PhilB

I was buying it (because, why would someone make that up) until the picture. That looks like a horrible copy and paste job, not even a remotely good one. The casting call after that was...convenient.

That only took 15 hours? Damn!

I take it you've seen this:

I still wonder...does one leg sleeve constitute "squid pants"? "A squid pant"? "Half a pair of squid pants"? I'm so confused.

Had two Chinese ladies in their 60s or so make my day yesterday. I was on the Skytrain (basically, an elevated subway) heading home from work. i wear shorts pretty much year-round, and was sitting with my tattooed leg crossed over my other leg, reading. One of the ladies was sitting in front of me, the other was standing next to me. The one sitting next to me turned around, and was pointing at my leg. "Here we go", I thought, knowing this is the price we pay for visible tattoos... Instead, they both started smiling and pointing at it, looking at the detail. I said: "Do you want to see?" And the one standing must have thought I said "Do you want to sit?" and said "No, no, no" (there were other seats available, as I normally would have offered my seat already otherwise). I put my leg down and pulled up my short leg so they could see more detail. They both ooh-ed and ah-ed at it, smiling the whole time. They clearly did not speak any English. They both waved goodbye with big smiles when they got off the train. Sometimes, reactions surprise you, and they come from the weirdest sources.

@Patriot Ink Tattoo, highlight the following text to know who won (in case some don't want to know): SPOILER Shane won, although I think Tommy had the better tattoos in the finale. Best Ink seems to have a little less drama, maybe...I can't not watch these shows, don't know what it is. They're obviously bad, but I'm so starved for tattoo content...

There was a business licence on the wall, so I presume so. There is very little here in the way of actual regulation for the industry. See: http://ncceh.ca/sites/default/files/PSE_Guidelines_Comparison_Table_July%202010.pdf

^^ This. Fantastic tiger.

You're kinda forgetting about a little place called "Montreal" ;-) It was the heart of the biggest biker war the country (if not the world, including the Scandinavian mess a few years ago) has ever seen. I was working as a Harley mechanic there at the time. That was...interesting.

One from the same artist who did my leg and coverup on my missus: (that was the first session. He added some more blue to the bottom of the hand and more "grass" in a touch-up session)

My favourite CrossFit video yet (in this article): CrossFit at its Worst - Don't Try This At Home! | Physical Living

That's not what it looked like to me in person. Looked like the colour never took at all because the shading was butchered. If you look at his shading on his galleries, the stuff that is obviously not ripped off often has the same kind of...er..."texture".

Yeah, I find most of the Sullen stuff I've seen a little too "loud" for my personal taste. I really like most of the BMAC stuff I've seen, however, and am waiting for my local shop to get a few specific shirts in my size.

Well, coincidences never cease to amaze me. I've never met anyone who has even met this guy. Tonight, I was at the drugstore, playing show and tell with the pharmacy tech (she was showing me her latest tattoo, and vice versa). This guy hears us and says: "Man, I got butchered by some guy." Me: "Who?" Him: "Some guy who lives up there...He works out of his house." Me: "Charles Parent, To the Point Tattoo?" Him: "That's it!" Turns out this guy did a bunch of reno work on the shop. They worked out that he did about $4k worth of work, and, in exchange, he was to get a sleeve. Apparently, this first part got done by someone who worked there (not Charles): (full-size: http://philb.ca/charles2.jpg) According to Charles, said employee was on drugs and ripped him off, but, fear not, because "Just wait until you see what I can do". Well, this is what he could do: (full-size: http://philb.ca/charles1.jpg) Apparently, it felt like his arm was on fire when he was getting it done. Not sure if something is up with the ink, or the depth, or what (besides the obvious horrible art and technique. Those lines are so shaky, I doubt he could be a masturbater, let alone a master-tattooer!). Needless to say, this guy isn't going back. I asked him if I could take pictures and post about it here. Sorry for the crappy pictures, but they were from my phone. I really hope for him this can be fixed.

You ask who the artist was, and you add him to your "do not get tattooed by" mental list.

