Shannon Shirley

god damn....if i could do my arms over....id get scotty to do my elbows now that he can tattoo....hehehehehe....we never see old tattoos by us old fu#ks...maybe Ill take some pics and spread em.....

Reading this thread has made me reconsider getting my arms done for a while, specifically so I can get harder spots done while i'm young and stupid. Unfortunately ribs and things are big expensive tattoos so I'll probably be old by the time I can afford them.

I dont think youre old enough to say shit like that......

hahaha we certainly wanted to be "true"...some dumb stuff happened then but hey I got into some music I still listen to today.

ok real nice.....om mani...padmi hummmmm...

Jondix, 1 week ago, at his private studio in Barcelona.

some of us are on the verge of alzeimers.......hhuuhhh???

notice the same letters in this "tattoo font"

San Diego is a mecca for tattooing, it should be relatively easy to find someone qualified to do anything your heart desires. good luck.

Check out Guru Tattoo GURU TATTOO - San Diego, California and maybe Fip in Avalon Tattoo San Diego Tattoo Artist Fip Buchanan - FipTattoos.com

hehehe okey dokey thx

Rock of Ages

Ive got one very much like that. It was given to me @20 yrs ago....the glass is cracked,I cant get myself to break the seal on the back to fix it.. What's ROA mean?.

There's a beautiful ROA painting in Tattoo City. I attached a mediocre picture of it, but that's probably best anyways. Go see it in person!

Thats how it been for a long ...like thier afraid thier friends will look at that tattoo and won't understand,If they actually let some shaky ol' bastard tattoo them...I got tattooed at Doc Webb's in San Diego @89' I believe Doc was Alredy dead , but it was still cool, I can't remember the tattooers name right now ,I'd hafta look at my ol notes, but either way ,No gloves, I felt like I was interupting his ''Soaps'', pretty funny.

My friend just got back from tattooing in NZ, he did the Auckland convention right before he came back to states. The shop he worked just had him and Merv O'Connor the oldest tattooer in Auckland. All the shops down the street would come up to the booth and pretend to Merv's ass and compliment my friends work and talk about how great it would be to get tattooed by Merv, but never seem to make that trek down the block to his shop to stop by say hi and maybe learn something.

Ive mentioned it before....Ive gotta a damn Eric Hogan tattoo , It blows.....he's gone...I can't get myself to cover it, god Im a sap!!

thank you guys...I used to go to some racing events,and even took part in amatuer roadracing..small ones big ones..motorcycles ...cars ..I didnt care, I just grew up around motorsports and i like it. I always rooted for the new guy,till he proved me wrong. the young kids,the underdogs ,For the sheer reason that the important ones get the support, nobody ever gives a damn about the guy/gal that might lose , because if they support the underdog and he doesnt win by proxy they might seem like a loser. It always seemed stupid and childish to me.I have known some great ones.but to act like everybody else in the game sucks is stupid.Instead of pretending your cool, cause you waited three months to get the next hip thing from the newest cool guy, go see Rick Walters ,Tenn dave, yeah where's Zeke,dont pretend to love the history and ignore those ol'bastards/bitches (didn't want to leave you out ladies) get a real historic tattoo. You'll be able to tell all your friends some shit they might not know. This business is rapidly losing its soul.....Help preserve the soul of tattooing....Im not telling you to get tattooed by any idiot with a ''gun''. Im just real suprised since Ive been on this sight at the knee jerk, bloodsucking wannabeism that are quick to judge whos cool cause they read it in a magazine or seen it on TV. Most of them old school cats never trusted magazines or TV. But nowaday's you see'm around in the media cause everyone has realized it's the only way to survive, what a shame. Shame on you ,Walmart shoppers.

What I would've said if you hadn't already. Those people keep the lights on in my apartment.

today ,I got to listen to one of the people I work with tell his clientel that he thought the show would help the public understand what good and bad tattoos were....ha..ha. like his flash copies are comparable to the very qualified tattooers towards the end.

I love this Eisen...good art will never be technically the best....good art has character, soul. what makes a better story? I got tattooed by a great artist, we had capachinnos and discussed Vivaldi. .....I got tattooed by a good ol man, we went out later and got our asses kicked. This who's the best crap is lame and only for the snobbish.

