Leaderboard

I had a couple of little fillers done by Nikki Balls from Tattoo Paradise in D.C. while she was in Toronto at The Pearl. I got a pig and a heart. Filling in them sticks. I met Nikki a couple of years ago when she tattooed an octopus on the inside of my bicep. Good people.

I love doing that. Don't think I posted this on LST, but I am 90 percent done with my left arm now. Filler by Tim McAlary at Port City Tattoo LBC, CA ALL DAY. Great experience getting tattooed by Tim. Highly recommended. Port City has some heavy hitters.

I've been tattooed by dozens of people, and I wouldn't trade those experiences. That said, after seeing this arm by Paul Dobleman, I wish I had given him a full limb:

Might as well add my recent tattoo to this thread. ;) Done by Steve Byrne at Rock of Ages in Austin.

Mine is also an Ed Hardy story. Moved from Boston to S.F. in 2001. I hadn't been tattooed in a while but was starting to get back into it. Ed was still tattooing, but not as often, and he wasn't cheap. I managed to get on his list and got called a while later, just as I had been laid off. So, I politely declined because I thought rent and food was more important. Ugh.

Got a small filler from Grez yesterday.

done by tony hundahl at the oklahoma tattoo convention one shot drawn on

Did you ever have the chance to get work done by someone and passed it up for one reason or another? You shake your head in disgust every time you think about it? I don't mean a wishlist, but actual stories of the one that got away. Mine was Ed Hardy around 1992 @ Tattoo City. I had already traveled out to S.F. twice and had work done by Eddy Deutsche, Dan Higgs and guest artist Henk Schiffmacher. Both times I hung around the shop for 2-3 days solid and stayed with Eddy and Alex Herman. Saw my first lungfish show then too.... The third time I went out to get work done by Marcus Pacheco and have Eddy finish my sleeve, Ed was around the shop for a couple days, which i hadn't seen on my previous visits. I asked Eddy to introduce me if possible. He did, and told Ed I was his old (Eddy's) friend from "the mean streets of Detroit" which wasn't really true. Ed was cordial but all business as he looked up for a second, shook my hand, and went back to his business. I mentioned to him "I would love to get some work done" by him and I was travelling to S.F. a couple times a year to get tattooed. Eddy told me "every once in a while, Ed will come in a do a few walk ins and leave. As I was staying with Eddy, I got invited to go to the movies "with a bunch of guys from the shop". That night Eddy and I went and met Corbin, Higgs, Igor Mortis and a few others at the theater to see American Me. As we were hanging around outside bullshitting, Ed Hardy walks up and we all go in and see the movie. The next day, As Eddy was finishing my sleeve, I noticed Ed in the shop again. I went out of my way to say Hi when he came over to see what Eddy was doing. He was polite and hung around for a few minutes,then vanished. Later, when we were done, I saw Ed again. This time he said to me " I have some time later (when he got back from an errand or something) if you wanna get tattooed". I nearly shit myself..... I said, I would talk to him when he got back.... I was simultaneously flustered/excited/nervous. This was my shot to get tattooed by one of the greats and I had almost NO MONEY! I had already withdrawn all the money in my bank account and my 1 credit card was maxed. I asked Eddy if he would give me back the money I just paid him with the promise i would repay him in a week or two with interest..he said No, he needed what I paid him. I called my mom to wire me money and was again told "NO"! When Ed got back to the shop, I had to embarrassingly tell him "thanks. but can't do it this time". I told him I would be out again and would DEFINITELY love to get some work done. He smiled and said "nice meeting you". well, you can guess the rest.......... Share your stories about the one(s) that got away!

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

Going in in September for my left side/ribs with Yoni Zilber - for a dagger and skull, after that my right thigh (bird/flower) with ???, then I can concentrate working on my back (TBD).

@marley mission, @Graeme have some good advice.... My 2 cents would be "pace not race" meaning, don't rush it.... sounds like you waited this long. The cool experience for a lot of folks, including myself, about getting tattooed is the adventure. Wait and see how you feel about the first one. If you dig it and want to commit to a sleeve, see what/who else is out there. Take a road trip or plan part of a vacation around getting tattooed by someone you may have discovered. There is soooo many GREAT artists out there, it won't be hard. I personally think several artists mashed together, especially for traditional imagery, looks cool.... Nothing wrong with sticking with one artists either....just take your time either way!

@UglyButProud = trust this is your sad part of the story - but - how special is it that you got to actually MEET all these folks . . . - - - Updated - - - this would fit into the "regret" part of the thread - back around 1976 - while living on a serviceman's wage, somehow actually saved the funds, made the arrangements took the subway (+ more) from Manhattan to White Plains and got a piece on my back from Spider Web. Given the pre-internet age combined with me being a post-hippie (fill-in-the-blank) sun-worshiper - I gave the artwork hell, and over the years it suffered accordingly. To make matters worse I THEN let some hack tattooist convince me he could bring it back to life. Needless to say the mistake was made - and I permitted destroying what was left of an eclectic piece of history. Embarrassing and a crushing shame, to say the least. I've since covered up the resulting abomination. I love the educational properties of the internet . . .

