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i got my elbow tattooed yesterday by ivan soyars @ old soul tattoo; canonsburg, pa.

Had a whirlwind trip to Demnmark this weekend for my second session with Henning Jørgensen. I am extremely happy with how it's turning out.

the most "dangerous" part is you will want more tattoos and are likely to spend all your money on prints and tshirts.

As others have said, the quality artist you choose will be just as safe and clean no matter where they're tattooing you. There has to be a slightly (tiny) increased risk of an infection, just because you're getting tattooed around hundreds of other people instead of 5-10 people in a shop, but your own aftercare is infinitely more important a factor. The reason not to get a tattoo at a convention has nothing to do with safety, it's about the atmosphere. I found getting a tattoo at last years Montreal convention to be WAY too loud and hectic for my taste. It was very difficult to have a conversation with my tattooer - essentially we were shouting half the time (booth quite close to stage). Afterwards I told myself I'd never get tattooed at a convention again... ...I'm getting my next tattoo in a couple weeks at the Montreal Convention.

Well, I finally quit my job of 9 1/2 years. Some may say that is stupid but the stress level was taking a toll on me. The last year was hell and not getting a raise in 4 years was eating away at me. Still living with my grandparents who have raised me, I have to take care of them. But when i'd get home, I wouldn't "de-stress" and would still be in a shitty mood, which isn't fair or nice to them. I made plans to quit and had tons of back-up plans set up. Two of my back up plans actually worked. I got a full scholarship to grad school which I applied for back in March. So Now I work on campus 18 hours a week and get a small hourly wage but my tuition is 100% paid. Also, my friend purchased a business and immediately had me work with her. We deliver drinks like soda or snapple in NYC twice a week. Starting out, I told her to pay me very very little just to get the ball moving in her court. After about 8 months, is when I'm going to start making some decent money. all in all, I am working less hours. Making more money (in 8 months). Tuition is getting paid. Thursdays and weekends off. stress level is at zero. Started going to the gym more. I am emotionally on cloud 9.

@Margarita Yaschenko It works different for everybody I suppose. I always tell people looking for their first tattoo to not put it in a place where it will be visible for you (and others) all the time. Size is a different matter, I think about palm or hand sized is good for a first. But I have also seen people get their a whole sleeve or even back as a first tattoo, and make great choices on that both with artist and motif. I think it's hard to make rules like this but the reason I advice people to not get their first tattoo on the lower arm (as many who has asked me about it tend to gravitate towards) is only because over time, and after getting more tattoos, most people go through a development when it comes to taste, understanding and appriciation of tattoos. I know I did, and still do, change my opinions and I got my first tattoo in 2009. If you put your first idea on your lower arm, chances are it will not look so cool to you in a few years and you'd wish you still had that spot open for something that you learned to enjoy over time. (Always exceptions of course, some people make great choices from the get go but these are in minority by far if you ask me. Not to say everybodys first tattoo(s) always sucks, but most people evolve in their taste to a great extent in the first 3 years, and would thank themself to leave the "prime estate" open for the future) Tattoo snob and ink fundamentalist preacher signing off for today, Peace

I appreciate any and all comments from everyone. My 1st tat was a drunken whim at 16 and the cover up was a spur of the moment thing with out investigating or anything at 18. I'm a lot older and wiser now and am seriously looking this time. I really don't want another disappointment. Thank you in advance for any and all help everyone. It is truly appreciated.

This weekend I took a big step in my tattoo journey. I now have a "highly-visible in every day life" tattoo on the inside of my forearm.

My completed full back piece. Done by Tim Croke at Second Skin, Derby. Completed in 4 full day sittings. Let me know what you think of it!

