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Some of the visual impact of that tattoo has to do just with knowledge of color theory, i.e. putting complementary colors, like orange and turquoise, next to each other. But yes, that's a fresh tattoo. A lot of styles that are popular on the Internet right now (like virtually everything featured on Buzzfeed) really depend upon the tattoos being fresh in the photographs. We don't know what that tattoo will look like in 10 years; certainly the colors will be much more muted, and some might fade faster than others. If you look at an actual bound portfolio in a shop, look for healed examples of an artist's work. I've gone back to local shops a couple times now so that the tattooer can take a photograph of a tattoo that I've healed. The livedinttattoos Instagram account is also great in terms of giving you an idea of the variety of ways a tattoo might age. I do sympathize with anyone who feels like they don't have access to a lot of healed examples of good tattoos in person because virtually nobody I hang out with regularly is interested in tattoos. Another good option might be to go to a convention; you'll certainly see all kinds of lived-in tattoos there...

It's not really nudity if it's fully tattooed. Which is my excuse for dropping trou in public places to show people my back.

I wouldn't worry about offending anyone here. Most of us have posted uncensored photos of our tattooed butts.

@Tiresius welcome couple thoughts - @Graeme has good points healed and hairy is gonna always look different better actually but i do think you can get a good grasp of the tattooers work on IG as for asking about inks - yeah i wouldnt i dont think you need to do 'damage control' just move on basically - if you arent a tattooer - you dont need to worry about those type of things as least i dont - just find the right tattooer...and get tattooed repeat :)

http://www.epicthings.com/tattoos-heal-before-after/ thanks Bill Loika

Oh, but I actually came over here because I'd linked to the thread and wanted to add my post pregnancy belly tattoo. Here

I can't comment on inks etc. because I'm not a tattooer. But, regardless of whether modern inks are more colorfast than old ones or whatever, skin is still skin. The matrix of tissue that holds ink particles in place doesn't stay static forever. http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/the-real-reason-tattoos-are-permanent/374825/

That's definitely fresh. And it is definitely not going to look that way when it heals.

Certainly, some artists are better at "saturating" their ink than others. That is probably the difference between your 1st and 2nd tattoo. Getting healed pictures will be tougher, as most artists never see a good portion of their work again, once it walks out the door. A healed picture can have a filter applied to it, too. None of this will assist you in guaranteeing a VIVID tattoo, of course - it just gives you as much info as the rest of us has . . .

Just read this thread: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/2288-what-makes-a-good-tattoo/ A lot of the tattoos you linked to don't seem to be well-structured I wouldn't count on them holding up in the long run anyway.

@Graeme absolutely the experience level helps - i enjoy talking tattos with tattooers as well - or just sometimes listening as tattooers talk to each other at this point - when i get tattooed - most of the time tattooers want to see what i have and talk about what they have which is quite fun this is why i think its crazy that someone would want to wear headphones while getting tattooed - you're missing all the good stories

Got the background done for my zombie pinup tonight. I've been waiting a while for this, so I'm kind of excited! Stole this picture from the artist's instagram. The others I took myself so they aren't too great. Can't really get the whole thing in a pic :)

theyre just warning you to be aware that some photos online are fresh vs healed...

Here's the thing about pictures of tattoos on the internet: that may or may not be what the tattoo actually looks like. Maybe it looks like that. Maybe it's been adjusted in Photoshop or with some kind of filter. This isn't unheard of. For me, I'd rather see tattoos in real life, preferably settled in for a number of years before I determine who makes really bright tattoos or not.

pretty nice looking tattoo,I like it a lot.and you look great ! wait til you get to my age !(56) my skin is loose and getting wrinkly,but I am still getting tattooed and actually I am wearing more tank tops than I EVER have ! I am having more fun with my tattooes than I ever have as well.my wife and myself might be old,but we are fucking cool old people ! LOL

@polliwog I wish I'd seen this last year, have you had any of the areas tattooed now? I hope so. I found exposing my scars really very hard, even though I'd been 'out' with them for years. Same with my knackered belly skin. It'd been years since I'd done any damage but the urge did pop up now and again. I've had not a whiff of an urge since the tattoos. Nada. The actual tattooing, the process, seemed to really help somehow.

