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My appointment for Koeplinger's 50 state tour finally came! I cannot say enough good things about Chad and my experience. He was open to my ideas and excited to make some changes to his original drawing to give me exactly what I wanted. We talked about all sorts of things (from our travels in the Middle East to vintage TV shows) and time just flew by. And he is ridiculously fast!! This 8x10" piece on my thigh took 1 1/2 hours from stencil to finish. I would definitely get another tattoo from him and will be watching his schedule to see when he is next near me. Wildcat

I know what you mean about people being instant experts. My tattoo was 5 hours and I still would be wary giving advice or acting like I know it all. I especially hate people with tiny tattoos who say tattooing doesn't hurt, like they are really tough. Mine didn't hurt for the first hour either, try sitting there for the whole day tho!

Yeah, that's fine. I've had some tattoos start to peel as soon as a couple of days after getting tattooed; some have taken up to a couple of weeks. It depends on the spot, the artist, and a whole bunch of other factors. Keep on following the aftercare instructions you were given but I don't see any reason for concern.

At the gym getting ready after my workout. I'm putting on my makeup in my jeans and bra. This lady rolls in with her 6 year old daughter. This little girl looks at my tattoos and says directly to me "Mommy says tattoos are stupid and so are the people who get them." I gently kneel in front of her and say "Your Mommy is closed minded and judgmental. You should always try to be kind to people and not jump to conclusions about people you don't know." Lady is horrified. Grabs child and leaves. Kid loved it..she smiled and waved goodbye to me.

Original poster here. It went well, with no passing out! [emoji6] I ate a big rice chicken bowl for lunch right before the tattoo. The first bathroom break I felt drunk and tried to remind myself that it was my body coping with the pain, and all the advice I had gotten here. I drank LOTS of water during, sat and stood up very slowly, and scarfed a chocolate protein bar when the artist went to get more ink. So thank you! I have to go back to finish the tattoo because we ran out of time, but I am feeling much more confident now! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@SStu, NOTHING! All the artists I wanted to get tattooed by were far too busy, and Richard didn't feel like tattooing at the convention. I have to drive back over in a few days/couple of weeks, and he'll tattoo me then. I saw him right before he left, and he was game—he just didn't want to do it there. That said, I was way too busy to take the time to get tattooed. We had lines of people waiting to fill out their health department paperwork to get tattooed at times. So it worked out OK.

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!

my name is Luke I'm a tattoo artist. i've been tattooing professionally for 2 1/2 years.... yeah that's it. signed up to browse around the forum and read some tattoo talk! here's some of my work.

Hi! I came here looking for some advice regarding a tattoo I received recently. Thanks for having me! -Nolan

Nice...your lady is hot!! Enjoy! @Dan

yep ! lot's of SB,we go to Kauai & Maui every year,I bring an umbrella with me too, LOL this was one of our trips on Kaui . beer,beach,and my babe,it doesn't get any better :)

Yep, that works! @Dan I haven't been to Hawaii since I was a kid. I'd love to go back but it just takes so dang long to get there from the East Coast. We end up going to the Caribbean most often. Wear your sunscreen. :)

Hi @otisc, and welcome! Sorry for the delayed response, but your story sounds much like mine (see my introduction HERE), that I HAD to respond. I’m older than you, (60+), but we have followed amazingly similar paths. I started when I and my girlfriend (now my wife) got small matching tattoos in verrrrry hidden locations in 1973 when I was 20. I added a little to it a few years later. I still wanted another, but life and a profession intervened, and tattooing went on the back burner. At some point I discovered Japanese tattooing, and realized that I wanted to be tattooed extensively like that, but couldn’t bring myself to do it for fear of how others - especially my employers - would judge me. I wrestled with this for over 30 years. Really. Finally a few years ago, like you I realized that I wasn’t getting any younger. I was well established in my profession, and moving toward retirement in a few years. I’d spent my whole life being the kind of person that my profession required, but realized I was not being the person that I wanted to be. And being heavily tattooed was part of what I wanted to be. As with you, I realized that most of my reasons for not being tattooed had either evaporated or were just downright stupid (when was the last time that I was shirtless in front of a client?). So I am in the planning stages for a back piece, partial sleeves, and chest panels. I am just ridiculously excited about this! I’m doing something that I’ve wanted for decades, and I’m giddy like a kid. But I’m also glad I waited because I now have the judgement and resources to get something appropriate, timeless, cohesive and well executed. I’m most likely going to be working with Cindy Maxwell in Seattle. I haven’t made and appointment yet because I want to sock away some money so I’ll be sure to have the resources to complete it. But Cindy and I have been communicating, and I’m solidifying my ideas. I love what you have done so far, and look forward to following your progress, as we have such similar paths. Good luck to you!

