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New here, had been idle and haven’t gotten a session in about 5-6 years. Have an appointment March 18th with Jake Delbene (outside Philly where I live) to get a goat head with a little more evil vibe. Waiting for a response from Mikey Sarratt in Phoenix (My son lives there and I visit every other month) And hoping that I get a response from Chris Adamek to do a portrait of a really cool photo of my grandmom who recently passed. (Will probably be the only black and Grey piece I ever have)

@onlyme I think maybe you’re just overthinking it. Find an artist whose style you really like and decide how big of a space you’d like to do and have a general idea or vision of what you want and let them create their interpretation of it down. If you get super specific and caught up in every little thing needing to symbolize and represent some profound moment you’re probably going to end up feeling at least some disappointment. Pick a good artist and you’ll get a rad piece. If you come discover another artist you like more or your tastes evolve then get another one somewhere else! none of my tattoos mean anything and I’ve never brought any references in. I know the style I want and just point them in the direction I’d like to go. For example I think a wolf would look rad on my stomach. And then just see what they come up with. As long as you’ve chosen a good artist you’ll probably be stoked on the design. IMO these are the 2 most important things when getting tattooed: number 1 being artist selection and number 2 articulating your vision in a way that you’re getting what you want but not limiting their ability to give you the best tattoo that’s true to their style.

I don’t particularly regret any of my tattoos but I do wish I could do my first two over again. I’m not going to get them removed or covered I guess I appreciate them as part of the learning process. They aren’t bad tattoos just what you’d expect a new uneducated person to get when they haven’t done the proper research. I don’t think my desire or interest ever faded away either. More so my goals and responsibilities changed and i really focused on accomplishing the things I wanted to in terms of my career, financial stability etc

I think I got my first tattoo about 9 years ago and didn’t really plan on getting anything after. Not long after I got a half sleeve from Myke. Swore I would never go beyond that. Few months after that we were finishing the full sleeve [emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@FXRrichSo 5-6 years ago did you at first think your ink up to then would be your last?

@hannahlsj Re. SIngapore, I would have thought that Singapore, with all its agents and entrepot facilities, would be exactly the sort of place where commercial supplies, including for tattoos, would soon be easily made available. Not at all surprising you're already planning your next session; it often works that way. Sometimes it doesn't, though.

hannahlsj: Oh okay, I hadn't heard about the Miami Ink studio moving; you from Singapore evidently keep up with stuff in North America... (It's one of a number of similar TV shows, anyway.) About strict parents; well, in North America, too, there are many strict parents although maybe the 'strictness' works out in different ways; e.g., in North America Hannah your name is known to mean 'favored by God' and many ppl from believing families have tattoos; I saw a quote from the Bible Belt which indicated just how many younger ppl from churches in the Bible Belt have ink - often in faith based designs - so for moms it's not unusual over here, even if the family is strict and believing, when their young ppl have it done.

Those products aren't necessary. I have dry skin, too, but I dry heal. I don't find my dry skin has any impact on healing my tattoos. To each her own!

Good, you can save money. I have hundreds of hours in the chair healed perfectly fine with a little cocoa butter.

Dan, Yes, during the whole process alcohol is a no-no, right?

I've got four sessions lined up with Scott Sylvia through the spring and summer to finally start my backpiece. We'll see if and when I'll be able to travel and SF tattoo shops open up though... Some of those appts may have to be moved back.

Hey guys, Reviving the full back piece experience thread. So I had never been tattooed before and last year I decided to dive in for my first one and begin my traditional Japanese full back, (cause if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly right 😂) The tattooer is Matt Collins at Unseen in Adelaide. I know I don’t have anything to compare it to, but having read this thread I know what you all say about full backs is 100% true, it is damn hard work. We’ve just completed all of the background and that last session shading in rocks over the tailbone was definitely brutal. About 20 ish hours in I think. I love the finished product though, and can’t wait to see the cranes and leaves once we get into those, mostly black and grey with some red on leaves and cranes heads, haven’t decided on the omamori design yet.

more pictures! I also got a traditional piece in May! I must say it's my favourite piece so far :) Enviado desde mi Redmi Note 8 Pro mediante Tapatalk

Fuji's clouds are gorgeous his work with gray is perfection.

I use tegaderm only atm for my clients because its the safest on sensitive skin, I have used cheaper versions of this wrap that just completely suck and leave the skin red and irritated like this. Second skin is a decent brand no doubt but atm I find tegaderm to be the best one.

I get that too, all the rash/redness will go away 100%

check out dave fox

I've had 2 consecutive days with Chris Crooks from White Dragon Tattoo in Belfast. First day he did all the line work (7 hours) and the second day he did background and some shading (6 hours). It was an amazing experience with a phenomenal artist and down to earth great guy. I'm blown away by the quality and speed of his work. He put a video up on his instagram doing the piece more justice. I will be flying back to Belfast in December for the continuation of this piece.

Hit the back up with another session yesterday, and now I can thankfully say that all of the lining of this piece is done, save for some details while colouring. The rest of the background should fill in quite quickly, given that it took Scott three and a half hours to line my thighs and about twenty minutes to blast the massive wave over my ribs. He used a 15 mag, so probably the least sharp pain so far, although that whole area is feeling a little bruised. 12.5 hours total chair time here. We got another sit later this month. Hit it hard!

Second session down! Did want to sit for longer but the heavy shading over the spine did me in for the day. 4 and a half hours here. Definitely feeling better now that the majority of lining is done (although more on the thighs later, but the shoulders are blocked out and it's starting to look more like a backpiece now. Knowing what to expect in what area as far as pain definitely helped make the sit easier and go by quicker.

Hey all, Today I started my back piece with Scott Rusnak out of Lucky Strike Tattoo in Edmonton, Alberta. We are doing something a little out of the traditional notion of Japanese tattooing--a large octopus with some of his rad lightning laid over top. This is only my third tattoo (the other's being only palm sized jammers) and after my four-hour linework sit today, I am humbled. All of the spots feel like bad spots, but now a couple hours after things are feeling good and I'm looking forward to the next sit where we will finish the linework and start some shading, hopefully. We're planning on bringing it down to the knees with some rocks and heikegani crabs. The bare patch near my left shoulder will also probably be filled with some more water and another crab. Ultimately, this first experience was intense but totally manageable and very rewarding.

Finished my full back piece last Friday. I plan to write something about the experience but need time to collect and organize all my thoughts. by Mike Rubendall at Kings Ave:

BAM

More progress... this session was at the Austin Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival Convention. It was my first time being tattooed at a convention with so many people going through, I was nervous at first, but once the rubber hit the road, it was a lot of fun, and the distraction of all the people was a huge help.

I love this thread. Thank you everyone here for sharing your journey so far. So much incredible work. This truly is a crucible, and it has really been sinking in more and more just how special it still is.

I guess I'll join in on the sharing fun (even though most of you have already seen this on Mike's instagram). Progress from my session at Pagoda City Tattoo Fest: About 31 hours total so far. So maybe we are about 1/2 done?

Here's a new one: one of my best friends is almost done with his backpiece, and he just texted me to say that, the day after getting his ass tattooed for 5 hours, his penis is sore and tingling. Our combined best guess: he was subconsciously trying to escape the pain, so he unwittingly smashed his junk into the table. That poor, poor table.

This is where I'm up to with my back piece so far. Got a few more months to wait before I can get some more done.

After 1st session with Horitomo. Back was much easier than I thought/ heard, of course we haven't hit the problem areas yet...