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I got a horror short story published in a collection by female horror writers. Not been around much, as have been concentrating a lot on my writing.

I haven't really been an active poster lately, but I just wanted to check in and say hello and hope all is well. I've been super busy since my mentor and I decided to start up our own shop in downtown Roanoke, Virginia. I'm currently working 12-16 hour days balancing a job and tattooing. I've been able to tattoo super consistently since we opened up though and I've seen some improvements (albeit nowhere near anything I'd hope to be) in my technical ability. My pal Cody works with us as well, and yeah, it's been good. I'll try to check in more regularly, but I still peruse the board. Miss y'all.

Hi Jeff, welcome. Your tattoo looks great! I echo what Graeme said above...greys always look darker and red right after they are put into the skin and then lighten and soften up during the healing. I always found that part of healing that tattoo really fun to experience. If you were expecting or wanting a high contrast or harder lines with your black n grey tattoo I would recommend talking to your tattooer. They probably would want to see it healed anyway (well any artist on the neverending quest to improve would) so they can see the results of the grey-wash ratios they are using. Probably could darken spots up but then you may lose the portrait effect. But again, the lion looks great, classy tattoo bro, don't overthink it. Onto the next big one !

I also have not been here much recently, but decided to cruise on by and say hiiiii guys! I'm super busy and kicking ass at my new gig and stoked to be doing something I enjoy that fits my lifestyle so well. Stoked to be getting tattooed by Shad in two weeks and then who knows what else is going to get done in October! I'll be back in SF for Halloween and Convention fun. :))) Miss you, LST, and think of you often. (I'm on my work computer all the time now and *alarmingly* focused, so I never think to make it over here because who wants to be on another computer AFTER work? but truly.)

I made the comment because I don't like you, but you're right and it was uncalled for and I apologize for it.

Been ages since I posted on this forum, don't really know why since I have been lurking every now and then. Guess i've been more into real life outside world thingies and started university again. Anyway a friend of mine put this on my leg. Just to get some panties in a twist: this was not done in a shop, but in a bedroom. edit: It's about 2 months healed

Yeah that's pretty amazing. I'm having trouble deciding on a tattoo to begin my arm coverage. Also still can't decide on if I want to begin with my upper arm or go from wrist upward. Oh i'm in Florida too but Jacksonville here.

Welcome Jeff. As far as I can tell from the pictures it looks like your tattoo healed up nicely and those greys look really nice and smooth. Greys always heal up much lighter than they go in so it doesn't look like there's anything either you or your artist did to compromise the tattoo. Welcome to the forum.

I guess I deleted the original pic from my IG, so here is the mighty kung fu mantis again by Bryan J Turnbull (from my LST gallery). I just got him touched up last week, so he's lookin crisp and crunchy like a bug should. This pic is is pre-touchup at the 2 year mark. ...and a couple new ones to buzz some life back into this thread: "BUZZ OFF" by Jonny Murdoch "ZEN SPIDER" by Jonny Murdoch - - - Updated - - - And I wanted to give this special lil guy his own write-up: I call this one "TESSERACT ANT" It is tattoo #36 and now is the smallest tattoo on my body (about the size of a quarter)...so small in fact that it isn't readable until you get close enough and squint ...this is a concept tattoo I've been planning on getting for some 'time'... You may recognize the black n grey tattoo on the peripheral as the Escher dragon on my ribs, which happened to be the first "big" tattoo I got in 2005. The Escher Dragon is a 2-dimensional piece of art that tricks the eye into seeing 3-dimensions by manipulating depth and perception. Now, did you ever read the book 'Wrinkle in Time' by Madelaine L'Engle when you were a kid? So...herein lies the concept...I got this time-travellin' ant tattoo, in 2015...that has found it's way INSIDE the Escher Dragon that was made 10 years ago. So now, I've gone and made this a 4-dimensional tattoo...by adding "time" as a new variable... I know some of you are thinking...geez Bongsau, trippy, that's some interstellar shit maan...maybe wanna lay of the shrooms... It was made by Bryan Turnbull at the Edmonton Expo (comic con). Edmonton Journal newspaper showed up and took our picture for the paper: The photo is actually pretty funny...it probably looks like I'm getting work on an epic backpiece to the uninformed public, but in reality it was the big man Bryan putting on my smallest tattoo LOL "Only in our imagination do we live in more than two dimensions, and with its help we attempt to enliven the flatness of our image with depth. All of a sudden it may dawn on us how foolish we are, we faddists of the two-dimensional picture with our constant urge to achieve unobtainable depth." -M.C. Escher, 1947[1]: - - - Updated - - - ...now to take this concept one step further...the ant is so small it may eventually fade and blow out...in which case in 10~20 years I will probably black it over, erasing the ant from the future and leaving it as a wrinke in time from the past...far out maan..