Most of what I post isn't so consistently death oriented, but I can and do love to tattoo in that style about 90% of the time. http://instagram.com/handoftheforge

I did much research before deciding to do my coverup. After watching television shows showing what could be done, it was encouraging while at the same time, you don't want to trust just anyone. As great as the internet is, I have seem far too many bad cover ups although many were simply amazing. My first attempt at research was disheartening as after asking several shops, I simply got too much conflicting information, people simply too eager for business, or simply my gut telling me something wasn't right. Finally I saw some coverup work on a tv show mentioning an artist from Dallas. After a quick search I found that he was a few miles from my house. At this point I went to his shop, but he was on the road. Talking to the shop manager and explaining my situation, I mentioned that if possible I would like to do a Captain America tattoo. Once I said that, I was quickly able to set up an appointment with the owner/artist. Although very high in demand, apparently if you are wanting something that they want to do as well, I have found that artists can shift schedules if there is a type of tattoo that they want to do. Fortunately for me, I later found that the artist was a much bigger superhero fan than myself. Over the next month, I spent wakeless nights admiring his work and many of the comic stuff he has done and spend many hours downloading comic images trying to conceptualize what would work for the coverup. My consultation finally came and after asking me what I wanted, I kind of hesitated with questions as to what my limitations were. His response was, not to worry about it, just tell him what I wanted and he would make it happen. So, I gave him my top 3 comics. We set an appointment and I left trusting him to come up with something. It was kind of crazy committing to something without knowing what exactly I was going to get until I showed up, but I trusted my instincts and research. I was straight up blown away with the results and feel I learned quite a bit along the way. - Older tattoos are better candidates for coverups than relatively new ones - Non-recognizable shapes are easier to cover than geometric shapes I don't know why some artists try to just go for the simple black out with no detail, like a panther head. You do not necessarily need to go darker for coverups, blues rock! - You should anticipate going at least 2x the original size. Bigger is better - Detail will help draw attention away from the orginal tattoo, so some slight detail show through - At least for me, the skin where the old tattoo was scarred and bleed a bit more than fresh skin. These area scanned more. Anyway, if anyone has any questions, shoot away. PS.. I was still a little bloody on the yellow lines, but you get the results.

To start off as of right now I have no tattoos. I have been trying to get a tattoo for awhile but money or other issues have cropped up. Two weeks ago I got in touch with an artist and signed up for a leg piece. (starting at the foot to the knee filled in completely. My friends said that was "too much for a first", but the funny thing is I am already looking at getting another huge piece started by a favorite artist, and the possibility of sleeve by the same guy by next year. Although the sleeve is a bigger step since I work in a VERY Conservative field (Wall St) and will need to think more about that. Am I going way to fast? I personally don't believe so

When I was playing hockey in my teens, we always had this huge rivalry against another small town, it always ended up in huge brawls, like always. One of these brawls I ended up wrestling another player to the ice and while the fighting was ending I ended up getting kicked in the back of the head without my helmet on. I was instantly knocked out for about 5 minutes but when I woke up I proceeded to skate to the biggest guy on their team and try to fight him. Passed out again and took a good beating. Was in the hospital for a few days major concussion. A couple weeks later my buddys dad started calling me Mush because thats what my brain was, and I kept getting concussions and hospital visits because I didn't want to stop playing. The name stuck and Ive been Mush or mushy for the better part of 14 years now.

Fucking hell im looking at the line up right now. Seeing more and more pictures of tattoos, the more i see the art in it. That convention does look like it has the best artists. sorry for the swearing.. but wow. just wow

@Willhel All right! I think I'll try to couchsurf with this indian guy I know a bit out in the suburbs. Just got confirmed with Mike Rubendall by the way, super stoked!

Yes, it will stretch with your skin and since your skin is unlikely to stretch in a uniform way, it will deform your tattoo. But that's the nature of tattoos, whether or not you work out. You will gain or lose weight over your life, hopefully you'll live long enough to see your skin slacken and sag with age. Your tattoos will do the same. Living is going to "mess them up", as you put it. You can somewhat compensate for that by getting large tattoos by quality artists that fit your body well, avoid perfect circles or straight lines, and things like that, but it's ultimately unavoidable. I think that's part of what makes tattoos beautiful.

I suppose so. My take on it is that if you like how Simon Erl tattoos, go seek out a tattoo from Simon Erl rather than finding somebody else to give you an imitation of that.

Why does it have to be a style instead of an individual form of expression.

i think we need some photo updates.

Man you quoted one of my first posts here! (Just to follow up, I took the advice of everyone here and got tattooed a ton!)

that is 100% agreeable. do you have Instagram, I'd like to repost it.