The best thing I've found for ingrown hairs (I'm North African. Think thick, curly hair. Sucks) is TendSkin (Tend Skin Products | Tend Skin Lotion | Ingrown Hairs & Razor Bumps). That stuff is pretty magical.

What part of my suggestions were "snide remarks & questionable comments"? You've now added more input. Great, you don't want a cross. You don't want any of the traditional animals suggested. You do want a banner wrapped around something. You've now added another possible element: a sun. All these are ideas you had already, right (even though you didn't give us all of them at first). How about you let your artist know these exact ideas? I bet you he/she can draw a really nice banner wrapped around a sun that has colours and other elements that make it very clear that it's a sun. Just because you don't like the ideas/suggestions you were given (at least, the reasonable ones. It is indeed taking lots of restrain not to just take the piss out of you), doesn't make them any less valid. We don't know what you have in mind. We can't see where you want this done, how big, or what else may be in the way (other tattoos, huge moles, horrendous car-crash scars, etc), or see what it looks like once laid out on you. All these things affect what you get. Not to mention, no one here is going to draw it for you. One person will. Perhaps you should consult with him/her. Well, lookie here, it just so happens you have a consultation scheduled with the artist. That'll come in handy. I miss the old days of Usenet, when people knew what netiquette was (as opposed to the cesspool Usenet has now turned into). Here's a clue-by-four: We don't work for you.

Oh, fuck, it gets better! Apprentice Chronicles - To The Point Tattoo Couldn't make it past either of the two videos, but did get to the part where Charles lets us know a tattoo is "equivalent to a 3rd degree burn" (so, nerve damage, then?)

I had a weird one a few weeks ago where I was applying some lotion, or something like that, to my leg...Then the colour slowly started coming out of my tattoo, but only the shading. I kept rubbing, and, eventually, I only had the outline left (which, for some reason, was unaffected). I remember thinking "Shit, we have to do all the shading again." I woke up startled.

This, all of it. Also, what is your appointment for? A consultation, or the actual tattoo? If the later, does he/she already know what you want (as far as what you've told us here?) If so, the artist may have already drawn something up you'll like. What did you tell them already, if anything (and why book an appointment if they have no idea what they are doing?)

@Mush: Oh, please do let us know how that goes...

I also wonder how many of those are just pictures stolen off the web.

Have you talked to the artist that's going to do it, so they can give you their ideas?

Here's another of their websites, not sure which one is the more recent one: Home . You can see some interesting patterns when looking at the gallery. For example, almost every tattoo that looks decent is a close-up. You can't really see where it was taken. On most of the ones that look like shit, you can tell the picture was taken there. In most of the pictures of them actually tattooing, you can't tell what they are working on at all. For example, there's a sweet sugar-skull madeup lady in the gallery for that second site. The pictures seems to have been taken in front of a blue piece of furniture. Do you see any blue furniture in any of the shop pictures (new or old)? The guy with the sleeve that looks like it was coloured by someone's kids? He's clearly at the shop. The Cheech and Chong portraits are hard to judge because the picture is blurry, but they definitely look better than some of the other work. Notice that the picture is taken with the client's leg on top of one of those good tattoo chairs that are fully customizable and have split legs, so you can lift just one or the other? Notice that the shop pictures show two tattoo tables with solid, one-piece leg sections. You can see more pictures of the daughter (even on your phone) here: Around The Shop (Photos) - To The Point Tattoo. Not sure if that's her looking like she's about to lick her dad in the picture at the top here: Bios - To The Point Tattoo (not creepy at all).

I'm not offended at that at all. I guess I just got in my own head, and forgot that, sometimes, cool art is just cool art! We're coming up with ideas for the sleeve, and one thing I was thinking of was also doing a scientific-themed piece...I thought those would be separate things, but my artist is actually enthused at the possibility of doing a scientific piece in a Japanese style (so, DNA helixes, molecules, etc, but in a Japanese style). Not sure what's going to come out of his head, so I'll have to see if it works then.