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Hi — just joined the forum, though I've learned so much from reading others' experiences. I just started a full back piece by Virginia Elwood this month (two sessions of outlining so far), and I'm so excited to see it come together over the next year. My other pieces are mostly on my thighs and calves, and so far the back seems like a completely different beast. Looking forward to sharing my progress!

26 hours down with one session left! Spent the last session doing background shading and the whole branch. The lovehandle area had me almost tapping and *almost* in tears. A very special kind of searing pain 🌶

When I got a rocket tattooed on my calf, my tattoo artist strongly suggested the rocket should be pointed away from the center of my body, rather than looking like it was headed for my butt...

the ones they have done 1000 times.

Thank you Hogrider. I am going to wait and see. Maybe he was heavier on the shading in this area or could just be my body. Who knows

Can’t go wrong with tigers and panthers. The bigger the better.

there are things that i have anxiety about with tattoos of mine that i didnt think about before i got them. one of my tattoos is the name of a person who died. there are others who knew the person, and i sort of have anxiety about them wondering if its alright for me to have their name tattooed on me. also i have anxiety about some family members and friends of my family seeing them. i dont really have a problem with just wearing clothes that make them invisible but its something that came to mind after i got tattooed. i feel like people cant be expected to be imaginative enough to really think about every single possible way a tattoo will effect their lifestyle. even with that said though i kind of feel bad about not having the mental creativity to come up with the questions that would have lead to the answers that would have helped me.

I wouldn't worry about it, but I wouldn't get any more sun on it between now and then. Just keep it moisturized, but don't drown it.

I'll just say that with well over 200 hours in the chair, the only time I've ever said "stop" was when he was working on my stomach. I needed a minute to breathe.

Old school rules (certainly not a mandate in these days and times) is that any image should face toward the center and/or front of your body.

Hi im new to the forum. i have three tattoos i got from the same shop. not all of mine are that great. heres how my experiences have been so far... first tattoo - a person i knew died and i got their name on my arm. it came out good. the only thing i sort of wish i did differently was not get the entire name in capital letters but that doesnt really bother me. second tattoo - got another lettering tattoo on my right wrist in dark blue ink. the placement didnt come out as straight as i wanted it but i kind of blame myself for misjudging the stencil and being worried i was going to bother the tattoo artist if i asked to keep re applying it. also i didnt find out until after my third tattoo that i shouldnt have gotten it facing me. third tattoo - i got some album artwork on my left wrist that is pretty much made up of 4 squares that form a braille letter R. i got it done by the same guy that did my second tattoo. one of the squares is slightly mishapen and not exactly uniform with the others. also i didnt find out about correct tatttoo orientation until after i got this one. so again i got a second tattoo facing me instead of the other way around. im quite annoyed i got my wrist tattoos facing me instead of the other way around. i doubt ill get laser treatment, and probably wont cover them up unless i can think of something i really want. Im planning on getting a fourth tattoo soon though. hopefully that one goes good. Just wanted to give a quick introduction to myself and my experiences with getting tattooed. looking forward to learning more on the forum. 🙂

I'm not sure how anything is worse than a bad artist, but with all of the tattoo shops out there, I don't now why anyone would tolerate either. If you can't find a good artist in a good shop, you're not looking very hard.

thou shalt look up "which way should wrist tattoos face?" before getting one. i wish i had done this before i got mine facing me. 🙃

First tattoo I was 15 and a friend made an anarchy symbol on my arm with a homemade machine in Lafayette IN 2nd was a guy I met camping on a beach in Ensenada Mexico in a microbus, we were in one too. Cooked him breakfast and he made a yin yang type thing on my other arm Those were the kid aged tattoos. I didn’t get tattooed again until I was in my 30s and had raised kids to the point of having disposable income. In order of their first time tattooing me: Martin Bee (Tipi man), Denver CO Jereme Galloway, Bloomington IN x3 Scott Sylvia Marina Inoue, everywhere USA x2 Joe Haasch, Dallas TX Ashley Matthias, Manchester NH x6 Chad Koplinger, Nashville TN x4 Stenvik Moström, Atlanta GA Taka Cooper, Hudson Valley Tattoo