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Got this piece done last week! My artist was amazing and gave me exactly what I was looking for! The shin nearly killed me, but it turned out amazing! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Done by Tony Nilsson a couple of years ago! (never mind my hairy and ashy armpit)

I recently got this cute eagle filler by Ruby Quilter at Sang Bleu. It's a different style to my other tattoos but fits perfectly in the gap.

Tiger dagger done by Tyson Arndt in february last year, at Stockholm Classic. Venomous snake dagger done a little over a year ago in Newcastle while he was on tour.

Bumping this topic - interesting reading! I’ve only got one small tattoo from 40-odd years ago, but I’m planning a back piece. Even though I haven’t started the actual tattoo yet, I have already learned things as I’ve made my decision and started planning. I’m learning that tattooing is a process and that for me most important part of the process is not in the studio, it is in the brain. It took me over 30 years to decide to get my second tattoo. Even though I wanted one, I didn’t think it fit my professional image, and I was afraid of being judged negatively by friends and colleagues. I waffled between “should I or shouldn’t I?” for decades. Over time my desire to get a tattoo grew stronger and stronger. And to complicate matters, my interest evolved from “getting a tattoo” into “getting a very large tattoo.” I couldn’t understand why I was unable to make a decision. I spent a lot of time analyzing it and ended up writing down the whole history of my interest in tattooing, as far back as far as I could remember — every incident, what I saw, what my thoughts were along the way, and what was going on in my life, my feelings of conflict— everything I could think of (condensed, but still fairly long version here). Ultimately that led me to the realization that my indecision was not really about whether or not to get a tattoo, but was really an expression of my inability to be the person that I wanted to be in life. I came to the realization that I had lived my whole life trying to fit into an image of what I perceived that others and my profession wanted me should be, while completely burying what I wanted to be. I realized that I had unwittingly gradually reprogrammed myself to believe that by “fitting in” I would become the “right kind of person.” That may have been one of the most important things I learned about myself in my 60-odd years on the planet. Once I acepted that, it was easy to decide to go ahead with my tattoo project, but more importantly It helped me start to live my life more as I wanted, and move toward a better balance between the professional me and the private me. It was only through trying to decide to get a large tattoo that I was able to find that out about myself. I’m not sure if I could have gotten to that realization any other way. I think that for me it took a confrontation with a desire to do something that in my world was really radical, extreme, and beyond the norm (getting a huge tattoo) to jolt me into exploring and learning something deep in me.

Thanks!! I use unscented lubiderm because I'm unfortunately allergic to the aveeno! I snapped the pic before my morning lotion application, so it looks a little nicer now [emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@viezure: I'm an architect. We have corporate and institutional clients who are often quite traditional on such things, especially for someone my age, who should "know better" ;-) I value my job, am committed to it, and enjoy it too, and my personal point of view is that I don't want to do anything to make clients uncomfortable. That may sound a little like "sucking up," but business is business. Because of those clients I can feed my family and pay the mortgage...and get tattooed! On the other hand we have some clients who I know would not care, and we currently have one tattooed client. But I prefer to to keep business and personal stuff separate but in the proper balance, which had been my big hang up for years.

Nice post and read! One question, what's your profession? Really curious to know the answer, seems that it played a big role in your tattoo-less self :)

Interesting comment, @KBeee. As a male, it is impossible for me to fully understand what it is like to to be a woman and live with society’s expectations of beauty for women. Society and media have certainly browbeaten women about conforming to an ideal of appearance. Women getting tattooed visibly challenges that, which is good. Kudos for you! But I suspect that it is tough sometimes. It is not quite the same for me as a man because we aren't held to the same "beauty" expectations. I have been fascinated by tattoos since the 1970s (I’m in my sixties, got a tattoo at twenty, waited until now to get something large). I liked them, wanted them, thought they look great on everyone, male and female, and have viewed them positively myself, for decades before the tattooing reached today's popularity. But I, too, realize I am carrying subconscious imprints. In my case, they are the messages that I grew up with about how tattoos are not for “good people” like me. I don’t believe that myself, but I must admit that it is in the back of my mind, and somewhere inside my brain I think other people believe that and I will be judged by them. I think that has been part of why I have struggled to decide to go ahead with my large project (see my other post in this thread)

No I meant the first guy, the second lion looked great. Everything has nice clean lines, good shading, etc. I'd definitely go with the second guy. Like @Synesthesia said, the first guy's not bad, but he ain't great either. Average.

Thanks, I thought so too. ? The second guy's work was more intricate and cleaner in my opinion. Were you referring to the second guy's lion or the first?

To be honest with you the second guy seems leaps and bounds above the other guy, though I could be a bit biased because I prefer his style. That lion looked a bit...off though. Not bad mind you, there's just something about it that seems off. Add to that the fact that he didn't get back to you on the drawing and I'd go with the second guy. But that's just my opinion.

