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The other day I was wearing a pretty dorky anime t-shirt and shorts and waiting for an ice cream when I noticed a small girl sneaking glances my way, as little kids do when they know they're not supposed to stare at strangers but sort of really want to anyway. First she looked at my shirt, then at the dolphin-fish on my leg, and then gave me a conspiratorial smile. Like: you can wear cartoons on your shirt AND on your leg?!

Excellent advice regarding this tattoo and so much more.

I got more of a cubist feel than origami honestly. Doesn't make it bad though. if you love it then stop looking for flaws

Got some healed pictures of this one recently: Lighting isn't great but but you get the idea. And to think I told myself I wouldn't get more band tattoos.

From last Saturday at Great Lakes Tattoo in Chicago Nick Colella -big-ass eagle (chest) Mario Desa - rose of no mans..tribute (ankle) Frank Willian - pocket knife filler (inner arm ditch) It was a good day.... besides getting 3 killer tattoos, I got to hang out and bullshit with Chad Koeplinger and Robert Ryan and the rest of the GLT crew plus it was Robert Ryan's "The Radiant Name" art opening downstairs. GLT is probably the nicest shop I've ever been in and everybody was super nice and fun.....

Staring kids = smile at them, maybe wave! Staring adults = men or women... blow them a kiss! Usually gets them to stop except the time this body builder type threw his ice cream cone at me.....

To be fair. Does it matter anymore? It is what it is. Your tattoo. Love it as you should love your body with its flaws and unique marks. Basically, this tattoo shows a bit of life passed by you and that's that. If anyone makes you feel bad about it, it's on them not on the tattoo..or you :) Don't worry.

As long as the watch is a nice Rolex, you'll be fine. Anything else, beware!

I love the way she talks about being able to get the tattoo lazered like it's nothing. "Oh yea, I'll just go in and get this tattoo lazered off while I drink my Latte. One easy session and no one will know I every had one." Also funny the way she seems to equate three little tattoos with being heavily tattooed. And how she gives her cousin a pass for not tattooing her neck, but gets all snotty and shitty when Dan won't do it. I think this woman has mental problems.

So that post recently about the straight edge podcast got me to start listening to podcasts, and I realized how awesome they were. Personally, they are great for me as a long haul trucker, because they stimulate my brain a little bit more then music that just ends up being background noise. I figured we can share our favorites and maybe all find something new to enjoy. Whether they are tattoo related or not, or on any subject, post the ones that you find interesting and maybe a brief description. As I'm very very new to this, so far I only have two to share. "BBC World Service: Newshour" updated twice daily, they seem to focus on the biggest news issues around the world that day, and go fairly in depth on those instead of skimming over a bunch of smaller news items. "TED Radio Hour" Similar concept to TED Talks, except they have one presenter, then they choose a subject and get several different expert opinions or view points on that subject. They often play segments from those expert's TED talks, but much of it also comes in interview form.

Thanks @SeeSea It's all good.

@Pugilist no problem! Also just for the record, I am not a doctor, have absolutely no medical training, and there is little to no research on the subject published at all. With that being said, I still maintain that the entire situation is a giant cloud of grey area with a lot of suggestion for appropriate action and nothing conclusive to rightfully take a stance one way or another as to whether it is child endangerment to get tattooed while breastfeeding. As a tattooer, to me, it's not worth the risk.

I'm a fan of The Moth. Podcast | The Moth

We keep going back and forth on it. We've talked about blue, green and golden but it changes every time we talk about it. Basically I think we'll end up making it up. Whatever we choose it isn't going to be your classic black and grey with red and yellow. Honestly I'm quite excited that we're improvising as we go along.

Prob goes without saying but wait till the tattoo is healed before you start wearing your watch.

Thanks guys :) It always feels dumb asking questions like this, but hey, if you don't ask, you'll never know.

Started some dot shading last weekend. Quick 2-hour session with Thomas Hooper until next time, which will be in August. I need to take a month or so off so I can swim with the kids over their summer break. Once we're done with shading this section, we're gonna hammer out whats going on in the lower belly area and right ribs. crap...sorry the pic is loading horizontally. I'll see if I can fix that.

