smiling.politely

@Blizzard, I find it amusing how you seem to willfully ignore anyone who points out that the original poster did indeed break the board's written rules, not any unwritten rules of tact. It clearly states in the rules of the board that any questions about the mechanics or specifics about the act of tattooing are prohibited. However, as you are so set in your ignorant conclusions, I feel pointing this out is like trying to kick water uphill... it's just not going to work.

What a bunch of unprofessional hacks we must be.

Thankfully, shoddy work in the literary field doesn't result in a horrible looking mark on someone's body, cause potential for infection due to poor practice, or show disrespect for those who came before you. In tattooing, it's difficult to get any information without earning it first. As someone who has supposedly nearly earned a doctorate (again, you are just a screenname, so we don't know if you're being honest or not), you should understand how much hard work it takes to earn your way into a group that shares that freely. would you loan a first printing of a rare book that you happen to acquire to a Freshman 101 student for study as readily as you would someone who has the same level of experience as you? Or would you be worried that they didn't respect and honor what they would have in their hands, and treat it with the delicacy it would deserve?

For all we know, the story of someone's apprenticeship and/or job status at a shop is a lie, so that people will take them seriously. They should be asking their mentor or co-workers, or even someone they respect and get tattooed by, not strangers on a forum.

EDIT: Also, for someone who is going to quote rules at other members of the forum, you should probably read all of them. In fact, @Jake made it rather easy, with the very first response in the thread.

Do not start threads asking about specific tattooing equipment or techniques, LST is not here to teach anyone how to tattoo. Ask your own tattooer, the next time you are getting tattooed. Maybe they'll answer you, maybe they won't.

Do not start threads regarding closely guarded trade secrets - this will keep LST a much more welcoming place for everyone, tattooers and enthusiasts alike.

True, and apps like instagram where you not only can't properly appreciate the tattoo, but you also look at that amazing tattoo for three seconds, "like" it and then scroll through to the next one don't help much. I use the technology but I also think it's stupid.

go to Instagram and sign in, then add the username of any of the people you follow. roughly 600 pixel squared images instead of smartphone sized.

my frontpiece goes through my nipples. Haven't finished shading/coloring entirely, but i haven't had any issues yet.

little painting i did a few weeks ago. my friend Jimmy wanted this tattooed as part of his weekly support of my apprenticeship, but opted out of the flames.

Maybe it's a perfectionist personality thing. Perhaps these artists just don't trust anyone else to do exactly what they want... too anal?

Recently my husband and his crew of old friends got together and planned to get matching tattoos to remember the ol' days. They got the graphic designer in the group to draw up the basic design. 4 of them went and saw the tattooer we normally use. He drew the design up and tweaked it a bit to be his own. Well needless to say the GD friend who originally designed the tattoo still hasn't gone down to get it done... because it's not quite what he wants. But he's an artist and he clearly wants it a certain way.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is maybe some of these tattooers who dont have any tat's are just really anal, picky perfectionists?

slayer answered the question perfectly, but i have a thought to add. as someone who knows graphic designers, i know many get very frustrated, very quickly, when their clients won't listen to their suggestions and take advice on what they, as experts, know will work better. if that friend is anything like that, then he needs to realize tattooers feel exactly the same way. sometimes, people need to understand that they don't know better than the person they're hiring to do a job for them, and understand that it's generally for their own benefit.

1.) Best LST Thread: tie between Latest Tattoo Lowdown, the monthly tattoo contests, and the Full Backpiece thread. consistently amazing.

2.) Worst LST Thread: negative ones, or ones that are 30+ pages, but of the same monotonous 15 posts repeating themselves. 2 possible solutions... PMA and reading what came first.

3.) Favorite tattoo you got this year (pls say by who and what shop): for a completed piece, it'd be the big skull/roses/razor on my arm by Ulrich Hueber, then of Bullman's Tattoo Studio in Limerick, Ireland. the eagle on my head isn't finished yet (by Josh Cruse, JP Cruse Professional Tattooing, Wichita, KS), but i love it just as much.

4.) Favorite tattoo another LSTer got this year (pls say by who and what shop if you know): everything Phickey has posted. it may sound a bit creeper-ish, but it's cool to see someone you don't know learn about tattoos from scratch and get amazing work from the start. especially as quickly as he has.

5.) Favorite tattoo artist you discovered through LST: Ron Henry Wells. i'd seen his stuff here and there on the few good tattoo blogs out there, but checking his website and Instagram after seeing him post here... man. i know of at least two spots i'm saving for him in the next few years. also, Stewart Robson. thankfully, i have a bunch of friends in London who would most likely be willing to let me couch or floor surf to save money on hotels if i need to, because i will be making my way over the ocean for some large thigh work.

6.) How'd you find LST: I can't remember if i happened upon the Tim Hendricks interview on YouTube first, or if Matt Headley of Red Sea Tattoo in Wichita, KS posted about the site on Facebook first. either way, a few things led me to check it out, learn a quick lesson when i first posted here, then slowly and respectfully post more as time went on.

7.) Favorite part of the site: General Tattoo Discussion and Tattoo Designs, Books, and Flash.

8.) Area of the site you spend most your happy time at: same answer as numbers 1 & 7, with interviews thrown in.

