Leaderboard

after almost 7 years of getting tattooed i just finally got my FIRST eagle the other day... thanks to tony sellers while he was guest spotting @ tattoo marks for the week.

I got this done by Jonas Nyberg at the Helsinki ink convention at the end of march and finally got my gf to get a decent photo of it so here it is!

Finally I have something new to report. Let's see if I remember how to post a pic. I got this little clipper while on a trip to Amsterdam (which was rad, as one might imagine). The shop, Tattoo Peter (named for its founder) is the oldest shop in Amsterdam established in 1955 and in its current location since 1977. Cool little shop with walls lined with amazing old flash. My artist, Bill Loika, is a super cool laid back dude from the US now living in Amsterdam. I had a goal to get tattooed by someone older than I am which is becoming increasingly difficult ;) Mission accomplished ! Bill is still in the game at 66. Awesome! The pic is of the fresh tattoo. Healing this sucker has been a bitch for some reason. I'm kinda bummed that the detail of the Dutch flag has yet to reveal itself. Fingers crossed. The design is from Tattoo Peter flash from the 60's. Also a pic of Bill with old Tattoo Peter flash in the background. Sideways pics dammit ! Apologies...[ATTACH=CONFIG]12615[/ATTACH]

more work done tonight. next appt is the end of June. The frog is getting redone in this go 'round-he's kinda old (15 years or so I think) so he would look out of place I thought.

you want to be 100% shitless during the ass sessions.

Can we all take a quick second to appreciate how awesome @Iwar's @livedintattoos account it?

I started following a couple people I found with the #lastsparrow tag, hope you guys don't mind. :)

I hate to be that guy who double posts but I was told that the recent tattoo pics are supposed to go in this thread compared to the upcoming tattoos thread haha. Here is a pic of my tattoo I got on Sunday from Nik Moore at Scarab Body Arts in Syracuse, NY.

Welp, I booked my first appointment (July 14) to start a full back piece with Kelly Edwards today ( https://instagram.com/kellyedwardstattoo ). I'm 56% so excited I probably won't sleep until the appointment, 44% scared shitless. I have a lot of general ideas for potential incorporation, but I feel like I'm going to annoy the poor man to death. Most painful place I've been tattooed so far is collarbone and near the nipple... so this should be a riot.

Anyone who follows me on Instagram has seen this, but here's a little teaser shot of my arm from Grez. I said from the beginning that I wasn't going to post progress shots much because I love that feeling of just seeing the whole completed piece, and I'm amazed I mostly stuck to that. Haha. Now that next month is likely the last sitting, I can see end in sight and can't wait to share it.

Just to further pipe up on the whole all is brutal commentary. Finished shading my ass and right thigh on Saturday. Currently still dreading sitting, then standing, or going to the bathroom. Have fun!

This is so true! The ass is a brutal place to get tattooed. So glad I never have to go through that again!!

The situations when being around kids are the hardest. I was almost always shunned by other parents in every situation involving my kids and social interaction. It always took a while for other parents to get to know me before they stopped rushing in to rescue their kids from the "weird tattooed guy". Although I had tattoos for 10-12 years before my kids were born, it still took me some time to adjust to strong/negative reactions I got from other parents. The strangest thing anyone has ever said to me regarding tattoos was "you must be so sad every day that you ruined your life with all those tattoos"....... my reply was a surly, "yes, I asked our lord and savior to forgive me everyday, please pray for my soul" as she was clearly a religious kook... Even though I'm not from a small town, it was still rough in the late 80's, early 90's having a lot of tattoos. Rough as far as stares/comments and general disdain for "my kind".. I was a delivery driver for a beverage company for many years and my company thought it was a great idea to send the 6'3" long haired tattoo guy to all the worst, inner city stops they had. Their reasoning was "he won't upset the upscale store owners and who will mess with him in the bad areas?" It suited my personality, so it didn't take long to adapt. I think the people in the inner city areas were baffled by my tattoos but pretty quick to accept me as they knew what it was like to be outcast too... At one point, I got so sick of answering the same 3-4 questions I got asked 1000x a day, I had business cards made to give to people instead of having the same exhausting discussion over and over. They said: TATTOOS....YOU BET!!! a: Yes, they're real !!! a:Yes, they're permanent !!! a:Yes, it hurt !!! a: No, I don't regret a single one !!! The back of the card had a rant about "if the card didn't answer all your questions, see a reputable tattoo shop near you" and the quote "the only difference between tattooed people and non- tattooed people is tattooed people don't care if YOU have tattoos or not" Anyway, I don't get as much attention now-a-days now that plenty of younger people have hands/feet/necks/faces tattooed and every pop star and NBA player is fully tattooed!

