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Freddy Corbin put my son's name on me last night. Simple, tasteful, and just right. I'm so happy with it.

So this got started today. Kelly Edwards. Three words for getting all that line work in one sitting: Fuck. That. Shit. Worth every second of pain though!

Started mine yesterday evening with Kelly Edwards. It was amazing... and much more painful than I anticipated, and he tattooed for something like 5 hours with only a short break. I was actually genuinely surprised at how hard it was. Took my breath away more than once. He tattoos fast and hard, and I am humbled and proud to even be wearing this line work, sat like a rock. Next appointment will be in August for scales on the rattlesnake and starting to shade. - - - Updated - - - Oh yeah, and did the left side, or one preferential side, hurt a LOT more than the other?

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.

I let the artist worry about those things. That's why I only go to people I know I can trust as an artist.

Fort Collins was a cool little town. Curtis blazed through our crab-turtle-Ray so I had a ton of time to cruise around.

Picked up this cool little fella from Tomas Garcia while he was working a guest spot at Acme Tattoo in Staunton, VA. Tomas is a really cool, humble guy. Do yourself a favor and get tattooed by him if you ever get the opportunity.

some from the past month or so, mainly hardy worship if by any chance any of you are in london uk and would like a free apprentice tattoo then hit me up. i have no tattooed friends in london other than my mentors etc. and its making things slow insta @slugggg. thanks for looking

Should really have thrown this in over the last couple of months but i'm a lazy fucker, so here it is now. By Marius Meyer, completed in May of this year (started in December of last).

timely topic - 18 tattoos in and i'm finally going forearm in august - working in a primary school i have definitely given it alot of thought but i too am at the stage where i dont care if it compromises me or changes peoples opinions of me - i wear short sleeves at work and intend to continue this year - other staff show their tattoos but only one other person has a small forearm tatt - other than that its leg pieces or back of neck, etc anyway - i am looking forward to it

Tomorrow is the day. My first torso tattoo, winged skull on my ribs. I can't wait. This shit is going to hurt.

Laurent did a ship in a teacup on my calf! Really nice guy too

Forgot to post this up last month! Instagram Dennis_Kool Hit the 'substantially complete' milestone on my Steve Batt backpiece tattoo!! A bittersweet moment. One or two maintenance/touchup sitting in the fall after I enjoy the sunburn season and let the pigments settle under the skin. I believe the plan is to re-saturate the blacks and likely hit the cherry red one more time. Also some more finer details to add the treads of the shoes to blend in the blastover. The last session (#9, for a couple of hours) began with some pen markups as Steve drew on the intricate flame pattern and planned out the blue and green gradients. It went pretty quickly however the tattooing was pretty tight so healing it was a bitch and the bruising was pretty intense. Steve also did the skin tones which is looking deadly now that everything is starting to smooth out. The only negative space in the tattoo is in the wind and water. The monk is all peachy skin tones and white ink in the pants and sleeve cuffs. A few of you have seen the full-monty r-rated version of the ebb n flow of the water below the butt crack wave. Back, butt and 1 thigh took a swift 32 hours and 9 sessions. This experience has taught me a lot, not just about tattoo, but overall life. Really pushed me to my limits. The importance of simplicity, consistency and routine, of good health, how to relax, patience, perseverence, confidence vulnerability and focus. Sounds a lot like kung fu which only makes sense with the subject matter I chose to carry. It has been a very intense journey. Shout out to Steve Batt, my guru and one of thee baaaaaaddest tattooers in the West. Made in Edmonton, AB. So yeah, I am now 210hrs, 83% of my body tattooed, the illustrated man, the colouring book, in a full tattoo suit (minus some choicey open spots for future tattoos). Coming to a beach near you to frighten your conservative parents and intrigue your impressionable teenagers! I'd say vote for me in the July 2015 Tattoo of the Month contest...buuuuuuut don't because a) I don't actually need to wear a shirt (or pants) anymore b) @CultExciter's robot tattoo is clearly going to be the underdog winner and c) maan how good are those Grez and Marius Meyer tattoos !!! Set your goals, plan the work, work the plan, "cut the shit...and now let's all get ssssserious!

Here's what I've gotten over about a year, from first to last. All were done by the same artist except the last one (the dagger) which was done by Austin Maples.

Girl head and rose from Paul Dobleman:

Shao Lin Monk backpiece made by Steve Batt in his private studio in Edmonton, Alberta 32 hours, Dec 2014-Jun 2015

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

Congrats, @beez. That is truly awesome. Here's an awesome thing I did last week: held this guy for the first time. He's pretty chill, and his big sister is already infatuated with him--for now. :)

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 there is one thing I learned in this 8 page thread that I created; you shouldn't have just called it San Fran!!! Had I known more about tattooing back when I made my trip to SF, I would have gone to Oakland to visit Temple and FTW.

yeah man, definately! when i dropped below t-shirt line, I remember saying to my tattooer how i was ready to "jump in to the big stuff". he laughed at me because I already had a big piece on my ribs and a leg sleeved in. but having the forearms tattooed definately changed my perception of myself as a tattooed individual. i felt different and echo the excitement. i wore long sleeves for 2 years in the workplace before i hit the lower arms, as a test run to see if i could handle it. no problemo! and still to this day i fairly exclusively wear long sleeves to work and out-n-about if it's hot and sunny.

