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Snuck in with Myles Karr while he was guesting at the Torchbearer this past weekend. photo courtesy of his Instagram.

I am stoked! Saw a post from Jon on instagram that his appointment did a no show no call and was looking for somebody to fill the spot for 8hrs. wwww00000tttttt!!!! I am game homie! 1st Session 6hrs.

Just got this one from Mike Fite at the Baltimore Tattoo Convention. Picture lifted from his instagram.

It says "Oh Bury Me Not" (on the lone prairie) on the other side. By Kemer in Leon GTO Mexico

I posted a little sneak peak on Instagram (@suburbanxcore), but Grez and I finally got into some brighter colors on my fifth session this weekend. My dragon now has a bright red belly to really pop out from his green scale and the darker eagle. It's starting to really come together. Not in again until 5/16 for Ed Hardy day and a three hour session!

I laid most of this out in my introduction thread, but wanted to reiterate some things for all the people who want to become a tattooer. It's hard. It's exhausting. You will be broke. You will be overwhelmed. You will try to find shortcuts that don't exist. You will learn so much about yourself. I live in a ski town. Last season, I skiied 140 days and over 1.5 million vertical feet. I was lost and skiing gave me purpose. I have been drawing since I can remember. In kindergarten, I drew the Easter bunny with a bloody knife through its head. The school made my parents come in for a meeting, where the discussion was on whether everyone should be worried or if I should go to an art school. Neither happened, because kids do weird stuff and my family was broke. My entire life, people told me that I would do something with art. Unfortunately, I never believed in them or myself enough to try. So, fast forward to now. I'm 32 and have been an apprentice for 7 months. I put everything into this. As I write this, I'm checking the clock, because it's my only "day off" and I need to go in and sterilize a ton of barrels, do paperwork and return calls. See, I had to fly back home to NH last week when a tree fell on my house and it left me homeless. I knew my teacher needed barrels before I left, so I slept on the shop floor for two nights to get the place in order before I left. My point behind all of this is that you need to dedicate your life to becoming a great tattooer. At every opportunity to quit, you need to face your fears and show your true determination. Your teacher deserves it for giving you a career. You future clients deserve it. You deserve it. Long story, not that short, yesterday my teacher offered me a day off. He was tattooing two women who are long time clients of his. I always feel like I need to take every opportunity to learn, so I went in. I had met these two women a few times at their previous sessions, but didn't think we were "friends" yet. They were so excited that I had done my first 2 tattoos since the last time I saw them that they demanded to get my 3rd and 4th tattoos. It was an honor. These women have around $20,000 of combined tattoo work between them, by amazing artists, but they wanted something from me. I could have stayed home and slept in, gone for a bike ride, done nothing. Instead, I went to work, did 2 tattoos in one day and left with $120 in tips. I'll be honest when I say I teared up when they gave me money for their tattoos. I'm not the best artist in the world. I'm definitely not the best tattooer they could have gone to. I don't get mad when I can't do a full Japanese back piece in my first month of tattooing. I'm working my hardest just to do a little butterfly silhouette on your ankle. I try hard, I'm humble and I'm real with people. Those three things will take you wherever you're trying to go. Thanks for reading this.

@xcom, official spam hunter of LST! :cool:

I think that your tattoo is pretty obviously a turtle. I wouldn't be too concerned about it. Tattoos bend around as the body moves. That's part of the beauty.

Thanks. Trevor Shea is awesome. Here is some more of his work on my woman.

Essentially healed tiger head from Tim Lehi. Done at the Summit Convention here in Colorado.

Andre Malcom the summer (confirmed interest just shelling out flights with the lady) freakin stoke. Getting entire right thigh done.

By Trevor Shea in Vancouver BC. Healed and no filer...seriously. Trevor is the Mike Roper of Canada in my opinion. Bodysuits that you will never see online.

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.

LOL, IDK. But I did take several advils since my artist was all for it. I'll skip the drugs and keep those for fun ;) - - - Updated - - - Well, I guess there is a method to their madness, so to speak. Fortunately, over all the arm is fairly easy and the bad spot relatively small. So, maybe thats why, they can get more out of a sitting doing it that way. I guess i wont rock the boat.

i hear a mom's voice saying "sit up straight!" maybe it's not a bad thing! good posture and well moisturized skin aren't bad byproducts of getting tattooed!! i'm currently typing this with perfect posture! i should start walking around with a copy of Grime's Iron Will on my head.

ROFL. - - - Updated - - - Its like bird food man. This thread just brings them all out...

Tell me about it. The ankle its a bitch... LOL Going to get mine blasted on the 8th of next month... Uuuugghhhh LOL

I've been going to the same guy for a while now. I feel like, whether by process of elimination or on purpose, I feel like my artist does the most painful stuff towards the end. If we're doing a spot that's mostly the same pain grade with a few exceptions, then I feel like I can stay in the zone longer if we hold the most painful areas til the end. Just my two cents. It's always gone that way for me - the feather in my armpit was towards the end, same with the snakes tail coming to my elbow, and almost the same situation with the drowning hand on my ankle. That and the fine lines in Poseidons hair felt like hot fire, but since we were over the halfway point, it was a good fire!

