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Check out Mike Moses in Columbus, OH. He's very illustrative, but not exactly like the above style. There are plenty of sketchy tattooers in the US however, they usually do full sleeves for a pack of smokes and dimebag.

so we went to the Fresno,CA tattoo expo yesterday and had all saturday afternoon with Oliver Peck. Central Valley Tattoo . I got these two, . . . . and this one on my left lower thigh,it's a little bruised now. and Saniderm on it. . . . and my wife got this . . . . we had a really great day getting tattooed together at a convention,it was awesome.

Got this great rose from anvil tattoo in Altus Oklahoma done by brad . BradAnvil on the gram

My $0.02 A G-rated tattoo shop...jesus haven't tattoos been watered down enough? A play area for kids...its a TATTOO shop not a dermatologist office...lots of swearing, war stories, casual nudity, dirty and taboo humour, mystery, intimidation and no bullshit. That to me is what belongs in a tattoo shop. Not a friggin ball room to keep the kids occupied for a couple hours. Its a tattoo shop not a McDonalds or Ikea. Get a babysitter. Sit down, shut up and don't move...that's what a tattoo shop is to me. And I don't think that sounds very fun for a kid. I got tattooed in shop and a tattoo enthusiast popped in with her kids to visit and say hello. It ended with mom spinning her brat around in one of the empty chairs and the kid bumping into the table while I was getting tattooed. I don't want to see your kids when I get tattooed. It's distracting. Tattoo time is my time. And you probably don't want your kids to see my balls hanging out on the table when I get my belt line tattooed. Get your ass-crack tattooed and then reevaluate your business venture. Keep tattoo shops R-Rated and 18+ (fake IDs accepted).

I've been gone for a while. I'm stoked to see so many great tattoos being done. Started my back with Horitomo in December.

Just got this from David Parker at Black Heart Tattoo in San Francisco. Do I really need to say how I feel about this tattoo?

Hey all - Finally getting myself together for a cross country trip to New York City! I'll be there the 2nd week of April. Any tattoo-related tips for me? I will (probably) not be getting tattooed, and I'm staying in Brooklyn near some friends, but I haven't been to NY in over a decade and don't even know where to begin!! I'd love to get a sense of some tattoo history while I'm there. I welcome any and all suggestions!! Thanks guys! -beez

Since your town has zero shops, if you do a good job as a business owner, you will almost certainly be able to make money doing this. Still, a terrible idea. Family friendly? Fine art on the walls instead of flash? LIKE A CASUAL DOCTOR'S OFFICE!? No. Just no.

This topic has been addressed here before in this thread: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/152-non-tattooers-opening-shops.html Speaking personally, I wouldn't have any interest in setting foot in a shop like the one you described, much less getting tattooed there. I don't want to make assumptions about other people or try to speak for them, but I highly doubt anybody I have been tattooed by would want to work in a shop like that. If you appreciate the art so much, get tattooed a lot. Buy original art from tattooers. Don't seek to make money from it yourself because you see an opportunity for success. That just makes you a parasite.

Just got this and prisoner of love by Tyson Arndt at Stockholm Classic. It was cool to hang out and talk to Tyson. Super happy! https://instagram.com/p/BCYCSHiR5PP/ - - - Updated - - - Just got this and prisoner of love by Tyson Arndt at Stockholm Classic. It was cool to hang out and talk to Tyson. Super happy!

