Lance

Cool! Just FYI, there is a specific story involved w/ the back piece subject posted. A lot of the japanese subjects have stories involved so tweaking it to a woman would not work in this particular case. There is a story regarding "Tamatorihime", often depicted with a dragon so if you want a japanese style tattoo w/ a woman + ocean + creature, type of subject that could work. I don't know of any particular story involving a woman struggling w/ a koi. There is a Hokusai image of the Buddhist diety, Kannon, standing on a giant koi though. Otherwise a large koi all by itself could work just fine as that's just a generic subject not particular to any story. Of course you could also disregard the stories and get whatever you want. I just mention the above just in case you may or may not have been aware.

Yup! You're a winner @DevilMan. Congratulations!!!

3 posts and 3 very solid tattoos by fantastic artists. This is going to be a rough judging month for sure.

@Iwar, @Wilhell, & @Ninab. It's a shame. You're leaving just before I fly up for the Convention. It would have been fun meeting. Looks like you'll all be getting in sessions with awesome folks though. Definitely sounds like a cool trip. Iwar, in regards to renting a car, you should be able to rent one in the City. Many probably do close by 5 or 6pm if you're returning late in the evening. And I believe most/all are closed on Sunday. I do remember there's at least an Enterprise Rental connected to the Nikko Hotel a few blocks up from the Powell BART Station. Being attached to a hotel, you can drop off the car with the hotel valet at night for an extra fee. Other than that there's renting from SFO. Open 24/7. Just take BART to and from the City. With the sometimes more expensive rental fees in the city and the extra charge for afterhours drop off, I've sometimes found this cheaper. I've never tried it, but there's also the train route. Take the train all the way down to San Jose and über it to the shop. What are you getting from Horitomo?

Ugh, you and me both. You and me both. I needed to remind myself that money must not be spent to see awesome tattoos, rather money must be saved to GET awesome tattoos. Stick to The Plan.

You can always extend it down your legs. Then from a back piece to a bodysuit. Just think about it and let it settle into your head for a moment. Let's inject that idea and let it marinate. :-)

I've been meaning to take account of all my books. This was as good an excuse as anytime to figure it out. I think this covers it, but it's likely I have a couple more hiding somewhere. Mostly Japanese stuff (big surprise, right?). Some are quality. Some are academic. A couple are meh. Mostly good though. I think anyways, but I need to fill in some gaps that should be a part of any collection. Tattoo Related: -Full Coverage: NSK Collective -Bloodwork: Bodies (Analog) -Iron Will (Grime) -Two Year Autopsy (Grime) -The Fingerwave Book (Grime) -Scott Campbell: If You Don't Belong. Don't be Long -Tattooed By "The Family Business" (that one put out by Mo Cappoletta's shop) -Bunshin: Tattoo Art By Horihito -Bunshin II: Japanese Traditional Tattoo, Horitsune II, Dragon & Kannon -Horitoshi I Storia Dell'Irezumi (Robert Borsi) -Japanese Tattoo Designs: Ichibay (Luke Atkinson) -Shige (Hardcover) (pub. State of Grace, Inc) -Shige (softcover) (pub. State of Grace, Inc) -Tattooing From Japan To The West (Takahiro Kitamura (Horitaka)) -Bushido: Legacies of The Japanese Tattoo (Takahiro Kitamura (Horitaka)) -Tattoos Of The Floating World: Ukiyo-e Motifs In The Japanese Tattoo (Takahiro Kitamura (Horitaka)) -Studying Horiyoshi III: A Westerner's Journey Into Japanese Tattoo (Jill Mandelbaum (Bonny)(Horiyuki)) -Underway Is the Only Way (Grime & Horitaka) -Tattoo Artist: A Colletion Of Narratives (Jill Mandelbaum (Bonny) (Horiyuki)) -Fudo Myo-o Tattoo Design by Horitomo -Monmon Cats (Kazuaki Kitamura (Horitomo)) -I <3 Tattoos (Takahiro Kitamura (Horitaka)) -Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World -Horiyoshi III (Grime & Horitaka) -Sketches of Horiyoshi III (pub. State of Grace, Inc) -Legacy: The Horiyoshi III Tradition (Juan Puente) -Japan's Tattoo Arts Horiyoshi's World 2 -100 Demons of Horiyoshi III -58 Musha By Horiyoshi III -Wanzakure: The Road To Shisei (by Horiyoshi III) -Denotwaza (on Nakamura Toshikazu) (Alek Reinke/Matti Sedholm) -Those 3 Japanese Masters Books The Red one. The Black one. The Blue one. (Japanese Pub) -Backpiece Tattoo II (Japanese Pub) -Backpiece Tattoo III (Japanese Pub) -Tattoo In Japan (That thick hardcover one by Edition Reuss) -Horikazu (Edition Reuss) -Wabori, Traditional Japanese Tattoo -Japanese Tattooing Now: Memory & Transition (that tan colored book from around 2001ish) -A History of Japanese Body Suit Tattooing -Tokyo Tattoo 1970 -Mau Moko: The world of Maori Tattoo -Sacred Skin - Thailand 's Spirit Tattoos -The Mammoth Book of Tattoos (Lal Hardy) -Tattoo World (Marisa Kokoulas/Michael Kaplan) Tattoo Reference: -Of Brigands and Bravery (108 Heroes of the Suikoden) (Kuniyoshi) -The Faithful Samurai (47 Ronin) (Kuniyoshi) -Heroes of the Grand Pacification (Kuniyoshi) (come to think of it, I actually gave that one to Jill Bonny as "thank you" one session, so I need to get another copy) -Kuniyoshi: From The Arthur R. Miller Collection -Samurai, Stars of the Stage, and Beautiful Women: Kunisada and Kuniyoshi Masters of the Color Woodblock Print -Art of Armor: Samurai Armor From the Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection -Memoir: Tattooed Portaits Series (Shawn Barber) -Time Present & Time Past Images of a Forgotten Master (on Kunichika) -Hokusai Manga -The Secret of Noh Masks -A Japanese publication on, Tsuyoshi Nagano, a contemporary artist who paints a lot of samurai motifs -A few more Japanese publications. 1 on Kyosai, 2 on Yoshitoshi, and probably 4 more on Kuniyoshi (Can't read Japanese so don't know their names) - - - Updated - - - Nice looking collection going on there. I zoomed in for a closer look and thought, "oh I want that one and that one over there too!". And @ironchef, how's the wenren book? I'm tempted to order it if they are still available.

