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Just wanted some opinions on my Poly pieces. Outer arm, back, trap and shoulder pieces are healed, chest and inner arm was done about a month ago. Need touchups? MAHALO bruddahs🤙

Hello all, brief introduction. 26 y/o male from Virginia Beach. Recently got my first tattoo a few months ago. Of course more to come most likely in the near future. I see it’s tradition to show what you’ve got to start off, so I’ll include a picture with a quick explanation. My cousin, who I was very close to, passed away a few years ago, taking his own life at the age of 18. My uncle had drawn this caricature of him when we were younger titling it the Stew Beluga, which became a nickname of sorts. The tattoo design was kept very close to the original crude pencil drawing, only cleaning up the line work and hair a bit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Too soon to judge, and stop putting so much lotion/Aquaphor/whatever on there. You're smothering it.

In the early stages of brain storming a Japanese traditional leg sleeve in color. The images/creatures that I wish to including are a Turtle Dragon, Foo-Dog(s), Oni and Hannya mask. I understand some of these may not jive well with each other and obviously would not include all of the above in the same sleeve. I know what they each represent and what they mean to me, but I am looking for some advice/ideas as to some combinations, scenes, or concepts involving atleast a couple of these creatures/images considering any myths, stories or themes, as well as appropriate filler (such as maple leaves with a hannya for example or waves and flowers) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for the in depth response and advice. Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on cramming all of those into one scene. I do like your idea of the turtle dragon on a leg very much. Considering the hannya/oni would be better saved for another. Body part, and that foo dogs come nice in pairs (which may be too busy to go with the turtle), do you have any suggestions for a creature/character that would go well with the turtle dragon? And as far as the filler/background, I would assume finger waves and maybe a peony flower would jive well, but suggestions in that area are welcome too. As far as location/artist, I live in Virginia Beach and am considering Chris Stoll, @stoll_tattoos21 on Instagram at Red 5. He did my first tattoo (just a simple outline of a whale caricature a family member drew), however I’ve been keeping up with his Japanese work and feel it is coming along well. I haven’t had a formal sit down with anyone yet as this is just in the very early brainstorming/learning stages. I also am not in the position to make things happen anytime soon, so I’m taking my time and absorbing suggestions. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where are you located? Choosing an artist and style can also help you think about content. You can do a miss mash of things you like or you can follow a story...it's really up to you. Check out this thread:

If you have a particular artist in mind, I would probably look through all of their work and/or start talking to them about your idea/concept. In addition, you could probably play around with photoshop or any cheap photo editing app and put together stuff and try to come up with something you like? My advice here may not match what you like and i'm pretty bad at putting concepts together. My favorite artists are: Nicklas Westin, Artemy Neumoin, Jess Yen, and Filip Leu. They've got some nasty work if you haven't already checked them out.

Dang, thanks for sharing. Welcome to LST!

Yep, too early to tell. Also your pic needs to be better for anyone to see what's going on. Welcome 👋