otisc

Living or dead. I know a lot of people inside the industry read/post here, and those that collect tattoos here seem to be knowledgeable... so I'm wondering who is on your Mt. Rushmore.

As far as I can tell, there is no official Tattoo Artist Hall of Fame. In this thread, I ask you to nominate five artists, plus one honorable mention, for the "first class" of the unofficial Tattoo Hall of Fame. The nominations should be based on a combination of talent, influence, importance to the industry, reputation, and overall body of work. I know a lot of people who work in the industry read/post here, so I am really interested in hearing who you all would nominate.

It's been awhile since we've started a new thread that goes on for pages and pages. Let's see your American Traditional-style tattoos. From Sailor Jerry to Steve Byrne and beyond... let's see those bold classics!

My only road block is that after two sessions, my artist is going to Europe for 9 weeks, so I have to wait all summer to complete my sleeve.

WE NEED PICS! :-) :-)

Well, to be fair, it wasn't the person with the tattoos who came here. If they came here, I'd assume they want education. This is just a friend hoping to get enough negative response to convince her not to keep going.

He can't even get her to consider going to a reputable business, how is he going to convince her to laser those atrocities off? I guess he is hoping to print out this thread and shame her into waking up... but seriously, I doubt it. If she already has these and is planning on getting more in the same style from the same person, more power to her.

If these are all on one girl, then what good is getting her to go to a great shop now going to do? So she can get one awesome tattoo surrounded by crappy ones? Who is going to appreciate the really nice tattoo when she has permanent Willy Wonka track marks?

@oboogie It's funny, I had my shading done last week and I was sitting there gritting my teeth and white knuckling the chair when they were inside my bicep. At one point I look over and a girl 20 years my junior was getting a mandala on her inside bicep, and she didn't look like it bothered her in the least. I guess everyone is different. Nice ink!

I found this online and think it applied pretty perfectly to this particular heal: day 1: excuse me while i go wash this off and then do absolutely nothing for the rest of the day -muffled screaming from the bathroom- day 2: the lotion hurts me. the washing hurts me. but i must do these things. I will survive. day 3: im fine until i try to APPLY LOTION ASDHFFGH day 4: oh yeah, probably need to put some lotion on this GIANT BRUISED DRYISH PATCH OF SKIN Day 5: is that peeling day 6: I PROMISE THERES A REASON I AM SLAPPING MYSELF day 7: its so pretttyyyy.... except for those clinging peelies on the edge, haha, but OW BUT ITS STILL SORE Day 8: it will stop peeling one day. ONE DAY. day 9: Are we done now? day 10: Yes. We are done. Back to forgetting I even have this.

That is some weird looking shit.

Actually, the inside of my arm/under my arm healed really nicely and painlessly. It's right at the tip of the V in my arm. And I have another spot on my middle forearm. It doesn't hurt at all during the day... except that it does NOT want me to rub aquaphor into it. Once I do, it feels like a burn for about 45 minutes until it settles down. In a couple of days, I'm sure it will be fine -- and your brain has a great way of forgetting pain. But until then, I've been very uncomfortable and in various amounts of pain for a few days. Maybe switching to lotion tomorrow will be better.

Holy moly, this has been a painful heal. When I got the lines done, I had a day or two of discomfort (trouble sleeping first night, flashes of pain putting on a shirt)... but the shading covers a much larger surface area. Showering it was unpleasant, and certain areas didn't like having aquaphor rubbed in. But the killer was this little routine I do to get off the excess aquaphor - where I press a fresh paper towel onto the tattoo and then peel it off, leaving a tiny thin layer of ointment. This just seemed to irritate it badly and was really rough the first two days. Today is Day 3, and most of the pain and swelling has subsided and it looks like it's going to start a nice peel tomorrow... except for the area where my outer armpit meets my chest. Despite frequent washing and reapplication of aquaphor evenly to the whole piece, this little section is just dry and rough looking... and the pain moving my arm in any direction just radiates. Going to follow my usual routine and switch to lotion tomorrow, maybe it will get some relief in there, but I doubt it. I have a feeling this little area is just going to be sore for another 4-5 days when it should be simply itching like the rest of my arm. OUCH! Everyone always wants to know about the pain of tattooing... and people often ask and get answered with a description of the pain of the act of tattooing. No one ever mentions/thinks about the after pain. These last 72 hours have been rough.

Next stage of my Japanese dragon sleeve was completed today. 5.25 hours of black and shading for the background. Artist: Scott Ellis, Triple Crown Tattoo, Austin Texas.

