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I'll throw my hat in again this month with this piece, all healed and new :)

The winner of Tattoo of the month April 2015 is @heathenist with this killer piece by Matt Arriola! Congrats!! Please PM @steve1461686340 with your shirt info (size and male or female) along with your address.

Here's what I got on my NYC trip a few weeks ago. Eli Quinters Steve Boltz (didn't get a very good photo) Dan Nelson Got an appointment with Jeff Zuck at the Rochester convention tomorrow! Can't wait.

Derek Noble t-rex. Dark Age Tattoo. Couple more sessions to go. Neither traditional nor Japanese so nobody is going to like it -apologies.

Man.... I could write for hours about my relationship/family and tattoos I met my wife when I was 29. We were both in the throes of early-life (as opposed to mid-life) career crisis and met in college. I had already lived a hard, but fun life and she was well traveled, but somewhat sheltered in, ahem, alternative lifestyles. I had already been travelling, getting tattooed for 11 years and had 1 full sleeve and both legs from hip to ankle completely covered. We met in winter and I was fully clothed and not really advertising any ink. She saw the tattoos on my knuckles and peeking out from under my shirt cuffs, but wasn't deterred from getting to know me. Once we started actually dating (and therefore getting nekkid) she told me "as soon as I saw tattoos on your knuckles, I knew you had A LOT of tattoos". To me, that was like receiving her approval, no matter how off handed. I started to notice quickly just how different we were in terms of of our background, and the way we had gotten to this point in our lives. She was Pavorotti, I was a punk...She spoke French, I knew drug-speak...She had friends at the country club , I used a club on some ex-friends....you get the idea. Culinary school and our shared love for cooking was our common denominator. We laughed and loved and became the best of friends and through all of that, tattoos were never an issue. Both of our careers took off wildly and for what little "me" time I had, I wasn't having any desire to get tattooed. Mind you, not "never again". just not at the new, exciting and extremely busy time in my life. At this point the relationship is going well and I find myself accepting of EVERYTHING that I had told myself I would never, ever do....namely, getting married and having kids! It felt good to be settling into, what my parents would call "a normal adult". Normal is a relative term for me, and even though I was getting married and planning a family, I never wanted to give up all the things I held dear. My future bride seemed to be on board too, saying "I would never ask you to give up the things you love (music/tattoos etc.)". We even had many discussions about tattoos and the fact that, even though they weren't for her, she didn't really care what I did. good to know........ Fast forward about 18 years: My wife and I are still in love and have 2 pretty great kids. We've both since changed careers and things are going pretty well. I had always kept a distant eye on tattooing and what was going on with it. I always had in the back of my mind that the itch would come back and I would ride out my "later years" with some new ink. This was all in the back of my mind though and I never really talked about tattoos with my wife. I suspected that she had some growing concerns about the tattoos as my kids reached school age and I started to volunteer there. I was asked, by her, to "not wear shorts" when I volunteered or "can you put a band aid over the bad word" (I have a big Sailor Jerry dagger with the words "death before suck-ass" down my left shin). I understood but never had any idea of what was about to come. One day my wife came to me and said " would you ever consider getting any of your tattoos removed?" I was floored and I asked "which one(s)?" She said "well, from your knees down to your ankles on both legs", and she was serious. I didn't know how to respond except to say "Never!!!" She tried to explain that she thought that my tattoos where somehow hurting our (read:her) status in her job and in the community. I was flabbergasted...the women i had spent 18 years with was now, in my mind, against me and what i believed in. The conversation ended with me angrily saying " I'd rather cut my fucking legs off" to be continued..........

Done by Bradley Tompkins at Frith St. Great guy and great shop (borrowed his IG pic)

i smell hippys ;) <3

Matt Dinovo- Black Squirrel Tattoo, Omaha, Nebraska - - - Updated - - - I can't seem to post the right picture of this tattoo. The full picture is in my profile. Thanks for looking.

meh - why not?! last jar by jamie sawyer immortal ink clinton nj

It seems my lil'one changed his mind! he's now working on his hands! :) https://instagram.com/p/156lYfll4G/?taken-by=kizzzmiazzz

A few years ago, my little dude came to me with his shirt off and a temp tattoo placed smack dab in the middle of his chest... He puffs up and says " when I'm old enough I'm going to get tattoos JUST LIKE YOU daddy!!!" With a sly smile, I reply to him " Oh yeah, that's cool...but what makes you wanna get tattooed??" He says "because I want to be a bad guy and people will be scared to mess with me" I ask him if he thinks I'm a "bad guy" and people are scared of me because of the tattoos. He says "No. I know you're not a bad guy but I don't think that other people who see you, know that". "plus, all the villains in movies have them and....." he makes the knife with his finger going across his throat "they do bad things". I tried the best I could to explain that I could to his 5 year old brain that tattoos are NOT just for bad guys, a lot of "regular" people have them too. I showed him that photo last night and asked him if he remembered that conversation we had and if he still wanted to get tattoos just like daddy, when he grew up. "Nah, everyone has tattoos now...plus , Mom would probably kill me". we had a good laugh.....