Yes I understand this post is years old. I have to admit, I too started to think maybe I am going to fast. I got my first tattoo last year and it seems like all I do now is think about my next one. Since my first I have gotten 7 tattoos from 4 different artists. I also have 2 tattoos coming up in October, one of which is the start of a half-sleeve. Personally, I may be doing too much too soon. But since I waited until I was 31 to get my first tattoo, I don't think it's too crazy. Had I started getting tattoos when I wanted them at 17 or 18, I would probably be filled with a lot of garbage and spending tons of money on Laser removal. Glad I waiting to get filled up. I am wayyy more educated on good artists as oppose to letting a "friend in his kitchen" do it. The support of the people on LST have pointed me to so many GREAT paths. When people respond to the PMs, I look at it as "Hey I got your back". So grateful to everyone for that. The only thing I lack is the knowledge of Japanese style and what goes together and what doesn't If anyone knows of a book that can break it down to me, give me a shout.

It's small enough that it should be able to be covered up fairly easy with the right size and detail of the new work. I have a cover up, but it was a much larger area to be covered. The new ink ended up being way too dark and I find myself wishing I would have gotten some laser done first.

Never thought of it this way. I've had 9 sessions on conventions in total. Reputable artists will make sure everything is in order so don't worry about anything else than chosing the right artist for your tattoo

Chris Adamek @ Immortal Ink (North Jersey) does pretty amazing portrait work - only B&G I believe - as for traditional Japanese - its not a style that I personally go for - but I think folks might point you into NY - Invisible or Kings Ave. might provide you with several options there as for referrals though - I bet you're gonna have a few folks give you some ideas that have better insights than myself on this type of thing

Right? Where's my castle at?

I don't think Sway is doing quite the same stuff as Erl but both are really good. Bailey H Robinson is a good comparision though. Actually I think Simon Erl does this type of style and subjects the best, it's him I measure other against. If given the right requests he pulls out amazing stuff, within this pretty narrow style. I love his level of contrast and ways of putting in shading, the whips are cool too. Even if he makes more detailed stuff it's always readable. I mean, how great is this one? (recent example) He tattooed me in 2013 in Stockholm, and is a nice guy to talk too also.

Birthday bro tats with my best friend, done by Gordon Combs of Art Work Rebels. Gordon applied my first tattoo in 2008 in San Francisco (and tattooed my friend that same year), been awesome following his work in recent years. Photo taken from Gordon's IG. Mine's on the right...

Trixie Faux was the name I used when I sang in a fun little band called The Falsies (Boston late nineties). We were Trixie Faux, Cherry Faux, Candy Faux, and Sonny Faux...with an occasional guest sax player, Leftie. :) https://www.facebook.com/TheFalsies?fref=ts

Kneecap fully healed by Danny Rossiter at Rain City Manchester - Bonus healed monmon cat!

I would imagine that I'm not the only person with a sketch book or peg board of stuff I want to tattoo. I know several people will post designs on their instagram of stuff they wanna do as well.

On the bright side, it is now more likely than ever that your daughter is going to get a panther tattoo, so it's not all bad.

Resurrecting this thread from the dead. I have the itch right now. Last time I got tattooed was last month, haha.

Personally, I think it's kind of cool to have older tattoos that are "beat up." They age with you, and each one has a story. I considered having my first tattoo redone because it has faded a fair amount, but I could never do it. It's a memorial tattoo for my older brother. I got it shortly after he passed away, and it still comforts me when I look at it. Having someone freshen it up would be weird to me, I guess.

The other day I was wearing a pretty dorky anime t-shirt and shorts and waiting for an ice cream when I noticed a small girl sneaking glances my way, as little kids do when they know they're not supposed to stare at strangers but sort of really want to anyway. First she looked at my shirt, then at the dolphin-fish on my leg, and then gave me a conspiratorial smile. Like: you can wear cartoons on your shirt AND on your leg?!

I got the creep factor the other day at the market. I was at the check out line and there was a married couple one lane over. I noticed that every time his wife was turned away from me, he was making eye contact with me and giving me the "hey baby head nod and smirk" Gross, completely turned my stomach. I gave him my best snarley face and a head shake. really, I don't mind looks as much as I do creepy men who disrespect their wives like that.