Wow. One of the best tattoo stories I have EVER read. Amazing.

Update May 20.... Today was Session #2 with Scott Ellis at Triple Crown Tattoo. 5.25 hours in the chair with only a few short breaks. Some of these sections are pretty swollen, and I have one area behind my arm that is super red and angry... but other than that, it looks great. Gonna be a long weekend of feeling sunburnt and frequent washing, and hopefully it will heal as quickly as the line-work. Tomorrow I'm going to the movies, so no need to move it all day. Before: After:

Recently my wife, who has no tattoos and no desire to get any, has become addicted to "Tattoo Nightmares." It's a fun show because they break it up into three segments.... the consultation, an intentionally-comedic re-enactment of the story behind the bad tattoo, and then the big reveal of their new piece. Here is my question: Does anyone else here think that the cover-up tattoos they do are almost always awful? Don't get me wrong - the producers of this show do a great job of finding some really really awful and hilarious tattoos to be covered up.. but most of the time (especially when they complain about how challenging the coverup will be) I am just screaming at my screen: TELL THEM TO LASER IT OFF AND COME BACK! One of the artists on the show seems to do really great work... but the other two end up covering up with these GIANT dark tattoos. Sometimes they have a lot of detail. But it is just a mix of dark colors, and when you see a long shot, all I can think is "wow, once that heals it's just going to look like a big giant black/purple bruise/birthmark" Has anyone else seen this show and know what I'm talking about? Every now and then two of these artists will get it right, but 90% of the time I'm like: WHAT HAVE THEY DONE AND WHY ARE THEY SMILING ABOUT IT?

This ONLY works as a start-up, because there are no photos of what it looks like when it works. Because it's not like you get to have your tattoo for three years and then one day it is gone. No, you get to have your tattoo for a short period of time and it takes three years until you can't see it anymore. Which means halfway through, when it is 50% faded, it's going to look like garbage and the last year and a half, you'll be counting the days until it's gone.

I don't want to go off topic -- but why not use this as motivation to lose the weight? About a year ago I finally decided to just get rid of it, and started doing workouts at home. I can stream YouTube thru my kid's Xbox One, and there are no shortage of amazing free workouts there. I started doing only 25-35 minutes a day, six days a week, and didn't radically change my diet, but cut out a few of the big obvious junky things and tried my best to eat clean... or at least non-processed foods. Oh, and every other Sunday I ate my brains out with junk on a cheat day. For the first 7-8 weeks, I only saw a small change... but somewhere after two months, the weight started falling off me, and I couldn't even believe how easy it was to lose it. I ended up dropping 30+ pounds and was able to do things athletically that I never thought possible for someone like me. If I can do it anyone can do it. Send me a message if you want some links of some YouTube videos to get started. It's really not that hard, and you don't need to dedicate a lot of time, you just have to stick to it.

Walking around with linework only on my arm. The one I got today was, "Hmmmn, is that even going to look good finished? I kinda think you should just leave the lines."

The product is definitely use-specific. Their webpage shows nurses in short-sleeved scrubs, a cop in short-sleeved uniform, and a UPS driver wearing them on his legs. There are a million ways to hide your ink, but I found this really useful for golf (and will probably continue to wear it golfing in the Texas sun even after fully healed). Luckily, I own a business in an industry that is tattoo-friendly, so I don't have the restrictions of the people in the photos: http://www.tat2x.com/ink-armor-customer-pics_a/262.htm

Post the pic to a free image hosting website and then use the link they provide to post the size pic you need.

This! I have my fraternity letters on my ankle. Got them in college at age 19. In my late 20s I was really embarrassed that I had been so dumb and wanted to cover them up. Had it all planned out, but the tattoo artist convinced me not to. Now, I'm 45 and I'm glad they are still there. Not as any allegiance... but as a sign of the memories of youth, the reminder that I'm not as smart as I think I am, and I can still point to my "first tattoo". Leave it! Edit: here's a photo. They looked really good for about 10-12 years but at year 26 they are fading... but the memories live on.

In six days, I'm going back for the next stage in this sleeve. Has anyone had their linework done and grown attached to it? Don't get me wrong - I'm eager for the next stage... but I've grown fond of my linework and in a weird way am kinda gonna miss it.

Usually, it's a work requirement. But beyond that, I really don't think that people without tattoos assume it's a tattoo. I wore the sleeve again this weekend to an outdoor restaurant at Mother's Day, and the two people who did ask about it didn't even think tattoo.