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I am by no stretch of the imagination even half as tattooed as most of the people here, but even my personal experience has taught me that all of these things are really individual and there just aren't any rules about it. Examples: The tops of my thighs didn't hurt, really, but the outside, over the IT band, hurt like a sonofabitch. All of them healed REALLY well, though -- no scabbing, not really any pain, and they barely even peeled. Contrarily, most people's complaints about where they've been tattooed on their backs, the worst spots, were not the worst spot for me; mine was in a weird spot between my shoulderblades -- not even the bit in the crease of my butt/thigh could compare with it, and that was no picnic either! My back has also taken a shockingly long time to get to a 'settled' heal state, where the lines aren't super raised, too...it's all just depends on the person. Trying to predict what anybody else is gonna feel seems like a fool's game to me. Plus, some people just do not feel pain like other people do, and that is science fact. Anyway, this thread is about thigh tattoos, so here are mine! I'm including a healed pic of the one that @cltattooing did on me, too, since I don't think I ever sent her one! It's very difficult to take pictures of your own thigh tattoos without warping them.

Welcome! I think it is pretty easy to tie together different styles. I look forward to seeing your tattoo collection as you progress, @kitti! I love the one on your back. Very cool.

Hi :) Thanks, having different styles in different areas like yours is how I was thinking would work best, they fit together really nicely. Have plenty of time to figure it out as I go along I guess.

Welcome Kitti! My advice to the above question is to get high quality tattoos from good artists. Thomas Hooper did one of my arms and my back is Japanese and I think it looks great together. I don't have many good pictures of how they work together, though parts of my back were designed to tie together with my arm--there's a continuity between the water on my arm and the water on my back, for instance--but this gives you an idea:

Talking about how much tattoos hurt is about as interesting as talking about how much tattoos cost. It isn't. I'm getting a thigh done this weekend. It's going to be fun. I'm excited.

Funny rereading this thread. I figure there are alot of artist asking each other the same question. 'how much should i charge?'. One of the best feelings is when a artist is very enthustiastic about your idea. You can feel the magic. And it seems they charge you less

Yup, three sessions deep with Tim Lehi.

Hi everyone, i'm Kitti from London. I've just booked in for a new tattoo in July so have been lurking and finding great suggestions here. Currently I have 3 tattoos, 2 very small bits and 1 hand-poked piece on my back by Grace Neutral I got in January. I'm planning on sticking with Geometric and dot work on my back (some great artists in London for that) but am interested in having slightly different style work on my ribs (Thinking of flowers possibly). How have you managed to get work in different styles without it looking messy / jarring? Its important to me everything kind of works together cohesively.

Hello everyone, hopefully this is my first of many posts. I've been reading forums on here for months and I've learned so much. Anyways, in about two months I turn 18 and I plan on getting my first tattoo. I've gone in for a consultation and have been emailing the artist back and forth. (The artist is KiKU) All I have to do is set an actual date for my first session, which will happen within the next week. I plan on getting a half sleeve with cherry blossoms and a koi, I couldn't be more excited. I've seen hundreds upon hundreds of videos on Irezumi, read articles, seen documentaries , etc. I really want to make sure I'm committed to getting this tattoo. I've been planning and saving up for the past 8 months and as my birthday gets closer and closer I'm starting to doubt myself. I'm afraid I'm going to regret it because you always hear stories of people regretting the tattoos they got when they were 18. I feel like my situation is a little bit different because many of those stories are people getting tattoos without really thinking about it. I guess this post is just so I could hear some other peoples opinions whom I know are educated and experienced when it comes to tattoos. Any advice or sharing your own personal experience would be great. Thanks guys!

Hey guys and gals, haven't been on here for quite a long time, so much 'life' happening. Anyways just wanted to re-introduce myself, especially as I'm having my consult for my back next week, so hopefully be able to provide some pics when it starts. Catch you all in the forums :)

I love Freddie! Now I really can't wait to see it!

