Rad Kelham

Thanks. Super easy guy to get tattooed by. You should do it!

Derek Noble t-rex. Dark Age Tattoo. Couple more sessions to go. Neither traditional nor Japanese so nobody is going to like it -apologies.

Thanks. I bet a lot of art like this comes out of the psych ward.

Just finished my first sheet of flash. Critique welcome. The bottom 2 bats were designed and painted by my mentor, and he helped me rough out the background on a separate sheet which I freehanded onto the final.

No worries. If it seems like I'm fighting then it's because I am. I'm a grumpy troll.

Thanks Marley! My art has a traditional flair because I'm a beginner and that's all I can do!

I don't hate traditional. My mentor just made me trace and paint an entire Sailor Jerry flash book. I have a two traditional tattoos on me - a beer bottle and an espresso cup. I just feel that this place is heavily biased toward traditional and Japanese. I love Japanese though and my mentor has me drawing and painting a lot of Japanese stuff. For me its all about full coverage and progression, and traditional doesn't achieve that. As a collector for the last 15 years, its become pretty clear to me that traditional is the fallback option. Yeah its hard to do, but its a TRADE not an art. Anyone with dedication and perseverance can do good traditional tattoos. PS I've got 4 shots of tequila in me right now ;-)

Thumbs up. Can we have a separate thread for arguing about whatever we want?

I see a bit of an underbite, but overall its a bad ass and damn good tattoo. But I forget sometimes that we only like traditional and Japanese around here.

Just because the guy didn't do well on Ink Master doesn't mean he sucks.

Everyone gets the tattoo they deserve. Consenting adults should be able to tattoo whomever they want in their fire station or van. I'm not going to go to them, but they don't bother me in anyway.

Gotta watch those potential scratchers that are going to take over the industry, just like the home handymen and garage woodworkers. Blah blah blah.

I was kidding about that.

This is the kind of pretentiousness I've always hated about tattooing. If someone wanted to collect hammers/speculums/plungers, no carpenter/gynecologist/plumber would care. Go buy some on amazon and put them next to your other memorabilia - I don't care and none of my tattooer friends would care. Bad grammar on the other hand...now that's a real shame.

A new flash sheet I'm working on. I know I still suck but these are for you @Graeme. Baby steps buddy.

This is an interesting topic. While I typically roll my eyes at all the kids getting face tattoos, I've also seen a few that I like. Here's one done by Boris: Now about the life consequences part. When I was in my late 20s and doing a fisheries degree at UBC, I went and got a small anchor under my eye. I already had half a bodysuit. Aside from the occasional person asking me about it, there were zero life consequences. I went on to work as a biologist for the federal government in Canada and then the same in the US. Never was it an issue. I think we often judge facial tattoos because we often see them on street people or really trashy people who are trying to repulse us. However when someone more integrated into society gets one (which is rare), the consequences are often nil. Before i got my hands tattooed, everyone told me how big of a deal it would be and how there would be "consequences". Afterwards I found there were zero consequences. Then the same thing happened with my neck. I was a dorky college student getting all of these job stoppers while continually getting good jobs (research, consulting, education). It got to a point where I felt it was all horsecrap, so it was as simple as wanting that little anchor and then getting it - and again, no consequences and no problems with job prospects. Now, getting your entire face tattooed...i think that's bat shit crazy. And I strongly dislike the script above the eye, and also the little trinkets under the eye, which I have haha! Whenever I see someone else with an anchor under the eye I think " oh man look at us unoriginal losers!"

I don't think it was you or the freedom you gave him. You went to the wrong dude.

Nice. I'm expected to do one on myself before I work on anyone else. Not excited about that, but its only fair I guess.

Was your first one on yourself?

Trying to hit the like button for the first time on this post. Can you like something on Tapatalk? This guys stuff is awesome. And either I'm getting old or he progressed really quickly from what I remember seeing his work a few years ago.

Bingo. That's what she said. Thanks.

Just finished healing from Hanna Sandström at Dark Age in Seattle. I forget what kind of machine she said it is.

Nothing to fix here. Move on to your next tattoo [emoji1]

Well said. However when it comes to the strip of skin piercing through the backpiece at the cheeks, I'd venture to say almost nobody thinks this looks better. Those that have that strip didn't choose it for aesthetics, rather they or tattooer simply didn't want to deal with spreading cheeks for a tattoo. Fair enough.