David Flores

@metalmancpa glad it looks like it's going to work out for you. I was never really worried about whether either of these guys could pull it off, in general it's just hard to find people willing to work off other peoples tattoos, especially people that stay pretty busy as it is. My only prediction is your idea of stopping after this tattoo isn't going to happen.

Lower leg takes a little bit longer to heal usually. I think it because of all the blood flow to your lower legs and feet. All you can do is keep it clean, and wait for it to heal, sounds like you have done everything right as far as aftercare, just some tattoos heal rough.

I think if you find a artist whose style you like who is willing to do it you should go that route, this might be hard as it seems that the style of tattoos you seem to want vs what this tattoo is aren't really in the same realm. I don't know how I would feel about a person who says they specialize in coverups. Regardless of how well they can cover a tattoo, most tattooers I know would rather not be involved in a coverup, or have to rework other people's work. A good tattooer may not be excited about this project, but will give you an honest opinion on whether they can or would be willing to fix it and ultimately that is what matters.

It's amazing how available Dan is for tattoos in Oakland/SF. Trying to book him in Portland in virtually impossible, hence why I flew down there, even though I live less than a mile away from Atlas. I tried to get an appointment with Freddy Corbin and at the time I called he was booked for the rest of 2012, would still like to get tattooed by him, but not sure if its going to happen. Part of me just wants to go down to the bay area and see what shops I can walk into and get tattooed, I have figured out a new area I can squeeze some tattoos into, my stomach/torso area. I need to stop getting on this forum, because now I have ideas in my head about getting tattooed.

Dale's comes in a can, in fact in some places it comes in a 19.5 oz can, they also have an imperial version called Deviant Dale's. Love some Oskar Blues Brewing.

Exactly. I don't have a friend who went on Inkmasters, but she is a server at a bar/music venue and was convinced to let some apprentice tattooer work on her. She came to the shop with kind of a jacked up chest piece and the tattoo she got was the only good tattoo she has. Well she got tattooed by apprentice, and she is unhappy, everytime i talk to her I try to downplay it, but she just keeps wanting to bring it up. I kind of feel like I'm not mad at her for not coming back to the shop, but since you gave your money to some hack instead of your friend you don't get the luxury of bitching about how you got a bad tattoo. I feel like the human canvases represent all the pain in the ass cheap skate customers, and while I don't want anyone to get a shitty tattoo, I kind of like being able to say I told you so.

Well what do you know, he does have some tattoos.

Hopworks Abomindabale Winter Ale, really hoppy, but really balanced and 7.3% Gigantic The Royale - Belgian Pale Ale, love the hop finish with the presence of the Belgian Yeast. Sierra Nevada Hoptinium 10.4% of crazy hoppy goodness. During Election night I drank a couple Fireside Chat by 21st Amendment, very nice winter spiced Ale, that just happens to have FDR on the can, thought it was appropriate.

That's why i have Carpe Diem on my foot in script (not really) But funny the last tattoo I got was a butterfly.

Most people I just simply tell them they watch too much TV and I don't want to talk about my tattoos because they bring up a dark part of my life and I paid my debt to society. Either that or that I was really drunk and don't remember why I got them. In the shop talking to customers, I usually use a sports analogy. I explain that tattoos are what I follow, like most would follow a sports team. Can you imagine being able to book a couple hours with your favorite sports star and have a permanent souvenir. The experience holds more meaning than the tattoo,but the tattoo is a reminder of the experience. I usually let the tattooer pick the image, because I want a tattoo that represents their style, so I remember where I got it from. They either get it or just continue to mouth breath, until I start talking about their idea again, but either way it shuts them up. I think the most important thing is having people in real life an on the internet to vent about these things and understand we to some degree go through the same things having tattoos.

Having the desire to get tattooed I think is the most important part of this argument. I picture the guy with no tattoos who tattoos being the guy who thinks his tattoos are better than everyone's and he has nothing to learn from other people. Having people you look up to in tattooing, and knowing who those people are and aren't are just as important as having tattoos. I would say however that I think there is a lot to learn from getting tattooed by people who have mastered the art, and have seen many people improve their work, merely by getting tattooed by better people. But if there isn't people around that can teach you stuff, then I wouldn't get tattooed either, however the thought of living in a town without good tattooers sounds like a nightmare and not a place I would want to exist in.

I think if you wanted to add a snake at the very least you have to add some more black shading in the eagle to try to make it look more like one tattoo. There is only so much you can do, as you can't really change the existing line work, but I think it could look a hell of a lot better than it does. I would say try to fix it up a bit and put super bold tattoos around it because he doesn't want to cover it. Covering it with a big crawling panther might work, but would be hard judge exactly how not seeing it in person. But I fear you would not be able to leave enough skin to not make it look like a black blob, but maybe a panther with some roses, make the arm more colorful.

Gunnars stuff is more stylized than Russ Abbott,but If he will do it I say go for it, cause obviously you seem to like that style and since you've been tattooed by him before maybe he would be more open to the idea.

Russ Abbott has a very different style than your tattoo. I think you might be better off looking for a more traditional tattooer with less stylized work. I really like Russ Abbott's tattoos but I don't think he would be right for this. I am not sure where you are located, but I am sure there are some guys who do eagles and snakes that could help you out.

Some school rep came into the shop one time and tried to get us to go to some sort of career day type thing. I considered it for a second, but ultimately declined. I feel like their should be a little bit of nervousness and a element of perceived danger surrounding a tattoo shop. I always like the idea of the tattoo shop being off limits and the countdown till we turned 18 and the discussion what we would get when that time came. I didn't want to ruin it for those kids. Also I don't want a bunch of underage kids hanging out around the shop. They seem to see the big neon sign and those that are interested make it over there anyway, but not trying to start a daycare center. Maybe as I spend more time in this world my view will change, but that is how i see it now.

