Stewart Robson

Deb, you beat me to it. Or the variation: "I was drunk and it was a dare/bet." Surprisingly enough, this works! ...even with sleeves, or a backpiece. Dumb fucks.

I never mentioned anything about 'filler'. With large sale tattooing (particularly Japanese style) there isn't any 'filler'. The background is an important part of the design and certainly not an afterthought. Good tattooers will understand how the body can be divided into 'panels'. Then those panels can be joined together. Literally like a suit. Anyone thinking about getting large Japanese tattoos should check out Taki's book "Bushido", you can buy it pretty much anywhere. It's not too expensive and really informative. If you are feeling cheap, most public libraries have it.

"Half bodysuit"? You mean like half, vertically? Right side tattooed, left side empty? That's not a bodysuit, it's a terrible idea. If you want a bodysuit, get it from one tattooer, or 'family' of tattooers. Mostly you don't get to plan it. You have an idea of what you want where but it may be that the relative proportions of animals/flowers will be fucked up. Take your tattooers advice. Your tattoos will be better for it. If you want a body full of Japanese style tattoos from different tattooers, just start with one guy/girl and get a bit at a time finished then move on. It won't be a bodysuit, but you'll be covered in tattoos. If you go to good tattooers and choose well, they will be sympathetic to each other's styles and choices. Once you start with a good tattooer, you'll notice more and more options and subject that are suitable or that appeal to you. Don't worry if you don't have it all planned out. But really you should start by taking to tattooers who you will get tattooed by. In person or by calling the places they work at is usually more informative than via the internet. Remember that good tattooers think about this stuff all the time. Not just on their downtime in the evenings, but all day, every day. So they will probably have some neat problem-solving tricks and advice. Good luck.

I know you're clawing desperately for a way to be 'right' in this argument but this way of thinking would only apply to someone who is expressing themselves, for the benefit of their clients via their tattoos. Thats not the way it works. We get tattooed because we LOVE tattoos. If a tattooer does save space for the different 'periods', by the time they are a decent tattooer they should have passed through so many 'periods' that they have a shit-load of tattoos anyway. I still have space on one of my forearms. My bodysuit was finished before I did anything there. But like Bart said, that saving space, which isn't what this argument is about. I'm guessing you, a friend or your tattooer doesn't have many tattoos and you're trying to find a way to be told "It's ok, you're different." It's ok, they will get lots of tattoos eventually. But to put another spin on the argument: how many good tattooers (I mean tattooers, people who do tattoos that look like tattoos, not colour portrait guys) don't have many tattoos. There are a few, but not many. Also, this isn't a theoretical argument, where logic wins. "If this is true, then this must equal false" It's a real-life discussion about real things and when it comes to tattoos and tattooing: The tattooer is ALWAYS right. ;)

@LilMountain if your question hasn't already been answered in another thread, just ask it here. If it turns into an interesting/useful thread, I'm sure one of the mods would move or re-name it for you. Good luck...

My favourite part was where you SPAMMED EVERY FUCKING THREAD with half-assed non answers, just to get your post count up. answers.yahoo.com answers questions.

That's fucking cool, Scott.

I've seen/worked over lazer, with positive results, from: Tattoo UK (Rayners Lane) - multiple customers Laserlife (Baker Street) - one customer Cult Classic (Romford) - multiple customers I was super-impressed with the way Joe at Cult Classic dealt with the skin before and after the treatment. Some of my clients/customers have had laser work at other places with varying degrees of success, some with no success at all.

Scott wasn't the only guy to do paintings for the Camel thing a few years ago. His were just the ones that were picked for the ads.

My "official" opinion is to deride and distance myself from it. As hard as I may try not to, I think it's cool. But there are a hell of a lot of things I think are cool that shouldn't be (and aren't) filmed, let alone uploaded to YouTube.

Touché I don't want to seem like a Denning evangelist, but Troy is pretty good at breaking his own balls too.

True. I haven't watched the episode yet but there's a difference between an ironic dress/lifestyle and goofing off for the camera. Knowing Troy, I'd put my money on him goofing off. I could see how people would be turned off only knowing Troy through his interviews or stories about him. But the real-life Troy is one of the funniest, honest, salt-of-the-earth, soulful motherfuckers I can think of.

My personal problem with this stuff is that it doesn't deal with or derive from the basic motivations of humans or society. All the long-lasting tattoo imagery addresses or springs from some basic element of humanity. Which is why they've lasted a long time. My opinion is that this style of work (trash polka et al) is created with the main motivation to stand out from the crowd or be 'different'. The drive to be original, different or special, is fundamentally flawed and certainly short-lived. If tattoo designs derive from deep-rooted human drives and archetypes it's pretty much impossible for the concept to become dated. The execution is a different matter. In my opinion all the best tattoo imagery comes from or symbolises basic human drives, or the needs of humans in society. Skulls, pin-ups, powerful animals, flowers, hearts, religious imagery, daggers etc, etc. Most of the flash or portfolios (including tribal) in a decent tattoo shop will succinctly encompass the interesting bits of the human experience. That's why the work posted in this thread rings hollow for me, regardless of the difficulty of the application.