@xcom can I ask why you're hashtagging pictures of your grocery shopping with #lastsparrow?

Tattoo by Eckel - - - Updated - - - Tattoo by Chris ODonnell

I think it's common for people to get "problem areas" tattooed to help them like those body parts more. I personally have never thought a tattoo made a certain part of the body look worse, if anything, it's a huge distraction from flaws. If you want it on your foot, go for it.

I don't have the slimmest of ankles, either, and that's where I got my first tattoos - on both of them. I urge you not to judge yourself, or label your body parts with pejoratives, lol, and simply get a tattoo where you feel led to get on placed. I knew my first tattoos were meant to go on my ankles, though I have no real explanation for why, and that's what I did. I even got my tattoos circumferentially around each ankle, which, if you listen to the style gurus, cuts off your leg and makes short legs look shorter (not supposed to wear ankle straps on shoes, for instance). To hell with that crap! Ignore our image-obsessed culture and do what you like, and get a tattoo that YOU like.

I forgot I made this embarrassing post! Thank you all for the encouragement and positive vibes :) I like the idea of trying henna first to see what it might look like. The foot/ankle would be the most all-year-round visible spot I'd have a tattoo, so I am having more than my normal amount of anxiety over placement. Alternatively, I'm also considering the back of my upper left arm (above the elbow) for this piece (a fox head and some patterned bits around it). I'm so terrible with decisions -- especially about tattoo placement. I've been looking at pictures of tattooed people on the internet for weeks now, trying to get a feel for how tattoos look in certain spots on the body. Classic overthinker, right here. Thanks again for the indulgence, guys! You really are the best. - - - Updated - - - Picture! :) And thank you for the encouragement!

@keepcalm, I have fugly feet. Imagine Hobbits and The Beast from the X-Men movies. Didn't even occur to me when I got my feet tattooed. I just wanted to get tattooed. I think you'll be fine. As what is usually said, get what you want. I'm sure you'll love it. Tip, when you do get it, keep your feet elevated and take willow bark capsules to help reduce swelling.

By Tim Pausinger, Pearl Harbor Giftshop, Toronto. I don't have experience with the most painful spots (ribs, back, butt). This was not as brutal as I expected but certain spots closer to the armpit felt like hot pokers up and out through my shoulder haha !

My back is feeling pretty raw oooof. I've used a light hit of A&D 3 times in the last week. Dry heal FTW ! My backpiece is near completion, which is a rewarding feeling as I could use some relief from constantly healing tattoo. Starting to feel like a reptile !

Just got home with this one. Still swollen...

Hard to get a good picture of the elbow. Done by Chad Koeplinger last night!

Session 3 done, backpiece done (although we have already talked about adding background - my bank account and body both screamed in unison). Such a cool experience, i've met some awesome people, had some great times and i've come out of it with a tattoo that i have to keep reminding myself is actually mine. To think that 6 months ago there was nothing, it's crazy! Already posted in the latest tattoo thread but i had to bring it to my chums in the backpiece thread! I now looking forward to sitting back and seeing what the rest of you guys are getting, bring em on!

Gotcha.

I don't have thick ankles particularly, but I do have pretty beefy calves. They're just very, very muscular, to the extent that I don't often fit into zip-up knee-high boots (which sucks, because I love themmmmmmm). I used to worry about this kind of thing with shoe choice. Can I wear the boots with the big piece in front? What about booties in general? Won't that make my leg look wide all the way down? I don't really worry about this anymore. If you look happy in what you're wearing, people roll with it. If you look uncomfortable and nervous, they notice. There is no substitute for genuine joy. Plus, I second the person above who said that tattoos can be transformative! Mine made me love my fat upper arm long before I started getting back into shape.

