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.

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

Can't go wrong with a Lehi tiger.

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!

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

Another one by Brian Via, picked a drawing off his wall of stuff he wanted to do. Inner bicep and it hurt like hell, especially the stuff by the top near my armpit. So happy with it though.

Relevant to the discussion! Read the commentary! TED-Ed Does Tattoo History…Sigh | tattoohistorian.com As an academic, professional, and historian, she's stoked that it's not as bad as most tattoo histories - gangs, criminals and the like - but points out a number of glaring errors and her commentary is on the nose regarding things like this becoming primary sources for teachers, news reporters etc. - - - Updated - - - http://tattoohistorian.com/2014/04/21/the-melodramatic-nostalgia-of-tattoo-reporting/#more-285 last link post and i'm gonna get back to doing things pertaining to real life now. But so good, so relevant, I am in love with this woman.

I think I remember @El Dolmago discussing how she snuck some tattoo history into one of her lectures? Tattooed people giving a little bit of history in context is kinda cool IMHO! Margot Mifflin, who wrote "Bodies of Subversion" and "The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman" is an academic who has written some interesting and informed material about tattoo and the history of tattoo, and I believe she travels around giving lectures about tattoo history. - - - Updated - - - @Vaas there's an antique bookstore near me that has some older books on Maori tattooing and the like - I don't know where you live, but try a library and check out 'tattoo' in the anthropology sections, you might have some luck! - - - Updated - - - Sorry, can't seem to stop with this. I've enjoyed many posts from this site: http://tattoohistorian.com/ I agree with @Graeme and @bongsau that fundamentally the best way to learn about tattoos is to get tattooed and talk with tattooed people - and that it's important that that is how the history/culture etc is passed on, but I also think there are a number of things academics can contribute to the history of tattoo! Learning, researching, compiling, educating. We have some tattooed academics here on the board who are ensconced in the culture, and who have learned it (are still and always learning) the "right" way - I would love to take classes from them, if they were to offer some sort of tattoo curriculum. But "tattoo 101" or other pop/made for the masses courses - yeah, that kinda sours my stomach. The source DOES matter.

Fundamentally, I believe that learning about tattoos and tattooing is something that should primarily be done through the experience of getting tattooed, hanging out in tattoo shops, talking with tattooers and tattooed people. I think there's something really important--maybe even integral--about the way that knowledge and history in tattooing is primarily transmitted orally, that things are passed on person to person and that everybody is going to have his or her own idiosyncratic views of tattooing rooted in his or her own direct experience. I loathe the idea that this wonderful, messy thing called tattoo could be broken down into a curriculum with learning outcomes or whatever bullshit that university administrators want out of courses these days so that undergraduates could take it for three easy credits. I am skeptical that tattooing has anything to gain from it being offered as a course to college or university or art students; it seems like it has far more to lose than it can possibly gain. I'm not saying that academics can't contribute anything to tattoos (I think most of them do a pretty poor job, but my objections aren't just that we need somebody to do it better), but it's something that should mostly stay in the shop and with the people who actually have something invested in tattoos. That's my opinion, anyway, and opinions are like assholes.

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.

"don't lick the frog" Shawn O'Connor / timbertattoo.ca

awesome thread already...