I don't think there has been any "controversy" or anything in a negative way and I hope @Rob I doesn't take it that way. I certainly didn't mean it as anything other than "wow," and imagining if it were in any way possible to have gotten mine done in a an unexpectedly short time. It's interesting to hear about some tattoo artists being faster or slower than whatever anyone considers an average time for a particular tattoo. Mine certainly could have been a little faster if we didn't take 2-3 passes on some parts (different sessions) to really pack in the color. That was very unexpected and not pleasant!

I always walk around stark naked, as to not obscure any of my tattoos No but seriously... For me, part of the tattoo magic is that whole tattoos seldom gets seen in the best angle and the best light for a long period of time when you view them on other people. It's part of the charm I think, that they are a bit secret in that way. I love seeing just glimpses of well made tattoos pass by on the street or half a tattoo peek out under somebodys sleeve. Sometime the mood is right to ask them to show the whole tattoo, sometimes that's not the case. In my opinion, my tattoos are for my enjoyment first and foremost anyway. I don't think about how other people will or won't get a good view of them (except for job interviews or formal settings when they could be distracting) Talk to me in a tattoo shop or convention setting and I'd be happy to drop my pants most of the time. Not to be too much of a elitist snob but I think tattoos are for the initiated, who love and respect the art. I don't bother a lot with how my tattoos are viewed by "plainskins" when I'm out and about in every day life. Wear the watch or don't wear it, whatever you feel like that day. And enjoy your tattoos. There enough is time to get naked in front of mirrors in your privacy or with whoever you want to share it with. Just my 2 cents

If anyone's ever told you that you'll regret your tattoo, they should listen to these older folks.

Done by Greg Woodrow, Taunton Tattoos - Oshawa ON Canada

get some spicy/ angry taco with FTW script underneath. that would be fantastic. Maybe its a good thing my disposable income is small these days EDIT: FTW is giving me the crack head WoW itches

Oh what the hell. Might as well post my finished back piece. A year long process has come to an end and I can't wait to start another piece! Done by Stacey Martin-Smith at Golden Age in Austin, TX.

@DeathB4Decaf - looks like you're having a great time, too. Love the beach!

@DeathB4Decaf - awesome! Love the bathing suit shots. So cohesive!

My sister snapped this photo of me today at the beach. So weird. Now I think I finally understand the whole never feeling naked thing, hah. And yes, all the sunblock reapplied non-stop, and I was only on my front for like 5mins while texting, hah. I feel like I need to justify the bare back in sun to you fine ladies. And no, it's obviously not done. Not even close. :'(

Upcoming tattoo - but not for me. My dad's 60th birthday is this weekend, and so next week I'll be taking him to get his first tattoo. It's something he's talked about wanting since I first started getting tattooed a few years ago, but I don't think he'd ever just go do it on his own. I asked him if it would be something he'd like to do with me and he's pretty excited I think. (I'm glad because if he didn't want one I have no idea what I'd get him!) We're headed to The Pearl Harbor Gift Shop next week sometime, probably Monday so he can get a walk-in from Tim Pausinger (my recommendation, but I told him he could pick whoever he wanted). 50 years ago my great-grandfather founded a ship repair company in my hometown, and my dad has worked there for 40 years. The logo used to be a simple traditional anchor and rope so I think that's what he'll end up getting.

Hello all, So I haven't put up any progress shots on my back for a couple of months. In all honesty it was a lot of cherry blossoms. Anyway after the weekends session at the Bristol Tattoo Show I thought I better put up a full progress shot. Apologies for the slightly blurry pictures these were taken with my slightly rubbish little compact digital camera. I'm stoked with how it is coming along though now and am super excited to see it coming together with the colour in the dragon over the next few months.

I've used coconut oil on mine. I figure it has less stuff in it than most of my lotions.

Good for you for working it all out. To be quite honest, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, it looks like you're just starting to figure out some of the basics of drawing for tattoos. I'd spend some time tracing stuff. Seriously. That SJ rose you see on the wall. Trace it 100 times. That way you know it by heart. Repeat. On whatever subject matter you like. Nothing too big. Just things to get your understanding down. I would hesitate to do any of those as tattoos just yet. That whole crawl before you can walk thing. I started in the same place, and not too long ago at that. While I have a fine art background, learning to draw a panther, or oni, or rose, or swallow, or dragon, or whatever...it takes a lot of practice to do so correctly. I'm still figuring it all out...much like the rest of us.

