bongsau

New site looks awesome ! Thank you to all who manage this site in the background. Still getting accustomed to the navigation and flow. So far so good. Can't seem to get the emoticons working yet...like bro I need to post the :cool: sunglasses happy face at the end of all my posts haha

haha yup. but when you have buds who are like this...and then they FINALLY get that tattoo they keep yapping about it. it is pretty exciting to watch them be excited. one of my favourite things in the tattoo shop is watching somebody get their first tattoo. wait - this is pet peeve thread, i'm supposed to be complaining, not posting about my favourite things haha cheers

You find experts in anything you do. People generally get excited about what they like and want to appear very knowledgeable. And with tattoos they also want to appear tough - "like I sat for 10hrs straight", I hear this brag statement so often for the most unsubstantial tattoos it is nauseating. I'm like, good for you that must have hurt! But when it's obvious they got grey lined, then lined, then re-lined again and then delicately grey shaded I'm like suuuure bud that must. have. hurt (your pocket) ! But whatever, I know what's up with my tattoos and my tattooists and what it really takes to go the distance, so good for them. I guess my peeve is people asking about your tattoos. They don't sincerely ask about your tattoos. Nobody gives a shit about your tattoos. Maybe I'm being a little melodramatic...but 90% of the time being asked about your tattoos is simply the unsolicited invitation for people to just talk and show off their own. It is a penis-measuring contest. People love to talk. And love hearing themselves talk. And perhaps I'm no different. I mean really I post here at LST often because this is one of the very few outlets I have (aside from the tattoo shop) where I can wax about tattoos and my experience with honesty (and feel like I have an audience haha). So peace to the LST cats for reading my words, whether you reply or care. Or you can just scroll past, who cares! There is a lot of ego and attitude in the tattoo scene. So perhaps the lesson for me here is to ask people about their tattoos (in person) more often when i do see something cool or fresh. Everybody has their own story to tell. It's all good though. Just keep getting tattooed because you enjoy it. Enjoy it for yourself. The people who truly are ass-deep (literally) into tattoos no what's up and will keep the culture thriving, pet peeves or not.

@Wedge awesome, digging the detail in the dove !

gonna repost in this thread cause i'm super stoked on my latest n greatest Snake by Scott Rusnak / Lucky Strike Tattoo Edmonton 2016 body wraps onto the inside of the wrist. i'm really happy with the placement which was tricky because I didn't want to lose the dragonfly above. i'm stoked about the negative halo to keep it pop'd. the snake tongue is super legit. Dragonfly (aka Snakedoctor) by Shawn O'Connor / Ink Machine Tattoo Edmonton, AB 2014 considerably lower anxiety during the healing. it's 1 week old now and the snake had it's first shed. the tongue is really scabby but so far everything is holding. hands are a bitch to heal. so now both hands are done and sleeves dropped down all the way to the edge of the wrist. ink is leaking out of my long sleeve shirts yeeehaw

just re-reading this thread from last year. i'm finding myself thinking more about armpits and feet now that my neck and hands are done (along with every other major spot). i started sweating and feeling sharp pain in the pits just reading the above. shit. tattoos are dumb haha

killer tattoo, awesome placement. the way it the tattoo cuts on the chest is very nice. just enough. and the length is perfect! it will be exciting for you to watch how your dragon design comes to life at each stage with the blackground and colour. congrats, well done @otisc

yeah you're not going to get that $200 back, you missed the opportunity to discuss the hours charged. its done. If you feel slighted because you were overcharged, vote with your wallet and find someone new to get tattoo from. if a tattooer was interrupting our sit to go smoke multiple times in 2hrs leaving me open on the table I wouldn't be going back. OR go back for another premium tattoo because you know it will have a good outcome and you will be happy with the results. it's not uncommon for repeat clients to get the cost rounded down. honestly, in the long run i've received more bang-for-buck from the premium artists than the ones charging the regular rates. so get over the $200 and just enjoy the tattoo. keep getting tattooed, the $200 credit will come back to you

double posting

5 days into the dreaded hand / wrist heal. DRY HEAL N PEEL OH YEAH

hey welcome. that's when i got my first tattoo and look at the mess i'm in now! years later i'm i'm one of the few professional engineers around with hand and neck tattoos, my calling card haha

If you need to ask an internet forum "is it safe" you already know the answer. Tattoos are exciting. We all agree on that. But don't let that drown out the hesitation present in your voice (words). There are several red flags. First of which is getting tattooed in some random guy's apartment. Yeah, that seems like a legit world class tattooist :/ Your long-term health is far more valuable than "art" or tattoos. Unless you are fairly experienced with getting tattoo I would be very cautious. update - you did the right thing

hot n fresh out the kitchen by Scott Rusnak / Lucky Strike Tattoo / Edmonton, AB, CAN

welcome ! Idle Hand is where I'd be going in SF for sure I've never been there but my bud has a sweeeet tattoo from Austin Maples of the reggae-dancehall duck-dance duck and it is one of my fave tattoos I've seen. Sounds like you got a bad ass plan, do it. good luck !

