Leaderboard

Alright folks, here ya go

HAIL SATAN indeed....... This was from last Wednesday. Evil filler, shoe horned in by John Hill @ Name Brand. This is my 6th or 7th devil (but not the last).

So here is the remainder. Kongo Yasha Myo-o in his full glory from Dana Helmuth. This was pretty much the home stretch at this point. Once all the shading was done, the color was only about 1/3 of the remaining time I spent with Dana. I love Dana's snakes. Once mine got colored in, I couldn't stop staring at it, I still can't. Also everyone loves the blue, and so do I. It's bold, and it'll be awesome for a long time. I spent a lot of time at Read Street Tattoo in Baltimore and it was a great shop. The final session was in Dana's tattoo lair at his home in Maryland and it's a true honor to be a member of his back piece club. And the final obligatory baby picture, because I want to be as cool as @hogg.

Well I've always been of the mindset to give the people what they want. It looks like I can only bundle 20 pictures per post, so here you have the first half. Of note in this set of pictures; My back is really only my third tattoo, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I just knew I always had an interest in this type of stuff, and it was something I had to do. The very first lining session reminded me of the pain of my previous tattoos, but the worst part was the hair. I distinctly remember clutching the table as the 5th hour rolled around and it was time to start the hair. 30 minutes later, soaked in sweat, I can say I did what needed to be done. After that session, Dana says that he is notorious for pushing his clients, and that if I really needed to take a break, to just let him know. The guy is a machine and just rolls on forever once he gets started. Once that love handle got hit, I knew I had to turn to chemical relief. The average session was 4-5 hours and I didn't want to let Dana down by tapping out early. That may be frowned upon by those who never turned to relief, but anyone who has turned to pain killers will tell you that it hardly does anything. It just takes the edge off and lets you breath a little. Make no mistake, you definitely still feel it. Kudos to anyone who goes through the ass without any assistance. I don't think I could have managed sessions any longer than 2 hours if so. We did a ton of lines and shading. We both got a little bored with it and decided to color in some fire before finishing the shading. We were both itching to see color and it was a great change of pace. One major thing to note, and I want everyone to take notice about how a tattoo changes and you just roll with what works. At first, Kongo Yasha was going to have a nice yellow aura, and the lines were down to lay the path, but that changed once the fire got started. Since Kongo Yasha is an angry ass dude, we decided a full fire aura would look the best. Dana put some lines down and I think it was a change for the better. You can hardly even tell what was originally intended.

Pretty sure the correct answer is HAIL SATAN - - - Updated - - - Finished up a leg with Lehi. First two sessions at Blackheart, final session at Temple. Last year I got tattooed by Stewart Robson at Blackheart and I was saying I wanted to get some big work from Tim. Stewart told me flatly that I had to get a tiger. Turned out Ok I guess, if you're into that sorta thing... This is about 3 weeks healed (photo taken today). From his IG

I found this short video about Tony D'Annessa online and figured that people here would be interested in it. Tony tattooed in New York City before tattooing was outlawed in 1961 and you can find him talking about NYC in Michael McCabe's New York City Tattoo book. He opened PSC Tattoo in Montreal in 1976 and the shop is still going strong and these huge roll-up sheets of his flash hang on the walls. I've been getting my back done there and Tony is there pretty much every day, occasionally doing a tattoo, but mostly hanging out, watching TV and making wisecracks. I got tattooed by him about three and a half years ago and I would definitely recommend getting tattooed by him if you're ever in Montreal.

First Session 8hrs. All done. Tony Wayne from Imperial Tattoo Company.

