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Polls are closed, and the winner of Tattoo of the month April is @Manu Manu with this killer Hannya tattoo by Alix Gé. Congrats!!

I dunno, I felt like a massive pussy taking the cream but I needed to finish up, my next one i'll still go in for with no cream. Um, generally pussies are one of the toughest things I the world. They squeeze out giant, living beings. Just sayin. @Freddie (And yes, ribs suck but you did it!)

The smell concerns me. When was this done?

Hey there...go get some antibiotics. Better safe that sorry if it's infected.

but you saved so much money!

2 weeks is too early to tell. Gonna have to be patient.

A full sleeve of gorgeous flowers... is it bad to envy tragedy? ;) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Worst case scenario, you'll just have to get a full sleeve, what a tragedy :D

welcome,it looks like it's healing fine to me,and I don't see any blow out.

Maybe its my screen but I cant see any blue lines, Looks like a nice tattoo if that makes you feel any better :D Welcome to the forum!

Forgot to update this- Well, yeah I don't have any tattoo reference points as it was my first tattoo, but he started on my ribs, worked up into my armpit, then outlined across my collar bone, and on my nipple. This was all Excruciatingly painful. I once crushed my finger off in an industrial guillotine, I would do this again on all 5 fingers and it wouldn't feel as painful at that. I'm not being pussy about it, i'm just stating how much it hurt for me, in all honesty. Someone mentioned rubbing sunburn? Maybe if Edward F***ing scissorhands was doing the rubbing, I dunno... anyway. After about 2.5 hours, the artist tells me its taking longer than he expected, hes moving slower because he can tell it hurts, I'm lying there still and quiet, but i think if i tensed my other bicep any harder it would have popped, so he actually told me to take the cream because if he didn't finish today, I would be leaving the country and I wouldn't be able to come back for another session to finish. So I got experience with and without. Once the cream went on it wasn't just less painful, it was nothing, literally nothing, I swear if it wasn't for the vibrations i could feel in my bones or the buzzing I wouldn't know I was getting tattooed. So at this point he doubles his pace and I can feel how much faster the lines are going down. He said it would take 3-4 hours, it took a little under 5 in the end. Notes - When I could watch him tattooing it hurt less than staring at the ceiling. The perfect way to describe how it felt was slowly pulling a stanley blade across yourself like our a surgeon making an incision. I've slipped a few times with my stanley lol only difference is as soon as he lifts off the pain stops immediately. I dunno, I felt like a massive pussy taking the cream but I needed to finish up, my next one i'll still go in for with no cream. So there is my embarrassing, but genuinely honest experience. (better that just the BS 'It barley hurt I was fine' lie haha)

I snagged this from Benny Haft over at Allied last week. I finally finished my torso after five years, done by Ian Dana Camp (formerly of Good Faith in Boston) currently at Adventure Tattoo in Nashville. He was all booked up in Boston before his move, but I luckily caught him doing a guest spot in Philly right after he moved.

Wow 17 hrs...that guy is a trooper! I know my artist has the numbing cream because we talked about it but I haven't felt the need for it. I've done about 5 hours in one sitting and even though there were some sensitive areas (elbow, inner bicep) I haven't felt like I just couldn't take it. In a sadistic kind of way I sort of like the pain. Lol

I got my first tattoo last month at age 67. I didn't expect my mom to be thrilled, but I was disappointed with how negatively she reacted when I sent her a photo of my panda. I realize that she's part of a generation in which "nice" people, especially nice girls, didn't have tattoos. When I went to visit her a couple of weeks ago, she looked at my arm briefly and said "Oh." That was all--just a disapproving "Oh". She finally said that she guessed one tattoo was okay. I got my second tattoo last week, and I've booked several more appointments with my artist (it's true what they say about tattoo addiction). Lol. Fortunately friends have been very supportive of my tattoos. Family, not so much

My dreams come true!! I'm now a TOTM winner :) Merci à tous! and thanks Alix Gé!

forget the numbing cream ,get the tattoo, you already said it,especially being your first one,feel the pain,embrace it,earn it. make sure you follow a good pre-tattoo preparation. -------------------------------------------------------- here is what I do. sleep good and don't drink alcohol the night before (or the day of), pre-hydrate the day before and day of and while being tattooed,(water or Gatorade) eat a good non greasy healthy meal right before getting tattooed, bring candy (I bring M&M's and Skittles) to eat during the tattoo(the sugar will keep you from passing out),I also bring a banana,beef jerky, and a few cold bottles of water in a little ice chest(no artist has ever minded me doing this,as a matter of fact they have liked it). keeping up body sugars,potassium,and electrolytes will help to keep you feeling good throughout the process , get yourself mentally in a good place.in the days leading up to and during the tattoo. ask for a few 5 min breaks to stand up ,stretch,and get the kinks out. turn the ringer on your phone off this all helps me have a better overall tattoo experience,and the artist will appreciate it too