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Prettyyyyyyyyy pumped about this one, not gonna lie. Yesterday: There's a vid too: https://instagram.com/p/5075TDTBNR/?taken-by=greggletron By Greg Whitehead at Scapegoat in Portland, as usual. My thigh feels like a wobbly hot water bottle today, and I don't even care. :o

Got this from Chad Koeplinger last night in DC. Sorry the pics are shitty, it's still really swollen and bruised.

i'd love to see it keep going - i think when you enter your tattoo - it shouldnt be to win really but more a celebration of the good times we are all having with getting tattooed

Ugh I could write so much on this topic but I have to get ready for work soon. I'll put it in a nutshell though. First of all, my opinions on this topic are constantly evolving and changing. I also strongly believe that in the USA, the people in power in this country are deliberately manipulating the media and the police force to create strong racial tension that will eventually break out into rioting, giving the state the opportunity to declare martial law (whole other topic of discussion). So with that being said, cultural appropriation and race are hot topics and very sensitive and close to home for a lot of people, also creating a complex of white guilt among many people (bullshit), which is where a lot of the internet social justice warriors come from. No seriously, next time you see someone yelping on the internet, just for curiosity, take a look at their race. So from my perspective, many of these concerns and emotional triggers are definitely valid, but also being blown up to push the buttons of the public to engage in certain hot topics and ignore other extremely disturbing shit that is happening behind the curtain (GMO engineering, climate engineering, drone warfare, DARPA, CERN, etc). So if a tattoo is offensive to you, guess what? The internet isn't the place to get into it. Talk to the person wearing it, you don't know the reason that they got that tattoo. It could be satirical, or it could be legitimately ignorant. You may have the chance to change your own point of view or influence someone else's. As for the whole white privilege/guilt thing in regards to cultural appropriation, everyone should be aware of their privilege so as to not capitalize on it and marginalize other people, everyone should generally be good to other people, and nobody should feel guilty about things that their ancestors have done because guess fucking what? You weren't there for it, you had nothing to do with it, and you can't change the past.

The winner of Tattoo of the month July 2015 is @suburbanxcore with this bad ass sleeve by Grez from Kings Avenue. Congrats!! Please PM @steve1461686340 with your shirt info (size and male or female) along with your address. The LST Tattoo of the Month Contest is taking a break for a little while due to low submission rate. We'll be back on a later stage, and maybe in a new format :cool: Stay tuned

Booked in with Valerie Vargas for an Ed Hardy tiger head in early September.

Thanks!! I'm just really lucky to live close to Portland. I knew it was gonna be good, but it turned out even better than I imagined. Between this and @cltattooing's chimera on my other leg, my legs are 200% cooler than they were a few months ago. :cool:

@sophistre Damn. Best morph yet.

Aw, bummer about the contest (though I understand why you might want to suspend/rethink it). I wonder if some of the lower participation isn't down to people being intimidated by the amount of jaw-dropping large-scale work that has won over the last year. I know I wouldn't mind seeing more badass small-to-medium one-shots in these things...

Got the itch this weekend and scored a walk-in with Gus Martinez at Ocean Ave Tattoo. I really dig his pin-ups, they're very Nagel-esque:

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.

@BrooklynDude Matt Bagwell at Kings Ave does awesome black & grey

@Synesthesia @sophistre Dang.... those are both REALLY great!

I havent been on here in a while, but I got Horseshoe and Dice on my elbow from Morgwn Pennypacker and He did my chest Eagle last week

Oh, of COURSE, that's on you, @sophistre. Damn, you make great choices.

That greggletron piece is insaneď

WOW FUCK THIS IS SO GOOD. *So jealous of your collection, but you already knew that. FUCK!

@sophistre, damn that is absolutely amazing! I agree whole heartedly w/Graeme. BEST morph ever! so much fun going on.

@sophistre Uggghhhh that is fucked up good. Wow. o_o

Today. Pardon my flab!

There's definitely certain things I wouldn't wear just because I wouldn't want to get constantly questioned or accused. I'm not offended by much personally, but I wouldn't want to hear other people's whining every time they catch a glimpse of my tattoo. But I support an artist making whatever art they want, whether it's a painting or a tattoo, and absolutely believe people should have the right to get whatever they want on themselves. So if someone wants to get a severed samurai head tattoo and doesn't mind idiotic SJWs saying it's racist against the Japanese, they should totally have the right to. Even deliberately offensive and racist designs I have no issue with, it's just not something I would want on myself. I guess the bottom line is no one has any right to tell someone else what they should do with their body, but some people still think it's their place to "educate" people about culture, so it's something to be prepared for if you do want an "offensive" tattoo. And I don't believe in the whole idea of cultural appropriation to begin with. No one culture created everything, we all have to borrow and share from each other, and I think that's more a sign of respect than it is to say "No, I can't get that tattoo, I'm not Asian/black/whatever." I think that does nothing but create unnecessary divisions.