The point of a blast over, typically speaking, is to put a piece of art over-top what's there and not care about the previous tattoo / use it as "ascent" to the new tattoo. Personally speaking, and not professionally, it's a trend I really hope doesn't stick around long. Professionally speaking, the dermis can only hold so much pigment. That pigment is of a particle size that is essentially too large for your body to process and dispose of it as the true contaminate that it is. Over years and years though, the immune system will indeed "chip away" at that pigment and that's why tattoos start to look a little faded / blurry / out of focus. When you do a blast over, you're now cramming more pigment into the dermis, which will ultimately settle and any trauma from the first tattoo will most likely show through, via raised line work is the most common sight. Over time, it will settle down and become muddy. This of course will vary depending on who did the first tattoo, with what colors and how saturated it is. Since the blast over trend is just now picking up steam, I doubt we'll see any 'long term' photos for another few years. But in the meantime, I'll point you to those who got heavy black work done with the intention of putting white over it. Looks killer when first done but 2-3 years in, it's all muddy. At the end of the day, it's your skin, you need to decide what you're acceptable living with.

Pictures from my second and third sittings. My tattooist thinks we'll have it done in 7. Thank dog. The itchiness is killing me! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BLACKHeart Temple IDleHand STateofGrace skull and sword warhorse tattoo city everlasting spidermurphys 2spirit probably tons more

Hubbs and I took a long weekend, went to the State Fair, a concert, had room service breakfast, ate all the things!, and snuck in some shopping. This was our first "after the kid graduates from High School" adult trip. The kid stayed home and took care of the dogs :cool:

I went around between Instagram, my phone, and the back piece thread and pulled together as many shots of my back progress as I could. Anyone interested in seeing the process? The only reason I ask is it is a lot of gratuitous ass. Like, a lot. Obviously it's all already on the internet, but just seeing it one folder on my hard drive seems excessive as it is so I figure I'd gauge interest here before posting.

Hellloooo everybody!! It's that time of year again...where we all start oohing and aahing over the lineup for the Bay Area convention and some of us start talkin' travel. @sophistre and I met up yesterday and decided that it would probably be fun as hell to go, so the PNW will be representing for sure. Who else is in? Any plans? I'm just hoping to get the conversation going!!

I'm getting married May 21st next year (and you bet my dress will be showing off my back piece!). I'm also moving into an amazing apartment in The Beach area of Toronto come September 1st. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@marley mission that is "shitty" I have to get annual scopes now. A full colonoscopy is better than a flex-sig, because at least you're sedated. The sensation is totally different when you're fully awake. I always tell my doctor I'm going to get a tattoo for her. It'd have to be placed so it was legible when I'm on my left side. Hope you enjoyed your night of a thousand waterfalls!

Well maybe if mine took 8 hours, I would be less eager. :) One of them was about 3, the other was well under 2 (including time spent talking about movies and politics...Chad Koeplinger, everybody). And yes, @pidjones, the area closest to the armpit is the worst I've found for pain yet. Especially with the one by Chad, where a couple of the leaves of my rose really went in there. It's one of those spots where I guess it's connected to other nerves because it would hurt all the way down to my elbow and in my ribs.

Ok, you guys are killing me. Just about an inch of that soft inner flesh was worked on me last week, and I still vividly remember the burn! Like she was working it over with a soldering iron (and she has a very light hand). I had one of the black lines scab and seems to have lost its ink (Oh joy! A touch-up there!) @xcom: Eight hours? Whoa! Saw it in the Latest thread - made my arm react to see it. Beautiful piece, though. Question - does it get worse getting closer to the pit?

@hogg Yes, I know that horishi means carving master. The artist I am talking about is Houryu (houryu(yoshi) As you see his color palette is very limited and the tattoos are very old school in their looks. I am quite confused if I should start tebori work or do it with machine instead

Welcome, post pics! Australia has so many great artists, I'm jealous.

All said and done between May 2013 and November 2014. 18 months, roughly 1 appointment per month.

@Cork, so badass! Do you remember how many sessions and how long it took? Thanks for posting it all in one spot so we can appreciate the progression.

