Leaderboard

Hi all, started my back piece yesterday...roughly 5 hours lining..a few rough spots but otherwise not to bad ! Artist is Dan Andersen from Sacred tattoo in New Zealand..Cheers !

By Franz Stefanik, Okey Doke Tattoo, Toronto.

This is my latest one, by Marius Meyer (Photo is also taken by Marius Meyer). I am super stoked to get it coloured in later on.

Got this Rollo eagle on Sunday. Done by Steve Goodspeed at Gold Rush Tattoo in Costa Mesa, CA. I'll be going back in a few weeks once it heals for a bit thicker of an outline.

I do get this kind of thing sometime. I think it goes to the idea that in order to take the step of getting a tattoo it would need to be an image with deep and lasting personal meaning. I admit that I felt that way prior to getting any tattoos myself. Now I would happily pick a cool image off the wall from an artist I trust. Things change.

That is going to be awesome!

"I really want a tattoo, but I don't know anyone that died..." People watch way too much tattoo shows on TV...

I think it would have been better if it was about 10 times shorter...

I feel a little bolder with my thigh eagle showing. The key to confidence is to get more badass animal or mythological creature tattoos on my legs, apparently. For whatever reason I don't really pay attention to whether my arm tattoos are visible.

This afternoon our customer service group is having a gathering at a beer garden in town. I'm stopping off on my way to it at my artist's to discuss working my shoulder cameo into a little more than half-sleeve. I'm debating with myself whether to take my short-sleeved shirt off and go in my black sleeveless undershirt (a nice, athletic-type one). I'll be riding my motorcycle, and with the present 90s(F) we are having, the added air flow with all of my gear on will be welcome. This will however display both of my shoulder tattoos fully. I kind of want to show them off, and since this is an informal after-work gathering, decorum be damned. Still... Oh yeah, us guys think about things like this too!

my thoughts exactly. based on the tiger, he will likely just be strengthening some of the lines and leaving the detailed lines as is. i love when tattoo placement is so good, it looks like the new tattoo was placed there before the others.

Thanks so much for saying that- I sincerely can't tell you how much I needed to hear that. They definitely are awesome tattoos, and I don't think I'm going to mess with them. My wife and I were out walking the dogs last night, and I looked back to see our little female Boston crossing the street. She was excited and panting and looked exactly like the tattoo. I think the artist kind of unknowingly captured her "crazy look." She looks the same way when she has been running around the dogpark and is in the process of stalking her older brother for whatever he has in his mouth. I think you hit the nail on the head, though- I guess the look doesn't quite match what I had in my head, but it's still her and it's still some very cool ink that I will grow to love over time.

To pretty much any onlooker, you are a guy with two awesome Boston Terrier tattoos. Please please don't mess with them. Tweaking a solid tattoo because it doesn't match what's in your head seems like a bad road to go down, because what if you're still not satisfied? I know I'm just some rando on the internet, but I really like your tattoos and feel weirdly personally invested in your becoming happy with them as they are.

@stlm It should be someone's responsibility to tell Marius that he needs to take a trip to North America.

I think the main shop I am thinking about for upcoming work is Smith St. - I'm in jersey so it'll probably be a reality this fall. I've got pieces coming up in august and Sept already schedule - so I'm thinking October might be a nice time for a sick day :)

I think the only straight lining session I had was ass and back of thighs. Even the first session when we lined the tiger and snake involved shading the tiger's stripes, and healing shaded bits can be difficult. Healing that first session made me stop dry healing because my skin got so dry and tight it was actually painful. Healing shading sessions on my ribs was uncomfortable, and I often found it difficult to get in a comfortable sleeping position because of it. Legs were also kind of shitty because I work on my feet in a physically active job and I would sometimes be limping at the end of the work day because my legs were so sore. Like @bongsau said above, it's a heavy experience, but I think that's a big part of the appeal of backpieces.

@sophistre Easy to heal, not as intense as a full large tattoo, but the itch is definitely as bad because it's everywhere, so that part is pretty nuts for sure.

I spent a lot of money and dealt w/hours of needles jabbing me, heck yeah they're open for public viewing as often as possible. If I could find tops w/no straps at all that would leave my upper back/upper arms/shoulders completely bare, I'd wear them all spring/summer. I wear flip flops as much as I can, and capris/skirts. They make me happy and make me feel pretty. I don't care if other people don't like them-I didn't do it for them, I did it for me. If they want to judge me, they can go right ahead. It doesn't hurt me if they do-they have no say in what happens in any area of my life. If they choose to not want to be my friend or to not acquaint themselves w/me, that's all right by me too--they miss out on meeting a funny/quirky/nice person, and that's their problem, not mine. It is very very very true, the difference between tattooed people and people w/no tattoos is-people w/tattoos don't care if you have tattoos or not. I've met a lot of people IRL and on the internet that are surprised when they find out I have tattoos (and by the music I listen to) and I've been told many times that meeting me has changed their perceptions of tattooed people.

@TrixieFaux - Sigh...You are right, I am a bit afraid of being judged. :( I'm in my late 50's and I started getting tattooed when I was around 50, and I guess I'm from a generation that still remembers when tattoos were only on people on the fringe of society, and had very negative connotations. Even though I know intellectually that perceptions have changed, and I totally embrace and love my tattoos, and will be getting lots more, there is still this little thing inside of me that fears being viewed negatively. It must have been imprinted in my brain from an early age. I guess its hard to unlearn old lessons. I am in a medium sized town, and actually there are a fair amount of tattooed younger folks around, but it is very rare to see a "conventional" (and yeah, I'm pretty conventional) person my age with tattoos. The few times when I have gone out with my half-sleeves exposed, I've felt uncomfortable, like, "OMG what if I run into my boss?!!" Honestly it is a big mental conflict for me. There are days when I think "Screw em! I want my tattoos to show." But when it comes time to walk out the door I can't bring myself to do it. This probably falls into the category of TMI, but I'm sure there is a need from some sort of psychological intervention here! :) I think the fact that I am totally relaxed and even enthusiastic about showing when I'm on vacation is informative. It's funny - in that setting, showing my tattoos makes me feel really confident and even powerful, its almost like I'm a different person. I feel alive, more like "me." I need to capture that at home. I'm mentally working on it, and I do see the day that I will be able to feel more comfortable showing my tattoos in public. I just need to step off the cliff and do it. But like @LizBee, I don't think I will ever show them at work, because I just like to keep my work image conventional, without distractions. - - - Updated - - - I'm really working to realize the difference between being at work and being on my own time!

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.

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.

This is your first tattoo? Don't sweat it man. Love it for what it is and now you have a story to tell. Things like that put character in to the tattoo.

Welcome to tattooing, haha. Deposits are definitely crucial for avoiding that situation. Not much you can do with that when the tattoo is free though. Also don't ever sweat taking a deposit from someone, I take deposits from even my friends. Also fuck the people who don't want to pay for your services when you get to the point where you can charge for them. And also for future reference, this thread would have been better as a blog post. It doesn't drum up any real discussion that people here can relate to, mostly because there are like maybe 5 tattooers who still post here? If that?

@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.