As the Dead would sing, What a long, strange trip it's been:

The peony on my left arm was done over a very dark older tattoo with a lot of black in it. This was done in 2011 and the white and blue have held up well since then. I'll have the white touched up on a future appointment. I would have never guessed it was possible and was entertaining a chemical peel or having it lasered off.

I've found whenever people give me crap about something (although not about my tattoo yet, since it's small and not super noticeable), I say something friendly, but pointed about how they should worry about themselves (I tell my students to worry about themselves when they tattle and I wish I could do the same with adults). For instance, to the lady at the store--"oh, I just felt like my temple needed a little decoration" or "well, it's good you haven't gotten any then!" in a nice, friendly way--not sarcastically. Stuff like that seems to really knock people over and make them think about their assumptions and about keeping them to themselves. Also... teacher to teacher (I'm just starting my M. Ed), what is your sense of how schools view tattooed teachers? My former school was pretty cool and I've talked to other teachers--but I'd like to get more perspectives on the subject.

I can relate to this so well working in emergency medicine and being a woman. Though most of my ink is hidden, occasionally I have to change in the shower or something like that happens. 98% of people think it's interesting. 2% think it's a license to say something obnoxious. Staring is fine. Commentary is unheeded and unneeded.

My girlfriend and I were eating at a restaurant in the downtown area of our town a week or two ago, and we ended up getting seated directly next to the floor to ceiling window that looked out onto the sidewalk. A family stopped right outside and there was a little dude--probably 7 or 8--who was absolutely fascinated by my tattoos. He stood there staring open mouthed and at one point grabbed his sister to point and show her. It was really cute...he clearly didn't realize that we could see him too, as after a minute or two we finally laughed and waved to him, at which point he ran and hid behind his parents. Kids are the best.

My mom says they look "trashy" too. She also advised that I get therapy...in an I'm joking but not really kind of way. I think I just told her that we each have our own personal style and it's okay if they are not the same. As for therapy I told her she would probably be the one who needs it since I'm happy and she's the one w/a problem w/tattoos! ;-) Oh, ps. @Dan S. -- I married into a Jewish family. They observe but are reform (rather than conservative or orthodox) and they are actually very laid back about the tattoos I have and now my husband has. My 73 yo mother-in-law has actually expressed a desire to get one. We would be happy to take her but she chickens out.

People typically only stare at me when they think I won't notice. But I'm probably a LOT uglier than the OP! Forget the bible quotes, forget all the defense, someone said YOUR body, right? That's the ticket. YOUR body. Anyone doesn't like it, or wants to be in your face behind some two-thousand year-old book of fables, tell em to piss-off. Since it IS YOUR BODY, noone but you has the right to decide what goes into it or onto it. As far as religious opposition to tattoos, AFAIK, you will get it most strongly from observant jews and muslims, then the fundie types. Blow 'em off-who cares? The majority of the stare-ers? The men are drooling and the women are jealous. Enjoy your tattoo and plan your next one!

Funny, I thought I'd have a different response to this but when I thought about it, my answer is, "I don't." Could be because I'm getting older, or because I no longer have to ride the train to work, or a hundred other things, but when I thought about this and read the responses, I realized that tattoos are a much smaller part of my outward life than they were previously. Which doesn't mean I don't spend way too much time looking/reading/giggling/whatever, just means that I don't use them to identify myself as much anymore. I'm much less a "tattooed person" as I am a person that has tattoos. It's not a "lifestyle," it never was. I will say though, when spring/summer hits and the shorts come out, I definitely notice some looks, and I realize some are involuntary. But at this point, I've pretty much stopped caring. I don't know if this makes sense, I just got off work and there have been many shots tonight.

The Bible does say you should not mark your skin. Next time tell them it also says "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned," "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." and "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?" These hypocrites only read the part of the bible that allows them to be judgmental blowhards. As to the stares, I'm 6'2" 195 with hair halfway down my back. I stare back :-)

After going big, I go home; I prefer to shower there.

i don't think there is any such thing as getting too big of a piece as your first piece, but i would consider that you may want some of that space further down the line if you discover other artists you like. that's the advantage of having a bunch of smaller pieces in certain areas (or all over if you fancy) as you gradually gain more work, but have more opportunities to have different people tattoo you and different ideas that develop over time. then again, what do i know? i got my chest done as my first tattoo so sometimes, you just gotta say "fuck it."