Another sitting with Grez this Saturday during the Hardy weekend at Kings Avenue.

Tony Hundahl filler and Chad Koeplinger blastover in a couple of weeks, and finish my leg with Marius Meyer in July

My newest, I call him my Paleolithic pony. My back is to be dedicated to important events in human culture, and he's the first.

Always wanted to stand out, rebel, or buck the system. As a youngster I tried to be a hippie in the 70's but my older cousin had to explain that the movement was "over." I was sorely disappointed. Teen years I discovered the punk scene (80s) and found my groove. There was a lot of dysfunction, sadness, misery, anger, substance abuse, etc. in that scene, which I didn't really have myself, but the music and lifestyle transformed me. So, so exciting and a wonderful outlet for frustration. Now, my kids see the old pics and there are documentaries and discussion about some of the bands and the culture in general, and my kids think it is SOOOO cool that I was a part of that (East Coast, DC scene) but I have to remind them of what brought most people into that life, and that was feeling alienated by their parents, school, the world, and that we lost a lot of friends to substance abuse, suicide and careless accidents due to the extreme marginal lifestyle. I consider myself lucky. (RIP D. Brockie)

I was born in '81, which was a weird time for geeks in general. Like, I was too young to do the 80's punk thing, but Pokemon was after my time. I played a lot of video games. A lot. Basically from the moment I was big enough to work the controllers for my dad's Atari 2600. I still have my original NES, even. Incredibly, it still works. I guess that part hasn't changed much, since I still play an ungodly amount of video games. Not sure what else we had going on in elementary school. Micro machines? Voltron? Oh -- haha. MUDs. AOL used to let you play Gemstone III through it. And there was that BBS game before AOL was even a thing, L.O.R.D.? Oh my god, I am old. I played around with writing little 'choose your own adventure' stories in QBasic. Played all kinds of text adventures (think Zork) -- my dad was into those, too. He also turned me on to science fiction; he gave me his copies of Clarke's 'Rama' series and pushed me to read Greg Bear. He was always into out-there fiction...I saw Eraserhead with him, and Tetsuo: Iron Man with him not much later than that, and this probably explains a lot about me. I guess grunge was a thing when I was in middle school. That's right around the time I discovered comics, which was a brief love affair, irreparably stained by the fact that the local comic book store owner pushed me to only buy series from Image. :/ We played a few card games. Magic, some Star Trek game, I forget what else. My brother was into pogs. Dead serious. Pretty sure my magic cards (which are all Ice Age) are in a shoebox around here somewhere. I was a band nerd too. Played flute for about 11 years, did symphonic, marching, pep, and jazz bands, and went to All State and Solo & Ensemble every year. After I went away to New England for high school, I had to drop that, but it gave me more time to do theater things. That's when I finally got into punk music -- I guess that was more the NOFX/Misfits/etc. punk era than old-school stuff. I eventually got into RPGs through Shadowrun, though I only ever got to play it online, in what is the nerdiest text-based environment you can imagine. (Really.) I wish someone had gotten me into 40kz! There was nothing tabletop-ish, mini or otherwise, near me where I grew up. I have good gaming buddies who regale me with stories about 40k lore and their crazy Necromunda games. They paint figures. I'm always totally fascinated by it. Sadly, my few experiences with 40k nerds who aren't 'them' left something to be desired. Like tact.

I'm doing both! One of my arms is all one artist, and the other will be one tattoo from any given artist, though the size of the pieces so far means it'll probably fill up pretty fast, hah. If you decide to do your arm one way, theoretically you always have the other one to do the other way (unless you don't, in which case another limb will hopefully suffice).

Something tells me @Iwar 's wallet just let out a pained scream

Have an appointment with Curtis Burgess on July 12th for a creature mashup that is yet to be determined. It will be a fun day trip to Colorado.

Compromise, just go to Spider Murphys and get tattooed by everyone there. Oh and Stuart Cripwell. Btw, good advice above. Not much needs to be added.

Diary of an Opinionated Housewife: TATT2AWAY. Success or Failure? You tell me ...

I love that pig so much.

The world-wide transportation industry has us by the short-hairs, but weather doesn't help.

I agree with @marley mission, get the tattoo and see. If you're going to piece many smaller tattoos together into something larger you don't have to decide anything right away. There are advantages and disadvantages to each approach but both can land you with something great so it's really entirely a matter of personal preference.

I recently completed my right sleeve (an 18 month project), and with two exceptions it was done by multiple (5) artists from the same shop. For the most part, it chronicles my time I spent caring for my wife as she battled and lost her life to brain tumors. The folks at Envy Skin Gallery "get it" and made me a part of their family. I cannot thank Billy Hill and Company enough. Fuck Cancer.

get your first out of the way - see how the experience goes i think its alot of fun going to different artists suprising you have 62 posts and no ink yet ;) get on with it :)

Those tattoos are great, thanks for sharing them with us and welcome!