I felt a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of hipsters suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something amusing has happened.

To balance out Matt Arriola Jesus, I'll throw in my Theo Mindell devil. Finished a few weeks ago at Spider Murphy's in San Rafael Ca. Photo stolen from his instagram

Asking for relationship advice on a tattoo forum...of course the answer will be GET A NEW TATTOO ! If you are hopeful that it is truly "a break" - then hang on bro but watch out because the heart bruises easily. I would be cautious, because what may happen is you wait around and put your life on hold only to find out she's already moved on. So just like a tattoo, make a decision to what YOU want and commit to it. On a side note, best advice I received from my buds...go bang some other people :p But be true to yourself and spirit, stay pure good luck

Picked up this snake from Emiliano at Frith Street a few weeks ago. Just need a panther now so I can call myself a real LST member!

One more benefit of having tattoos!

Booked in with Tim Mcalary at Port City Tattoo in Long Beach. Getting close to finishing my arms.

I'm with you! My 14-year-old drew an arrow in the inside of her ring finger the other day. Questioning her only results in heavy sighs and eye rolls, lol. Your buddy's point is valid. You can't shock your parents with tattoos or piercings anymore, and kids today aren't angry at their parents anymore, so that's the reason (my theory, anyway) modern "rock" sounds like folk music today.

@UglyButProud That is the most adorable and funny story!

I haven't been around the forum for a long time. My computer went all haywire on me. Also, I had not got a tattoo in a really long time, until yesterday. And so naturally, I wanted to put it here to see what everyone thinks... :) I got this Ed inspired Tex Avery wolf/Panther/water mix up from Steve Byrne at Rock of Ages in Austin. Photo stolen from his Instagram.

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.

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:

Hi Everyone, I dont do too well talking about myself but I'll give it a try. Since this is a forum for Tattoo aficionados, I'll try and stick with that and not stray. I'm sort of old for a person to get into tattoo's I guess. At 35 I have a solid 18-20 years on many collectors when they first started. I never saw myself as the type of person to get a tattoo. I'm just super fickle. Plus, I always lamented my more embarrassing styles growing up so I was never willing to commit to something permanent. Now that I'm older I embrace that I once had a mullet, once had a metal phase, tried the goth thing, even was a cowboy for a while. Thinking back to my mullet used to create a small pang of embarrassment (it was a serious mullet...like Billy Ray had a candy ass mullet compared to me). But now I embrace it as part of what makes me...Me. Now that I can embrace things like that rather than regret them, I feel I 'm in a mental place to get tattoo'd. I've also realized that I have a really crappy memory. I've also realized that I have a really crappy memory. I remember being places, having feelings associated with an event, but rich details about my past elude me. I have a tough time living in the moment and tend to always focus on the future. I think that makes me a bit aloof and thus I never solidly lay down the neural pathways for cool memories. I dont want to be a boring old person who cant remember all their own stories. To me, tattoos seem a way to cement a memory in physical form and help one to remember details otherwise forgotten. Take my scars for example...I love every one of them. And when I look at them I am transported back to the event of their creation and all the feelings, events, people involved in my life at that time. I love that! Lets see... I suck at Art. By suck I dont mean "You really should work on adjusting the angle of your light source..." No no no my friends. By suck at art I mean unable to draw a fucking smiley face. My stick figures are so bad, that were inability to draw a disease, I would need to be put down. I chose a life of science instead...and thank the Lord almighty. Dont get me wrong, I love artistic expression (I'm here right), I just need someone else to express it for me. So that leads into my profession, I'm a doggy doctor, porcine proctologist, Shiba Inu shaman, a feline wangateur...or just a veterinarian. I also happen to be in the Army (at least for a few more weeks). So, I'm a vet (veterinarian) and a vet (veteran) - VetSquared. Tattoos - none yet. I have two days booked with Uffe Hansen of Meatshop in Copenhagen this June. The wifey and I are going to take our first real break from the youngin and take a holiday to Denmark (and get a rad tattoo). I'm not really into tribal, or neo-tribal, but they are doing some amazing dot work in a, I guess, "Neo-Nordic" style and I just love it. Plus my last name originates from a character in Norse mythology so I figure it fits. I also just booked a consultation with Horitomo this December. Hopefully that means we'll get started in February sometime...not really sure. Honestly, I'm not sure an image has ever resonated with me as much as his Monmon cats. Dont want to say too much until its in my skin...but I'll share when they're done and healed. Basically, It'll be a Nordic wolf like image on the left lower leg, a Monmon on the right lower leg. I'm a small animal veterinarian, cats and dogs make up 90% of what I do all day. I'll have a dog on one leg and a cat on the other. Honestly, I am still wrestling with where I want the Monmon cat. I like the lower leg because, if you're special, I can pull up my pant leg and show it to you. But it's also a great piece of artwork from a famous artist and thus feel like it needs a higher place of honor, like my shoulder/upper arm. Feel free to chime in. To finish off - my hobbies. I'm into adventure motorcycling. I have a dual sport bike fitted out for adventure travel. Done a couple big rides, including across america on dirt roads from east to west. Planning an around California ride this summer, starting in So-Cal, going up through Sequoia, yosemite, kings, over to the lost coast, and back south. Going for as much dirt road as we can find. I also like mountain biking, backpacking, fly fishing, and building stuff. I'm not very good at responding to PM's, or even on my own threads...I'm just too damn busy to sit at my computer all the time and Tapatalk doesnt work for shit. I'll try and get email notifications set up so I actually communicate. I also tend to not be a huge participant in online forums because, frankly, there are just too many dicks...so, so many dicks. Albeit, the only other forum I'm on is ADVrider. And, as everybody knows, all motorcyclists are assholes ;) You all seem to be a pretty good lot though. Hopefully I'll find this site more inclusive. Cheers, Clint