I can only speak from my perspective. I don't wish to comment too much on the reasoning other tattooers design, paint and sell their flash. Any flash I've bought, vintage or current, has been an investment. That's what I meant by the value of it. The same goes for tattoo machines. I buy these things with the intention of using them. I have more than I can use, but that's not the point. I do like the way they look but they are primarily useful rather than decorative. Any flash I've produced has been intended to be tattooed by other people. I didn't make them as a promotional tool. 95% of the traditional tattoos I do are based on flash. Often they don't look like flash, unless you have the same sheets as me but they do look like tattoos. I use flash to solve design and layout problems quicker. I don't have a problem at all with non-tattooers collecting flash and tattoo memorabilia. Lots of people collect things they never use, that's kind of the point of a collection I suppose.

Thanks for bidding hogg, I hope the winner is enjoying it too. If it wasn't for a charity, I think it would have went for a third of the price.

If you are a tattooer, you know the value of what you're buying. But if you are not a tattooer, you just paid a whole chunk of money for a pretty picture, I hope you enjoy it. I never felt comfortable with 'collectors' though, since they ruined comics in the early 90s. Comic publishers started catering to collectors instead of readers, then everything went tits-up and comics became unreadable. I'd say the same thing happened with tattoo flash too, once it became used for anything other than tattoo source material. Saying that, I'm looking forward to the Spider Murphy's book.

That's because I'm an idiot.;) Yeah, my forearm is black. It's not a cover-up either. Like the saying goes "Once you go black, you don't go back."

That's why all the shot are waist-up ;) But really, it's one hot-ass basement without real A/C.

I'd mostly agree with the quote from the book. With the exception/addition that Asian skin seems much easier to tattoo. Generally though, clients who drink plenty of water and keep out of the sun make my job much easier. Saying that, I love the way Japanese background looks when tanned. Not the coloured foreground, just the clouds, waves etc.

I shot this video over the course of a few weeks in August 2011. I wanted to show what it's like at Frith Street Tattoo. We try to be a no-nonsense tattoo shop and just do the best tattoos we can. I didn't intend to make an introduction to the shop, or an introduction to tattoo shops n general, which is why there is no 'talking head' shots, interviews, sections about the staff, location, history or a voice over. This for people who know of us or our work. While there is a social side to our shop I don't think it's necessary to show that. Some things are saved for those who visit the shop in person. I hope you enjoy it. Filmed during August 2011 By Stewart Robson Valerie Vargas Jordan Teear Andy Blyth Edited by Stewart Robson All music is © the respective artists and companies. 'Revolt' - Jack Rose 'Milk & Honey' - Jackson C. Frank 'When the Shit Hits the Fan' - The Circle Jerks 'It's not Unusual' - Tom Jones 'Dixie Whisky' - Eyehategod 'Speed King' - Deep Purple 'Love Tunnel' - GG Allin 'Paris, Texas' - Ry Cooder 'Millionaire' - Kelis Thanks to Dante, the tattooers, staff and most of all the customers of Frith Street Tattoo.

Groundhog Day! Threads like this and posters like areilla are some of the reasons I don't come here much anymore. I'm tired of defending real tattooing and discussing why people shouldn't be tattooers when they clearly don't understand what tattooing is. Someone fairly intelligent who thinks they have a grasp on art wants to be a tattooer, they post a dumb-ass, inflammatory post, people exercise their good will and give sensible responses, the original poster spouts a fountain of reasons why they are right and everybody else is wrong because their reasoning is rock-solid and everybody just doesn't understand, man. Then a bunch of comparisons with other trades and professions are drawn but none of them hit the point. Then someone calls out 'bullshit' or 'troll' the original poster reasons that's what internet forums are for, to discuss stuff. It's fucking boring. With a half-working knowledge of how to argue a point, you can 'prove' that you deserve to tattoo. That doesn't mean you do. You can 'prove' that tattooers don't need many tattoos because 'it's art man, it's all about personal choice'. that doesn't mean you're not a parasite. areilla, if you can save tattooing and feel you are better than everybody else but you don't want to pay for tattoos, you should type less and draw more. But I know you won't. You read a thread just like this, that had some great points raised but you wanted one of your own.

I hate having my picture taken anyway but if I say 'no' it could be because: a) the photographer is a dick/creep. b) the magazine they work for is a shitty magazine and I don't want my work in shitty magazines. c) maybe i'm having a rare day where I'm sick of people trying to make money from tattooers/tattooing. In tattooing the maxim 'All publicity is good publicity' doesn't hold much water. Try 'Good tattoos are good publicity'. That's how most of us get new clients and retain current ones. At a convention I rarely refuse photographs of me working. Sometimes if people are polite enough to ask (which is rare) I'll ask for them to not use flash. Outside of conventions, the answer is rarely 'yes'. If I'm not working the answer is never 'yes'. Luckily I usually work conventions next to Valerie, photographers love taking photos of women, not hairy dudes, so I'm mostly left alone.

Loved the new episode. Grime makes me feel really lazy and kinda retarded for not trying harder. I also love the order they are being aired. Perfect contrast to Santoro without shadowing what he does.

He didn't apprentice under Horiyoshi III. Horiyoshi did figure out a name for him, based on his parents initials. Also Alex Reinke (Horikitsune) was, and still is Horiyoshi III's apprentice. Jill's book "Studying Horiyoshi III" is interesting on that front as well as having great photos of in-progress Horiyoshi tattoos. Many westerners have Hori* names but not many got them from Horiyoshi III.

Holy Shit! Awesome tiger and panther!