CultExciter

We really can't make assessments/help/etc without pics.

that was you! ugh, when it popped up, i was screengrabbed it instantly!

You're not wrong.

Horrible idea. Unless you are deeply rooted in the tattoo industry with enough pull and respect to hire established tattooers, you're just going to have people who work for you long enough to make some money, and then its on to the next, better, more established shop.

Check out Mike Moses in Columbus, OH. He's very illustrative, but not exactly like the above style. There are plenty of sketchy tattooers in the US however, they usually do full sleeves for a pack of smokes and dimebag.

Man, so much good stuff. In no particular order: JLin - Dark Energy Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free Drug Church - Hit Your Head Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too Leviathan - Scar Sighted Positive No - Glossa Vince Staples - Summertime '06 Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect Beach Slang - The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us Sweet Cobra - Earth Blistered - The Poison Of Self-Confinement

I knew that was you!

@LizBee I see wild man Rodney Raines in those photos. I am sure you had a good time.

I believe so!

So good! Miss you guys!

I have not been able to post in the upcoming tattoo thread in a while. But thankfully in a couple weeks my dude Dave Regan will be adding onto my arm. I'm super pumped.

I'm probably biased because he's a friend, but man, damn Dave Regan has been making stuff lately that makes me sit back and smile and then kicks me in the rear very hard because I feel so untalented. Also, Gordon Combs. So good. Showstoppers for sure.

Best part of being on LST, and one of the best parts of being a human actually, has been meeting some of you in real life. I adore everyone of you I communicate with (past and present). Believe it it or not, we talk about LST in our conversations via text, via Facebook, and in person. I know I have not been active in a while (life son!) but I intend to try harder. Thank you LST for being there in so many major moments I've experienced.

@beez I'm glad you've been crushing it! Hope you've been well. Stoked to see what Shad pulls together for you.

Echo above. You did nothing wrong at all. Even medium-light grays looks almost black when tattooed. You might just want to talk to your tattooer about adding more contrast (dark gray and black to the tattoo) as a second sitting.

I haven't really been an active poster lately, but I just wanted to check in and say hello and hope all is well. I've been super busy since my mentor and I decided to start up our own shop in downtown Roanoke, Virginia. I'm currently working 12-16 hour days balancing a job and tattooing. I've been able to tattoo super consistently since we opened up though and I've seen some improvements (albeit nowhere near anything I'd hope to be) in my technical ability. My pal Cody works with us as well, and yeah, it's been good. I'll try to check in more regularly, but I still peruse the board. Miss y'all.

Hate to break it to you, but that sounds like nothing more than a way for someone to get your money with no guarantees for your future. Spend your money on getting tattooed.

Matt Brotka, hands down.

you're gonna crush it.

I have the same name on Instagram. Cheers dude.

fuuuuuuuuuuuckkkkkkkk, i quit.

You need to diversify your bonds.

This is my latest tattoo. Done by my girlfriend, on me, after I tattooed her. The technical application obviously needs some work, but I think she did ok for the first time running a machine. Haha.

Says the guy who has cartoon tattoos.

Good for you for working it all out. To be quite honest, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, it looks like you're just starting to figure out some of the basics of drawing for tattoos. I'd spend some time tracing stuff. Seriously. That SJ rose you see on the wall. Trace it 100 times. That way you know it by heart. Repeat. On whatever subject matter you like. Nothing too big. Just things to get your understanding down. I would hesitate to do any of those as tattoos just yet. That whole crawl before you can walk thing. I started in the same place, and not too long ago at that. While I have a fine art background, learning to draw a panther, or oni, or rose, or swallow, or dragon, or whatever...it takes a lot of practice to do so correctly. I'm still figuring it all out...much like the rest of us.