bongsau

geez, every tattoo either looks like a penis or has a penis hidden in it somewhere...cmon guys you should know this haha

My girlfriend is awesome. She has ZERO tattoos. She loves me for who I am and fully appreciates me. She values that tattoos are part of my identity and one of the ways I've found to express myself. The trips to the beach are sure to be interesting haha.

you're overthinking it dude. it's fine. and you got tonnes of real estate to make more tattoos around it.

just get some more tattoos all down the arm. take your time. i think people are so fixated on having the "sleeve" look ... if you want a sleeve, you get er all designed and done at once (multiple sittings). otherwise just load that god damn arm up with a variety tattoos. whatever makes you happy and inspired and feel confident. it doesn't have to match. puzzle piece em. tile em. layer em. just get the tattoos 🙂

unity - panther loyalty - eagle family - anchor love - rose sounds like you're signing up for (4) timeless tattoos in the future 😉

i don't think i would have bothered tbh, but i don't think you or anyone else should be too hard on your/yourself for asking. you were uncomfortable and spoke up. it's good that he obliged you, it's part of the tattooers job to make you feel comfortable while making you the best possible tattoo. especially if it is your first tattoo interaction with them. technically it would be sterile, especially since a fresh bottle of ink. i get more concerned with the number of tattooers i see accessing their phones mid-tattoo (with gloves they are using on you). phones are disgusting. don't lie, everyone checks their instagram or twitter while sitting on the toilet !

hahaha gotcha !

#sarcasm ... you're not going to get cancer from machine

my white bird turns into a golden bird every summer. my whites have always had a bit of a seasonal colourshift, so that beige is somewhat expected. I've seen it to where if you overwork white it comes out beige. also my legs have always been a bitch to heal. some of my tattoos are in my profile gallery, so enjoy 🙂 and welcome to the cancer-free forum !

i have large blocks of white on my sleeve and backpiece and highlights all over. the arm is 12 years old, the back is 5. there is also white mixed in with other coloured ink throughout. so i have it all over. i have never had a reaction to it, it was all packed in properly by good tattooers, no reactions and it definately has lasted. i would be more worried about a family history of cancer, toxins in the environment and our food supply than i am about getting cancer from tattooing. actually i would be more worried about getting cancer from a rotary-pen tattoo machine...but i digress

I started taking Italian language classes.

oof 1 hour long break ... that would just drain whatever gas I had in the tank. long breaks like that deplete the momentum of a session. doesn't look like the tattooist was even hitting you that hard with the machine. idk the body is weird. dry heal it out and leave it alone.

if you do go the stars/dots route, suggest you get them all done at once by the same tattooer, so they look consistent. and a tattooer that is experienced with that traditional look. but idk, perhaps just leave it. adding dots/stars could really muddy it all up, i'm not sure if it will really 'bring it together' - your pieces are all black and they are already fairly close together. you still got room for a nice wrist tattoo and what looks like a lot of torso real estate for some really cool big interesting pieces. that might help you take your own focus away from feeling your arm is incomplete (which i don't think it is, looks great as-is).

@MoonWraith every post i've read in this thread you were putting something new on it...leave it alone and quit putting lotion, creams, ointments, etc etc.... let it dry heal. it's going to be fine. legs are difficult to heal, especially for large tattoos where you get hit with the line, black/shade, colour one after the other in a sitting. my whole hand looked like your scab for 6 weeks. it turned out just fine. just relax, and take a breath, what a frantic thread to read 😉 tattoo looks great.

"the artist is pretty well known for his linework" da fuq?

yes, context is everything. I stand by what I said to this young girl "just get the tattoos you want". who cares. i hope that she heard that, if she was in fact sincere about tattoos. if she does get the same tattoo I wear, well i hope it's done really well and gives her the confidence and exciting feelings it gave me. own it ! everything has been done and reproduced. sure, she might end up with a similar tattoo in the same spot...everything has already been done...but no way is it possible for her to copy my look of (6) neck tattoos unless she wants to recreate the last 6 years of my life. i feel that the modern-age of internet tattoo picture collecting is feeding into this. Like, everyone is always taking photos of themselves, their surroundings and everything and anything...that we have forgotten etiquette and how to interact with the real world and more importantly each other real-time as people.

How do you react when strangers ask to photograph your tattoos ? --------- so this happened the other night at a rock concert...younger chick (she had small sticker and black out tattoos) gets in my face with her iphone and her opening line is: girl: hey i want to take a picture of your neck tattoo me: um, no thank you - it's cool if you want to take a closer look but I don't want my picture taken right now. girl: well, i work at the counter of a tattoo studio. me: cool, good for you. girl: yeah, my tattoo artists wants to give me that exact same tattoo on my neck. so i want to take a picture of yours to show them. me: excuse me? yeah, no. you can't take a picture of my tattoo. girl: but, i want to take a picture of your neck tattoo to show him... ~why i shouldn't get it~ me: <<WTF did she just say??>> yknow lady, just get whatever tattoos you want. i'm not the first and not the last to have this imagery. but sorry, you cannot take a photo of mine for your reference. girl: well, ~i seen ~ some like that on the internet before. me: great, good for you. i got mine on a trip to Belgium. girl: <blank stare> me: it was a really enlightening experience. girl: so i can't take a picture of it then? me: no, you can't. girl: fine. whatever. ---------------------- Now i've been approached on the beach and on the street before, perhaps people find my tattoo look interesting and i give off a welcoming energy. These are often interactive, friendly and interesting exchanges. I don't mind that ! Like, can't we just have a normal conversation, use that to inspire ideas...seriously some people are a bit clueless...... but hey at least she asked ... it's too bad she couldn't just be normal and have an open conversation about tattooing, I'd probably have been less dismissive ... but she came on a bit strong like she was entitled to take a photo of my neck tattoo ... uncool ... end rant... Anybody else experience the random photograph request ? How do you respond and deal with it ?

having an ideal for a perfect design is going to set yourself up for disappointment. i've seen it happen often for first-timers, they carry this idea of the perfect tattoo for years and years and try to incorporate every single idea/detail that jumps in their head into the perfect tattoo to give it some idealistic meaning, to justify the tattoo to themself and others. that sets the artist up for failure if they try to cram all these dumb details into an undersized tattoo. And it will leave you disappointed because it will not match the idea of the perfect tattoo in your head. there is a degree of trust you need to have in the tattooer, so choose well and choose wisely - trust that this tattooer will design and make you a nice tattoo, with nice layout that fits your body, a good composition, proper execution and (also very important) a positive, exciting experience for you to remember how you popped your tattoo cherry. my advice - keep it simple and you should be able to articulate what you want in a couple words. be flexible and open to the tattooers interpretation of your concept.

i'm not going to pretend i understand post-prison or gang life...but i wish you luck so you can take your kid to the public pool one day and enjoy a normal life. cheers

this is what i mean by black and oversized. don't be intimidated by the size (ie go big) with respect to your wallet...big hits of chunky black like that go really fast with the right tattooist.

you could pick some traditional americana type imagery with heavy black emphasis and blast over the past. something like a reaper or eagle or panther head...layout like an oversized belly rocker. it's gonna have to be really big. might need to hit it with laser once or twice to lighten it up. idk dude. good luck.

hey that's great. communication solved your problem.

ok, am i missing something? i don't see any initials...just some random letters all over which i just assumed was part of the trash polka tattoo "style".

I think if you are going to get a backpiece tattoo you should have a clear idea of what exactly you want...my $0.02.