Someone has to do it, Dan. Just suck it up and try to enjoy it.

so we landed on Maui today, the view from our condo be here 2 weeks,the condo we rented has pretty good wifi speeds aloha !

So went to the convention and got another 4.5 hours in, mainly worked on the bottom half of the tattoo. progress wasnt as quick as the 1st session, so its gonna take longer than expected to finish - retraced the dragon black lines, as they turned out a little too fine after it healed - filled out lotus flower with color (worked with purple, blue, white inks) - worked on the smoke cloud Left to do: - color in the orchids - finish the smoke - start and finish the dragon, probably in Black&Grey to contrast with the flowers but not 100% certain yet Pictured arent top quality (colors dont stand out well) and taken a couple of days after it was done so scabbed over in places.

whadya get? whadya get?

You already said it - talk to your artist! Also, she may travel to various conventions so that can be an option for you, too. @Tofer It's all about communication and setting expectations. Good luck!

@tofer = not stupid questions. Yes this can be done. Establish communication with the artist (preferably both e-mail and voice, and hopefully you share a common language) and make sure you ask all those questions above and that she is onboard with the scope, ideas, duration of visits, etc. It is preferable not to tattoo over the same areas prior to healing, but tattooing near freshly tattooed areas is perfectly fine, if you're up to the stress. Your artist's planning is, of course, important in the success of this direction.

First session on this ROA tattoo done by Grez at King's Ave in NYC, still red and swollen. More pics next month after it's finished.

gonna repost in this thread cause i'm super stoked on my latest n greatest Snake by Scott Rusnak / Lucky Strike Tattoo Edmonton 2016 body wraps onto the inside of the wrist. i'm really happy with the placement which was tricky because I didn't want to lose the dragonfly above. i'm stoked about the negative halo to keep it pop'd. the snake tongue is super legit. Dragonfly (aka Snakedoctor) by Shawn O'Connor / Ink Machine Tattoo Edmonton, AB 2014 considerably lower anxiety during the healing. it's 1 week old now and the snake had it's first shed. the tongue is really scabby but so far everything is holding. hands are a bitch to heal. so now both hands are done and sleeves dropped down all the way to the edge of the wrist. ink is leaking out of my long sleeve shirts yeeehaw

Sorry it's been a while since I've been here. Looking at other people's tattoos makes me want more, and my wallet can't afford it. I recently changed jobs, and to celebrate I got this. This was done by the same tattooer that did my other pieces (Papa Joe in Boise, ID). My back is nearly complete. This is a pic of the fresh tattoo.

classic dietzel snake head by Todd Tattoer (at Merci-Bonsoir in Lyon - France) You can't see the tongue, but there's one! :)

There you go, fixed your post for you. Got pictures of the new tattoo? We'd love to see them.