... why do I feel that it's the most awkward subject to approach when talking tattoos? Surely I can't be the only one? I'm by no means suggesting that tattoos should be cheap, and I'm certainly aware that you pay for what you get. Totally. I'm willing to pay fair-coin for good work. I will never haggle with prices. If I couldn't afford, I'd wait and save until I could. It's just that the topic of how much a tattoo is going to end up costing seems 'taboo'. For my first ever tattoo, a walk in with a specific design, I was quoted one price. After the design was printed on that fancy carbon paper stuff, his colleague told him the price should in fact be X amount. After reviewing the stencil again, my artist then added MORE onto the cost. Doubling my very first quote. Already set up, and it being my first time, I went with it feeling held to ransom. For my other smaller tattoo's, after consultation on design, size, placement I apologetically raised the awkward question of "umm, so how much do you think that will be?" and was met with a vague "well it could be this, could be that. depends on how long... hmm, but then it could well be this". I understand that variables have to be taken into account, but why are we not met with "my hourly rate is XXX, I think it'll probably take around X amount of hours...", so I can get a decent idea of the end cost? When consulting for my bigger piece, I never broached the subject of price seeing as my first few encounters were telling me this is not a topic you bring up. I was going to be tattooed by a well known artist in a well known shop, and in all honesty I felt a tiny bit embarrassed about bringing it up knowing it would be far more expensive than my previous - Almost feeling like I could be met with "well if you have to ask, you can't afford me". I put down a £200 deposit and just guessed the excess amount to bring with me on the day - working off the higher hourly rates I'd seen in comments online for London. Luckily I brought enough, but the final cost was whispered into the ear of the receptionist who then told me the final amount to pay. So forgive me if i've got the etiquette all wrong here. I'm not a frequent flyer. Perhaps it's a bumbling British thing. "sorry how much do y... oh right yes, sorry. vulgar topic... yes... of course yes... i'll just pay all the money... yes, naturally. Silly me." But I'd be really interested to hear some advice on this.

Heading to Oakland, California to see Freddy Corbin at Temple tattoo to get inked for our 25th wedding anniversary. Appointment is noon, Tuesday. Daniel Higgs did the original wedding tattoos at Realistic Studio in San Francisco and Freddy was in the shop watching and making comments while he was doing us. Daniel doesn't do tattoos any more. So our first choice is Freddy to keep spiritual continuity. The wife and me are getting a "25-XXV added somewhere . I am also getting a "Dragon" mixed into it... I'll keep you up to date. :cool:

My tattooed leg hurts like a fucking bastard! Calf def worse than rest of leg for after tattoo pain. Longest session for me to date has been 6hrs. Aside from a little light (from what can see) yellow coloured bruising, it seems to be on track. Redness and swelling long gone. Bepanthen is my best friend at the moment. Won't start to itch until the second week.

It is awesome, I have followed it since the start. Was lucky enough to stumble across it on the instagram of one of the guys from Bluearms.

I'm glad you like it man! Thanks.

@daveborjes tight crucified skin tattoo, i'm following you now bud

i fucking love everything about that post.

interesting one today - took an old friend paddleboarding who i hadnt seen in a long while he was quick to inform me that he had become pretty conservative and felt strongly and negatively about tattoos and people getting tattoos - we've known each other over 20 years so it was just a conversational blip in a great day of SUP and catching up but...it was a bummer in a way - a reminder i guess of how judgemental folks - even good folks - can be - meh

I hope this is okay to post here but here is a pic of my first tattoo that I got yesterday! I am beyond happy about it and thought that the process of getting it was not bad at all. Here is a link to the guy who tattooed me because I feel he needs to be recognized for his work! https://nicholasrobertmoore.wordpress.com/ Let me know what you guys think of my tattoo everyone.

i think 4hours is optimal for a session length - you're at the point where you leave still wanting more - 9 must be brutal - no matter where the placement - i would be tired of being tattooed long before that my longest was 6 on the ribs no breaks and it pretty much sucked haha