Hi! Thanks for the reply. I actually gave him 30% down payment for the sketch, which didn't turn out to be good at all. I tried asking for a minor revision and he didn't get back to me anymore. So I guess that's that. What do you think of this guy? https://www.facebook.com/DUBAI.TATTOO.PIERCING/ I hope he is at least better, I'm thinking of going to him for an initial consultation for my cover up. Here are some of his works from Facebook:

It's a little late to be debating whether or not this is the right guy for you, isn't it? You've already consulted with him and have him doing a sketch. I sure hope you at least give him some money for drawing time if you decide not to do it. This guy is a completely average street shop level artist. You won't come out of there with anything mindblowingly good but probably not anything awful either. It's up to you if that's good enough for you.

Oh :D ty

it's a cool tattoo, but don't keep it so wet.whatever you're putting on it,apply it VERY lightly. keep it clean,and whatever lotion ,etc you put on it,keep it light. what are you putting on it BTW ?

Hi, my new tattoo, what do you think about it? Please tell me the truth, it's important. I'd like to fix something, should I add colour on the moth and inside the lantern? Thank you :)

I attempted Japanese style stuff for the first time ever and I thought hell, why not make it unnecessarily hard on myself and do two koi instead of one. I used Copic markers.

I was going thru some old photos and I came across this album from the "Beware! the Yokai" show back in Oct 2014 at Empire Seven Studios in SJ, put on by Chris Brand and State of Grace. Thought I'd share. FYI... These are completely unedited. Sorry. Not sorry. Enjoi

Let me try again.

@marley mission this is what it should/will hopefully look like healed. an combination of a lot of my faverite anime

This is a really cool thread and I've really enjoyed reading people's responses. I haven't been getting tattooed that long, but it's been long enough and heavily enough that I find it difficult to make a clear distinction between myself and my tattoos anymore because they're such a huge part of my life and my experience. With that said, here's some cool stuff: Travel. I think one of the greatest things about getting tattooed, and especially by getting tattooed by a lot of people who don't work in my city, is how much traveling I've done to get tattooed, and how it's made travel to seem like a much easier and much more doable thing than it did prior to traveling to get tattooed. Going to New York City seemed like a somewhat daunting trip before; now I realize that it's an easy 7-8 hour drive down a pleasant stretch of the I-87 and can be a weekend trip. While I was working on my sleeve and @Pugilist was working on her back, I think we made five or six trips between Montreal and NYC in a year, and that was unthinkable before tattoos became a priority. If it wasn't for Electric Tattoo in Bradley Beach (now Asbury Park) I never would have considered visiting that part of the Jersey Shore, or probably the Jersey Shore at all, but it was great and I'd love to go back. Barcelona is a great place no matter what, but getting a little tattoo from El Monga when I was there this summer made that wonderful city that little bit better. One of my first thoughts when hearing about a place I haven't been before is figuring out who tattoos there, because tattoos make the best souvenirs. Art. I've always been interested in art, always drawn to some extent or another, always made a point of visiting museums to look at art, I read about it, and so on, but tattooing has really helped me to broaden my perspectives on art. I would guess that I'm not that different than many of you in that it was really punk rock and skateboarding that exposed me to the first art that really blew my mind. That Corey O'Brien reaper deck Jim Phillips drew is my favorite thing ever and has been since I saw it in ads in Thrasher magazine in I guess the late 80s and early 90s. Those Pushead graphics on those Zorlac decks in that same era; the cover art for the Noise Forest skate rock tape, that stuff all still rules. I'm probably not the only person here who was first exposed to Scott Sylvia not through anything tattoo related, but through the H2O album cover he did. My first encounter with Dan Higgs had nothing to do with tattoos, but was through Lungfish. And somehow despite all that, I guess I still thought that art was something that hung in galleries and museums and spaces like that, and that the illustrations on record covers, skateboards, t-shirts, comics, and so on, were something different entirely. It sounds really lame typing this out, but tattooing has really helped me to see all of this stuff as legitimate forms of artistic expression, and that it's totally as acceptable to be in awe of a Greg Irons illustration as it is to be in awe of a Rembrandt painting. I have plenty of time for both of those. I really love that interview Ed Hardy did of Mike Malone in Bulls Eyes and Black Eyes where Rollo talks about coming from the New York art scene, doing projections and shit like that, and then eventually coming around to imagery that really blew his mind from his childhood, like biker patches and stuff like that. I get where he's coming from there. Tattoos have also made me really appreciate technique and craft. Lately, and this is in a roundabout way coming from seeing Shawn Barber's paintings, I've come to really like realism in art, especially as it contrasts with super conceptual stuff that isn't about skill or technique at all. I have absolutely zero interest in realistic tattoos though. Body image. Now the thing that I like least about my body is the amount of open skin I have left. Not that I'm in a rush to cover it all right away, because I want to get tattooed for a long time to come. Spirituality. We've talked a lot about meditation on here, but I think beyond that there's something spiritual (maybe you'd choose a different word, but I'm using spiritual) about tattoos. I don't mean in a direct way, like tattoos of crosses and Jesus heads or Buddhist iconography or whatever, but more about the way that tattooing seems to be a fundamental human drive. When I was getting my arm worked on there was a moment in a lengthy and brutal session where I was laying on the table, I could smell my own blood from the work that had been done on my shoulder, and there was this sudden understanding of how weird the whole thing was: I was there bleeding and in pain, totally voluntarily, and paying somebody a lot of money that I had worked hard for to do this to me. It isn't behavior that is entirely rational; that's part of the appeal of it. Before having experiences like this I was a lot more of a rational and logical person and getting tattooed has opened me up to the possibility that we don't always do things for easily explainable and comprehensible reasons. I think that's a positive thing, personally.

