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More likely the positions you unconsciously put your body in due to favoring that side.

Beez is right. Get an eagle. Check out this chest eagle by Grez at King's Ave! You can never have enough eagles.

You gotta be around it to know it. Nobody is going to be able to tell you what to include to make your work more applicable to tattooing, just start small, save up money and get work from good shops. Turning up at a shop with no tattoos and a vague desire to apprentice is likely to meet with a very blunt response. Pay your dues, get tattooed and maybe something will happen for you in the future.

I think you're safe. Feet take extra long to heal because they are farthest away from the heart and blood oxygenation isn't the best by the time your circulation gets to those parts. I think if you don't have any major scabs, you'll be fine.

Already some tough stuff this month, but I'll give it a shot. Here's my arm from Grez at Kings Avenue. All healed up.

My new record was just released today! I worked pretty hard on it, so I hope you guys like it! https://withwolves.bandcamp.com/

Check out this short video on one of my favorite tattooers (featuring another favorite, Bob Roberts): I've said before that Matt has a bit of a Big Liebowski vibe, but now I realize that that comes across as a bit unkind (or at the very least, sells him short). He's both passionate and compassionate, and that comes through in this piece.

If the tattoo is healing well I wouldn't worry about an infection. If you start running a fever, have increased swelling in the area, puss coming from the wound, then you have something going on. Like Pid said, I might just be due to how you are holding your body. During this time of year a common cause of muscle aches and cramps is dehydration, so make sure you are drinking plenty of water. Disclaimer: I am not a Dr., but I did stay at a holiday inn express last night. If symptoms worsen or don't improve in a few days, make sure to follow up with your regular Dr. and or your tattoo artist.

thanks guys! i actually played a little bit last night and am happy to report i haven't had to get my foot amputated. yet...

Welcome Darrin. Without seeing your work I would suggest that if you are serious about learning to tattoo that instead of soliciting critiques from strangers that you spend a lot more time in the shop getting tattooed.

I would! But I already got an eagle on my bicep and having two eagles next to each other would look silly (I'm sure I'll get a second eagle someday, just not right next to the first one). Still, you guys are giving me some things to consider, so thanks already!

Matt's easily one of my favourite people I've met through tattooing. I'm so happy that this video exists and highlights what a rad dude and amazing tattooer he is. He's definitely a unique / entertaining character, but I'm proud to call him a friend.

Appt set with steve Bryne at ROA . Pretty excited

I'm only going to Spotlight when I have a pretty lady to tag along. I know Mr Bob Roberts loves the pretty ladies, as do I. And when I do go to Spotlight, the goal is to walk out with two tattoos. One from Matt and one from Bob.

Reviewed with comments. Keep up the great work, it is appreciated!

Got confirmation yesterday of my appointment for the London Tattoo Convention on the Saturday, with Beau Brady of Invisible NYC! Stoked.

Chad Koeplinger is doing a panther coming out of a rose for me, I gave him the go ahead to do whatever crazy stuff he might want to do in addition to that. I'm almost more excited just to see the drawing, the tattoo is secondary. :rolleyes:

Nice! Even runs ok on my crappy android. :) Should be awesome for travelling. The address for Sacred Tattoo in Auckland NZ is an old address, they moved to a new studio a while ago. A submit corrections feature might be helpful to manage the data.

AWESOME!!!!!! everyone should repost this and SHARE!!!

Finished up my arm with Grez last month. Here are some healed shots (that I also just put in the contest thread).

Jeff Rassier flying Cobra. Done at Blackheart in January. Pics taken Yesterday. Tough to photo...wraps around the arm a lot.

@jimmyirish There's not really any getting around how daunting a full back is. I knew that getting one would be a huge commitment but I don't think I actually understood how much of a commitment that was until I started it. I think without that dedication it would be as easy to abandon a back done locally as it would one you travel for because it still takes a lot of time, pain, healing, money, and so on. It is nice though that I don't have travel costs, paying for hotels, having to take time off work in addition to the tattoo. I don't have to worry about the exchange rate. There have been sessions where I haven't been able to take the whole day off because my workload can be super heavy but I start work early so I can work a half day and then go to my appointment. I don't especially miss driving home eight hours with a fresh tattoo, and I think that would be especially uncomfortable with a back session. If I had to travel to get the tattoo I wanted I wouldn't hesitate to do that, though I would get tattooed at a slower pace and would probably sit longer sessions than I'd like to, so it is great to have Dave in the same city.

I got my old cutting scars tattooed over. I am very pleased with the result, in effect, I got my arm back! It's still healing, I'll put up a picture in a week or two when I'm past the ridiculous milky skin phase.

Already posted these on the gram but here are some larger views, hopefully you can get more of the soul of these paintings in this format

@Hogrider I'm by no means an authority on this stuff, but I'm travelling along the same road you've just started... Part of the reason you can't find what you're looking for is because you're looking for literal or binary meanings. Most of the images you've seen tattooed are taken from Japanese and Chinese folk tales or religious stories. Imagine of you asked someone regarding western cultural art or tattoos: 1) "What does it mean when there's a guy hanging on cross with his arms outstretched?" 2) "What does it mean when there's a woman in blue holding a naked baby" 3) "What does it mean when the muscle-bound guy in the black mask overpowers the brightly dressed skinny man in the clown makeup. The answers depend on your level of interest/sympathy and how abstract or literal you want to be: 1a) It's Jesus. His father, God, sacrificed him to atone for the sins of the world. 1b) The wearer has faith in a religious power higher than himself and possibly feel kinship with or sympathy for the figure and character of Jesus Christ. 1c) The wearer wants to be forgiven for past wrongdoings. 2a) It's Mary, Jesus' mother. The baby is Jesus. 2b) She's a figure of worship because some people believe she should be revered because God chose her as the vessel for his earthly offspring. Her cloak is blue because traditionally goddesses were associated with the moon and night sky. Sometimes it has stars on it. Christianity adopted this symbol to make it easier for people who held older religious beliefs to adopt the new faith. 2c) The wearer may have sympathy or empathy with the concept of being the vessel for divine power or lineage. Also this symbol can have an added element of sadness because we know the eventual sadness and loss of a mother witnessing her only son be sacrificed for the good of mankind - possibly a greater sacrifice than Jesus, some might say. 3a) It's Batman, he's fighting the Joker. 3b) Batman is a symbol of vigilante justice. He works outside of recognised laws to bring justice to a world crippled by wrongdoing. 3c) This scene is a metaphor for the darkness of repressed homosexuality and it's power to overcome the sinister flamboyance of non-hetro feelings. etc, etc. In short, think about what you want your tattoo to 'mean' or 'say' - tell that to a tattooer who knows his stuff and let them find a story or theme that fits your idea. Or just pick one you like from a woodblock print. I try to tell people all the time that western traditional tattooing has just as much symbolism and poetry but nobody will listen. It's all sex, death and the struggles of humankind. Good luck.