@Cork thanks for that, I love Kian's style much to my bank balances disgust. A few days ago I committed to continuing to both ankles, so bodysuit here we come. :) As for everyone else thanks for the input, I like when the nipples are incorporated into a design and not necessarily tattooed, however at least for my RHS nipple it happens to be right in the middle of background clouds so my guess is we will be tattooing it. :( And if I do RHS then LHS will be done. On the bright side though my front will include the Munewari so at least we don't have to have another conversation about including something else sensitive. :) :)

i think you should get tattooed :)

Ive replied here about first tattoo, but I didnt get a semi negative experience until my pipes on my arm. Id been planning (im a planner, I like to work out how it will look in the end) my arms for some time and had most of it worked out (family men theme going on). When my paternal grandfather passed , on a whim I went stuff it im starting it now with his. Which actually has ended up being for both grandfathers (both avid pipe smokers. Maternal Grandfather had pipes for all occasions, Paternal Grandfather just had his favorite ) . Anyway. That afternoon I am sitting in the car, waiting in a carpark when Dad spots me and pops over for a chat. I moved my arm, resting it on the door/open window as I normally do when Dad sees my tattoo and screws his face up asking what it was (really meaning why there) so I said in my usual smart arse fashion... its a pipe tattoo. cue further grimacing and a question what for. I told him for pop and he was obviously not super impressed. Either because its a fairly constantly visible tattoo or because its his dad (issues there, bad history). Anyway a few hours later he must have got over himself because he ended up texting , probing more about the tattoo and "so what are ya gonna get for me when I cark it? " To which I said id get it before he did, told him what of and he jist said "cool!" Which, is a lot coming Dad. Man of few words lol. So that was that. No more grief.

I think my nips are pretty damn sexy so I am going to leave them be.

perhaps my reply was a bit brash...but brutal honesty is what was asked. Open a hair salon or barber shop.

There's a chance he's being serious but LOL bc I think he's trolling us. Seriously - LOL.

So how did I miss that this convention is happening? I'm 30 miles from there and knew nothing! Sigh!!

Nomi Chi is in Vancouver if you're allowed into Canada.. https://www.instagram.com/nomi_chi/

I hear there's plenty of sketchy artists at my local state penitentiary too. But seriously, I just checked out Mike Moses's work and this is definitely closer to what I'm looking for. His shading style is a little bit different then the images above, but he has that illustrative/story-book look to his designs which I love. Thanks for the lead.

Horrible idea. Unless you are deeply rooted in the tattoo industry with enough pull and respect to hire established tattooers, you're just going to have people who work for you long enough to make some money, and then its on to the next, better, more established shop.

I am pro nipple obliteration. I have a blank front at the moment but am trying to brainstorm up the best way to do a full front piece that works for women. This is my favourite. Full front in progress by Rafel Delalande. RIP nipples.

Skull and dagger, by Franz Stefanik of the Okey Doke, Toronto. https://www.instagram.com/p/BCQzxvNHLWd/

Session 2 with Steve Moore. Another 3 hours into the back. He wasn't lying that the lining was more painful than shading. But the shading is still pretty bad haha

Sorry I've been away from this thread for awhile - I have lots of moles - some smooth some not and my tattoo artist just works around them (never tattoos them) or makes them part of the tattoo - I have a buddha on my shoulder and my mole became his bindi!

From yesterday by the the all mighty Marius Meyer. Super rad guy with a burning passion for tattooing. Everybody should get something from him. As for me, this means I'll be going to job interviews in turtleneck sweaters for the rest of my life.

I know this is an old thread, but I couldn't help but to post a reply. On a deeper and more thoughtful level, the dagger through the head of an animal represents the slaying of the "beast" within, or a conquering over man's bestial nature.

Had a cool session with Eddy Deutsche and received this Goldfish, powered by a Kappa pilot. My input was: weird, eastern influence, and I threw out a bunch of classic imagery.

I always knew I was going to get tattoos & had a folder full of artwork since 6th grade! My mom would just laugh it off when I'd show her my ideas...well when I turned 18 back in 1993 I got my 1st tattoo on my lower back a little black panther lol she was just like why? why do you feel the need to deface yourself? and that it was going to look like crap when I got older,etc.......here I am at 42 15 tattoos later & she still is just like why?????? She doesn't hate tattoos she just doesn't see the point in them....she knows I'm getting ready to start working on my half sleeve soon so I'm sure I'll hear her commentary lol and don't get me started on my septum clicker according to her its disgusting & doesn't like me wearing it around her lol My dad could careless about either.