Got one from Adam Hathorn (aka Honkey Kong) yesterday at Guru Tattoo in San Diego. First time getting tattooed in my hometown, Adam made it a really memorable session. The dude is full of stories and a super interesting guy, I'd recommend anybody in So Cal to go check him out if they get the chance

Well, today was the day! What a long, but great day! It began a little before 11:00am. I was the first one in Triple Crown Tattoo with Scott Ellis (most of the day, there were 10-15 people there, and at one point six artists were tattooing simultaneously). He had been working on a few designs based on the sleeve length I wanted. Over the week between today and our consultation, I had decided to ask him to put the dragon's head somewhere on my arm instead of with the head in the more traditional chest area. I was a little worried to be asking for this, as Scott has a relatively new sleeve with the head in the center, and the last thing I wanted was for him to think I was trying to copy his own tattoo. Luckily, when I got there, he informed me that the last several dragons he had done had the head on the chest, and he was dying to do something new. Perfect! His sketches had just what I wanted. It was a really good sign. However, getting it right took some time. Using thin paint brushes, he created the design over four separate layers. The dragon's head had to be moved several times, and the unique swirl of the dragon we decided on what difficult to get right without looking like the head was plopped onto the center of the body... but Scott is a perfectionist, and after a lot of erasing and revising, and then relining, and revising, etc... we were finally done with a design ready to be inked at 2:40. With only a few short breaks, it took a lot longer than I expected. But the result is something that works specifically with my body as opposed to just slapping a template onto my arm. I love it. Here is a quick snap of Scott somewhere between layer 2 and 3 of sketching on me: I haven't had a tattoo in nearly 20 years, so I had no idea what to expect from the pain, especially over so many areas. Tattooing in the ditch was no treat, but not as bad as I had come to expect from reading. The outside of the elbow lived up to expectations. But the worst was around my collarbone, where any wincing or tightening of my face would risk pulling the skin under his needle. And there was one spot on my chest where I could clearly feel the vibration on my pec, but the pain was in my neck. I could have sworn at the time he was tattooing my upper-middle neck. Long story short (yeah, right), we finished up the linework a little after 5:00pm. I am absolutely thrilled with the result... and was getting tons of compliments on it by the many artists and clients in the shop throughout the day. Here is a front shot: It is a little difficult to see from this angle and with only linework, but the dragon's body actually goes out the back of the head and swirls up and around the shoulders through the clouds and comes out belly showing under his head before turning again towards the end of the sleeve. It makes a little more sense visually if you can see the back. I also have the dragon clutching a pearl with his talons on the back on the sleeve and will actually be filling the pearl with a significant flower logo in the next session. Overall, a fantastic day. I couldn't be happier that Scott got all the elements I wanted into the design, was able to keep it very traditional, but also with a great deal of uniqueness built just for me. If any readers are in Austin, Triple Crown Tattoo on Chicon Street (right around the corner from Franklin's BBQ!) is a must-visit.

got this sacred heart from joe nickley almost 2 weeks ago and this from chris kline at the scranton convention this past weekend andddd yesterday i made an appointment with bert krak for next month while he's at old soul!

Finished my full back piece last Friday. I plan to write something about the experience but need time to collect and organize all my thoughts. by Mike Rubendall at Kings Ave:

had a great time today Tattoo Paradise with Chad lots of driving though - I'm beat don't know how Chad does with all that travel also got to meet @21stNow who stopped in and brought food for myself and the shop thank you so much - very sweet of you sorry we didn't have longer to chat but it was great meeting you - - - Updated - - - had a great time today Tattoo Paradise with Chad lots of driving though - I'm beat don't know how Chad does with all that travel also got to meet @21stNow who stopped in and brought food for myself and the shop thank you so much - very sweet of you sorry we didn't have longer to chat but it was great meeting you

Today I learned that the posterior of my body is home to multiple portals to hell! Seriously, I kept expecting cenobites to show up and drag me off with hook chains. Whoever said the butt crease is magical sure knew what they were talking about. But the most surprising thing for me (and for Greg, actually) is that there were a couple of spots near my shoulder blades that actually made me burst into tears instantly! It was the strangest thing...it wasn't like I just bottomed out and couldn't take it anymore, it was a huge surge of adrenaline and emotion that felt completely involuntary. And just in those spots! We tattooed well into armpit territory and it was honestly a relief after those other spots. So strange. I would post the Instagram but I'm on my phone. :( it's on his page, though, butt crack towel and everything.

BAM