Well, most collectors don't hang around tattoo forums or even have good tattoos for that matter. I honestly see more bad tattoos than I see good ones. The people on here clearly have opinions on what makes a good tattoo or there wouldn't be a humongous thread about it. That being said, there is a heavy bias with preference leaning toward traditional styles on this forum. I personally am the type that cares about how my tattoo will hold up long term. I don't expose them to the sun and take good care of them. Most photos I see of tattoos are posted right after they were done and hardly look the same not too long after healing. While I am not a fan of American Traditional for me, I respect some of the principles behind longevity of the tattoos. I guess you can say that there are different design approaches in non-traditional new school tattoos that may use old school approaches. Does that make sense?

Picture 1: This is style I draw for my first 20 tattoos (I've done 12 so far) Picture 2: This is what I draw with NO clue how to tattoo it yet ;)

I did this today. First time attempting a Hannya mask. Fun stuff.

... no feet as well (ugh)...have one decent sized space on my inner thigh for a last 2-session hurrah, wrist cuffs have a little space and a small filler space on my hip. some background to connect the upper legs in. then it's tattoos over tattoos (i've got some plans for various bug tattoos) hehe slow and steady progress has been my approach since day one! got enjoy the scenery, seen?

I'm heading to my artist today to set up an appointment for a Rollo Eagle on the outside of my shoulder, can't wait!

Since we're sharing progress, here's what we did on mine last week. We have to put the greys in some of the water and then do the details in the faces and the tiger's paws and things like that but we're getting super close to wrapping this up.

Co-sign Laurent Trelaun. Joe Gettler at FTW is getting better and better too.

Got some work in Saturday, but life has been crazy. Wanted to post this up. Detailed in the hair, and sank some color into the top oni. The pic makes him look very bright but the colors have cooled off nicely and now have a deep tone to them. We spoke about detailing him up more next session with either a patterned robe or doing more in the body. Either way I'm on board. EDIT: just to put it in perspective, the horns are colored white that's how red I got I always love the way the tray looks at the end when all the colors are laid out and all is said and done. I thought this concept would make a really neat print. If there is some rule about not showing these details let me know and I will remove it, but I thought it would be a fun share. Hope you guys like it, and I have 2 sessions coming up so maybe we can close in on this project.

That is definitely one major advantage to having the ears backwards! Incidentally, I think that's also why I didn't notice the mistake until after the tattoo was done. The sketch he showed me beforehand obviously looked good, and then it still looked good when I checked the transfer in the mirror. I guess I was so intent on just getting through the pain (which actually wasn't bad at all) that I wasn't thinking about whether the floppy ear was on the right side or not... I just need to shake that sinking feeling I got when I first realized the mistake, and I guess it will just take time :rolleyes:

Okay if we're allowing the use of time machines I am interested in Phil Sparrow and especially how he mentored two of the greatest ever American tattooers, Ed Hardy and Cliff Raven. I imagine there's no real secret there other than that Phil Sparrow was intelligent, curious, worldly, and was involved in worlds far removed from tattooing--I'm not just talking sexually here, either--and so it makes sense that he would mentor people with similar dispositions, but I like understanding where people came from and what their formative influences and experiences were.

Just boarded the plane for Colorado to visit Curtis Burgess at tribal rites. Going for a sea creature mashup that we scheduled almost 2 years ago. After this I am officially done for the year. Sad panda.

Added some color. Quick session. Background in 2 weeks

Some stuff that I do. Mostly colored pencil on tan paper. Thanks for looking : )

Appt set with steve Bryne at ROA . Pretty excited

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

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

Here's my how to list @sophistre according to how my first convention in Bristol went. 1. Drive around the train station looking for the correct parking lot. Make at least 4 laps to get a good idea of the layout. 2. Buy ticket, walk in, feel brain explode. 3. Forget to look at the scantily clad women, because you're too busy watching some dude get his ass tattooed. 4. Promise yourself you're limited to small purchases, like shirts. 5. Immediately fail at that promise, and get a tattoo. 6. Go home poorer than you expected, but very happy!

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

Finished the majority of my sleeve with Gre Hale at Rain City, Manchester, UK. Extremely happy with it, Gre is an awesome bloke, and the shop is great; packed to the brim with talented artists and character. What do you guys think? Just the 'pinchy' inner bicep to go.

This is my latest tattoo. Done by my girlfriend, on me, after I tattooed her. The technical application obviously needs some work, but I think she did ok for the first time running a machine. Haha.

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.