Some of you may have already seen this on Instagram, but I wanted to wait till I had some healed pics before posting here. Seth Wood @ Memoir Tattoo in L.A., Started 1/14, completed 12/15.

I took a brief trip to Portland to get tattooed by greggletron. Cool shop and a nice guy as well. The knee was quite the experience!

Little awesomeness from Robert Ryan @ Electric Tattoo in Asbury NJ

...so my Mom decides to clean my room one day when I was living at home. She was flipping all the mattresses in the house. And she finds this ziplock back of epsom salts. So when I get home I find Mom sitting quietly and anxiously tells me to sit down we need to talk. She says she found something under my bed ... I'm like oh shit mom just found my best porno mag. Then she asks me if I was on drugs. I'm like Mom!?! WTF!?! Well I guess dear old Mom was really upset and concerned all afternoon, thinking i had started a cocaine habit !! So I had to come clean and tell her they were epsom salts for soaking my fresh nipple piercings LOL. That ended the conversation right there, she didn't want to hear about lol. She didn't find the dirty magazine stash...yet...that's a different story and my younger brothers fault. ok not about my first tattoo, but about my first piercings RIP Mom <3

It's nice she's coming to terms with it! I have a little girl, beautiful and perfect in every way...and the other night when @DJDeepFried was reading her bedtime stories I overheard her saying she wanted to cover her arms in tattoos, "like mama's." I just smiled and thought that was so sweet. Whether it happens or not, she will always be beautiful and perfect to me. That's the generational difference!

Just want to throw in here that I absolutely love the "Ladies Thread!" I'm going to try to wade through the whole thing at some point. But I just love having a place were we girls can share information about tattoo topics specific to us! :-)

Prettyyyyyyyyy pumped about this one, not gonna lie. Yesterday: There's a vid too: https://instagram.com/p/5075TDTBNR/?taken-by=greggletron By Greg Whitehead at Scapegoat in Portland, as usual. My thigh feels like a wobbly hot water bottle today, and I don't even care. :o

Beez is right. Get an eagle. Check out this chest eagle by Grez at King's Ave! You can never have enough eagles.

Huh. I have bigger boobs, and if I dare analyze them in the mirror, I suspect the left one is a tad bigger. This will not stop me from the under bust tattoo, even considering future sagging. I'm kind of surprised about the concern over drooping, the natural condition of the human body being asymmetrical and the inevitability of aging. I wonder if guys think about their chest pieces and maybe one day getting man boobs that could warp it out (my guess is unlikely). I do think proportion is important, because my girls are bigger, so I'm not going to get a dainty little piece tucked under there. Regarding chest pieces, I've given that one a lot of thought, because I don't want a tiny little "v" there. I also want it connected to my underboob piece. I really like the chest pieces Guy Le Tattooer does on women - they are large and bold (I included an example of his). I like how some of the tattoo goes on to the boob. I've also seen women who have two large flowers, which I think looks beautiful (the example I included is by Thomas Cardiff).

If it's an occult / Twin Peaks owl then normal rules of thumb do not apply.

^Exactly. I don't understand using pasties over the nipples if the rest of your breasts are showing. It's like bathing suits vs. bras. Same difference. Actually... I always thought bathing suits tended to be more revealing, yet when a woman is in a bra it's technically more risque.

I'll admit to scheduling around that time of month - I prefer longer sessions, so it is easier to concentrate on sitting like a rock if I don't have to worry/think about other things. Shoulders were harder than back for bra wearing (and I need to wear a bra). After the first 24hrs, I wore an older bra healing both - soft, a bit looser and had no issues. Also, the waistband of jeans bugged my back more than a bra healing ….so I wore smocky dresses for a little while. For back sessions, I made a very simple flowy halter thing out of a rectangle of fabric, so my entire front is covered, but the back is open and I wear yoga pants. I had part of my bum tattooed and there is only way to deal is to fold the yoga pants to where they need to be. For my thigh, I wore "boy shorts" and a smock dress. I think I might need some fundoshi…they look useful.