9.) What do you want more of: see the last answer...

10.) Sum up the year in one word: Cornerstone. everything is coming together for my life, i.e.: moving my fiancee here from Ireland, in terms of my apprenticeship, and in building a new chosen family in the city where i work, where i was born, and where i will soon call home again.

BONUS: Favorite quote of the year...... another tie.

"If you do not pass first grade, you do not go to second grade." -Oliver Peck, in one of the few truly great moments to come out of Ink Masters.

"I like tattoos that look like tattoos." loads of people, but in this instance, Thom de Vita in his Tattoo Age episodes.

calling potential clients names seems counter-productive to getting them in your door...

naming names and pointing fingers rather than focusing on hard work, educating people, and positivity within tattooing (or life in general) seems a bit high school for me... i tried to avoid that mind set back then as well, but i see more and more people in all walks of life that seem to be stuck there mentally.

one of my co-workers and I are going to be ordering this within the week. super stoked to add it to our shop's library... and when my pockets aren't as light, i'll probably order a copy for myself as well.

this cracked me up..

Its still my favorite part of this style, the fact that everyone hates it so much.

Only the ones that have eyes.

My boss said a few months back that I needed to, at some point, do a backpiece painting as homework... his specific instructions were to make it my "apprentice masterpiece." i don't know about that, but this was the second one i did for him... the first didn't live up to my expectations.

after a print by Kuniyoshi

prime example of a style that would look okay on canvas, or as a t-shirt design (and in those cases only sparingly), but not as a tattoo. even if applied in a way that's technically sound... eh.

@Donn and @David Flores...

I wasn't speaking on that gentleman's situation, nor to any one person in particular. If it came off that way, it was unintended. Just making light of people's hyperbolic statements that pop up in this thread over and over and over. Neither of you made said comments, mind you, but this thread is lousy with them.

Jesse has some sort of chest tattoo that tries to make it into daylight when he has a few undone buttons, and i think something on the bottom of his chin. if i recall he has a couple on his legs as well. but, i do agree that at this point, he should have found someone who's style he enjoys enough to get some more done.

also, did Jamie say he had been tattooing for 17 years? he looks like that would have made him an 8 year old tattooer at one point.

nah, man. there's no good tattooers that have stayed for decent amounts of time at Three Tides... or Frith Street, or New York Adorned for that matter. Just a rotation of flaky, inexperienced tattooers... right?

I can't remember if anyone else has posted these, but I came across this at an antique store a week or so ago. From the March 11, 1946 issue of Life Magazine. I'll upload some closer photos to my photo gallery in a few minutes...

i'm straight edge. i have a few shirts, and a few tattoos. but, i don't make any bigger a deal about it than that... where i live, most people not into music probably think i'm wearing a shirt advertising a ruler or a razor.

the straight edge kids that make a huge deal about it in every day life are insecure, need a reason to feel special, and will probably break edge by the age of 24.

i'll just leave this here...

Forgot to post this in last month's contest... Got it done mid-fiancee visit, so I was too busy with sushi joints and Klingon Monopoly to be online. Also, in what may have been a small miracle, we got the stencil (which was two pieces) perfect on the first try.

Josh Cruse

JP Cruse Professional Tattooing

Wichita, KS

started today with my boss... we decided that since we put a backpiece on my chest, we should do a chestpiece on my head.

EDIT: just realized i forgot to mention... by Josh Cruse, of JP Cruse Professional Tattooing, in Wichita, KS. i'm used to posting things to my friends on Facebook, where i don't have to clarify as much.

one of my coworkers uses one of the water brushes, but as a way to make washes with solid water color. he's begun mixing that very painterly look with spit shading recently, and is getting some killer stuff knocked out. i'm still on regular ol' spit shading, but i wouldn't be opposed to at least trying one.

i give the standard "some mean something personal, some mean i like tattoos" line. although explaining the straight edge praying hands to little kids at the pool can be fun... since they seem to always think it means something about how i hate Jesus. so, they get a quick rundown on what it really means, then probably go back to thinking it means i hate Jesus in five minutes.

after joking about it a bit a few months ago, i'm booked in on a day off two weeks from now with my boss to do an eagle on the back of my head, with the wings wrapping around onto the sides. hopefully it waits a few weeks for it to go full winter on me, otherwise my ears may fall off.

i probably got a few visible guys done too early, by accepted considerations, as i have one hand and my knuckles done with one forearm and loads of huge spaces still bare. those large areas are spoken for (waiting for money and/or ability to travel for most). my parents have been getting tattooed well before i was born... i was around shops since preschool, knew of the negative mindset that some have towards tattoos, and thought over those tattoos for years. i know those factors led to the tattooer doing them, since he had known me and my parents, and knew i wasn't just after the tough guy look like a lot of people my age.

that being said, i also knew that in the art-based lines of work i was considering when i got them done, visible tattoos wouldn't be an issue for most. seeing sculpture professors with big tattoos on their necks, and Tom Huck (the printmaker) covered from the fingers as far as i could see, i could still make it with hard work. once tattooing became the goal for sure, i knew it was a similar situation. i wouldn't advise anything visible or too crazy for most, unless they're dead set on a path where it's no issue.