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Appropriately posting this one on Easter. I got this one from Matt Arriola a few weeks ago at Spotlight. Photo stolen from his IG: For reference, it's on the back of my thigh:

I saw Chad Koeplinger while he was in town the other day for rose #4. Done at Rock of Ages in Austin.

The entry here is the knee demon done by Franz Stefanik at The Okey Doke in Toronto. This is the best pic I have of it, so please filter out the surrounding work.

Ok @Iwar, si I'm your first contestant! Here's my thigh piece done by Mikael De Poissy last year (hard to take a photo of the whole piece)

good question! my tattooer designed the layout of my backpiece such that I can take off my shirt, leave the pants on and spectators can still tell what it is going on and then if I really want to give the whoa factor i can drop trou...we need to remember the average person thinks a butt tattoo is a joke, like a tweety bird or 'your name' heart on the cheek, and a lot aren't prepared for what they get when they ask a backpiece wearer "how far down does that go eh?" and then you get the really horrified/intrigued folks who want to know how deep the tattoo went in your ass crack...(?) really, it all depends on the context of the situation and your relationship to the person that is asking to see it. i've probably shown mine off on the phone screen more than in person...because people are dumb and ask to see our tattoos at the most inappropriate times...at a work meeting or at the grocery store...or like i'm having dinner in a restaurant, yeah you want me to stand up and show you my tattooed ass crack? sure, let me finish chewing first! lol in the tattoo shop though...anything goes! drop em and show em what ya got!

There's mine completed in 2007ish. I now wish it were more detailed but at the time I wanted the biggest back piece with the least amount of time and effort and money. So it goes.

Here goes. Head tattoo by Jesse Roberts. 3 sessions about 3-4 hours each, then one quick touchup session. Completed in about 2 months.

Well, here is mine. Still have a bit of work to be done but is almost there :D Done by Elijah Nguyen from Skin Stories Tattoos in Spring, Texas.

Nothing wrong with a back piece that you can see from the next block :)

In tonight's episode of Shitty Reality Check: You got face tats, you might get strong reactions!

Hi everyone, My name is Ryan, I'm a 19 year old tattoo apprentice from Dublin Ireland. My favourite styles of tattooing at the minute are American Traditional and Neo-Traditional My favourite tattooers are Valerie Vargas, Andrea Giulimondi, Xam, Dani Quiepo, Stewart Robson, Jean LeRoux, Todd Noble and Steve Byrne The first (and only) Tattoo Con I've been too was Brighton Tattoo Convention 2015 where I was tattooed by Valerie Vargas :D Anyways, right now I'm doing a lot of drawing and painting and I'm currently looking to build my book and flash collection so if anyone is looking to trade some paintings, I'll be putting my head down and getting some good stuff soon :) I'm going to leave it here, Thanks, Ryan

Another delay, another month... Sorry guys!! Hope to see some good submissions this time around. Last month only had 3(!!!). C'mon folks! Lets see some tattoos!! The rules: The tattoo picture that gets posted in this thread for April 2015 with the most 'likes' for the month wins! The contest starts on the first of the month and ends on the last day of the month. Your tattoo picture must be posted in this thread (both tattooers and tattoo customers can win) in order to qualify. Include with your photo/post...tattoo artist name & tattoo shop. You MUST be the one who has the tattoo or did the tattoo. You can 'like' as many tattoos as you want. It can be a finished or in progress tattoo. You cannot enter the same tattoo in more than one contest. There must be at least 5 entries to have a t-shirt winner. Free shipping for LST shirt winner only w/in USA.

"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." -Voltaire

Iain Mullen Imperial Tattoo

Here is my dome by Jesse Roberts - whether or not this is a face tattoo I don't know. I'm the farthest thing from hardcore and would say nothing has changed since getting it. No big deal! I really liked the cover of the finger wave book so that's why I went to Jesse, as he painted it. I fully endorse people getting their head and face tattooed.

Good point. Anyway I'll report back on my results with it. Just a little baffled by the dry wash instructions. A couple puffs of foam rubbed in dry and then rinsed off seems pretty ineffective. But for the sake of science I'll be the guinea pig.

