exume

I lived in the springs for a summer a couple years back, I'll be glad to answer a few questions when I get home from work later.

Welcome to the forum, what are you getting from Steve?

Oh and if you're going to be in Ann Arbor don't forget Michael Aul

Can't recommend getting tattooed by Adam, Jeff, or Chad enough! Check out Walter McDonald too, his drawing style is a bit loose but he definitely has that magic

Round 2 with Chad yesterday. Sorry about the sideways picture I can't fix it on my phone

@MoistTowelette the summit con is looking to be a good one, huh? I need to make some decisions and send a couple emails.

Welcome to LST! I'm sure someone here can throw a few names your way.

Welcome to LST, who's making your tattoo? Any pictures you'd like to share?

I say eagle, but I'm slightly biased

Should be going down to Austin pretty soon, stoked!

Pictures? Welcome, by the way!

Welcome! Got any pictures you'd like to share?

Where do you live? You should ask a tattooer

The issue is that this is a public forum built for tattooers and enthusiasts alike, most of us simply love getting tattoos and want a place to talk about our passion and have a place to check out new artists and discuss the radness of others work. We don't discuss the technical aspects of the craft because for a majority of the forum it is irrelevant to our discussion, and, being public, should we talk about the technicalities of tattooing, any jerk-off scratcher can come along, read what was discussed and attempt to use that knowledge in butchering their friends.

Welcome to LST! Got any pictures of your backpiece?

This. My mom has absolutely no intention of getting a tattoo, but whenever we get to see each other she's so intrigued at how "they all go together, but they're separate pictures" and though some of the imagery isn't her favorite she seems to appreciate the work that went into them. Pops on the other hand I've been trying to get into a shop to get matching tattoos with me, just hasn't quite worked out yet.

cosigned

Welcome to LST! Show us your tattoos! I'm about an hour out of Denver and usually get tattooed down that way, who made your tattoos?

Very excited, time to run through the series again! Probably watch Blue Velvet a few more times for good measure also.

This thread has been fantastic, really great discussion so far, thanks everyone for adding your thoughts! After I read the bulk of it I had to jet off to work so I didn't have time to make a cogent reply until now, hopefully some of my thoughts have survived through the past few days of working. Anyways, these are my thoughts on the subject as a client relatively new to tattoos. Though I'd always been a fan of tattoos, I got a pretty late start on my "collection" so to speak, I loved the look of tattoos but throughout my teens and early 20s any spare cent went to drugs and booze so actually getting tattooed was fiscally impossible. I got sober, met some people with rad tattoos in and out of the program, and really started thinking about it again, I visited a bunch of trashy shops throughout the greater Colorado Springs area, and found nothing appealing in my search. I've always been a bit of a collector and really dig researching and finding the best version of whatever it is I'm looking for. I eventually found LST which I credit for helping me learn what makes a good tattoo, and really helping shape my tastes. You all have been lifesavers! Sorry for the long personal discourse but I feel it's a bit relevant to the rest of the post. So after two years of scoring the forum for information, flipping through instagram a few times a day, following an unmanageable amount of accounts on said instagram, I finally took the plunge and booked an appointment with Marie Sena after I had seen her name on the list of artists working at a then new shop (Dedication Tattoo) down in Denver. Her style really spoke to me, I wasn't really familiar with her as a "name" in the tattoo game, maybe read about her on here once or twice but I feel extremely lucky to have such a wonderful first tattoo from such a fantastic person. I never really set out to be the guy who never gets tattooed by the same person twice, but as of yet that's how it's turning out. I am wary of being perceived as some sort of "starfucker" as @Pugilist put it, but with Denver being so centrally located in this country I am presented with a lot of great opportunities via guest spots to get work from great tattooers! How am I going to pass up a chance to get tattooed by Adam Shrewsbury while he's in town for a couple days, he doesn't even make tattoos regularly when he's home! Chad's going to be here in a couple weeks? Well I'd better find a way to stack some cash because I won't let myself miss out on that. I have a list in my head of people I'd love to get work from, some may be big names, but it's all because their work speaks to me in ways that I can't really quantify, I don't want the most star-studded skin, I just want stuff that makes me happy when I look in the mirror. Besides the power of the imagery, it really is all about the experience though. Any time I've been tattooed by someone with a "big name" they have been some of the realest, most down to earth people I've met. Jeff Zuck is a gentleman and a scholar, Marie, as I said earlier, literally one of the nicest people I've ever met. Adam is the most down to earth dude, you can just tell how grateful he is to be spending his life making rad art for people. Every tattoo that I've seen Chad put out has blown my mind, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how humble he was, making sure the other guys in the shop thought the composition was solid on his sketch, ready to wipe it all away and start over if Joe didn't like something about it. Myke Chamber seems to get a bit of grief around here, maybe he's too self-promotional, his drawings are simplistic, but his message in all the interviews is a story of hope for those of us struggling with addiction, and I could tell that he was really grateful for his position in life. Now, @mmikaoj, again, I appreciate you starting this thread, the discussion has been really great! You caught enough flak for what you said about Deutsche, Shige, and Horiyoshi III, but I had to jump in and defend Walter McDonald! I know that some of his tattoos look a little off, definitely not what anyone would call perfect, but goddammit they are fucking tattoo magic in the flesh! That man is one of the best human beings I've had the pleasure of meeting, it's impossible to imagine him without a smile on his face. His shop is beautiful, flash from floor to ceiling, exactly what you picture in your head when you think "tattoo shop," not to mention that he's mostly responsible for me and the rest of the state being so spoiled for choice when it comes to guest artists on a regular basis. Walter is the coolest and I can't wait to get a tattoo from him. Sorry about the rambling, hope I didn't stray too far from what I was trying to get across.

Read St is awesome, you could also check out Have Fun Be Lucky, nice to have a couple options.

Will does some solid work, good choice!

I flipped through the first edition at Lifetime once, really cool stuff in there. Really well put together, nice slip cover, high quality book. Well worth checking out @LanaZellner

That's a hell of a first tattoo! Can't wait to watch it progress

Welcome! You've got some fun tattoos