I think most people on here understand the struggle you are going through, but I understand why you don't name names. I hope the search features can lead you to someone who can give you some advice. Unrelated, but back in late 80's my friend wanted to get tattooed by Henry Goldfield, but Henry kicked him out for looking around and every time he came back Henry would kick him out when he walked in the door. So he asked Henry's wife how to get tattooed by and she said to write him a letter, and put some cash in it and enclose your phone number and he will call. It worked. Now I don't think it really pertains to your situation, but it just reminds me that trying to book a tattoo by some has always been a trying process in certain situations, but he still talks about that day he spent in Henry's shop and meeting Bill Salmon to this day.

Did you try calling their shops? Even if you don't reach the tattooer in question, you may get some info from shop helper or another tattooer who answers the phone that could give the inside track. Tattooers are weird, I know some people who won't return phone calls and others who ignore emails, and others who want you to come into the shop, I know the shit can get old. My advice is always to ride the line between being persistent and pushy. I am not saying name names but is there any one on the forum that has been tattooed by the person you are looking to book? Maybe they know a trick or two.

I don't think it matters much, I heard doing back before ribs ties it in better, but honestly have seen it done both orders and it works out fine. If anything I would probably have started my back sooner, as to get some of the large scale pieces out of the way, leaving more room for one shot tattoos later in life. Also I wish I would have got some of my early tattoos not on my arms, I know more than one person who wishes they could put the tattoos on their legs on their arms instead. It's not that my tattoos are bad, I think if i had known a little more at the time I could have planned my arms a little better and I got a little braver and bolder with the images I choose the more comfortable I was with being tattooed. But really I never really wanted a "sleeve", I just wanted to be tattooed and meet new people and soak up info and I think the tattoos i have show that. I had a guy about a year ago who wouldn't leave me alone because he was sure that I worked at a shop and could fix his tattoo for him, because as he put it "only people that tattoo have tattoos like that". If I had a continuous sleeve, he probably wouldn't have just thought I was another tattooed citizen of Portlandia.

Is that the dude who wears long sleeves, to hide that he has no tattoos. Doesn't do much for me, but I agree he is probably the golden boy this season.

I think I said this before in this thread, but both tattoos suck. Is it really neccesary to copyright a turd? Clearly the inkmaster dude couldn't quite pull off the same thing the other dude did, but both just leave me shaking my head. It looks like someone started watching Bob Ross and just said fuck it after ten minutes and put some swiss cheese at the bottom. If there is a lesson to be learned, it would be cheat off the smart kid, or know what the fuck you are capable of duplicating. If I someone asks for a tattoo of something the first thing you do is find reference, in a book internet, magazine, whatever or if it's imagery that is used in tattooing then you look at how other people tattooed it. I feel like everything is ripped off to some degree, but when people create good tattoos people are less concerned about the source of an image. A great tattooer who will go nameless, but is more talented and wiser than me, recently told me their are two kinds of people, those who use google search for reference and liars. I think there is a clear difference between something like this and selling bootleg copies of peoples art. I mean even flash I feel if you buy it or a book that is a collection of flash you have the right to tattoo it, even repaint the images and give credit, but you can't just sell someone's images as your own. I think it's okay to tattoo it, because that's kind of the agreement when you buy stuff like that and yes you collect money, but it's for the service of applying a tattoo. I think ethically it's not right to misrepresent and image to a customer as something created custom for them and I would be more concerned about the client in this case. The other point is someone is going to try to straight rip off another tattoo, is usually going to create a straight up busted version of it, because pictures of other people's tattoo suck as reference. If you are going to reference it properly, you most likely are going to have to redraw the whole thing anyway. I think there is a clear dropoff in talent this year. Maybe again its just tattooers and styles I am not used to seeing, but for my book sucking is not a style.

That Jondix piece, going to be a tough one to beat.

I usually get the "How much do you charge for a sleeve?" My responses vary from "depends on if you want it super sized or not" to "a few thousand". If anything hearing the same thing over and over again gives you the chance to use different Jedi magic and see if you can convince people to just get a nice tattoo. The thing most people walking off the street don't understand is how much a commitment a sleeve is both to the customers and tattooer. Spending twelve hours drawing something and then having them flake on it is not fun, and the deposit hardly covers the time lost. I can't recall a time when someone came in looking to get a sleeve and actually got one, but plenty of people that just came in to get a tattoo ended up with a sleeve eventually.

I watched a couple episodes of that show and the concept is okay, but not really a fan of any of the coverups. The EGA that guy got, looked horrible. It's hard to really see a tattoo on tv, but it didn't even look like there was any black shading, or any contrast to the shading in the eagle at all, it just looked like a bunch of grey wash. I don't get how you coverup this stuff and not use bold imagery, not white highlights and soft grey shading, or color with no outlines. Yeah the coverup makes it look better, but how could it not, with the shit they are covering.

There is no free lunch in America, and If it seems too good to be true it probably is, so why would a free tattoo be good, or why would anyone expect it to be?

I have seen examples of what you are saying, some tattoos get a few more votes than they should but I think for the most part the best tattoos are winning. I have received just as many votes a few months ago with the panther a guy at my shop did, as the stuff I got at Blackheart and Spider Murphy's. Last month I preferred the Danny Reed tattoo, but the Mike Rubendall tattoo was amazing and deserved to win. Last month was crazy with submissions, and i have a feeling next month will be too, as most people understand that it's better to submit entries at the beginning of the month.