Ah yes the good ole, "How far did he get in there?!"

Hi All, I hope it's okay to revive this thread. Since I first introduced myself last September, I had a shoulder injury and surgery, followed by a good three months of healing, so I put off all of my tattoo plans. In any case, it's given me some time to think and reflect on what I really wanted for a sleeve. The good news is I've settled on a tattooer and design and we're ready to go. It's going to be a traditional Japanese dragon with cherry blossoms, seven-tenths length, and extending to a chest panel. My first appointment for outlining is this Thursday, and I'm a little apprehensive but mostly stoked about it. Even though I'm not much of a poster I've been reading the forum all the while and this group has really helped me refine my thinking and pointed me to some other resources. Thanks! Chris

I love to hang out with my cat Chloe. My son takes a lot of pictures of the cat and had a photo-book made up for my birthday.

Next week I have Derek Noble working on my t-rex leg sleeve. The areas to do are the ass crack and inside the inner thigh (sigh). And this week my mentor Dave Richmond is working on a Hanya mask on my knee.

Is this old Jay Langer stuff? - - - Updated - - - I heard from Mike Rennie, who heard from an old timer, that a tattooer should have a sheet of flash for every month he/she has been tattooing. I've definitely slacked on this regard. All the advice above is sound. Initial critique, focus on doing things other people do it, at least in a manner of repetition and copying. Style takes time to develop. Right now you just need to know how to draw it correctly. When trying to create an original design, do not be afraid to use reference. The beauty of developing a design is pulling from different areas and crafting something that looks right to you. The mouth of a Mike Wilson panther paired with William Yoneyama snout, eyes the way Tim Lehi does them, and colored how Mike Rubendall approaches color. Or even better, grab elements from things that are completely not "tattoo" related. Old Circus posters, woodcuts, Audubon prints, *gasp* going to a zoo or museum. There are so many places to pull and subtract from, that in no way does it need to be mediocre.

Ohhhhh, be very careful saying such a thing out loud! TWICE I thought the work was done in some areas, but NOOOO there had to be more detail grinded (ground?) in over previous layers. Just let that little hope of a single pass remain a little secret wish in your heart. - - - Updated - - - @mmikaoj - wow, just wow. It has been amazing to watch your backpiece evolve and when you got the flames around the sides, thinking that you were lying to us that you truly hadn't gone off the black&grey wagon. Surely looked a very nice red/grey that would have looked great with the rest of it! :D I love your piece - it's up on the top 10 of all my favorite backpieces. Just amazing in the precision, and the flow on your body.

I like this shop in Denmark, not to sure how far it is from Sweden but might be worth travelling to. The Sailors Grave danmarks bedste tatovør best tattoos denmark japansk

@marley mission, I get help from my family. The kids like to help me out and my wife does as well. I did bought this and use it when I am all healed up... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NMFTJI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - - - Updated - - - It represent the technology and abstract side of me.

@Dumpleton I'm just glad I've been able to help, thanks is payment enough. Plus that set of prints you sent me is outta control, I don't remember if I properly thanked you for that, but it was very sweet of you and an awesome surprise to find in the mail

Thanks! Steve Moore in British Columbia.

Thanks for the support @cltattooing you have given me great advise from the start, your words speak volumes to me and I hope I can repay you someday somehow. For me the only way to improve is to keep on drawing and to draw because you really want to not because its something to do or you want to be a tattooist, when you really want to learn for the right reasons you will improve quickly. Feels strange giving out advise as i still have so much to learn myself. Try to make every line cleaner than the last, actually I try to focus on getting every fade as clean as I can, if the end result of one of my paintings doesn't feel right to me I will redraw it and start again, you know yourself inside if your happy with it. Good reference is the best place to start.

Here is my latest work on my back:

Glad to hear that! A shining example of someone who has done this and progressed miles is our own @Dumpleton. There is a lot of his work posted up in the How About an Art Show? thread, if you go through the thread you can see how far he's come, it's really impressive. You will have a lot of fun with this I think!