I only started getting tattooed five and a half years ago. These years has been very turbulent and challenging and, in the later years, also filled with positive learning experience on so many levels. I feel better than ever about myself and I now live a life where I am happy in the moment and also with where I am heading. The experience of getting tattooed more and more and learning about the art and culture has been like a companion through the struggles and personal development. Tattoos has often been a big part of my life so it's hard to separate what comes from what. One way for me to handle rough emotions has been to keep busy all the time, working for money. This money in turn needed to be channeled somewhere and I turned a lot of it into tattoos and travelling. So that was a delayed very positive side effect of negative emotions, new positive experiences. Tattoos have absolutely taught me to appriciate art more, different kinds of art. This has also been inspirational when it comes to drawing and painting my own stuff. Art of course ties into history, structures of society, religion, symbolism and culture: all things I that interest me now more then ever. The more I learn in these subjects, the more I get associations when looking at tattoos, which is also interesting. Tattoos and travelling to get tattoos has given me some very interesting meetings with people, and sent me to places I might not have visited otherwise. I've had many good conversations in tattoo shops and also made a few friends. Most of my friends that I met in other circumstances are not into tattoos, so I tend to not talk so much about tattoos with them. But to know some people that are as neerdy as me is a great joy. Some of these people have told me things that spiralled into new interestest and knowledge that I want to pursue. The experience of getting tattooed also gave some valuable lessons about pain and the body. I am more interested in sensations now than before, I used to be really inside my head and logical in my thinking. This was sometimes acting as a wall when it came to having good experiences so it was something I wanted to change. It's hard to say what's the egg and whats the chicken in this struggle but tattooing has been part of solving this problem and being more mindful and physical in many aspects. I am now more aware of my bodily sensations and I tend to enjoy them more. The tattoo process and the people I've met has also tied well into my interest in health care and nutrition. I also took a course in yoga recently, after friends and tattooers told me about the benefits. Getting tattooed quite heavily also did something to my body image. I am still not happy with the shape of some parts of my body but now at least they have very pretty wrappings. Also in relation to other people, who may view you differently when they see your tattoos, being a tattooed person has made me think new thoughts in social situations. Sometimes in makes me uncomfortable but not as much anymore, despite more and more coverage. It's funny because in many ways tattoos are more then something that I care deeply about and want to imerse myself in. At the same time it is "just tattoos". I think sometimes that other people, without tattoos, make it a bigger deal than it actually is. Like it's being fetishized and or stigmatized in many contexts. Some years ago I would still feel a bit uneasy when someone would ask me "what if you'll regret all this later on?". But now it is "just tattoos", there is so much more to me as a person than what I choose to make my skin look like. On the other hand I feel that I would take quicker showers if I wasn't admiring how damn cool/tough/pretty and sexy I look now. I could probably go on for a bit but I'll stop now. Tattoos has enriched my life a lot and I love it.

Others have mentioned this here but it's true for me as well, tattoos are tied in a weird way to my feeling better about the way I look. Confident or whatever. I am also aware that in the city I'm just another d-bag with tattoos. Like a said, whatever. Still, I got my first tattoo at age 38 and since then have gotten into the best shape of my life. I feel great! Coincidence? Maybe. I have also learned to appreciate tattooing as a unique art form in ways I had never thought of in the past. I'm not being creepy as I leer at you at the gym, really, I'm happily married. I'm just checking to see if your tattoo is any good. Hitting up tattoo shops traveling has also brought me to neighborhoods I might not have otherwise made it too and in every case, except maybe that time in Vegas, the neighborhood itself has been worth the side trip.

I have learned that in spite of all of the work I had done on so many levels I was still carrying the subconscious imprint of social beauty ideals and enculturation. On some subtle levels, I was carrying the social responsibility of ensuring that the appearance of my skin was still palatable to the general populace...the belief that women are still meant to be a part of the scenery and therefore "be attractive" (in a social sense). I really had to confront this in order to continue getting tattooed. It's amazing to be free of this. On another level, I saw that I lived in fear of being noticed or really "seen". Also, I learned that I can do anything if I have good company...walk through fire (or at least get both of my feet tattooed in the same session ;) ). And that snacks are never ever, in any situation or time ever, a bad idea. I love this thread.