Finally got some half-way decent healed photos of my Hooper musician leg. On the other hand, trying to paste together such a single photo is near impossible, at least for an old geezer like me. I'll reactivate the squidpants thread by putting this there, too . . .

My confirmed schedule is as follows: October 17th Luke Wessman October 21st and 22nd Rich Pineda December 12th Timothy Hoyer Excited as hell!!!!

Going for the pistons & crossed checkered flag neck tattoo the day after I retire.... so go for it!

Thanks for the good vibes. I'm okay, not sure that the nerve block is working 100%, still have some pain at the injection site. In at 7, out on the street by 9:30. I slept most of the day, no driving or drinking for the rest of the day. Ohh heel pain... I went to a foot doctor about a year ago, gave me an injection in my heel. If I had a gun in my hand, I would have blown his head off. I have never shouted a compound swear word at a doctor visit before.

Today is the day. Looks like I am collecting a shark. Jon West, Imperial Tattoo Company.

Booked in with Chad Koeplinger in two weeks! First tattoo since May!(also by Chad) Feels like ages

Online campaign wants 95-year-old Wang-Od to be recognized as a National Artist | Kicker Daily News "A campaign pushing for Wang-Od (Fang-Od) to be recognized as a National Artist has been circulating on social media sites. "Alongside Wang-Od’s portrait is a text which reads: “Whang-Od is the last Ancient Kalinga Tattoo artist. In the past years, the silence of this ancient art was broken because people from around the globe pay homage to this remaining artist and take pride that they were tattooed by her. “'It is my personal advocacy to let the Filipino community realize that it is now time to recognize her world-class contribution to the art of tattoo-making that is genuinely Filipino.' “'She deserves to be one of our National Artist,' it said with a hashtag #WangOdNationalArtist."

@bongsau - love that book and immediately recognized the page! Pissed-off bee is so cute!

Not to interrupt your "keeping it real" moment, but you are missing the principle reason, admitted or not, that most 'artists' sign up for this contest. It is not because they have hopes of winning it; win, lose or get laughed off, I bet you their business goes through the roof (at least in the short term) because every chump with no clue wants a sweet-tatty from "that guy from the TV". They can now forever scrawl those magic words "as seen on season xxxx of...." which all the rubes will eat up from now until forever. That's the real shame of these shit-shows, IMO.

I don't know a single person who actually enjoys the bickering and contrived set-ups. Not on this show or any other reality show. I think this is just what TV producers thinks people like, or what they hope they can make people like if they shove it down their throats enough. I'm just saying I would like the show a lot better if those things were different, I don't really expect them to change anything because that would require effort on everyone's part.

Finished up this thigh piece about 2months ago. Healed shot lifted from Tim Lehi's Instagram. If you go back in the thread you can see the beginnings/line work. That leg is really coming together...only problem is now I've got this pesky knee-gap.

Yes you can and should tattoo yourself directly after tattooing pig skin. Don't worry about cleaning the needles. Little known fun fact, pig skin is one of the best anti-microbials around!

reactivating this thread with my Thomas Hooper piece:

Awesome weekend at the London Convention. There were some awesome tattoos walking around and being created, not least on some LSTers. Congratulations to everyone that got some work. Everything I have seen so far looks great. I didn't get anything big or dramatic this weekend. Just this little guy by Len Leye at Clan of Tusk in Belgium. Really nice guy and fun time getting tattooed. It you don't know his work then check out his instagram.

I know a guy, a friend, who`s parents would kill him if they found out about his tattoos. He has his torso covered, right up to.the shoulders, with nothing on his arms. I call it his "tank top". Sent from my SCH-S968C using Tapatalk

Steve byrne Rock of Ages austin tx

That's interesting. I would say that constantly looking at tattoes online on instagram, forums and facebook of my favorite artist is "active learning", right? I just don'\t seem to be able to visualize a cool tattoo and maybe I don't know exactly what I want. I really like the feeling of getting tattooed but i'm not interested in the meaning of it, just the aesthetics of good tattooes on my skin.

I was told that they practice on beans... human-beans...