Blue Tattoo

It looks good. I have two that are parallel to each other. And it depends on how I'm standing they tilt. But in the end it's on me and I'm glad I got them. I got one on my chest and had the artist redo the stencil 5 times till I was satisfied with the size, placement and levelness of it. He was very patient. Yet when I do anything that changes and that's one of the things I love about tattoos, they become part of our bodies and move and stretch and change over time. It makes me think of Ray Bradbury's 'Illustrated Man' great book btw.

I really like the bird and the sheep. And what @Dan said.

What this guy says.

Old school cool. That has a Sailor Jerry vibe.

Looks good, great size for the location, too.

That's the way I beach it, too! For sure sweat it out. I'm in SW Florida, and back in the 70's and 80's didn't bother with sunscreen. I'm paying for it now.

I had several of those hard little bumps on my tattoo, a band around my calf. They eventually disappeared. I don't know enough about it as to why your tattoo faded like that, I wonder if it's a low quality ink?

I get that about staying private. I may work up to a sleeve,but for now I'm going to go where it takes me. I know nobody can see them, it's just me. I still love it.

That makes sense. Do you have pics on this site?Have you used the same artist the whole time?

I'm going on 60, I started late.

I was curious if my age would have something to do with it. I'll continue to moisturize it and be patient. It is also the area that hurt the most during the session. Thanks.

So my question for the old timers. I got my tattoo, a band around my calf, 12 weeks ago and followed my artists advice. Kept it under the tape for a week and kept it moisturized(still do). It seemed to heal normally except for the back of my leg. It feels rough and raised almost like it's still peeling. If this is the way that it's going to be, I'm okay with it, I mean I still love it and I'm not deterred from getting more tattoos. Is this still healing, is it normal but just on the long side? Any ideas? You can kind of see it in this picture. The raised area is only in the darker blue the top of the piece has healed smoothly.

The first artist told me to give it 4 days, the second a week. I did the week, but I was tempted to pull it off earlier. My wife had her tattoo artist use the tape, but it was opaque, at least mine was clear so I could see mine.

Your tattoo has really nice line work. Sorry it's not what you envisioned, but no one will look at that with the same critical eye as you. Remember your friends have no expectations about your ink. They'll see what we see, a clean nice tattoo. Live with it for a while at least through the entire healing process then see how you feel. When I got my first tattoo I was disappointed because of lines that weren't as clean as I had originally imagined. The first thing I thought was laser to correct it. But after advice from this site and looking at loads of other tattoos, I considered the big picture. Like you I'm getting more. So in the end it's just one part of my tattoo experience. And, I love it now, and it's imperfections.

True, and it's moving fast.

With both of my tattoos I spent weeks sketching and reworking my ideas till I was happy and sure with my idea. And I still waited a few weeks living with the piece before I committed. I have several more ideas I'm working on and will probably so the same with them.

It's what both of the artists used on my tattoos. The second artist told me to keep it on for a week. So it's all I know and even though it's a pisser pulling it off, I'm very happy with the results.

What experts did you ask? You're better off asking this group.

When I had what I thought was blowout on my first tattoo I did a lot of research. I saw pics like this labeled as 'blowout'. But I'm interested to hear what the long timers here think.

I really like the old school Amy Winehouse, with her tats, too!

That made a difference on the hood and the robe around the sword.

I think it's a great idea. It's all new to me.

Me either

I really like the way it looks now. Not sure if it cleared up or I just got used to it, but the area that bothered me doesn't stand out at all anymore. I am thinking about my next tattoos already.