Yeah the first one who tries to pull up my dress to see my other leg tattoos, will get politely told to fuck off and, a swift left hook (if they're lucky). Have had men joke asking if going all the way up, when say already have gone there, look on faces so funny. But that is not on, people lifting your sleeve. Tell them to fuck off and ask them what the fuck are they doing? Have done that in past, when a top shows some peeking underneath. Yeah, they pull their hand away quite quickly *smiles sweetly* One comment I got last year made me laugh. This woman in fave pub, as was paying tab, commented on my tattoos. Other regulars (men) where there and, they asked to see what had got done. She said to me "You just get tattooed so men look at you. It's in fashion now and, you only do it to be cool." I burst out laughing and replied "Fuck off! Been getting tattooed for 16 years and, besides you know fuck all about me, so please, kindly fuck off!" That made me laugh... *shakes head* Also heard of heavily tattooed people moaning at people looking at them and, coming up to them asking questions. Well simple solution, don't walk around with your tattoos on show! I've had loads come up to me to talk about them, if I have time, I'll talk to them. If not, I just say something like "Sorry, can't talk now but can answer quick question if you want." Manners cost fuck all and that goes same for tattooed people as well. Have heard of some tattooed being rude to people who just asked where they got their work done. We get prejudiced enough, without doing ourselves no favours. Didn't mean this to be a rant! Will stop now.

Hope he doesn't mind :D should get some face tats and surprise him one day ahahha - - - Updated - - - I agree all the girls I know, the more ink they get, the more stunning they become haha

I don't think I posted the lithograph I bought from Trevor/Ed at last year's London convention. But here it is - Nurse Mercy.

I forget what happened to inspire the remark, but at some point I cracked a joke about my arms being ripped off, and my friend said 'hopefully not the expensive one.' It was the first time I realized that one of my arms is actually worth more than the other one. What a strange thought.

I agree with everything @Avery Taylor said above. I often remark that tattooing is the only service where it's (sometimes) awkward for the customer to ask what it will cost.* It's not as much of an issue if an artist accepts credit cards, but the majority I've been to only accept cash. If I'm traveling to a cash-only artist, that means I have to bring a grip of money, just in case. *To clarify: I'm not talking about dudes on Instagram asking "How much for a sleeve?"

LM Knight's the fricken man. Would love to get tattooed by that guy. - - - Updated - - - Posted this one in another thread, but here's mine by Jay Watkins: [/img] And some other's he's done: https://instagram.com/p/z4CDJrDIIF/?taken-by=jay_blkmgc https://instagram.com/p/zi_V1njINt/?taken-by=jay_blkmgc https://instagram.com/p/zTYmptjILw/?taken-by=jay_blkmgc

Got this done by Steve Byrne at Rock of Ages the other night.

Heck, I just draw on myself with a marker. The swoop of my first tattoo made my ankle quite fetching, if I do say so myself. I'm pretty sure that the root part of that floral piece is my favorite tattooed thing on my whole body. The tattoo on the other leg is not very shapely, but I love it for entirely different reasons. Placement seems like it is going to be very important, and I'm very sure that if you go to the right artist, you'll come away with the most beautiful ankles in the world!

Yeah, I think you'll LOVE your feet and ankles if you decorate them in this way.

You are worrying too much - tattoos can be transformative how we feel about our bodies. I love the tattoo in the photo and how it doesn't cut off at the ankle. Guy le Tatooer does beautiful feet (okay, he does beautiful everything) http://guyletatooer.com

Vanity have anything to do with body art? NO! Really?!? I had a schoolmate in High School that although very thin and attractive otherwise, she had very thick ankles - I thought they were sexy as hell! Just wait, Curvy Girls are the fashion trend now - cankles may be next! If you really want to see what a tattoo would do, let me suggest two options: 1, get someone to take a couple good unobstructed photos of your ankles and then Photoshop some tattoos onto them, or 2, Henna - my tattoo artist also has a henna artist in her shop. It doesn't have to me a traditional Indian or mid-East design to be done in henna. Whatever your idea, have an artist do it for you and judge by your own feeling (and other's comments if you care). But, either way - if you do get it, you MUST post the photos here!

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

2 and a half more hours. Still didn't do the black in the tail lol. been FOR EHHH VEEERRR since being under the needle. Glad to get the time in. EDIT: sorry about my sideways pics

