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I would say the "tattoo community" is a very real thing and has been around for as long as people have been getting tattooed :) I've been lucky enough to meet a good handful of people from the forum and have tattooed a good number of them and I am totally happy and proud to call them my friends. LST has played a pretty big role in my career, although discreetly. The interviews are pure gold and have a lot of soul and much to learn from. I'm not as active here as I once was, but it has always been that oasis you speak of. ?

Totally spontaneous addition today. Had the day off so I stopped into Royal Tiger in Austin to drool over BHR's new flash sheets. Bailey was there with nothing to do sooooo about two hours later, I walked out with this beauty.

Mediocre Japanese style. It should be said that good Japanese style tattoos are meant to be bold clear and readable from a distance which is the opposite of this. The problem here is a lack of contrast. Color would have helped Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Planet on other wrist would mirror nicely in a kind of micro macro way. Voting against the text which doesn't really make sense in that context unless you're quoting Bohr or something. +1 on a giant Sagan portrait which is clearly your best bet Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got this yesterday! A lot of firsts for me here. First real post on this forum(barring the introduction thread), first real large scale custom piece for me. It was also my first time under a rotary, and first time trying a new healing method. The machine felt quite a bit different than what i was used to, but this was my first leg tattoo, so that could simply have been the tighter skin on my legs. In general, more of a light pressure, then a pinpoint stab. James Mullins of Lotus Tattoo, Hemet CA, was very patient with my 3 or so hours embarrassingly twitchy leg, and constant nervous tattoo chatter. (Also my neurotic aftercare questions, and emails.) Obviously, yes, I'm a Fallout Fan. I put a mid way tattoo up because I honestly thought he was nearly done here. I laid back and let him finish the final pass without looking too much. When I saw the final pass, I was pretty much giddy. He asked, just before I sat down, if he could go a little crazy with the color. I was super glad that I agreed. I hope it's ok to post this pre-heal! If not, I can pull it down and repost when it's done!

Getting a bunch of prints made to trade/gift to people at the con. Already set up a trade with Horitsuki Dust Wu. Very pumped. Also made an appointment with Darryl Hart for a nurse on my calve right after I get off the plane on Saturday night. Then getting a huge piece by Dave the next morning, and after that I have about 4 hours to fuck around and look at booths. Might get a couple 1 hour bangers if I feel like it. Edit: so turns out he can get the nurse done in an hour and a half, because hes a madman, so we're going to put these eyeball hellspawn on my leg somewhere also. R8 stoked.

So I wasn't expecting another large scale piece. But Steve Byrne loved my basic idea, and I DID specifically tell him, apparently, quote "go nuts". I am a wreck this morning kids. Link to video:

Update: Aug 31. Scott Ellis is finally back in the US, so we put in five more hours dropping color into the dragon. I am so relieved to have the ditch of my arm done! That was probably the worst part.

Hey everyone! Just found this forum looking about healing processes, got my first big fancy fully custom work yesterday, and am using Saniderm. Some googling led me here and this already seems like the kind of community I've been looking for! I got a few bad tattoos 15+ years ago, along with a good one. I'd all but given up until recently, where I've had some good and bad experiences. The #getgoodtattoos hashtag is certainly meaningful to me at this point. I can get wordy, so I'll spare everyone that for now, save to say Hi!

Hey all, yea, I went back and edited to bring it in line with standards. And yup, it looks like this forum architecture does edit quotes to match the quoted area of text. I was wondering that myself when I did my editing last night. Thanks for linking that! I do want to join that discussion as well, because I did notice some differences and was wondering if anyone else had!

Yikes. Do some research. You want it to be readable.

There's no hard set rule. Some shops say theyre a street shop, others a custom shop, but most will do either. Some shops (typically very renown shops) only do appointments, so they wouldnt really be a "street shop", but the titles dont hold much significance now a days. Back in the 60s and 70s during the tattoo "reconnaissance" fronted by Ed Hardy, a shop would advertise that they did custom work, which was in refference to shops that only had premade designs, so it was a big deal to get a custom made design. Now a days most shops do custom work as well as flash so the titles dont hold much meaning anymore.