Yeah same here. I can't remember what the place was called unfortunately, except it was near some weird broadcast looking tower in the middle of the city, but it had pretty good Mexican food. I mean it was really quite good. Not a fancy place, just a side street place to grab a bite. Not something I would have expected. .25 cent ramen packs. There you go! My desire to go is conflicting with my desire to start my next tattoo, so I'm really being torn. Not to mention it's freaking hot here in LA. I can't stand this weather. I usually head to Scotland this time of year to escape. Typically gotta have my haggis fix, but you know...tattoo want.

The last time I was in London, perhaps it was the location, but the ramen was...ummm, off. It was like the time I had Mexican food in Seattle. Oof! Now the döner and the chip shops are awesome!

All the Instagram posts this past week and a half where people are heading to London for the Convention is driving me crazy. I'm really tempted to book a last minute flight over and check it out as well as the Somerset Gallery show. Seriously, I've been pouring over hotel room fares and my bank account since last week. Still trying to work it out. Do I really need to eat next month? Everyone who is attending, you lucky people!

Nice progress. His work is always impressive and never fails to amaze.

That one's on her? I believe I had seen it before in his portfolio at a past convention. I love that sleeve. Super smooth (as always). It's always interesting to connect tattoos with a face. Like IG posts and LST members. Thanks for posting this.

Next time, will it be too much to ask to stand on the other side of her so we can see the Shige sleeve too? Tattoos by both Shige and Grime?! That Lass don't mess around. She's crazy talented and with her style, I could imagine seeing her working out of Skull & Sword.

Looks good to me @seattleite. Any perceived slight may be in your head. As your first it's understandable to want it to be perfection incarnate. Tattooing is a hand craft however so personally I kind of dig the small imperfections now. It used to drive me nuts so I get where you may be at. As for colors go with what your artist likes and feels comfortable with. I've seen simple colors and a limited palette and seen crazy bright purples, yellows, etc being used. Both can look real good. But it also can depend on the artist's comfort level with the color spectrum. Check out the latest interview,on Uzi, that's been posted. They mention it a bit. But it looks cool. Post progress shots. Got to love those progress pics.

I guess this isn't a recent thing after all. Lucky Diamond Rich was actually one of the guys I was thinking of who was doing this, but it looks like it's actually been a few years now. Time sure flies. A series of recent IG posts just reminded me of it again. I didn't even think it was possible. A few years back I remember someone saying his mind was blown the first time he saw Pinky Yun use white over black. Then laughter ensued when others wondered what kind of crazy ingredients were used to make it possible. This just makes me think, "WTF!!!, crazy!". It's interesting but I'm hoping I will never have to entertain the idea of doing this. But based on the article, it seems rather than a straight cover up, one could decide to black out their arm, then cover it with a new design and not have to deal with complications of figuring out what could work. It's the anti-laser. Crazy man. Real crazy. Thanks for posting @OutOfIdeas!

Panther or perhaps Japanese wind bars or clouds. The dark solid style. I'm thinking Horitoshi family style of dark. A different condition, but I have a long scar running up my forearm. While never meant to be a cover up, a wind bar goes right over it. No one ever notices it now. Of course since you like the tattoo, you could chalk it up to lessons learned, and as @CABS says, put random other things around it too. It may not be so glaring in the future. Unrelated but regarding blacked out stuff. Is it just me or has anyone noticed more people with blacked out work beginning to get designs tattooed over it with white ink. Pretty crazy.

Mow your own lawn. No one likes seeing a person's yard go to shit ;-)

Bravo @bongsau & @Mick Weder!!!

I've long since lost track of how many hours I've had to sit or lay on a table. I don't think I want to remember or get into it with just anyone even if I did. It just leads to calculating costs which isn't the point of a tattoo. Talking amongst LST is cool though cuz in the end we'd all just laugh it off and say, "Totally would do it again. Totally worth every cent". "Totally" (Yes, I was born in LA)

How did I miss or forget you were getting your torso done by Tomo. That is absolutely incredible and I couldn't stop looking at it when he posted it. Just curious. What kind of Noh mask is that? It doesn't look like the typical hannya that's often seen. Looks familiar but can't place it. It's really cool. One of, if not, my most favorite tattoo that I've seen of his.

Wait till you both get your back done. You'll feel like a Playboy Bunny ;-)

Well getting a session in on your back and then another on your arm right after will do that. How many hours was that? Whole hog marathon sessions will wear you out for sure.

Damn! Too bad you're not going this year. I was hoping to see you and see if you were going to start your front.

I'm happy to hear your wife is getting her appointment with Valerie. Loooong wait.

Way to scare off the rest of the competition @DevilMan! Awesome back piece.