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Latest tattoos from Guen Douglas done at Magnum Opus in Brighton. Really pleased with them but damn the heal is so tough. Usually heal very quickly with minimum issues. First time using vasocaine so don't know if this is affecting the heal? Anyway can't wait for them to be settled in. Got an appointment with Sneaky Mitch on Wednesday, way to soon but you just don't say no, not even when you've been waiting as long as I have to be tattooed by him!

Wow, just finished reading this thread from start to finish. First things, there are some truly eloquent opinions on here, and I'm really impressed that there has been so much in the way of disagreement and debate handled in a proper grown up way..... Surely it is a rariety indeed to find an online discussion which features strong opinions that has not degraded into name calling or worse. I kept thinking I wish some of those people who judge the heavily tattooed as stupid could read some of these posts! Secondly, my humble opinion is that there is a distinct difference between seeking out a tattooer solely because they are a well known name and doing so because they do solid, beautiful work that appeals to you (and they're well known). I'm very lucky to have been tattooed by some well known tattooists, but every single one of them I have chosen because it is their work that speaks to me first and foremost. I'm also extremely lucky to have had lovely, positive experiences with those guys, so much so that I've been back for more! A tattoo is so much more than the image you're left with. I pride myself on my collection, but have been known to be tattooed by people I've never heard of because I got good vibes from them. Last year at Brighton I got tattooed on whim by Stewart OC (who was then at Prick, London) because I walked by his booth, we got talking and just got on. I thought, I want this guy to have my money! I'd just started my apprenticeship and he was so lovely, offering advice etc. And last of all, as a tattooer myself, someone who is constantly working on improving, putting the best tattoo I can on (not just thinking about that instagram photo!), I do come across customers who clearly only want to be tattooed by certain people because they have a 'name', like it's more important to have been touched by those people than for them to have a good tattoo. That definitely irks me! Sometimes I think that comes from ignorance and the assumption that just because you've heard of someone that they MUST be better than someone you haven't heard of. But as as an anyone who has a 'hidden gem' in their local shop knows, that's not always the case!

Quick one from Nate Hudak while he was visiting my friends shop down the road.

Got to be a reckless kid one more time and got tattooed by Valerie again, this time in London. They're peeling and unsightly now, but here they are in their fresh glory: The warrior: https://www.instagram.com/p/BAvLzMPDKFR/ The priestess: https://www.instagram.com/p/BAvLqtnDKFD/ Bonus video: https://www.instagram.com/p/BAvLTr3EHRy/

30 days of healing. This thing was full thick scabs, cracking and bleeding for 2 weeks. I can't wrap my head around how nothing fell out. The tattoo gods have watched over me and blessed me with the masterful tattooing of Steve Batt. (lo fi filter on instagram)

Love all the pieces here!! Finished this up back in 2012 while I was living in Beijing... Done by Tang Ping (ziyou tattoos). The top right part is a cover-up. He also did a monkey king on my front but i guess that belongs on a front piece thread :D. www.instagram.com/ziyoutattoo He also did this tibetan skull (it won 1st at the london tat convention in 2010)... which was the piece that sold me on getting mine from him.

Now that we are in February is it acceptable to start looking forward to Brighton Tattoo Convention?! I've got an appointment with Steve Byrne, so that's going to be awesome! Has anyone else got appointments sorted out yet?

(sorry for the bad photos) got this today from Simon Erl so many details in it that i love, he also probably had the lightest hand of anyone ive been tattooed by, would love to get more work from him and got this lil sentimental thorn with rose from my mentor curtis pettigrove on friday. he's returning to the other side of the world in a month so im getting them in whilst i can, that and he's got mad style and is such a chill dude to get tattooed by aswell as a great friend, so if youre in the london area you should catch him before he returns to aus

Thank you Graeme. I have considered getting their names done, but something about my mother-in-law's tattoo just really caught my eye. It's not so much about the stuff they liked. It's more that remembering those specific things reminds me of the good times. We met because of similar interest in nerdy things. They're what originally drew us together 11 years ago. So it just seems fitting to try and capture that memory, that feeling, if that makes any sense.

@sourpussoctopus I already told you on IG those are Deadly!!