@HaydenRose, would love recs for bandeaus that work for well-endowed ladies. I find the bra thing very tricky when going without is not an option. When I did my back, I just wore bras that didn't dig much (I have a couple of VS ones that are very soft and don't really have seams) and found it did not affect healing at all, thank goodness. The other thing I think is worth sharing on this topic are strategies for what to wear to appointments when getting particular spots worked on. For my back I always wore a button down shirt that I could put on backwards (often with a halter bikini top that we could untie) - this was Stephanie's recommendation and is brilliant. For my thighs (particularly upper when shorts may be obstructive), a friend once recommended wearing a skirt with men's briefs, which give you just a bit more coverage while still allowing the person to get all up in there!

This is a great thread! I've been lucky that none of my appointments have landed on that time of the month. I also just can't bring myself to be one of those women that looks ahead on the calendar... haha For work, I have a lot of cardigans to throw over cute tops and basic long sleeve shirts that are thin enough to wear alone in the summer with a nice necklace or a heavy scarf in the winter. I avoid white and sheer fabrics like the plague. When I got my shoulders tattooed, I couldn't wear a bra because of the straps, so I bought bandeaus (they hold everything up a little better than strapless bras, which are worthless for "gifted" women like myself) and later in the healing I would wear spandex tank tops (underneath clothes) with thin straps that wouldn't cut into my skin, but were stretchy and kind of hold up the boobs enough. When I couldn't wear a bra at all I would wear big scarves or loose fitting clothing to draw attention away from my chest. Also being in my early twenties helps with going bra-free ;) Looking forward to other topics that arise, this should be an interesting thread!

Great idea :D Is it a good idea to link to previous threads that might be useful? For example, the fat people thread was nicely body-positive: fat-people-tattoos-your-thoughts There's a pretty cool one about whether ladies should get dragon tattoos. It can be summed up as "Yes". I'll dig it out. Here be dragons: dragons-women

My weekend "look" is jeans and a tank top or t-shirt... My weekday work look is nicer jeans and a tank top or t-shirt WITH a teacherly cardigan! Keeping it simple. :-) Never had a problem getting tattooed during that time o' the month. Luckily, I don't really get crampy or moody during that time either. It has no effect or bearing on scheduling appointments or pain for me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Love this idea! I am not sure I've ever been tattooed while in the crampy/painful part of my period, thank goodness, so no insight on that. I did get tattooed a few months back while having other kinds of lady problems (but during the tail end of it) and I think I did take it harder, but it was a quick tattoo in an ok spot, so it wasn't particularly difficult. As I just spent like, 20 minutes trying to find tights opaque enough to cover my leg tattoos for work, I think that is a worthy topic for discussion too, as ladies' clothing tends to cover up less tattoo-wise. For those of you who don't show tattoos as work, strategies for making sure backs, legs, etc. are covered are helpful! (For example, my collection of shrugs has massively expanded since I did my back.)

isn't there a NSFW pic of a woman with a huge Pharaoh's Horses in the torso tattoo thread? That might give you a better idea... - - - Updated - - - found it... http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-designs-books-flash/2069-chest-torso-tattoos-page10.html#post57769

BIG FUCKING SKULL front and center. I would consider marriage...

Chris "Pee Wee" Levi (1999)

Cool thread! That first piece is killer, but her right hand and left arm looks a little bit strange to me. Maybe just the picture, or maybe just me... I don't know. The piece as a whole looks really bad-ass though! Most of you have already seen my front piece, but I found a better picture of it on Marius' blog a while back, so here's to those who haven't seen it already (sorry about the insane size of the photo)