Gingerninja

I love what you having going so far! Who is doing your work?

Hey @tjb...welcome to the forum. On the flip side, you are now part of a great community that's generally incredibly compassionate, open minded, and less judgmental than most people. The freakout will pass and you'll be planning your next one soon. :)

Echo what @Alicia said. You need to let go of your OCD. :) It will resolve itself eventually. And stop pushing on it! Your tattoo looks well executed but give it time to heal and settle.

My two cents - have a great consult with your artist on what is most important to you (the vibe, the style, which elements, etc.). I bet that together you can come up with something awesome.

I'm with @Dan and @oboogie. Do whatever you want! I'm all over the place, too. I try to find little things to help bring everything together but in reality, no one ever notices it but me. Go for it!

Welcome! Post a photo...it may be easier to visualize what you have going on. Sounds like you have a traditional-type theme going on? Any of the ideas you mentioned would be fine. :)

Good luck. You have a bit of a hot mess but give it some time and a great artist. Sorry that you had to go through this. :(

Great advice here so far. The inverse of what @Hogrider is the bigger you go, the more detail you will get.

I recently bought "New York City Tattoo: The Oral History of an Urban Art" by Michael McCabe. There are incredible interviews with people like Crazy Eddie, Stanley Moskowitz and Huck Spaulding long with really cool photos. It is fantastic that their stories were captured for posterity. Cool read!

Ha. I kinda really want to do the bite the weeny contest. Pittsburgh's 25th annual Meeting of the Marked is this weekend. I'm going to look at prints and books. Your day will be far more exciting than mine!

@BUSTER ROB Hey there...I recommend taking it off and leaving it off. Clean it well then go forward with a normal heal. Happy healing!

Biker games...I'm intrigued.

Looks like a little blowout to me but give it time to heal (like months). Blowout can happen to anyone and any artist. Don't stress over it! It's hardly noticeable and there's not much to be done now. I know that's not what you most likely want to hear but it happens. I have a little blowout, too. :)

Hey there! Tattoos take some time to heal and it's normal for them to look dull and faded for a few weeks. Your case may be a bit extreme but give it another week or so for the skin to rejuvenate. I'd also check back in the with artist after a couple of weeks to get their assessment.

Welcome to the forum! Looks awesome! Yeah I'm with you on butt tattoos. They *hurt*.

All I can say is love your fur babies with all of your heart. They are gone too soon...

Very cool @jnin. I love his work. And traveling for tattoos is so much fun!!

Hey there! Welcome to the forum. My only concern is what you already called out which is do you have enough space to get all of the detail that you'd like on your calf. Portraits are super hard (IMO) to begin with, so artist choice will be paramount. I don't know the Colorado area well enough to suggest a portrait artist there but someone else may know. Have you looked at the image gallery here? Searched the various social media sites? Are you set on your calf? What you describe would look good on your back or on your thigh. Cheers!

Congrats and happy healing! Well done...especially sitting for eight hours.

Hahaha...that would be cool to watch.

I would never be brave enough to do "art fusion"!

I am so happy for you! <3

Several of mine are either music related or have a second layer band meaning. Think face to face and Dropkick in particular...

Good luck!

NICE! Are you heading to Nashville? @Boiled Dove