These four are on my great-uncle Boots, who served in the Royal Canadian Navy. First two are on his upper arms and were done in 1949 in a street booth "by some 19 year-old kid in Pompey, England". Google tells me that means Southampton. The second two larger ones are on his forearms and were done in Victoria, BC. Artist unknown. Within the same year, I believe. All of his kids' names are in/around the tattoos.

lol my 13 yr old dtr taught me how to "screenshot" my DM pic that Sheila Marcello sent me after she did this cool amazing Pharaohs Horses piece - even though I have a few pics of this posted already in the lowdown - please allow me to give you the best of the bunch :)

I would say that technique aside I'd be really bummed if any of those were on me, but the truth is if you showed me your drawings I'd refuse to be tattooed by you so it's a moot point. @CultExciter offered you excellent advice above. Those people would be a lot better off with some simple Sailor Jerry flash because at least it would be drawn correctly. Trace classic flash. Take up drawing from life to understand how things work and go together. Always use reference. Traditional style should be about taking objects and distilling them down to their essence: look at Scott Sylvia's roses. They're simple but they fully capture the elegance and beauty of a rose. Work hard to draw like that.

@soraya, I like your comment about how you, as a tattooed person, sometimes stare at tattoos, and you're right, so do I, in appreciation! So the stares are not always in horror or distaste, and sometimes I really wish someone would stop so I could look more closely to see them. You just don't know what someone will perceive as rudeness, though. I also like your comment, @Bunny Switchblade, about how people are people, and you aren't "a tattooed person" but just "a person," as this is a conversation I have with my daughters all the time. We tend to label people, categorize them, since it is human nature to do so, but it shouldn't be much different than, like you say, someone with jewelry versus without, or short hair versus long, spectacles versus contact lenses, etc.

They should get a tattoo of a brain exploding to commemorate the experience! Edit: And from my own experience, the most annoying tattoo to be questioned about is the all seeing eye. I get so much illuminati bullshit thrown at me it's unreal

right,the plasma will bleed out for the first 10 or so hours,that's why I posted the detailed steps I use that work great,the first time I was introduced to this product I did the same thing you did and it turned out horrible ! one hour is not long enough for the fluids to seep out before applying the film. but if you re-read my last post you would see that it's totally different from the method and instructions you did. I posted step by step time frames that are important to using this product,if you don't do that exactly then yes,you will get bad results. honestly I have used this product several times with success after the first time,and it really does work,IF you follow my method ! even though nobody likes me here, (I really do know what I am talking about) you HAVE to give the fluids time to seep out BEFORE applying the film. and BTW,I also posted that I prefer the Saniderm version.

I got a laser peel on my face today-hoping this will put me on a path toward a prettier face. For now it looks like a tomato and feels like I'm burnt to a crisp. I started Taekwondo last night and broke my first board! I know the boards are set up for easier breakage but still it was fun. I think it will be a good work out, and it's a super family friendly group. (both my kids are in it-my daughter just got her brown belt and my son is a blue belt) I have a video of my board break and it's pretty funny-it makes me laugh anyway. If I can figure out how to do it I might put it on here. Plus, you can see my tattoos from afar. I told the kids I would start after school got out--2 months ago. I've been putting it off for a year b/c I was scared to do it. So, another fear faced. My coworker called me late last night and asked me to please come over-they have a 2 week old baby and he had been screaming for hours. Aunt Missi (no I'm not really his aunt but I'll never be one so he gets to be my pretend nephew) got him soothed and sleeping and he slept til 6:30am. That's a nice feeling.

Laurent for sure. Great dude at a great shop. My wife got his first "on the books for cash-money" tattoo and it rules. Be jealous.

@BrooklynDude spend some time looking at other styles of tattoos. When I first found LST I thought I would be relegated to some blackwork which I think can be awesome but got great advice and ended up lasering my back. Early on I thought all black and grey (which i still find very cool)but quickly saw that bold traditional or Japanese was great for longevity and really started appreciating it. Fast forward 4 1/2 yrs and I have all traditional style tattoos and I love em. I see tattoos everyday most just re affirm that I made good decisions thanks to the help here.