Here's my sketch to tattoo progression. When I got to my appointment, he had a drawing that was more like a dress form with a stand. He had a rose on the belt and an idea for the rose as a head as well. The first drawing was very cool, but I was worried that the stand was going to make it too tall. So I asked if we could trade the stand for terra-cotta pot. I think it turned out pretty awesome. He was fun to work with with!

I got the creep factor the other day at the market. I was at the check out line and there was a married couple one lane over. I noticed that every time his wife was turned away from me, he was making eye contact with me and giving me the "hey baby head nod and smirk" Gross, completely turned my stomach. I gave him my best snarley face and a head shake. really, I don't mind looks as much as I do creepy men who disrespect their wives like that.

got another session this coming Saturday for my back... gotta be session 9...10... who knows I lost count honestly I have a nice feeling we are gonna be working my right kidney. Super excited

this is not the thread you're looking for...

I should be there, need to make a plan but anyone down for a meetup?

Eagle battling a snake by none other than Chad Koeplinger, finished in 3 sessions, outline in Denver, shading and color in Austin. Sorry about the glare in the photo, my apartment has the worst lighting of all time.

I was on my way to bed tonight and took a couple of mugs into the kitchen so I could put them in the dishwasher and I emerged with a bottle of rosé and a packet of mini-snickers and proceeded to stay up way later than I should and get shitfaced! How awesome is that :D

Well now that I've made a deposit, I can post about this...getting a panther head coming out of a rose by Chad Koeplinger when he comes to DC at the end of July. He's one of my very favorite tattooers so I am so thrilled.

hey! I have been a couch surfer for years now and have used it to travel extensively when I was an airline employee, and used to host many events. Hopefully I can do some more traveling, and not that all my travels will be tattoo related, this is a great idea. im in school now so Im pretty stationary but I will be on the move again soon!

Grabbing and touching without consent are not cool. I'm an unattractive male and it's happened to me plenty. I've been sitting at dinner with my wife and felt my shirt sleeve being pulled up by a stranger so they could appease their curiosity ...and I don't think we should be telling girls that if a man invades their space and ownership of their own body they should find it charming or flattering. No one else should have control over what they see of you, least of all men over women given the track record and the culture we've created.

I just wanted to address what you said above. I don't like to share too much about my personal life, but I will on this occasion. I suffer from a mental illness, but am a fully functioning person who gets up and goes to work every day, shares a smile and laugh with collegues, lifts weights at the gym, and spends a lot of time with my friends. Not many people know about my mental struggles, and those that do it's only because I have told them. Mentally ill people generally don't look sick (yes there are cases where it's apparent someone isn't well by their actions). When we are ill we don't have a runny nose, or a cough. When I am sick, and when I am well, I still don't like to be touched by strangers. Mental illness is surprisingly common. It still has a stigma attached to it, and I would bet money on the people who you think are mentally and emotionally stable, that there are a few of them who are sufferers, but you wouldn't pick it. I guess what I'm trying to say, is don't be so casual with flippant remarks regarding the mental health of people. You can't judge how they are doing mentally on whether they lash out at being touched by strangers. That is stupid.

I'm amazed at the incredible art work that is able to be put on skin! I'm amazed at the ingenuity, the skill, and the obvious talent of so many, many, many tattoo artists out there. Until I started coming here and following a bunch of tattooers on Instagram I had NO IDEA that so many spectacular tattoos are being done in the world. I remember looking at old tattoo magazines at my uncle's house when I was a teenager and thinking that they were amazing - but it was so unreal to me - stuff in a magazine y'know. And then tattooing was illegal in Oklahoma until not too many years ago - not to say that there weren't tattoos happening, but it was all fairly hush hush (and most of them weren't very good) and I never thought to look to see what else was out there. And now my mind is blown every. single. day. Perhaps the most amazing thing of all - great tattoos are accessible to just about everybody. You don't have to be famous, or wealthy, or otherwise connected to be able to get an awesome tattoo. It takes just a little bit of research and attention to what is going on out there. AMAZING!! It's one of the coolest things ever. I regret that I have been missing out on all this for so long.