Leaderboard

Hi, everyone. Before I introduce myself: Thank you! I've been reading forum archives for about a week - and I appreciate and respect all the information that has been shared here in the past. My name is Chris. I'm 45 and about to get my first large piece. This will be my fourth tattoo -- but my first in almost 20 years, so I feel like a complete virgin. Especially since my other pieces are small and completely hidden. My first tattoo was my fraternity letters on my ankle! I know -- just about as dumb as you can get. Interestingly, they were done by Pinky Yun at Dragon Tattoo in San Jose! In a scene many of you professionals have probably seen too many times, a bunch of us showed up right before closing and asked for the same tattoo. By the time the third one was done, the other seven had lost interest. I didn't have any idea who Pinky was at the time and didn't even know he was famous until the morning after. (This was in 1989). His shop just happened to be the closest one to the university. My next tattoo was almost as bad: the typical 1990s tribal armband. Oh yeah! I know these tattoos bring instant chuckles these days, but I assure you, in 1992 this was awesome. I had a good 2-3 year run until they started showing up everywhere. Good times! My third tattoo was in the late 1990s, another tribal piece, but actually a really cool one that actually flows with my body and doesn't look like cheesy flash. It swirls around my ankle bone and down my foot. It's the only piece I have that I actually love... but the bad ones hold a special place in my heart, and I've passed on chances to cover them up. Like most people who start getting tattoos, I never thought my last piece would be my final piece.... but college turned into post-graduate school which led to starting a family, and honestly tattoos just went off my radar completely for nearly 20 years. Until about 3 months ago. Early this year, I logged onto Facebook and was shocked to see my brother-in-law, a respected attorney, bust out a large piece on his arm. But after I saw it in person, it really stirred something inside of me: the desire to get another tattoo. This wasn't a new desire, but an old one awakened. And it dawned on me: I'm now middle-aged with grey hair. I own a successful business, and it's in an industry where tattoos are very common. I now live in Austin, Texas where everyone and their sister sports multiple visible tattoos. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the barriers that made me put it out of my mind prior (social acceptance, career, etc). had been mostly eliminated. Any reason I might have previously used not to get tattooed was pretty much moot at this point. I had already decided years ago that traditional Japanese was my favorite tattooing style. A friend's dragon-koi sleeve stirred my interest more than decade ago, well before these became as common on Westerners. Well, I've done my research, realized that I live in a city with more than a few really well-known Irezumi specialists, and decided on Scott Ellis at Triple Crown Tattoo here in town. There are a few other names in this city that may seem like a more obvious choice to some given their fame... but after scouring portfolios and meeting a few of these guys, Scott was my #1 pick. For those who have seen his work (his name comes up in search only a few times on this forum), he does a really nice, bold, Japanese style that I like. And on a personal level I found him much more engaging than others I met with. Had my consultation last week, and it went great. I can't decide how long my sleeve should be so I'm starting with a half. Scott assures me that if he knows I may want to go longer later ahead of time, that this style is extremely easy to extend later. I'm confident that once in place, I'll wish I had gone longer vs. shorter... but despite working in an industry where tattoos are the norm, I am having a hard time fully seeing myself with a visible sleeve. Well, some days. Other days, I see gorgeous Japanese sleeves online and really want one. Then I'll decide that 7/10 is really the ideal length. And then a day later I'm back to wanting to keep it half-length for now. Really, I can't decide. I have an appointment with Scott to do the linework on Friday. I am so excited/nervous, that the tattoo is filling my head in most of my free time. I keep deciding, and then adjusting the length I want in my mind. I keep looking at Scott's online portfolio/instagram over and over and over in order to reassure myself that I've picked someone who can create what I want. I even have moments (fleeting, but they happen), where I wonder if I'm crazy to commit to such a large piece. Sometimes I even wonder if I should expand my artist search to other cities, since flying somewhere to get a piece that will last forever is a small price to pay. I assume a lot of this is normal. I don't want to make it sound like I am on the fence... but I do assume that flashes of buyer's remorse, or last minute jitters, are just part of the overall excitement/tension/anticipation of a (first) large tattoo. Can anyone else share their feelings about their first visible/partially visible tattoo? Or the first time they committed to a significant tattoo (vs. small one-off pieces)? Despite all my excitement, I guess I'm still seeking a bit of reassurance that I've picked a good artist, or that some of these nervous feelings are normal and too be expected. Anyone who wants to comment, I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance, and of course, I'll be posting some photos later this week!

Funky frog courtesy of Eddy Deutsche. Picture stolen from him. He pretty much read my mind. It's really angry here because inner thigh tattoos are a dumb idea.