never heard 10 before...all the new tattooers are using like 15s to line out to get that siiiiick fat blown-out look on the fresh neo-trad tattoos. yknow instead of lining it proper and letting the years of age do its thang. gonna look awesome in 10 years! every been shaded with a 30 mag? shit looks like a metal paint brush ! (seriously though @Wamo ... you want to know what/why guys are using to line and shade? Not going to find it on the internetz...go get some tattoos and figure out the mechanics behind what's going on and follow the "LAW" Listen-ask-watch ...) cheers

yeah basically you will need something blackAF and bigAF if you are expecting to cover the triangle mess completely. I don't see a minor touchup correcting the roughness of your triangle tattoo. other options are live with it or laser. or black out that section of your arm and fade into your abstract / optical illusion idea

get a big black panther up your forearm.

top 3 3. Kidneys and Lower back 2. Butt-thigh crease 1. Back of the knee

yknow i think the tribal waves are the best part. The design is a bit abstract - but that's ok, almost like a graffiti style. the white though is overdone, i don't like the powerlining everywhere. And hindsight is always 20/20 with tattoos. Lots of things I would have done differently with my tattoos...which is irrelevant because they are a permanent; a timestamp of my decision making and artist-approval for each tattoo. Just relax let the thing heal and settle under the skin.

hey @Vinnie welcome bud don't worry your arm isn't going to fall off. I went through the same thing on a leg piece and on occasion with other tattoo works. I would think it is likely folliculitis or some form of contact dermatitis. https://wiki.bme.com/index.php?title=Folliculitis (disclaimer...without seeing a picture + I'm only a dermatologist on the internetz) try dry healing next time and use epsom salts and soak in a bath to relieve if you are getting more of the red bumps. important thing is to keep it clean. advice i got from one of my tattooers a long time ago when i had the first reaction. i think he told me to also take benedryl or some other allergy med, in the event is from an ink or latex allergy. from too much gunk clogging your pores and hair follicles during the tattoo and through healing. Think about it - we get a rough dry shave with alcohol and a disposable bic razor, stencil, vaseline, tattoo trauma, stretching/gripping skin etc during the tattoo and then we smear all this dumb branded shit like ointments, lotions, peanut butter and snake oil on our tattoos afterwards. and i bet most people use waaaaay too much. seems obvious it would cause inflammation of the hair follicles, especially if you have coarser hair or you are a werewolf. you really don't need much. let it dry out and then use small pea drops of unscented lotion or ointment to alleviate super-dryness and avoid scabbing, cracking. good luck.

Welcome, great story. Especially the Pinky Yun one. A 20yo tribal tattoo is just as interesting to me as a flashy fresh piece, if not more. Got some history behind it! My first tattoos just slightly poked out of t-shirt sleeves. And I thought it was a huge deal. Then I got my forearms and I told my tattooer I was finally ready to jump into the "big stuff" and my guy laughed at me because he put a big dragon on my ribs a few years before. Then after 10 years of tattoos I busted my neck cherry and got the first tattoo that could not be hidden (w/out looking like a jerk in a turtleneck). I got a piece that creeps on my hand a couple months ago and I was hyper conscious, especially in work meetings. Now it's no big deal. I'm getting the other side done at the end of the week. So I'm sure I've got a few weeks of the ugh post-tattoo anxiety comin' haha. You become VERY aware of your new tattoos when they are visible at first. Then the idea (and ink) settles into the skin, the people around you get used to it and it's just business as usual. No big deal. It's just a tattoo, simple as that. Perfectly normal and the fun part of the tattoo lifestyle. Cheers

DO IT i had a friend who years ago made the comment "tattoos only look good on really fat dudes and really skinny dudes"

hi welcome to LST :cool:

@Naiemh If you are collapsing and having some pretty adverse symptoms multiple times after big tattoo sittings...it's your body telling you you're putting it under too much stress and to take it easy. Try eating a simple healthy meal mid-way through the session, that may help. Or talk to your tattooer and perhaps you can schedule more shorter sessions. Being impatient may be your other problem. Finishing a back tattoo in under a month is biting off more than most can chew, especially if you're having adverse symptoms like fainting and blurred vision. Finishing a big tattoo project in 3-4 months is still very quick and respectable. You need to give your body enough time to recover from the tattoo session and deal with healing the areas. The numbing gel isn't going to solve your problem. It may help you get through the last 1 hr if you and your tattooer are strategic about where/when to apply it. But you're still going to have to sit through some times of feeling everything. After the numbing wears off it is going to hurt waaay worse. good luck

i suppose you could but I think good use of negative space will make the tattoo look better here are some examples of that illustrative style using gradient and stipple shading from a local bud Casper (dude who runs blackworkers IG): ps i think you should just get a tat of your sweet lego-person mspaint sketch lol ! pps look up Gustav Dore (if you haven't heard of him already) for some inspiration in the artistic style you are asking