Did I miss something or did OP edit his original post? Is it out of bounds to talk about rotary vs coil in terms of the client's experience (lack of pain, noise) or the different "look" they achieve? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

"Bad" style.

No worries! Forum rules, and I'm still just getting back into tattoo culture after a 15 year hiatus. I appreciate you being straightforward and cool about the rules, and taking the time to explain why they're there to a noob like me.

man i dont know about tattoo commnunity but i do like LST for many reasons primarily i find that in 'real life' discussions about tattoos tend to be awkward at best and generally result in people asking just horrible questions 'how much', 'what does it mean' - ugh

so you're looking to get tattooed and the main criteria you're concerned with is that it should have poor readability uh - i call that style 'bad tattoo'

A lot of smart, interesting people get and make tattoos. I'm just speaking to my experience as a tattoo-getter but the older you become, the more it matters that you actively seek out people whose company you genuinely like (because they won't just fall into your lap), and shared interests work well for that. I don't think I'm part of any tattoo community nor do I feel entitled to a welcome, but I'm looking forward to going to my first convention.

Thanks! I totally missed that rule in my skim. I edited it down quite a bit, and I hope that falls more in line. In this case, I was literally just sharing info available on his public Instagram in the last 5-7 days, but I totally get it. People can get that info themselves. Can I ask, and I'm totally not trying to be a smart ass here, is this post ok now? In terms of generic rotary machine, and Saniderm sheet?

Man, the chest is no joke! There were spots near the collarbone where I could've sworn my throat was getting tattooed... Arm's looking great! Happy to watch all of this progress.

@Isotope when you described your idea to me, I have to say that I was thinking, hmm...okay. That worked out in the best possible way. The weird thing is that the roses just might be the toughest thing about that tattoo.

@ligatortat oh ok - i mention this because people do get tattooed this way "its for me" but you shouldnt

@ligatortat you realize that the text is upside down right?

Two peices of great news: 1) Your arm looks amazing! 2) You never have to do that part again. :)

It is a little better because the area tattooed weaves up my arm, instead of basically all the way around my entire arm... so less surface area is less pain. Applying Aquaphor hurts but is a lot more confined, so when I'm done my entire arm isn't radiating heat. Today is Day 3 and I've gotten very little sleep the last two nights, so that part is the same. Today the skin in the ditch is tightening, and I can see a few scales look like they may scab (we'll see). Overall, I'd say the healing this time is 50% easier. Which is not to say I'm not still in the discomfort stage, it's just that the last session with the full arm shaded all the way around in one session -- that was awful.

I like the idea of a tattoo community,here and in the real world,I do feel a brotherhood/sisterhood connection with other tattooed people,I am an outgoing person and I enjoy interacting with other tattooed people in the real world,some tattooed people are open and receptive to conversation,some aren't. either way,yes,I believe there is a connection here and in the real world amongst tattooed people.But at the same time I do welcome questions from and conversation with plainskins as well. and in the real world I enjoy the stares and attention I get from being "different" because of my tattoos.

@Gareth98 With regards to the design, I'm kind of meh. It's not bad, but not very exciting either. Seen much better. With regards to the concept of mixing styles, why not? A similar post was made in the past and I noted I'd seen images on IG in the past that have mixed Japanese backgrounds with another culture's myths. Someone else posted a sleeve a bit back that had traditional motifs with a Japanese cloud background. It was cool to me. So saying that I don't see a big issue with the idea that an artist can make it work proper. Will it be traditional? Maybe not. Do you want it to be? Maybe. Maybe not. The key thing is finding an artist that can make it work though. Valerie Vargas seemed to make it work on I think it was an Athena sleeve and same goes with Chris Brand's Suikoden pieces. That's essentially Japanese (and Chinese) meets East LA culture and he's rocking it. Those people had skill to make it work. Many do not so hopefully you have found someone who can. The artist seemed to go a different route than you originally wanted though. If you're not a fan, skip the idea and the middle man. I agree with others that you should work with a tattoo artist. And perhaps run with your original thoughts if that was what you wanted.