Hey, all, I'm Jen, and I'm new round here. I've read a lot of posts here, so I thought I'd join in the banter. I am a tattoo collector. 90% of mine are by Joshua Henderson at Brainstorm Tattoo in Fayetteville, Arkansas, who I think is crazy talented. I also have been tattooed by Richard Stell, and I'm getting another from him the Oklahoma Tattoo Convention at the end of this month. I'm a big admirer of Richard and Jennifer Stell, who are two of the coolest people I've had the chance to meet. I've been helping Jennifer with proofreading and updating the tattoo convention website. Good times! I guess I'll post a few of my tattoos in subsequent posts. Thanks for letting me join here, and I hope to become a regular! - - - Updated - - - - - - Updated - - -

Welcome, great story. Especially the Pinky Yun one. A 20yo tribal tattoo is just as interesting to me as a flashy fresh piece, if not more. Got some history behind it! My first tattoos just slightly poked out of t-shirt sleeves. And I thought it was a huge deal. Then I got my forearms and I told my tattooer I was finally ready to jump into the "big stuff" and my guy laughed at me because he put a big dragon on my ribs a few years before. Then after 10 years of tattoos I busted my neck cherry and got the first tattoo that could not be hidden (w/out looking like a jerk in a turtleneck). I got a piece that creeps on my hand a couple months ago and I was hyper conscious, especially in work meetings. Now it's no big deal. I'm getting the other side done at the end of the week. So I'm sure I've got a few weeks of the ugh post-tattoo anxiety comin' haha. You become VERY aware of your new tattoos when they are visible at first. Then the idea (and ink) settles into the skin, the people around you get used to it and it's just business as usual. No big deal. It's just a tattoo, simple as that. Perfectly normal and the fun part of the tattoo lifestyle. Cheers

Forgot to post pics. We nearly finished this up a couple weeks ago. One more short session next month to darken and tighten things up. Here's some terrible quality photos I got the next day: And just yesterday I got a closeup of the horse head, which gives you an idea of how much the blue is really starting to pop now that it's almost fully done healing. I need to get better quality photos of the whole thing.

My artist laughed when he got to my elbow. He'd asked a few times how I was dealing with the pain and I said I wasn't feeling much but he saw my face when he got to the inner elbow. And he laughed. But I think he was just shocked the entire time that my first tattoo was so big. He like held up his fingers in a circle the size of a 50 Kč coin (a bit bigger than an American quarter or a eurocoin) going, "You know, usually a girl's first is like this big. Just enough to try it." Yeah, his reaction at the end was simply, "You are one tough woman."

Wow, thank you folks who have already replied! (and a special thank you to Col. Volk for his service to our country). Like many of you have already said, I doubt I'll have any regrets when finished. Just not sure if I should plunge in or live with a half-sleeve first. I guess if it doesn't hamper the overall design either way I am good to wait. Another source of anxiety is the trust in the artist. I can tell him what I want, the elements I prefer, etc... but I won't really have any idea of what it will really look like until he is done penning it onto my skin and we are ready to line out. Very exciting, yet nerve wracking... and I appreciate the vote of confidence in my artist choice above. Can't wait!

awesome intro - 45 here as well - just went onto my forearms last summer - was very nervous as i work in a school system and wasnt sure how it would go down - but it turned out to not be a big deal at all - plus the students love it (k-2) - anyway - rock on with your big tattoo plans - go for it

Welcome and thanks for the great intro! I recently got my first tattoo - at age 61. I am a retired Army colonel and now president of a small college. Neither of those two professions - Army officer and higher education administration - were/are generally accepting of tattoos and certainly not exposed ones. My first (and it even has some tribal lines in it, was done because it has meaning to me so it really didn't matter if others approved) is fairly large but is still covered by short sleeves. It took me a long time to decide what I wanted - and to convince myself to do it. Once I did, though, it consumed much of my thoughts. I also had many, many 2d thoughts as the day approached. I am so glad I did it. It was just a matter of days after the initial work that I began to think about adding some shading to it...and I was disappointed when it turned out that planned vacation time makes me put off the final work until next Tuesday. Arrrgh! At the same time, I am already planning on the next. It too will have meaning to me and I'll be talking with my artist about it while I have the work done next week. With warm weather - and pool time - approaching, I will most likely wait until fall to get the 2d one done. For this one, my thought is to go a bit larger so that it will be evident with short sleeves. I've come to the conclusion that I've lived within societal convention all of my life. Sometimes, you need to step outside of those conventions and do something different. Who knows, maybe we'll see Harvard's president sporting some ink. For now, though, I bet there are not too many inked college presidents who also shoot in Vintage Sniper Rifle matches. :cool: I am looking forward to seeing your work - maybe it will even give me the confidence to go larger!!

I just said I wanted a frog and told him I liked the one he did recently at Skull and Sword. I suggested flames, waves, anything else he wanted to add, but he came up with this with almost no input from me. I think if you give him a lot of freedom, he'll do something cool. - - - Updated - - - @marley mission you have to catch him when he's in New York.

Negative. Keep it clean and let it heal naturally. Dry is good. - - - Updated - - - Negative. Keep it clean and let it heal naturally. Dry is good.

that frog is so dope - saw that on the IG and wanted to like it 100x hoping eddy is coming to jersey soon he was at smith not long ago but i missed him - no $ or something like that he's a tattooing legend and i've heard a pretty cool guy too and oh - yeah - thighs are a tough tough heal imo but who cares right - enjoy :) - - - Updated - - - that frog is so dope - saw that on the IG and wanted to like it 100x hoping eddy is coming to jersey soon he was at smith not long ago but i missed him - no $ or something like that he's a tatooing legend and i've heard a pretty cool guy too

what I do is for the first 3 or 4 days(3 times a day),I get in a warm shower and clean my hand with this an antimicrobial soap and then apply the soap to the tattoo and scrub the tattoo with the palm of my hand,that gets rid of the oozing plasma and keeps it clean and works great for my healing. and IMO the hot compress would be painful. try an Anti-inflammatory OTC like ibuprofen or naproxen ,and it would help if you can stay off your feet and elevate your legs.Instead of a hot compress maybe try icing it,that would feel a lot better than heat.

ya,I always tip as well,no matter what the artist is charging per hour.

I started saying "tats" a while back in a funny way, but now it's just in my vocabulary. I guess this is my life now.

I always tip my artist, even if he's doing free touch-ups. The man is extraordinarily talented, and I think he deserves a tip every.single.time.

I got a chest piece done by Guillermo Sanchez in South Beach last night and it exceeds my expectations. He and Johan Avila who work side by side are two amazing talents. Their work is on another level. I was so disappointed with the piece I got a few months ago by a "famous InkMaster" and thank got Guillermo says he can fix it.

I suggest just going to your artist and saying "I want to do a traditional eagle with an American flag - color. I'm looking for something fairly large. I really love the look of the eagles flying with upswept wings...but could also go with a perched eagle." If your artist specializes in traditional tattoos, and is a good artist, he doesn't need anything more than that to work with! See what he comes up with, I bet it will be better than any examples you're going to get from google searching it.

@Naiemh hey everyone has a right to express themselves here and thats a good thing and you know what you got me thinkin people enjoy tattoos for different reasons we'll each have a priority of things that draw us to certain tattoos or styles of tattoos and we'll each have technical application preferences too within those styles and thats ok me - i think first and foremost is the gut reaction element certain tattoos hit you like that and you dont forget them thats whats most important to me in the tattoo not the perfection its the impact rob ryan does a nice job explaining this in this vimeo piece which doesnt seem to want to show itself :) so go to vimeo and do a little searching 3 minutes long but cool nonetheless

a few months ago, i got a version of the Christian Warlich devil i had asked about. By Tomas Garcia. healed

I got all of these touched up last week by my artist, Josh Henderson. Next tattoo is scheduled with Richard Stell at the Oklahoma Tattoo Convention at the end of this month, then I'm finishing my half sleeve on my right arm with Josh in May. Looking forward to both!

from Chad Koeplinger @ Tattoo Paradise in Wheaton, MD

I'm obviously biased because I have a huge one from him, but I think Grez at King's Avenue has some of the sickest eagles goin. And being in NEPA, you're not far from NYC. He doesn't have his own instagram, but searching #grez on IG will show you plenty. I'm also very partial to Steve Byrne's and Aaron Coleman's.

I prefer the company of animals to humans. I have one cat, one dog, one hamster.

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.

Woo I can contribute to this one! I too want a baphomet devil goat tattoo at some point... Meet my Bicep Devil, done by Gre Hale, Rain City, Manchester, UK:

That big torso devil from Theo Mindell is on me! We have finished everything now except the last bit of fire/flames. Next/Last appt coming up in April to kill the beast.

complaining about hipsters makes people look insecure imo. i hate most people in general but the whole hipster finger pointing is often times the pot calling the kettle black.

There's some funny stuff in here but I have to say I'm getting sick of anti-hipster rants (not just on here but everywhere), especially by people who may or may not realize that they are perceived as hipsters themselves by some since the term does seem to cover a lot of ground. I'm joining the hipster loving backlash. But some of these guys in this thread don't qualify like the LV dude. I can't pretend to love that. These two beardos above with the shoe problem on the other hand...kinda cute....