Many of us do not want "flash". Certainly reading and research helps, but the best advice is to find an artist with work you like and talk to them. They are your best asset, and will tell you their design process (if asked) so that you can plan accordingly. My favorite artist works very flexibly, and has used reference material that I email to her to incorporate in her design. She then emails me a rough draft a day or so before the appointment. Deposits vary widely. Your deposit should cover the sketch. I understand that many will not email the sketch, however. You must see one for careful review and approval before the tattoo. Still, if it is photographed beyond your control, you have no guarantee that someone has it copied by another artist.

Hello Paul and welcome to this forum. I was like you and I found this thread really helpfull as a starter http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/2396-what-makes-good-tattoo.html. Just swift through the posts at the general discussion you'll be fine. And if u have some questions I think alot of people here can answer them

I'm an old fart too. I'm all about "cash is king." However, I'll use PayPal to send a deposit to someone that isn't local. I've done this a couple of times. I've also received a Visa Gift Card for Christmas a couple times. So the first idea that came to mind was to put down a deposit somewhere that takes Visa. Safe to say that my parents never gave me a Visa Gift Card for Christmas ever again.

Found this the other day, pretty much sums up my view on it:

In country: usually bring it with me. Out of country: research which banks are affiliated with mine to minimize any weird fees, find one close to the shop and treat it like my regular bank (usually I've found you can go to a teller as you normally would). To get around ATM limits I've taken out half of what I've needed the day before then half the day of.

post it i said @Cork :p

@Cork I have been doing the same as we have been going along. I have a whole folder on my laptop just with pictures of my back progressing session by session. It is amazing to see the gradual change and those sessions when it suddenly seems to jump ahead. Really interesting, but as you say a lot of ass... none the less... share it.

Welcome and I'm sorry that you've gone through some difficult things lately, though it sounds like you're well on your way to figuring out how to prevent things like that from happening in the future. With that said, I would caution against getting a tattoo for the reasons you expressed in your post. I understand the idea of wanting to have a permanent reminder on you, but tattoos don't really work like that. I think you should get a tattoo because you want a tattoo, because you like tattoos and the art of them, not because you think that tattoos will make you a better person.

Always ass. Always.

@Cork I totally want to see!

I've never asked a man for ass pics before, but you know what they say.... ya never know till ya try it :D

@Cork: Agree with @Graeme. Do it!

@Cork I think you should do it. I think it's cool seeing how it comes together bit by bit.

Yes!!! I'll be there, naturally. Can't wait to see you babes :o I probably won't be getting any tattoos though cause for obvious reasons I can't afford it haha. Although that's kind of a bullshit reason cause it's impossible to leave that show with any money in your pocket.

Hello all! Not been on for a little while so thought I better jump on and give a bit of an update. Firstly @Graeme your back is looking great. I'll be that far along soon. Ian reckon's we could be done in 3 or 4 more sessions. In the mean time this is the progress from the last couple of sessions. Reposted from Ian's instsgram.

When removing any of the -derms, pull it in line with the skin, not away from the skin, kind of like when you remove those 3M "Command" hooks adhesive from the wall. If you pull it straight in line down with the wall it pulls off without damage, but if you try to pull it AWAY from the wall you'll damage the drywall. The -derm film is similar to that, and if possible grasp both sides of the film and pull apart, like stretching a rubber band, and it will lift off the skin, just like the wall hook adhesive. My problem this time was that it was on my arm, so I needed someone to do it for me in the parts that weren't already starting to peel. Where it wanted to stick I used coconut oil and worked it into the skin and it slid off. I use this stuff at work so that's how I know a few tricks!

Wait, you guys going for sure?!? FUCK!

Not the latest, but I finally got some decent pictures of my wings and eyes from Erik Von Bartholomaus. Wraps almost all the way around, making it pretty tough to take pictures of. Sorry the first picture is sideways.

Some progression of my nautical sleeve done by Mike Stockings.

got my hand tattooed by mike wilson yesterday @ the pagoda city tattoo convention. soooo stoked on life right now even though my hands the size of a catchers mitt.

Sorry for the huge pic, I don't think I posted this but anyway I got this done a few months ago by Jesse Rix in Keene, N.H.

today is my 20 year anniversary with the company I work for.