I really love traditional style crosses and sacred hearts, but I'm wrestling with if I'd ever want to get one on myself because I'm not religious at all. My boyfriend is a Catholic, and in his opinion, it's sacrilegious for a Catholic to get a sacred heart (maybe even more so than an atheist/agnostic). Not saying my boyfriend's opinion is the be all end all, but I'd never really thought about it that way. I'm not sure I'd want someone to see an image that's linked with Christianity and assume I'm Christian, or worse, assume I'm trying to be blasphemous. I just like how they look. But in a world where tattoos have to have a meaning, I'm not sure I want people making assumptions about what they're supposed to mean.

@beez thx boo ;-*

@tacifone break ups suuuuuuck! sorry you're having to go through it right now. finding a hobby to immerse yourself in to keep your hands and mind busy is a great help. A strong support network is a plus, too. Good luck man!

Dark Hippies ? :D It's a possibility..there are so many theories out there it makes my head spin sometimes. All interesting but then there are some really frilly stories about angels etc. that just sound too fairytale- ish :D But then again.. weird stuff I have experienced for myself. I'm just not so quick to paint a colorful picture. I think a demon can represent both. The whole "Angels are good" and "Demons are bad" thing is more of a modern religious view I suppose. A demon could look pretty awesome as a tattoo with all the detail and shading.

had my chest down about 20 years ago by a friend, i had at least 20 hours of tattooing before that so i thought it would be a breeze. My pal hadn't much experience and was really digging for gold with the needle. At one point he said I'm going to give my self a hernia. I was gritting my teeth so hard haha. The thing is when i went back a couple of weeks later to get it finished and knew what to expect it was fine, hurt but not that bad. All power of the mind!

Today at noon I start getting color in my arm 3/4 sleeve. :) I'm so excited I can't believe it's fianlly happening. I spent the day yesterday with my hubby and our artist, while he started a giant octopuss on his back. Wow is all I can say.

It is a very interesting theme :) We will be in Canada the following year but we collect information now. Studios in Canada generally take guests on a temporary job? Such methods are generally practiced?

1979...I was 12, bored-sitting around with my older friends (15-16 y/o) who were smoking hash and doing hand pokes. I was dared to get marked by one of these role models, so not to look like wuss...I said "hell yeah". ended up getting "OZZY" on my knuckles (even though I knew Iommi was the man...duh, it wouldn't work)...it hurt like hell and I smoked so much harsh afterwards, I nearly threw up. my mom saw it few days later as 2 knuckles got infected and was pissed. she tried to scrub the infection and the marks right outta my skin but to no avail. For awhile, I was the baddest 7th grader in my school. GOOD TIMES!!!