@ligatortat trying to accentuate a small sized tattoo with an afterthought never ends up with a great result. it will overshadow and take the eye away from your new atom tattoo. For your consideration...what about your opposite wrist? Something simple and classy like a small illustration of a ringed planet and a couple of stars/dots. A picture is worth a thousand words! You know all about "star stuff" when you look at the tattoo, sometimes less is more. Good luck and en joy your new tattoo.

I wouldn't say anyone has been nasty -- at least not without provocation. What I will say is that people are very opinionated about what makes a good tattoo and have limited patience for those who refuse to take good advice. Sometimes the best kind of tough love comes from strangers. Because we kind of but don't really give a shit what you do. Make sense? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Your own statement identifies the source of the conflict. You state "I'm not a big tattoo person." This is a tattoo forum - would you not expect to find people with passion and strong opinions? I only have one tattoo yet I have found this group to be nothing but helpful and informative. It's not about what you have or want, it's about how you interact with the group. In the end, your decision about your tattoo is just that...yours. Get what you want/like, not what someone else does. People here have given you their advice and suggestions. Go with what makes you happy.

Based on guidance from the wise folks here, I deleted the text from my next piece. I'm thankful for the wisdom.

Haven't posted in quite a while so i'll update you all on a couple of new(ish) additions. First up is from the Bristol tattoo convention in June, done by Stewart Robson: And this one i got a couple of days ago from Marcos Attwood at Broad Street Studio, in Bath Not particularly great photos of either one but i'm sure you get the idea

IMO I equate the coil with a stinging and the rotary with a burning sensation (not when I pee) A lot of the tattoo experience for me is built around that coil sound, but I starting to equate the same thing with the new rotary noise. Not to shift gears to hard, but the coil sound also goes hand in hand with that awful green soap smell. Those two things build that tattoo shop feel for me

The mechanics of a coil machine vs a rotary are different, the way the needle moves in/out of the skin and the feel/feedback it gives the tattooer. To use a coil machine effectively a tattooer needs to understand how to build/tune/setup the machine for the way they tattoo. And that may be why a lot of tattooers use rotaries these days...convenience. Rotaries are more forgiving in terms of overworking the skin, lighter weight i.e. reduces strain on the tattooer, they are easy to procure, good to go out of the box and can facilitate faster tattooing (if you they know what they are doing). Coils can achieve the same things but come with a steeper learning curve to understand the mechanics, optimize the geometry of the machine build and dial in the tune for their method. My tattooer who uses coils exclusively, he knows how to setup his machines and can spec a machine build to compliment his methods. And boy, you can feel that control when he tattoos. wow. He can really achieve the subtle details, the smoothness in his gradients because of the way he can achieve finer control with coils, that perhaps could not be achieved with the out-of-the-box characteristics of the rotary. His coil tattoos heal like butter everytime like clockwork. Because of the optimized setup, experience and skilled hand doing the tattooing. I also have another tattooer who is on the rotary train (the first rotary I experienced) and runs it bastard hot (sounds like a coil) and can utilize the rotary to compliment his speed and methods. His rotary tattoos hurt like hell, however go in smooth, colours stay ultra-bright after long-term healing and he is FAST. Me...I like the LOUD noise, I like the pain, I like the mechanics. So whichever side of the rotary vs coil debate my tattooer is on, doesn't matter because I gain a better understanding of the big picture of tattooing when I'm on the receiving end of either method. I just love good ol ELECTRIC tattooin! The louder the more electric the better :cool: