littlefox1970

Hahaha ... exactly! :D There is no such thing as perfect. It's unreasonable to expect anything more than near-perfect. :)

I have no intentions of tattooing anyone else, rest easy. :) I suppose the reason I'm doing it is the same as most tattoo artists who went before me ... love of tattoos and love of art. I was just hoping someone with a little know how would throw me a bone or two regarding color ... knowledge is always appreciated.

Something that really caught me off guard in applying color for the first time was the excessive deviation of colors from bottle to skin. I have read that our own skin pigment will change them somewhat ... but I was not expecting such a drastic difference! The blackish, bluish wings, tail and ears for example were done with this teal and The "pink" parts were done with this orange shade ... The mustard tone yellow stayed true and The lighter blue areas were my own mix and pretty much what I expected. There doesn't seem to be any consistency ... some will stay true, and others won't! A little daunting when the only way to experiment is with permanent marks on the body! lol

This is beautiful, Gingerninja :) I love the color saturation in the tiger!

Nice DJ ... thanks for sharing that article with us. I found it very interesting! :) To be honest, in my youth I had a distinct inclination towards ocd myself. In high school I was hand printing everything ... striving for the perfection of a typewriter. I would use pen, and if I made one print error I would crumple up the whole sheet and start over. I got to a point where I finally realized that this was not only wasting my time but also making me quite miserable, so I began working towards curbing my instinct to be so irrationally demanding of myself. As I improved in that area I became more happy. :) At this point in life I can truly appreciate the zen and wabi-sabi frame of mind... Youngjason, I do hope you will grow to appreciate them also, with time and effort. :)

Better to lose a little ink than a little limb. You can always have the tattoo touched up again if there's any fading ...

Welcome to the LST forums ... I look forward to seeing your tattoos and exchanging thoughts. :)

Maybe consider "fixing" the obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) instead of "fixing" the misplaced dot on the tattoo?

Yes indeed ... how it heals up will be the true measure of how well I've done. The outline had me wishing it was over already when I was only halfway through, so I was expecting the coloring to be hell ... but it was less painful. :) Either way, admittedly not the most pleasant place to get a tattoo! lol Focusing on doing good work probably helps alot ...

As for the flower: Color would not "cover" the shading in the flower, exactly ... it would live with it. If you sketched your flower with a black pencil crayon mindful of values (darks and lights) and then went over it with a color, you would kind of see what will happen. The black will still be visible underneath. Artists will sometimes use darker to lighter tones of a certain color for shading effect. But more often they will use "gray" shading (like yours) before adding color. Present your artist with the idea .... he can probably explain better what the exact results will be.

Ohhhh, I see .... that makes your intention altogether different. I too am sorry for the misunderstanding - for assuming your comment was directed at my post. Apologies for my reaction ~

Awww ... so cute :) Beautiful tattoo~

Hope hand blasting myself is a good thing? lol

Just finished my first completed attempt at tattooing, on myself, of course... I have NO intentions of tattooing anyone but myself. Not perfect, for sure ... but not too bad for a first try, I think. :) What do you all think of it?

Well, I've done some poking around online and discovered that although quite rare, bad reactions between different brands of ink can indeed occur when doing a cover up. Apparently Mario Barth made mention of this in one of his seminars. Must say I'm now more than a little apprehensive about continuing my cover up. Wish I could find out what ink was used for the original ... but that shop is long gone and I don't recall the name of the tattoo artist. :( Although much better now ... I'm still battling with a 1"x1" area that keeps flaring up. I will give it extra healing time then I will shade a small area and see how it heals before doing a full shading and coloring over the area. Here's hoping it was just a fluke ...

Hi Dan, I live in Quebec, Montreal to be precise. I am fluently bilingual (French and English) with a little understanding of Spanish. My first language is indeed English and my response to SStu was indeed sarcastic. I don't usually resort to sarcasm ... but some instances seem to be especially appropriate for it. Whereabouts are you? I was looking at the pictures you posted today and was admittedly a bit jelly ... some friends you have there ... Oliver Peck and Chris Nunez ,,,v ery cool ... lucky you! :)

Maybe I should have said "talented tattoo artist", rather than "professional". Hopefully my poor command of the English language has not given the wrong impression. I feel fortunate to have developed such a thick skin over the years ... heavy handed tattoo artists cause only minor irritation.

... photos can be so wierd sometimes ... the skin of your arms and back look so different from one another ...

Nice! I like this american old school interpretation of Japanese more than I like the traditional Japanese style ... I'm such a sucker for those bold lines ... Love it! :) The composition is outstanding here ... and that's probably one of the things I like least about what I have seen in the traditional Japanese ... the composition often gives me a weird vertigo. This one is so nicely balanced and spaced ...

Hahaha ...true that! Only God knows! Enjoy the journey! :)

Well, good news... The crazy worrisome burn is finally gone. You may have been right about infection ...I got worried enough myself that I went to the pharmacy earlier and bought some purell antibacterial gel with staph killer and aloe...a few liberal dousings with that this evening fixed the problem right away. The sting, the swelling and redness are all gone... it was miraculous. :) I dry healed all my other tattoos before this one, and never had a problem before ... never even really got that sunburned feel before. I'm definitely curious to see if I get the same reaction in a couple weeks when I start shading that area. Unusual reaction for me ... still curious to know if inks can be incompatible.

I wish you the best in whatever you choose to do ... I'd love to see your finished piece and hope you will come back to show it off! :)

Great book ... I also remember enjoying it in my youth. :) 60 plus hours ... wow .... might wanna do some shopping around my friend ... After a six hour tattoo ... I would suggest definitely letting it heal a couple weeks at least before doing more. But that's just my opinion. An immune system can get pretty bogged down after a 6 hour session even if you can take the pain of more. Which could lead to infection. A mockingbird would be a great one to start out with. :)

Hey there ... welcome to the tattoo world :) To try and answer some of your questions ... The drawing fee your artist asked of you is normal and even a little low in my experience. Does seem like a long wait, but if he's busy, he's busy. Many artists have long waiting lists ... so not all that surprising. His hourly rate runs about the same as decent artists here in Montreal do also ...about 100$ an hour. ... something I might suggest is maybe get a smaller tattoo from him before committing so much skin to him ... I don't think I'm the only one to have ever been disappointed by discrepancies between what a portfolio has reflected and what I have actually received ... buyer beware. Might also help you to judge his work speed and honesty. If he says the smaller tattoo will take 1-3 hours and it ends up 6 hours ... well. If he says 6 to 10 sessions as you mentioned above ... then I doubt that the sessions will be more than 1-2 hours each. Breaks are arranged beforehand with him but usually short and on your buck. Did he say 6-12 hours or 6-12 sessions? Tipping etiquette generally is 10-20% upon completion of the tattoo. There are several approaches to aftercare. Your tattoo artist will offer you his personal regimen for care at the end of your first session. 18 days is plenty of time to heal :) All of mine have healed almost fully (close,scab, itch and start peeling) within a week. Everyone is different, but if you can't wear a snug shirt after 18 days there is a serious problem. Hope my two cents has helped ... :)

Twas my pleasure. Bad experiences with tattoos can be very disheartening, for sure, but as you say there are artists out there who are very talented and do take pride in their work ... I pray that her next experience will be fulfilling! :)