Continued....(I promise this will be the last installment) So the wife is obviously feeling pressure from her social and career circles to be something she isn't. Like I mentioned earlier, I've been flying the middle finger at "normal" society for so long, it's almost cliché. Her and I have a pretty long history together at this point so I may not get a pat on the back and the "I'm proud you have so MANY tattoos", but I at least still feel, she's got my back. My kids are shaken by it but they have so many other friends in and outside of school, the sting only last temporarily. Just from the sheer osmosis of seeing their parents be proud to be who they are ( I assume), they quickly adopt the "I don't have time for people that don't like me " credo. I'm proud they're our kids and think this will pass and give them good fundamentals about real life. My wife seems to get over it too, but in a more therapeutic, cry with your friends type of way. We talk about it and she agrees that "some people just suck" regardless of the reason they chose to take it out on you..... Even though we come to an agreement that tattoos weren't the root cause of all this dumb school crap, I tell her that I will be on my best "tattoo behavior" when the need arises, like her formal work events or anytime she thinks I should cover up. As I said earlier, the whole time we've been together, I haven't gotten tattooed or really expressed any burning desires to. There was casual mentions of eventually getting more work done, but nothing definite or planned. So out of nowhere I get the "have you ever thought of getting tattoos removed" question. In my mind, life has been going well and all the perceived craziness about tattoos causing social damage in my families life, is in the past. As I mentioned, I was pretty upset and hurt by the question. It wasn't like my tattoos were done by some lousy scratcher or in a Russian prison, my tattoos were well done, colorful, and with the exception of the "death before suck-ass" dagger, appropriate. My wife tried to explain all of the reasons that she thought it would be a good idea, most of which, had something to do with social situations. I always had an answer to her concerns... Q;What if there's a formal party? A: I'll wear a tuxedo and look more handsome than I already am! (jokingly) Q:what if we have to go to a summer party with my important clients? A: I'll wear white pants and a blazer (like Thurston Howell) Q: what if it's a swim party? A: I won't swim (tell them I can't), just stand back and watch. You get the idea...... I told my wife in no uncertain terms, I'm more likely to cut off my legs than get the tattoos removed. She didn't like the answer but knew she couldn't reasonably go any farther with it. She said she was sorry she felt this way, but truly loved me. I said "if you truly love me, you wouldn't feel this way and ask me something so absurd". I was really bummed that the women I had been through so much with, was acting like one of "them"!! I think she had a bit of a crisis over the whole thing, because I think she planned the outcome to end differently and I would just happily agree to remove solid, beautiful tattooing, on a large portion of my body. Thankfully, she talked/cried/drank it out with a group of her close friends that rationally told her she was insane for asking of me what she did. Even people in her own family talked her away from these unrealistic notions and told her how lucky she was to a not be married to a "social automaton" (her aunt said that). She told me " I came to my sense and realized I was way out of line" and thanked me for being a great husband and father, tattoos or not. I was still a little hurt but relieved I didn't have to chop off my legs or get a divorce. This brings us up to 8 months ago.... I decided that the time was right to get more work done. I was sparked by seeing a local artists hand painted flash (included in an art show) in the newspaper. I was nervous, but cautiously approached my wife with the idea. Her reaction was a stern "NO" followed by a short lecture about "haven't we already been through this?". I reminded her that I hadn't been tattooed in well over 18 years and we never specifically discussed this, just causal mentions. I reasoned with her that any tattoo I was going get would not really change anyone's perception of how covered I already was. My left wrist has a Seth Ciferri piece and left forearm is covered by a Dan Higgs piece. other than those, I really wanted to "finish my arm" I told my wife. I also told her this was a good opportunity to get the kids names tattooed on me, something I always wanted to do since they were born. She reluctantly agreed with the stern warning "no hands/face/feet". A week later I was getting tattooed again...... But, I've since expanded our agreement to get "just my arm" to include my chest/pecs and some minor fill-in stuff on my legs.... Ain't life grand:):):):):):):):):) - - - Updated - - - Thanks.. As I said "required" situations like school...jeezus, I would never willing put myself in close proximity with those jackals if it wasn't for the kids. Most of those awful parents have just resurrected their high school clique hierarchy (or lack of) to prove how important they really are. It seems to be quite prevalent in elementary where teachers ask for volunteers and parents spend every non-working moment helicoptering around their kids. luckily middle school teachers want none of this crap (my daughter is already there) an the closest you have to come to any of these stepford mothers, is in the drop off lane... don't get me started on kids sports! Glad to hear there are some "good ones" holding down rationality on this crazy world of elementary schools :) - - - Updated - - - thanks...damn straight, but I've known this all my life. It's just taken my wife a little longer to realize. I hope she doesn't have a change of heart because I gotten and plan on getting some pretty kick-ass work done. Didn't a women chop her husbands penis off as he slept....?