Freddie Mercury. I'm dying to see the initial sketch, my artist has been incredibly nice so far so I'd be even more bummed if I didn't like it.

Who is your favorite singer? Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

I've been called many things that are worse than 'tattoo collector' over the years; often deservedly so I will admit. I think I just crossed over this line recently myself. I now have 7 tattoos by 5 different artists. Really, in my mind, I'm just now to the point of qualifying as a tattooed person yet someone at work referred to me as having a lot of tattoos the other day. I wanted to say something like 'I know heavily tattooed people and I am not heavily tattooed' but I just let it go.

I can probably find a decent pic of my foot tattoo...but I only have 1 pic of my shoulder tattoo in my possession and it's not very good because it's an uploaded pic from a cellphone from right after it was finished...it's not easy to photograph your own shoulder, so I gave up trying!

I can't compare thighs to the places that you have been tattooed. I have my shoulders tattooed, but don't remember how they felt specifically because they were part of a larger tattoo that included the sternum. I have all four "sides" of both thighs tattooed at least partially. The front of the thighs have been the easiest tattoos that I have gotten so far. Mine are probably a bit higher up than you plan for yours to be. Not that it didn't hurt, but the front of my thighs almost didn't rate on the tattoo pain scale for me. Inner thighs were ridiculously painful for me, outer thighs just plain painful and for some reason, I don't remember the pain level for the back of my thighs at all. I disagree about falling asleep during pain, though. My back hurt the worst of anything that I have gotten and the artist said that he heard me snoring a couple of times while he was working.

@rayray115 awesome first post and good choices. don't second guess yourself or Kiku, you got this ! ps don't worry there is no text in your tattoo haha

yeah good points @marley mission i've also have had rough heals on my thighs. i like your comment about front row action. when I got my first couple of tattoos, I thought meh what's the big deal, it doesn't hurt! Then I got my ribs tattooed and I can still taste that salty single tear when he hit me with the shader (after lining). My tattooer's like c'mon buddy not even hitting ya that hard with the shader lol. Ah memories. I long for the younger glory days when tattoos "didn't hurt". I guess I got all the big stuff out of the way now. But I still have the tops of my feet and armpits, and damn I am terrified - especially of the feet. We say that all people are born with X number of tattoo credits. The more you get tattooed, the more tattoo credits you spend...and the more that shit fucking hurts !!

That may have been me. It was actually at Saved in NYC and there was a woman there wearing a top with a low cut back and she had a Kiku backpiece that was incredible. I want to say it was of Kannon, but it may have been of another goddess. Anyway, that back was super influential in making me go huge and bold on my own back. As as far as regret goes, it can be complicated, but koi and cherry blossoms is a timeless design, you want a great size and placement for it, and you're going to a world-class artist for it. I'd say you're as good as you can be.

I have 2 tattoos and I would definitely not consider myself an expert! I know some stuff, more than the average person probably, but I still ask questions about tattoos from more experienced people. One of my pet peeves is when people say I'm going to regret my tattoos. I've had my first one for almost 4 years and I love it just as much as I did when I got it, and my other one is about a year younger, and I love that one just as much as I did when I first got it...no regrets at all!

Man I like Chris's work, I so badly want to get something from him. Isn't he starting his own shop? unless this was it.

No agreement here. Having grown up in Buffalo, and lived the last (almost) 40 years down South - I much prefer a purging sweat to a bone-chilling cold.

Halfway there by Chris Stuart in Charlotte. Great tattooer, great shop, great experience [emoji2] Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

His / Hers eagle tattoos by Chris David - Government Street Tattoo (Victoria, BC) hers: "could you make my eagle more feminine please" his: "just make mine a good ol U S of Eh screamin' eagle"