Painkillers are fine. You just have to take a lot and make sure to mix them with alcohol. I'd rather be a sissy with a lot of big tattoos than a tough guy without. Another good combo is nyquil and red wine. Heck even ibuprofen works if you take 1000mg.

Yeah, I thought the shin would be awful but I was in the zone for most of that. Back of the calf was painful, and even though we only did a couple of lines by the ankle I'm still dreading it...imagine the shading and full color!

I know this is a really old thread, but it has so much good info for noobs like me. I was curious to ask those of you with alot of work about any techniques you might share. I had my first sit for a 3/4 sleeve on friday. It is also my first tattoo, so I closley followed the advise on this thread about proper sleep, food and hydration. I was happily supprised that a good portion of my sit was really OK. I tolerated the first three hours very well....Until the last hour where he hit my under upper arm right below the pit. It was bad. Now, that I have that pivotal first sit under my belt. Im trying to figure out HOW im going to finish that under upper arm. So my question is....Have you found it easier to sit for those tougher spots when your fresh in your sit and your endorphins are really pumping then move onto the easier areas? Or is it just what it is? I have another 20+ hours ahead of me and am not sure the best way to proceed. Any help is appreciated! Thanks Nina

Visiting Toronto right now. Walk in at The Okey Doke on Sunday looks like it's a runner. I'm thinking some small fillers from Franz Stefanik if he's there. I'm minding my son all week while my wife works so this is something non kid friendly to do at the very end. ...Not that it isn't nice to be wandering around the city with him anyway. Really good place for families.

So Shon Lindauer is guesting in SF in June, so I'm going to save the flight down to LA and just get tattooed in SF.

Also dealing with a lot of back issues from work and trying to combat them before they get really bad. As of right now, I am seeing a massage therapist weekly (probably the best thing you can do), bought a foam roller for home, and will start seeing a network chiropractor once my muscles are sufficiently loose. Acupuncture and yoga will also help you tremendously. I know that all of this holistic stuff sounds like new age hippy crap, and if you think that then it's your loss, but it really does help and is essentially meant to work with the way that your body is naturally built and moves to help heal with internal facilities as opposed to external ones. I hope you feel better asap!! And also just know that this is something that you will have to deal with continuously, but if you do then it should be really mild and end up as just routine maintenance instead of "oh fuck this is a problem that I need to fix."

Did the whole front of my leg. Chin "ok" very tolerable, Side of calf and calf tolerable, ankle and ankle area..... fffuuuuuckkkkk! No thank you. It hurts like a mofo but was able to tolerate the pain. Unlike my back that some spot just made want to punch something, the leg so far has been a walk in the park...

This is my first (and not last!) skull, I guess it's traditional enough to fit in here. By Brian Via at Golden Ages. This was taken by him as soon as we were done, I really need to get some healed pics sometime.

Thanks for the comments guys the consult went really well! He is going to send me 4 completed drawings this week to see what I think and my appointment to get tattooed is in the middle of May!

You booked in with Dan. Can't wait to see what you get.

Well, I am no longer a plain skin gal. I made it 4 1/2 hours minus 1 potty break and 3 1minute stretch sessions. All while on the dreaded (.) and I now have the begenning of an awsome 3/4 sleeve. The worse part was the funny bone and under the arm pit. I think i may have been levitating about 6 inches off the bench the last half hour, but I never complained!!!!!! Im feeling really great about the session and I love my artists. Yay!

Deep breath... I've just sent an email to https://instagram.com/samuelebriganti/ requesting an appointment. Hopefully things will go better this time around.

couple from today...errr...yesterday - stolen from the artist IG traditional pieces by Shannon Pagliarini @ Crown and Anchor Tattoo in Pt. Pleasant, NJ

new lil dude from Hector Fong at Tattoo 13 in Oakland :)

I have a Thai mythological leg sleeve and hand tattoos. Done by IG: @fulltimetattoo back in 2007.

updating my 'upcoming status' 4/10 with Shannon Pagliarini @ Crown and Anchor Tattoo in Pt. Pleasant - no idea what I'm getting but probably a pair of traditional pieces - first time going into a session having no idea what I'm getting but I am really looking forward to it - hoping to snag some of her original art 4/29 with Jamie Sawyer @ Immortal Ink in Clinton - this is a custom piece 5/14 with Sheila Marcello @ Electric in Asbury - going the same route as I am with Shannon - gonna go in and pick one or two pieces of her work that day. And then...the break till fall

Hello friends. It's been a while since I've posted, as it had been a while since I've been tattooed. That ended today with the first sit on my back piece. Overall, I'd say it wasn't as awful as I expected, but certain areas were downright painful. Notably the bum. Next sit isn't for 9 weeks, so I've got time to mentally prepare myself for more pain. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've definitely had tattoos that behave like that and I think it's because of how the tattoo was applied. Mostly with really dense pieces with little negative space to breathe. I let the hot water run over it for as long as I can stand to loosen everything up, go at it with soap until everything is visibly gone and then call it quits. Another soak with witch hazel afterward to seal it up as much as possible and then back to my preferred aftercare routine.

yeah man, i just keep going. i don't use a lot of soap though, just take as much indirect hot water as i can stand under the shower.ouch!