I have tattoos with some poor lines and prob paid alot in some peoples eye, but the tattoo has power and soul and is one of my favorite tattoos ever. I dont need perfection, I just need the tattoo I want.

Mark my words......Its the next TV show...they re probably already workin on it.....I'll call It ''Ol Bastards'' .....After the competition is over, you gotta fist fight the 70 yr ol bastard....for the money..we'll see how that goes. hehehe So,there you go.....New thread....Who's the best Tattooer youve been tattooed by , over the age of 60 , that you know , could kick yer ass?

we all started somewhere. I love scott's interviews, if you pay attention ,they all start with the embarassing question. Scott has Aaron C's first tattoo on his chest, well he used to.

hell yeah!!!!

Places like this is where the TATTOOING is done. They got soul

Vintage Tattoo Art Parlor

thank you....Ed started this shit. don't get me wrong ,ya gotta love Ed. but, Now everybodys a damn expert. I dont think they listen well.....Who interviewed Stoney ,while Les held the camera?.It reminds me of how a preacher will take bits and pieces to make it suit his needs. Ed appreciated all of it...If you dont believe me,Ask him........P.S. If he didn't why did he publish my 1st wife's dribble she calls books....hhehehe.....yeah ,lookit up....Margo DeMello. And If she says that first book didnt come from my thoughts ,shes a liar.

To be honest, I always don't like the high art status that tattooing has these days, just because it comes as a double edged sword. You have more people getting good work, but the flipside is that the OK work (as Shannon put it) is looked down upon. Attitudes can be too artsy for my liking (not refering to you giles). There are people behind the ink afterall

Oh yeah....that's what im talkin bout....another star is born. We've got oil embargos , howzabout tattoo kit embargos. You ever look at "Lucky Supply's'' tattoo kits? ya gotta love it.

Off the subject a little....most of the non tattooers on here are business conscious, you know about it and will travel because you want it, the rest of the world ...doesnt care who the names are ....they cant even imagine paying more than 5 bucks for a poster...original art? what for?...they eat fried chicken and it fills thier bellies. good enough, they feel. You do understand that? They dont even want a new Cadillac, that 15 yr old bucket from korea runs just fine. If it wasn't for them, Me..Us...the mediocre..wouldnt stand a chance.

I think you point is very valid and if you know who is the best at what you want then I certainly think you go there, but

With the exception of serious tattoo collectors and tattooers, most people really I meet and discuss tattoos with don't really understand how different each style is. Someone might see a traditional piece on me and ask me for the guys name who did it so they could get a portrait or some tribal, they don't know a tattooer by their name, they just know he did what they view as a good tattoo on someone and they want the same feeling. I guess why I wrote this thread is the times when I see a nice tattoo and ask someone who did it and it's a completely different style then what I am used to seeing by that tattooer. Also seeing so many people on the show blame their shortcomings on the tattoo not being their style, when there are plenty of great tattooers willing to tackle anything that walks in the door and give the customer a tattoo that they love and is technically sound at the same time. This thread has kind of become a favorite tattooers thread, but I think I am okay with that, because it's brought up a lot of names i haven't heard in awhile and some I have never heard of.

I just wanna say, Is his stuff any good? You coulda got a Juan, or a Scotty....what a shame. This biz will always have predators surrounding it, stalking in the shadows.

perfectly said.!!!

I HATE when people tell me "do what you want!". I prefer people to come in, show me something I've done and say, "I really like the way you did that. I want to get a blah blab blah on my [whatever area]. I was thinking of maybe adding some [whatever]. What are your thoughts?" More often than not, if someone tells me to do what I want, and I draw something big, they get really upset because they didn't want that much coverage, or they didn't want that type of flower or whatever.

I'll show someone a drawing. If they want some minor changes, ok, but I won't do several drawings. If they are coming to me, and they like my work, and they've shown me something they like, then they should be happy with the drawing (especially if they tell me I have artistic freedom).