Lets go with a few more what the heck: Becca Gene Bacon at The End is Near in Brooklyn with the fish rose morph. Becca is really nice and hit homeruns daily. Rob Ryan with the Hand of Glory and Mandala Big Cat at Electric in Asbury NJ. Rob is a super fast and as nice as they come. Steve Boltz with a flying fish at Smith St. in Brooklyn. What a great shop and Steve was filled with great conversation. I thought it was the coolest thing sitting down and having lunch with Steve after the tattoo. Gotta get back to Smith. Sheila Marcello with this flying lady head on my collarbone. Sheila rocks. Electric in Asbury. Rob Ryan again at Electric with some fish mandala knee magic. Lastly I traveled to Maryland to the Wheaton Tattoo Paradise shop to get this fiery eyed lady from Chad Koeplinger on his 50 state tour. Got to meet a lovely LST member as well. A blast of a day (though way too much of it was spent in a car lol). Anyway - love these picture heavy threads with cool tattoos so...lets keep going.

lets see if this worked this time!

Rose of No Man's Land by Chris Ayalin- Liberty Tattoo, Seattle Parrot, Panther head/Rose by Dan Pryor- Seven Seas Tattoo, San Diego Eagle by Phil Hatchet Yao- Master Tattoo, San Diego, Snake by Alfy Iglesias- Seven Seas Tattoo, San Diego

Percy Waters crane/lady by Tony Nilsson at Blue Arms Tattoo

I haven't been getting tattooed much lately because I've been focused on one big piece for the past several months. I expect more traditional one shots in my near future! But here's what I've got so far when it comes to traditional style tattoos, and a little background on each: Eagle and rose by Brian Via at Golden Ages in Lancaster, PA. I wanted something to represent my parents (still alive, not a memorial!). Brian is super laid back and the whole shop is really talented. Also done by Brian, picked off his wall of things he wanted to tattoo. My first skull and not the last. Butterfly done by Antonio Roque in Frederick, MD. Really cool guy especially considering he's kind of "Instagram famous" with over 50k followers...easy to book with, charged me actually way less than he should have (and got a big tip as a result), and no ego at all. Panther and rose by Chad Koeplinger when he came through DC. He's one of my artistic idols and I was kind of star struck to meet him. Fun guy to talk to and I was amazed at his speed (this took less than 2 hours, including all the time we spent talking about movies). But wow does he hurt like no one's business! I wanted him to do this spot (inner bicep) to get it over with as quick as possible, but he's pretty brutal! Anyway, I asked him for a panther and rose and said he could do whatever he wanted with those subjects, so I got my whole inner arm blasted with this.

so how about these four to start us off the first two classics were done by Shannon Pagliarini at Crown and Anchor in Pt. Pleasant NJ. Great tattooer and super cool person. Pharoah's Horses was done by Sheila Marcello at Electric Tattoo in Asbury Park NJ. Sheila is an amazing tattooer and also a real nice person too. Rock of Ages is my most recent tattoo (until Friday hahaha). Anyway this was done by Robert Ryan at Electric as well. Rob is the man - it's not lost on me how awesome it is that Electric is so close to me. I'm lucky. Anyway - lets see what y'all got.

A tip is the best option :D Or... cook some cookies! Cookies are nice :D

I agree and do the same--if you know the tattooer well it's fun to give a personalized gift on top of a cash tip. I have done most of the above, particularly prints (ukiyo-e is my go-to), but I also frequently give tattooers reference books that I think they'd appreciate, whether it's on a particular style/region or a different medium/art form that I think they'd like. It's always hard to predict what's already in their library, but based on chatting with them I try to get books on art that they're stoked on that I think they might not have yet.

Sometimes time can be a little tight and it's a nice favor to run out and buy the person a coffee or a meal afterwards.

not against the gift thing per se here in the northeast cash tips are the norm for just about anything really lol anyway - i dont do gifts personally just a nice healthy cash tip

And sign him up to be a Maker's Mark Ambassador - it costs nothing to do, they put your name on a barrel plate and after about 7 years you get invited to the factory when the open the barrel and you get to hand-dip two bottles. And, every year they send you a gift during the Christmas holidays.

A pint of Maker's Mark and a nice tip this time. She likes bourbon.

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

"hey look at this guy's skin, its like instagram but instead of on my phone its right here in front of me."