I have no idea about good tattooers in the Bahamas, but I got tattooed in Barcelona a couple of summers ago and while it was totally worth it and a great experience because I got tattooed by one of my favorite tattooers in a really cool shop, the experience of having to wear pants in the summer in a hot country wasn't the best, especially because I only wear jeans. I don't think I'd get tattooed just for the sake of getting tattooed in circumstances like that.

oh hell yeah gonna be fun tatt or no tatt

I'm sure a bunch of you guys follow Curly in various places, but I love seeing him often add new black work on top of old. It looks fantastic and makes me smile.

Neat thread to revisit. I haven't really changed my attitude since I first posted on here, though I have a lot more coverage than when I first posted. I'm about 45% covered now so I still have plenty of space, but it's enough that running out of space seems like a distinct possibility especially because I've only been getting tattooed for about five years. I have a young child now so that has forced me to slow down and it may somewhat limit the possibility for traveling for tattoos. I'm also much pickier than I was: when I was first getting tattooed I was overwhelmed by how many people there are making great tattoos and I wanted to get something from all of them. I'm looking for something else now, and the experience of getting the tattoo, of getting tattooed by the right people is almost more important than the tattoo itself. Consequently, my list of "musts" is much shorter than it was. A couple of years of experience has also made getting tattooed into almost a duty. I'm committed to heavy coverage which is going to mean that the spots that are going to totally suck need to be tattooed so I kind of just want to get them over with so I don't have to dread them as much as I do.

So had my first session today with Mrdist today in Sweden. What a gentleman! Lots more to come tomorrow. Yes I know its another womans face and skull lol much more to come tomorrow but who doesn't like a woman and skulls ;) lol Sorry for the shit pics from my phone :)

I had my consultation today... Jim Sylvia 2/19!

Had another great adventure in Chicago this weekend including a very successful trip to Great Lakes Tattoo. My wife had an appointment with Mario Desa for one of his very cool folk birds and I was lucky enough to to find Nick Colella available for me to get a walk in dragon. I can't recommend this shop (and Chicago in general) enough.

I work at a University in Australia in an fairly formal office environment. The kind of place you would think you would have issues having visible tattoos. All my colleagues know about my tattoos but they are pretty much hidden all the time. I'm starting a sleeve in April and my boss is totally cool with me wearing short sleeve shirts. She even said "i cant wait to see it" I guess i'm one of the lucky ones.

update...hand/wrist tattoo has been the most stressful heal to date. only one big scabby left over the wrist bone and the friggin lines are still there, showing underneath the scab. I cannot believe it! didn't lose any of the fine detail or colour underneath multiple layers of scabs. defies logic. still gonna need several weeks to let the white ink settle in.

I had my first session with Steve Moore yesterday and we finished up the outline for my Monkey King. I have about 48 hours of tattooing under my belt so far and this outline session was only 3 hours, but the most uncomfortable and painful 3 hours yet! I've read a lot on full backs and apparently they can be quite sharp, but I had a hard time in quite a few spots. For example, often I can keep my breathing and just flow through the pain, but this session had me clenching my jaw, face and just suffering. Steven started chatting with me and it really helped distract me. Steve Moore is absolutely a professional. He researched tons for this piece. He looked at photographs of monkeys, martial artists, and other reference pictures. He mentioned that he debated about how to put the orientation of the Monkey King's foot and used a martial artist's monkey style to duplicate it. I think it looks amazing and the details on it just blew me away. I love how Steve put our collaboration ideas together. Anyways, here's the drawing After three hours of outlining Got my next session in February. Dreading it a bit, but also very excited haha

Currently on my nyc tat-cation. First up was Eli Quinters. Next is Hillary Fisher White. When I first got to jfk airport, I was charging my phone at an outgoing terminal and the loudspeaker guy at the desk was listing people that needed to come see him and named Richard Stell. Didn't see him though.

I got this from Tony Nilsson at Blue Arms Tattoo in Oslo today. It's based off an old Percy Waters drawing that Tony had wanted to do for a while, and I had no specific requests so we just went for it. I'll admit that I did cheat a bit, after the outline we did use a numbing spray or something like that, which basically made me not feel a thing until we started doing the colors. Happy we did, since then we got to finish it so I don't have to wait until the next time I'm home.

just got this from mark cross at rose. honestly best experience I've ever had. great shop. coolest people. mark was so nice. this family came in because their little kid wanted to see a tattoo shop and mark stopped zapping me for a few minutes to hang with them and put a temporary tattoo on the hand of the little kid. so sick. backtard

started this end of '13 with rich hardy in krakow,poland. then i travelled to london, paris and london again to finish it few weeks ago. so relieved that i finally don't have to get through that pain again. although the shading during the last 3 sessions was so easy in comparison to the lines. anyways i can only repeat that rich is the nicest guy. everyone should get tattooed by him if he is around. merry christmas everyone!