I once had a client who had a badly done lower back tattoo by someone else. She told me how unhappy she was with it. She also told me that when she went to the original artist, she told him, "do what you want!". He did what he wanted. It wasn't what she wanted. She came to me to get it covered. I asked what she wanted, and she said, "I don't know, do what you want! Make it look nice!" I told her to go home and think about what she wanted, because I didn't want to do something on her that she wouldn't be happy with because it wasn't what SHE wanted, and then she'd be seeing some other artist saying that I did a bad job and her tattoo wasn't what she wanted.

Different situations may be different, but I feel that a client needs to have a pretty good idea first.

good morning yall....yeah.. so the Shane guy won the prize...that doesnt make him a nice person. I will say , he is quite the technician. As far as this whole squabbly discussion goes, and yeah ,I stirred it up a little, thats what entertainments all about right? If you let me upset you I got your attention . Freddy... I worked for Freddy for a minute when he first opened Temple. I hadnt seen him in yrs. Last christmas I swung by his shop. after roughly 13 yrs of not seeing him he treated me with open arms like a good friend. Im not saying we're the best of friends. Im saying he is one of the sweetest people Ive known. Open heart. This has nothing todo with technical abilities. In these days of ''human canvases'', what a discusting crock that is....... Lets not forget. you gotta like that shithead behind the needle.... otherwise you are just a starf#cker. I left this biz for a lot of years. Yeah...out of total frustration. I ve had some friends in this biz that are now ''important'' characters. They have helped me recently with open arms. Not because Im a great tattooer, not because Im a name, ( don t get me wrong , I know I m neither), but because I never f#cked em, because Im OK. I try not to be a dick. Because I care about this shit. I know not to give it away. I currently tattoo in Foley AL theres not a lot of talent here , But the crappy little shop I work in recently had somebody with talent come to work there and stay, he says ,to work around me. We are brutally honest with each other, Im getting better, and so is he. We help each other. And the people in this place are getting OK tattoos. So..... If you think I shouldnt try my hardest to do what i can, with what Ive got, and do right to those that want it, you are a damn fool. Its a big world... for every 20 scratchers there's somebody like me, trying as hard as i can, knowing damn well,I'll never be on MTV. I could give a shit less, I sleep well.

10-4....maybe someday we'll cross pathes, again , nice stuff.

you are not the average walk in. My whole point was about how ''Ink Masters'' seems to try and play a double standard.Taking some ''specialists'' and trying to see how diverse they are. It doesnt make sense to me. A friend of a co tattooer of mine is/was on this show, he specializes in Jap/style, he seemed uncomfortable with some of the projects. Its shameful, I would not like to be on any of these shows, I would come off an idiot. although I feel proficent at a few different crafts displayed on this show, TV seems to be more about humiliation , rather than uplifting the craft. Lets face it, Just because your a rockstar, it doesnt make your opinions valid. All these reality shows are about conflict more than anything. I knew a guy that was on ,I think the first ''Real World''. He was handpicked by his uncle an MTV producer. he was picked because he liked to rub people wrong, just to see if he could get under thier skin. Its TV, not reality. Your average tattoo customer , doesnt care about any of this, blogs,TV, any of it. I seem to do more cover ups than ever, lots of tattooers wont even try.So, I try and help people with thier tattoo problems daily. Its not easy. Its hard. But, I try and do the best that I can. To quote my friend,S.Sylvia....''It beats cuttin' pork chops''. Because I care about what I do, I could make a better living doing another trade Im qualified to do, But I would rather push myself personally, Doing something I care about. Doing the best that I can , while Im here.

Then we can agree to disagree. Its a simple case of caveat venditor vs. caveat emptor. Only one way works as BOTH a buyer AND as a seller. Only one way presents a 'win-win' proposition and that is the way I like mine served up. You either have your own best interest in mind or the client's. Anyone I pay good money to better have my best interest in mind...

Otherwise is the way people end up with 'DRAKE' tattooed on their forehead.

wowee...awsome...outstanding. you seem to be a great artist. I dig the skull n roses thang too. wheres Poulsbo.? is that eastern Washington?

wow.....that stuff is beautiful.

Brian Dettmer

uses knives, tweezers and surgical tools. interview