Hi All! I really like the look of well-executed munewari. I have only seen it on men and a few smaller breasted women. As a larger breasted woman I am interested to see how munewari reads on...big boobs. So. To that end, does anyone have pictures to share? (lol good thing i've been here before because that ALMOST sounds creepy). Anyway, pictures of women, preferably with larger breasts, with munewari to the nipple. (definitely sounds creepy. but i'm doing it for the tattoos guys!) Thaaaankkks! beez (ps SF peeps, think i'll be down in the last half of august for tattoo!)

So we've got a lady head thread, how about an entire lady body thread! Here's one that I've always liked! It's by Mike Wilson. And if you knew the guy in the photo, please know I mean no disrespect by posting this, he was a friend of mine to, and he had and did some awesome tattoos. I really like the simplicity of the design. The shading is so minimal yet so effective.

i did last week for a short period - like a day or two - been good since

Justin Bieber head on the butt crack

Here is Amy as she heals. Taken today. Also scheduled my next tattoo for August 12 on my other calf. Woohoo! Excited.

Hahaha! My little puppy Jasper does that, too.

Hustle Butter or Cocoa Butter.

It was both, I guess. But when the pain was worse the involuntary jumps got stronger too. So it took a lot longer than we were expecting.

when I had tattoos around both ankles done,I felt terrible for the artist as I couldn't stop the involuntary leg jerks from happening ,he had to lean on my leg hard to get it done.it wasn't a pain thing,it was the leg jerks.

Call me old fashioned, but good ol' face to face interaction works pretty well for me. When I get tattooed I tend to talk tattoos with my tattooer, I see the tattoos they have and ask about them, I find out about the people they have been tattooed by, who they like and respect in tattooing. And then I try to seek out those people. I am probably in the minority here but I wouldn't get tattooed based on portfolio or Instagram alone. I also have a fair bit of experience getting tattooed and we all have to jump in somewhere so take my remarks as you will.

I guess the question is how do you find the right tattooer if all you have is online portfolios which may be only fresh, new tattoos?

Thinking of putting some badass fighting birds on my back, which is my other bad spot.

@HettyKet no tattoo over the area yet... but I hope to have Marie Sena put one of her ladies there next spring. I'm currently using @Fala's healing balm on that arm and it's making the roughness and discoloration look a lot better. (If any of you have some unloved, scabbed-up skin, it's pretty great.)

Thank you so much for the replies! I'm happy to be seeing that i am just over analyzing it, i was hoping that was the case :)

Are these tattoos you have seen healed in person or are they pictures of fresh unhealed tattoos you've seen on instagram? Because only one counts.

@Musashi yes, do go for it. I've made a good start on my belly and it looks so, so much better. The damage on the untattooed skin is less noticeable and I feel much better for it too. After two comedy-bellied pregnancies the skin was fucked. Crepey in places, stretch marks, weird stuff with the navel. I almost did't dare to get it out to see if it was tattoo-able but the women on the Ladies Thread helped me grow some ovaries and crack on with it. I think it was pretty hard work to tattoo, it'd probably have been quicker and easier if i'd been a bit heavier (like I am at the moment, the photo is older) but the colour saturation is even and consistent throughout. The textural differences are still apparent but much less obvious. This is a great thread and here's my belly

easy road trip. 3.5 hour drive from New Orleans to Pensacola's white white beaches. gotta get in some swimming and such before my next appointment in September

I hope you get the humming bird you wanted!

went to Seattle and got crabs by Jake Whitson @ Liberty Tattoo Seattle my lady also got a really nice wrist tattoo from Jake. She liked it so much we went back into downtown on Friday nite and she got a midnite walk-in to get something matching on the opposite wrist. one of the coolest tattoo shops I've been in and really nice folks, great hospitality. can't wait to go back Seattle was an awesome city.

I think for most people this won't look like much has been done, but oh well! All of the black/shading, with the exception of some clouds we're going to add, is now done. All of the lining, too. We had to line two more dragon feet and I thought I was going to die. If I never see another liner that size again, it'll be too soon! So now we get to start color after this, and I can't wait. Greg Whitehead and all that.

Got this collab from Timmy B and Andres Acosta at the stacked Lake Tahoe convention. Took about 7 hours

I have a surgical scar from a shoulder injury (from a crash with a roadbike). This is a picture the day after surgery The scar didn't heal very nicely (as you can probably imagine from that picture ;-) ) And this picture a couple of minutes ago, you can still see a part of the scar without ink, and you can see the covered part. I also have some road rash on my elbowd, which is now covered by my sleeves.

By Jackie Dunn Smith Jackie Dunn Smith | Facebook