My lower back tattoos felt like having the bone tattooed :/ so compared to that all the other tattoos were nothing. I have to say piercings hurt much less though. I had a nape piercing in the past, 9 minutes of poking and creating a tunnel...really not bad at all.

My husband has zero piercings or tattoos, and I have both. He's into Jimmy Buffett and I'm into the Dead Kennedys. He accompanies me to punk shows (what's left of them these days) and to the tattoo parlor, and supports whatever I'm into. Our next anniversary will be 25 years! Opposites attract sometimes... P.S. I took him to a Buffett concert last year for his birthday and had to walk out to the parking lot. Could. Not. Take. It. He's a much better spouse than I!

As a kid I was raised Catholic, and I always really loved the art and imagery long after I stopped attending church or really believing. I felt kind of weird getting an overtly Christian/Catholic image, despite my fondness for them. Additionally, as a kid, baseball was a huge influence on my life. It was the first sport I really cared about and a way to spend time with my dad and brother. What better way to combine my two than the Phillie Phanatic coupled with the virgin mary? Plus, the Phillies kind of always need a prayer. Also, seeing @mmikaoj's ROA on the last page reminds me that a friend has a killer one with a Pennsylvania keystone rock instead of a cross from Justin Weatherholtz. It's pretty incredible. I'll see if I can snag a pic.

You can have full coverage with trad, particularly if you really pack in fillers. Oliver Peck has denser coverage up close than a lot of Japanese suits in a way. Hard to read though, even nearby. Even without star background or whatever I'm reminded of a Stuart Cripwell bodysuit in progress that Id hesitate not to call "full coverage". Just an aside.

Welcome dude! Adventure motorcycling sounds awesome, I'd love to give that a try some time. You sound like a good guy, and are doing it right with your first tattoos! I hope you stick around; this place tends to be a hell of a lot more friendly than most forums, and extremely informative/interesting. Lastly, thank you for your service to this country, and to our pets! I like my dogs more than most people, so vets are pretty rad in my book!

I'm not Buddhist. I've always loved the image. I like the phylosophy. I've always wanted a Buddha tattoo. I wanted it to have a famine touch, but not a Quan Yin. I love my buddha. Keeps me a little enlightened.

One I did. The wearer has one sleeve already. Started this one from the bottom up.

To revive this old threat on a good subject, I present the first ever picture on the internet of my Rock of Ages thigh piece Done by Peter Lagergren in the spring of 2013. I like it a lot. Hope for the future of humanity and individual freedom lies in abandoning metaphysical dogmas and authority imposed superstitions. By doing so we can search for what is true.

As other have said, take some time to plan and definitely consult with your artist or even seek out those whose work you admire. If you are into nautical themes and traditional style work, the history of modern tattooing is deeply rooted in that imagery. Check out classic stuff by the forefathers like Cap Coleman, Paul Rogers, Bert Grimm and Sailor Jerry (to name a few). As an old guy...my advice would be "pace not race". You have a damn nice start, but if you enjoy getting tattooed, what's the hurry? Use your travels to the advantage of getting work by people you admire around the globe!

I too would recommend a breather until you have a solid idea of what you want, rather than just trying to get space filled in a certain time period. You have plenty of time to come up with something that is meaningful to you and will work with what you already have, maybe after Bahrain. Being in a hurry can often result in work that you might not always be thrilled with, but I 100% understand how hard it is to be patient. It is also good advice to work with your artist, since you already have a good relationship going. He could probably come up with something that will work well in the spaces you want to fill. What you have now is great work!

Great collection so far!

Soooo, I had a thought recently that Hubbs should let ME chose his back piece tattooer and subject because I was the one who was going to see it ALLLL of the time and vice versa. He didn't go for it. But isn't that just the most practical and wonderful idea y'all have ever heard? I could wake up to a giant Horitomo Kanon EVERY morning! I'm certain it would make me a better spouse.

50 dollars... Thats it? I lost over 200 on a deposit... Well not fully lost as he will honor it when ever I would like but I consider it lost... I will lose 1000 before I ink my skin with something or somebody that I don't like.

I don't think it was you or the freedom you gave him. You went to the wrong dude.

Genuinely curious- why go ahead and let him tattoo you it if you weren't happy with what he came up with for you?

In Progress by Matt Dinovo. BLACK SQUIRREL TATTOO.

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

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