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Session 2 on Monday with Philip Szlosek at Kings Avenue Tattoo for my Gustave Dore inspired sleeve. Loving the way it's coming out so far!

hey bud, I think it's really nice your friends really want to include you and have your input into their desired marriage tattoo. If your to-be-married friends really want you to design a tattoo for you to give it obvious meaning, by all means go for it, nobody is going to stop you...but would you have a bicycle hobbyist tell the mechanic how to tune up your sports car? The last thing you want is to design a tattoo with good intentions for D&K, have it turn out poorly and then they laser or cover their marriage tattoo in a few years. That would suck for them and you will feel shitty. We don't want that to happen bud. I think there is this notion that tattoos have to carry some profound deep meaning to justify a permanent mark on the body. I was that way when I first started. So people tend to overdesign, complicate, and cram too many ideas into a tattoo design to carry some profound meaning of what they are all about. A good tattooer is going to burst your bubble, simplify to one subject (and they won't tattoo your finger unless your a cheesy instagram celebrity or have full arms of worn tattoos). The meaning in tattoo is the conception of the idea, experience getting it, healing it, and then wearing it until your dead. You could give this marriage tattoo some meaning by helping D&K come up with the general concept idea and pointing them in the direction of a good shop/tattooer. My wife and I...we got eagle tattoos. Yeah eagles, big deal, every biker, hardcore and hipster kid has an eagle tattoo. Probably 80% of the people on LST do! Sure. Why eagles? It just came up as a joke in one of the best, purest, magical moments we had as newlyweds. And then driving to the City to scope out the tattoo shop we took a random detour and ended up at a bird of prey sanctuary. Where we saw an eagle the size of a German Shepherd, majestically perched. We were mesmerized. And then we learned that eagles find their partner and mate for life. Done. Sold. We had an awesome day in the tattoo shop and a beautiful evening to follow. And her tattoo gets more compliments than mine ;) That is how tattoos hold meaning. It just happens. Life. Search the "Claddagh". This is the first image that comes to mind when I think marriage symbols. If you google Claddagh tattoo you will find an assortment of terrible tattoos and a few clean ones. Or the Hercules Knot. The nice clean tattoos all have the same thing in common...simplicity. Timeless designs. If your buds want something super detailed and intricate for their finger, find a jeweller and get rings. A shoulder tattoo can go much bigger and the skin is different (and takes less abuse) than the skin on the finger. The shoulder is a good starting spot for tattoo-virgins. Or maybe the wrist (not upsidedown!). But still, keep it simple and obvious. And sure, if your DK buds are into skulls, swap the Claddagh heart out for a simple skull. If D & K are into punk... go for the obvious and hand-poke them a Dead Kennedy's logo on your living room coffee table(jokes), give the tattoo meaning and infection! good luck

I'm finally taking the plunge, giving in to the art and getting my back piece. Face it, I will never see this art. I will see reflections, photos and glimpses over my shoulder, but I will never see the whole piece as it was intended to be viewed. Ever. Based on some old Huck Spaulding flash, I need this winged tiger. I have given my artist (Iambillyhill.com) free reign to do as he wishes. "Alan, we'll use this as a starting point and then I'm going to Billy Hill the fuck out of it!" We do the outline today. T minus two hours and counting.

I think your designs are pretty cool, and a solution that could work is to use a medium that holds better than ink in skin. Have you looked into having them made into rings? I think that would be really neat. Even neater if you could include the couple in casting the rings. You could also have the original art framed for them. There are lots of things you can do with your art that aren't specifically finger tattoos. We just use our fingers a lot, and they don't hold intricate designs as well as other parts of the body would. Check out some "new vs. old" finger tattoos to see what we mean - they spread and fade quicker than almost any other body part.

could we see a pic not familiar with or a fan of white ink tattoos but we could still give you feedback as for stencil 'ink' taking 2 weeks to 'leave' i would say that sounds odd now i would also tell you to get a proper tattoo next time by someone who has experience in that tattoo style

I probably won't be any help because I know nothing about Japanese tattoos...but in my opinion, any tattoo can be "feminine" without being overtly feminine. Just the fact that it's on a woman makes it feminine, too often people get caught up in "only certain colors are for girls, this design is too masculine, etc" but really tattoos are for both genders so there's nothing off limits. I assume your artist is pretty knowledgeable about the "rules" so you can ask him/her and choose to follow them or break them as you see fit (nowadays a lot of people don't strictly adhere to them as much).

This happened Saturday: Went to see Delphine and Laurent in London, it was intense but completely amazing at the same time, those guys are the best! 12h in the shop, around 7h of actual tattooing simultaneously on both knees, ill admit it was rough. It was such a great experience though so we decided im just going to let them have the rest of my lower legs at least. Pic is from Laurent's instagram (https://www.instagram.com/darkbabamaina/) and theres a bunch more on Delphine's https://www.instagram.com/delphinenoiztoy/

Just got this bad boy from Shaun Martinson. https://www.instagram.com/pantherreaper/ 6 hour sit. so painful.

I think you have a different definition of essential.

On Thanksgiving, @TrixieFaux & I recorded the first episode of our brand spankin' new podcast. It started out as a joke – as all the best things do – but now it's an actual thing that we're doing. Hope to put up a new one sometime next weekend. You can check it out at the link below. It's short and funny (I hope). And please "like" our Facebook page if you do. https://soundcloud.com/theholidayguy/the-holiday-guy-podcast-001-thanksgiving-2015 https://www.facebook.com/TheHolidayGuy/

300-350$ is not a lot IMO for a tattoo.

Old left knee and new right knee from Chad Koeplinger. If feels good to finally have this shit out of the way.

Just got this from Scott Sylvia at the Elm Street Festival in Dallas