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

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:

Don't think I've seen this one mentioned: support_good_tattooing is wasting huge amounts of my time the past few days.

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.

Well.....I went to Virginia Beach the Thursday night before the Richmond Tattoo show and woke up Friday morning to go to Ancient Art Tattoo (VaBch) to be tattooed by Scott Sterling! What was going to be a small banger to palm size tattoo.....turned into this........ Due to a lot of weight loss....I do have a roll on my side.....Scott used the fact that I have this and made it so the mouth opens and closes.....LMAO! Very fresh photos....sorry the photos isn't better!

When it comes to pain and tolerance I think it's important for you to find your sweet spot. The longest I've ever been tattooed was roughly 5.5 hours and I realized right afterwards that I never wanted to go through that again. It wasn't bad but unless your getting tattooed by an artist that isn't local or traveling great distances there is no need for it. For me I've learned that 3-4 hour sessions are the sweet spot depending on location of the piece. It isn't too short and it isn't too long.

I mean, I know that tattoos hurt, sometimes a lot, but I had some medical shit happen to me in the past year that was among the worst pain I have ever experienced, like pain that makes you vomit uncontrollably (for which I was prescribed far LESS in terms of painkillers than what some people are describing in this thread), and it's made me have a low, low tolerance for otherwise healthy people (i.e. without chronic problems that exacerbate what it means to sit for a tattoo!) not being able to grin and bare it through a tattoo. It really sucks sometimes, I am not disputing that, but we all deal with it. And we are doing this voluntarily. We are feeling the pain because of something we want, not because our body is telling us that we are ill. The pain also stops as soon as the needle does. If folks want to use painkillers or muscle relaxants to make the process easier, that's up to them and their tattooers--I have never found it worth the side effects, and I really resist the notion that it is ever "necessary". Like do whatever you want, but let's remember that just because something is really painful, doesn't mean that we can't just... deal with it. We all like to complain about how much tattoos hurt as some kind of bonding exercise, but we wouldn't still be getting tattooed if it really required sedation to survive!

@jonnyw - Is there really a need to take the pain down to a 3 or 4? A 7 isn't acceptable to minimize the side effects for a 4ish hour session? You really can't handle an upcoming 3+ hour session without being seriously drugged? And even then, you still have to split it into 2 sessions? So 60mg Vicodin+valium+muscle relaxant for what sounds like less than a 2 hour tattoo? I haven't read this entire thread in a while, but I doubt your conclusion that the general consensus is to dope up to this degree. Unless you have some medical pain issues you are being treated for, my only reaction to this is to man up. In full disclosure, I take 3 Advils at the start, and also 1/2 a 7.5 mg Vicodin pill at the start and the other half around hour 3. It is prescribed while I work through some very painful pelvis/spine problems that make it impossible for me to sit without a lot of discomfort. This very low dose makes sitting in a massage chair vaguely possible, and I find it does nothing for the tattoo pain.

Was lucky to get this dragon head from Horinao (IG: @horinao1) at the Bay Area Convention. Not sure if I want to add background to it later or leave it in that American piecewise style as I really like the negative space.

I have sometimes taken a prescription anti-inflammatory in conjunction with some over the counter pain relief medication, but in my view it's not necessary except if you are really pushing the boat out: A very very long single day's tattooing (6+ hours), or if you are getting tattooed many days back-to-back, and need to get as much done as possible. I have never bothered for a 'normal' single day's tattooing, or if the place being tattooed is an arm or a leg - somewhere where the pain level is simply not comparable to the back, ribs, belly, sternum etc. My experience is that, particularly when I was doing 2 days of tattooing back to back (or in one case, 3 sessions in 2 days back to back on my back piece) taking something can allow you to go that extra 2-3 hours when otherwise you might have to stop. It can slightly blunt the edge of getting tattooed somewhere very unpleasant. It's definitely not some kind of silver bullet or ticket to a pain-free tattooing experience. I feel like the healing process has never been affected. In fact, anecdotally I would say that the dramatically reduced swelling and discomfort from the anti-inflammatories might actually help the aftercare process overall. It's certainly easier on travelling afterwards. In addition to remembering that it's not going to make the whole process a walk in the park, I'd also echo @Pugilist when she says that prescription drugs aren't something to take a gamble on if you're already stressed out about being tattooed in a tough spot. It could result in nausea, disorientation etc. I have a friend who is a doctor and I ran things by him first. The final thing is the question of whether this interferes with some 'authentic tattoo experience'. I can only say that, having been tattooed for long sessions both with and without, at the end of the day there is not such a big difference. In my book, when I travel to get big work done, I want to get as *much* done as I reasonably can during my visit. This is a way to do that.