Sorry to spam guys... but I am so stoked with how the scales are turning out (Eastern diamondback, Crotalus adamanteus).

Time for color!!

Well it's been a year since I've had my back worked on and per our usual fall schedule, Henning was in town and this time we FINISHED my back! Some of you might have seen the updates via Instagram. So happy with this collaboration between Henning and Rubendall being completed! WARNING, PIC HEAVY!!! Put your browser on FULL SCREEN! The master himself, Henning Jorgensen. Such a great artist and humble man. Filling in the phoenix...tail feathers, breast, head and a few touch ups here and there. Such a pleasure watching Henning work. I was so stoked with the zebra/tiger striped pattern he chose for the remaining tail feathers. Touch up on a tender spot...the spare tire. Slowly getting there. Details details details... Close-up of the phoenix...beautiful! Full view from my right side. There was poor lighting inside since it was dark out, so they propped me up on a table and surrounded me with lights. A quick reminder of the work Mike Rubendall did on the lower half of this collaboration. LOVE his water! Another angle of my lower half. Here's the finished top half. Finished full back in all it's glory. My back is a sea of colors! Hope everyone enjoyed my show and tell! (don't mind the feet on the left or right, hahaha)

We only have so much skin, which puts a premium on getting good work. As has been said already, well known artists usually get that way by doing high quality work. On the other hand, getting a tattoo is about more than the finished product. For example, my first tattoo artist was a young artist who's been doing tats for about 2 1/2 years - the same amount of time I've been doing my profession. There was something about that similarity that appealed to me. We're both still learning the ropes so to speak. We connected right away and had pleasant, entertaining conversation while I was getting my tattoo. When I look in the mirror, I like what I see. When i went back to the shop, he remembered me and was excited to see how the tat healed and we bullshitted some more. Now we have a sort of connection. I mean, we aren't best friends or anything, but we're cool. I like that hes relati ely new and young and that i have some of his work. I do think it helps the community grow. I wouldn't change that for anything. Ultimately, there's enough skin to get great tattoos from well known artists and also get tattoos from lesser known artists as well. Just do what's comfortable and what you don't mind seeing in the mirror. Hell, if someone doesn't post on this site, they likely won't know the difference between Frith street and smith street any damn way.

In unrelated news, it's coming up to our first wedding anniversary and I've been looking at the photos again- I love the glimpses of ink I've got in some of them. For example, this one! Hope no one minds me posting it.

Good for you! They don't have to be mentioned on here to be great artists, IMHO. Glad you resonated with him.

I felt the need for a solar plexus tattoo too, but I do hope to be skipping about naked at 80, well, if I fancy it. The standard underboob placement was never going to be optimal on me, I've never had the right sort of breasts. So, my tattoo comes up and onto to solar plexus, rather than being placed around it, if you see what I mean. It ends just, just under the band of my bra/bikini. But, I'd say, with breasts like you describe @TrixieFaux, it's not boob saggage that's a potential issue with this placement, that's never going to mess things up too much. Rather, it's the way the underboob placement tends increases the visibility of the natural asymmetry of the breasts (that all women have). That asymmetry does become more apparent as the breast softens with age and reproduction even if there isn't significant sagging. Even on the very young, pert, instagram chests I've more than often seen the placement emphasise the asymmetry, making the tattoo look slightly wonky even though, technically speaking it is perfectly centered etc. which is a shame. With mine being designed and placed as it is my breasts (when roaming free) actually look more symetrical than they did before, rather than less. Which is nice. I've posted it on latest tattoo lowdown already but here it is again. - - - Updated - - - With asymetry, I mean the often subtle differences in roots of the breasts, rather than the slight differences in size and shape between the breasts (which we are usually aware of). The differences in height of the base of the breast and the precise distance from the from the center of the breast bone to the root of the breast can be pretty much imperceptible on a lot of women, until you place something that is utterly symmetrical in between and under them...