I wish I'd gotten something from Mike Malone other than tribal rosettes (in green, at that), but I was a young idiot. I've since cured myself of the young part.

I got a "mom" heart tattooed on my wrist as an ode to the woman that gave me life. I also thought at the time, it would stop her from nagging about all the tattoos i was getting. See, I was inspired (sort of) by my dear mom having a small tattoo on her back a being in awe of how many people complemented her on it.... When I showed her the mom tattoo I got on my wrist "for her", she wasn't impressed and said... "I hope that's the last one" Love you mom!!!

bam! its a triangle seriously sick, awesome foot piece dude

Back on the table in 1 week. Colour, detail and patterns on the monks robe for my backpiece. Also may be planning a tattoo pit stop in BC with my wife on our way back home to Alberta from the lake this summer. May hit up Five Fathoms Tattoo in Vernon for her (well prob me too) and Timber Tattoo in Nelson to get some more work from Shawn O'Connor.

Get tattooed by Carolyn, y'all! She's the raddest of the rad.

I started my back last Thursday with Alex Binnie at Into You in London. The snakes head, and the maple leaves were stencils, and the snakes body was drawn on. The outline will continue onto my backside, and will be done next time. The time tattooing was roughly between 3 1/2 - 4 hours.

Loving this mate :)! - - - Updated - - - Done by Ryan Evans :) Sorry for the craps photos, there is a video on my Facebook and instagram pages. 8.5 hours, puff adder with an ant on its nose tip, always loved that photo so thought I would get it done, still in progress :)

My nerdiness was school related. I got straight As, did Academic Bowl and Spanish Academic Bowl, and got a Golden Ticket out of my crappy home town. I was totally a nerdy red head with braces and glasses. :rolleyes: I still am, I guess. A nerdy red head with glasses and tattoos.

As I mentioned in my intro thread, I've always been fascinated by tattooing, even going so far as to experiment on myself when I was a child. Pokemon was huge in my childhood (and still is, if we're being completely honest). I also got into anime and video games pretty hardcore, which has thankfully dimmed down into a casual interest. But my biggest passion as a child, and indeed now, is wildlife, and exotic pets. I started working with snakes when I was four, and now I have ten snakes, four lizards, two frogs, eighteen spiders, and a centipede, which is a subject for a different thread. There is a huge overlap between the tattoo/piercing community and the reptile/amphibian/invert community. Many, if not most, people in the reptile community have multiple tattoos and piercings, and I distinctly remember a reptile show being held the same weekend as a tattoo show, and most of the people at the reptile show were running back and forth between locations. I think both shows got a lot of extra business like this! Having said that, I grew up around lots of people with tattoos, and my parents never made anything of it. Most of them were super nice, and were more than happy to indulge my interests. I suppose this has contributed a lot to my interest and positive view of tattooed people and the community.

I played a lot of Magic The Gathering during my early teen years. Tons of cool fantasy art on those cards. 5th edition Serra Angels and Shivan Dragons were some of my favorite cards. I guess you could consider it my first art collection. So many memories of hanging out in a hobby shop on Saturdays playing Or trading with strangers.

I collected and played 40k also. First of all, I think it had an exceptionally well-supported art department with some really talented artists and designers. They also had good writers and hence the burgeoning second business as a SF publishing house (Black Library) in addition to the gaming. I can't say that my teenage tabletop gaming led me into getting tattooed but it was definitely part of a lifelong love of SF / Fantasy. In terms of subcultures there was a slight cross over with martial arts. I was going to Japan when I was in college to train martial arts about once a year (we did nothing else when we were there, lived on instant ramen and vending machine beer). The headmaster of the school was friends with Horiyihshi III.

Speaking of deep fryers, I just went through the humiliation of trying on new bathing suits (even the most body-positive person could get bummed out when faced with women's swimwear) and am now feeling like, fuck it, tattoo over everything.

Got my second session in on this free hand piece by London Reese at The Vatican Studios in Lake Forest,CA First was done in 4 hrs Second was done after 6 hrs good times! but next appointment isnt for several months unfortunately. anyways, thanks for looking! -Joey

Another Jeff Zuck piece from the Roc City Tattoo Expo. Rad guy, Great tattooer.

Here ya go @chrisnoluck Getting a cramp in my leg trying to stare at this thing

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

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

I don't understand how anyone can make absolute statements about the value of one type of art vs the other. It all has value to different people in different ways.

Some people's tattoo worlds seem really small... (In my own world, there are lots of cool different ways to get tattooed.)

From a personal standpoint: I have one-point tattoos so far. I am sometimes impulsive. Don't really see an issue with my tattoos possibly conveying this about me...

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