I suck at taking brakes from getting tattoos! Booked in with Bradley Tompkings at Frith St in the end of the month!

Oh shit, it's the 5th already, and I haven't announced a winner yet! Sorry guys!! The winner of Tattoo of the month March 2015, for the second month in a row, is my Norwegian buddy @Kai Eirik Espedal with bad ass wolf front by Marius Meyer. Congrats, once again, Kai!! But since Kai has already won a shirt, we've decided to give it to the second runner up, which is @jvince1230. Please PM @steve1461686340 with your shirt info (size and male or female) along with your address. New contest will be up shortly!

I LOVE 510 expert tattoo!!!!

This is great advice. I'm taking this challenge on thanks to your post. Hopefully it will help my beginner ass.

Just my observation, but it looks like you are still learning how to draw and paint. Which is fine! But I think in order to properly execute these designs, you should study more and work on your technique. The best way to go about that is to trace and re-paint 100 sheets of flash. Don't take any artistic liberties, copy them exactly as they are so that you can gain insight into the craft and process of those who have a good handle on what they're doing. You will be amazed at what you learn! Start with the basics and the old masters, and work your way forward. Not only will you learn a ton, but you'll have an awesome volume of work to show people.

My friend Nathan got a backpiece from Steve Moore after emailing him for ten years. He got a response to his final email which read: "Dear Steve, My name is Nathan and I have been emailing you every few months for 10 years..." Less than a year later he had a killer completed backpiece.

Well that was a brutal last session but damn the result is worth it:

@BrianH I'm not one to be afraid of pulling off my shirt and dropping my pants but being self aware, I usually just show a pic from my smartphone first. Some people want to see it in the flesh and I would start with the shirt and depending on where the conversations lead, usually show my ass off too.

I've healed a lot of tattoos in less than ideal conditions. A leg sleeve in 95 degree Thailand weather. Leg and belly and hand tattoos while working as a carpenter. Lots of tattoos while living on a sailboat. In all of these cases I've have good results. On the other hand I've healed some tattoos under ideal conditions while working desk jobs, and had terrible results on a few occasions. Unless you're a scuba diving instructor there's not many jobs that will ruin your healing. Just baby the area in the critical first few days and be aware of it. And while you're at it get me a double double please.

@BrianH if they are heavily tattooed and know what a full back piece entails I'll show them all the goods. Otherwise I usually just show the top and listen to all the comments about how they can't believe someone would get their ass tattooed.

Well, we're talking decades away here. I wouldn't go for hands/neck/palms until I'm pretty close to full everywhere else, and that's a long ways away. I just really like a good palm tattoo.

The back is a fucked up roller coaster of pain...

Johan finné

Mine was around 4 - 5 hours. I flew to NYC and took a cab straight to the shop (which opened two hours later.) After the tattoo I was totally out of it from sleep exhaustion. Wish I would have been in a better state of mind so I could have talked to the artists more, but I needed sleep. Mike R did the tattoo, awesome dude and his shop is out of this world.

LOL yep ! I would love ANY business try that with me ! Men And Cats: Photographer Challenges ‘Crazy Cat Lady’ Stereotype | Bored Panda

As I've been watching Better Call Saul, which is pretty good thus far. They are always promoting the End of an Era of Mad Men. Upsetting for me as I am a HUGE Mad Men fan.

I'm binge watching Trailer Park Boys right now and I feel like a shit drop in a shit storm that's about to turn into a shit tsunami

few more split sheet with Handsome Jake couple of new efforts

Maybe a tsuzumi or kotsuzumi, it's a hand drum; I only know this one as it's common on kimono and obi. The charms are called takara or takara-zukushi (treasures). The link is about takara (although no mention of the drum) http://irebokuro.tumblr.com/post/23030936702/takarazakushi

@49531 are you on instagram? Made a couple more, really starting to get more confident with spit shading, my biggest issue at this point is finding a good reference to paint from, and or coming up with a fresh idea.

Made another