My sister snapped this photo of me today at the beach. So weird. Now I think I finally understand the whole never feeling naked thing, hah. And yes, all the sunblock reapplied non-stop, and I was only on my front for like 5mins while texting, hah. I feel like I need to justify the bare back in sun to you fine ladies. And no, it's obviously not done. Not even close. :'(

Don't most tattoo shops have "ASSHOLE" consent waiver for entitled little shits like these to sign before getting inspirational script tattooed anywhere on their bodies....? They should! I ______________________ realize that every pop star and role model has inspirational script and/or meaningful symbols tattooed on every visible place on their body that designer clothes/jewelry will not interfere with. I also have been told by my artist that this is fad and will quickly pass like said role models career. I will not hold my artist or this shop responsible for my poor, misguided choices. I agree not to blog/tweet/facebook (insert currently used social media outlet) to slander this artist or shop for my erroneous decision and live with what I've done to myself

I'd choose "tattoo mojo" over technical perfection any day. It's like music man... It needs soul! I think Deutsche, Roberts and Horiyoshi's work has plenty, and then some.

I can't get past the Eddy Deutsche "lost it" comment.

Excluding blatant work of scratchers, art is subjective in any form, tattoos included, always has been, always will be.

Absolutely anything found on Pintrest. I swear the next person that comes in, whips out their phone and shows me something on Pintrest I'm going to slap the hell out of them.

Your fat. Don't wear makeup, don't dress nicely, don't have fun, don't leave the house ... period. Just stand in a corner and perform self flagellation. Or, you can just live your life.

Most of the bigger tattooed ladies I have seen (or tattooed) had something tiny done on them. I am personally not a fan of teeny tiny tattoos on anybody (especially if they're of the super girly variety or consist of microscopic text) because I believe that bigger is better... and I believe the same for larger ladies too. When I see a big woman with a tiny butterfly on her ankle I think to myself how cool it would be if she had a giant tiger or panther or dagger/skull or something. I love the look of people with great tattoos no matter how many extra pounds they might be packing. And I have no doubt that when I have more extensive work on myself, I'll feel a little more comfortable in my own skin.

Quick Tumblr search:

You will look no more "ridiculous" with tattoos than anyone else! Get tattooed, get what you want, fuck the world. I don't tattoo so I can't answer your questions about working with skin and placement but I can't imagine it's that much of an obstacle. @Shawn Porter posted a video a while back on his OV blog, an awesome awesome Dave Lum video, where his shop helper -- a woman -- was talking about how she hated her legs and her butt. How she was self conscious and never thought she'd get tattooed there, but once she did get some coverage on those areas, she loved them. Maybe the only big folks you're seeing with a significant amount of work have some not-so-great tattoos.. or maybe you're just freaking out cause you've only got one so far. But if you've got the itch, you've gotta scratch it, and everyone else can go to hell. Truly. Apologies if this was too strongly worded.. I had the night off, some beers were consumed. The only people I don't like with a lot of tattoos are dickheads regardless of their tattoos.

Hell yea man! Amen to that! We are the luckiest people in the world to be able to do what we do for a living. Fuck it, bring on that tribal armband with my six kids names "hidden" in it! Haha!

Absolutely. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love letting it out there when someone let's me, or asks for that kind of thing, but even on those weeks where I do a ton of custom cool shit, I get burnt on it and just want to do kanji. Something I don't need to analyze and think through the whole time. I guess a great situation is where you get a good variety. Cool concept shit, old flash, ultra common stuff, random client drawings, old stand byes...etc. Pays the bills, keeps you on your toes, helps build the portfolio and keeps you humble and grounded.

hyena, i also try to just get a "zen" mindset going...focus on the actual craft and work of what i'm doing and not worry about the design or the money. and keep the smiles and banter going, do a nice tattoo and pay the bills. some people might not want to hear that...they want to think we always just dive in with our artistic expression blah-blah-blah and put our soul into every tattoo...haha...

Hey Folks, Thanks for this thread. Instead of it being a big ole bitchfest, it really has given me a good outlook, stuff to remember when I feel like I have to write a six paragraph bible verse the size of a postage stamp. I tattoo whatever walks through the door, and sometimes it is taxing to my soul, but what is more taxing is the thought of not tattooing.

I second the trees and hidden anything. Also a paragraphs worth of text. Paraphrase or get an image that is in some way iconic of your intent. Everything doesn't need to be spelled out literally letter for letter.