Graeme

I think people are really overstating the timelessness of traditional tattoos. I first started seeing them in the mid to late 90s when hardcore kids started getting them. I would guess this was to a large extent the influence of Higgs trickling down, though I did know a dude who got a bunch of bad old metal tattoos covered up with some really beautiful classic traditional done by The Dutchman in probably around 98 or so, and that was coming from a different place. Regardless, traditional tattoos have a time and a place, there isn't this continuity with them that a lot of people imagine there is, and my suspicion is that it's probably not going to be too long before traditional is going to be looked at with the same kind of sneering derision that a lot of people usually save for tribal or chromed out dragon sleeves. I'm not saying that a well-done traditional tattoo isn't going to age super well and that a big fuck off eagle on the chest or roses or a panther or whatever isn't always going to look badass, because it will, and I'm going to continue getting tattoos like that because they're powerful and they get me stoked, but don't fool yourself into thinking that they'll always be the "cool" tattoos. There are a lot of twenty year olds out there who are keepin' it super old school by getting face tattoos who are putting on shitty "traditional" tattoos that look like total ass. There's stupid things circulating of old timey celebrities with traditional tattoos photoshopped on them, I mean, there was a recent thread here about a gallery show of fucking porcelain dolls with traditional tattoos painted on them. Shit is becoming an unfunny joke.

I've never done anything like this and I need to figure out exactly how I'm going to do it, but it should be a lot of fun. I suppose if the only thing I'm in any way qualified to teach is beer drinking, I've done pretty okay in life so far.

I usually leave mine at home. Seems a hassle travelling with them.

This completely flies in the face of all the talk of sobriety here, but it looks like I'm going to be teaching a course on beer tasting in the fall.

We're all a bunch of unoriginal bastards anyway. Waiting for chromed out shit to come back.

Welcome! Plenty of great tattooers in Vancouver, who's zappin' you?

Haha yes, and that would look super badass especially if you add some flames.

Why do you want to get a tattoo in a language you don't know how to write?

Art school.

I got this from Tom Yak at Electric Tattoo on Saturday. It's not a great picture because it's hard to take a picture of the back of your own arm, but you get the idea. Electric is a great shop.

@suburbanxcore Damn, so beautiful. The colour in the peonies is amazing.

Going waaaaay back here, but I'm going to have to pass on an LST meetup this time around. I can't really take any time off work at the moment so we're driving the eight or so hours to NJ tomorrow after I finish work, get tattooed Saturday at who knows what time because walk-ins, then head back earlyish on Sunday so I can be back at work early Monday morning. Should be fun. We're hoping to make a NYC area trip later this year, maybe October, and we should for sure do a meetup then. It would be great to meet you folks.

I'm sorry that you continually get attacked by them, but you have to admit that corvids are really amazing birds.

Tattoos take as long as they take, there's not much to be gained in comparing the speed at which different tattooers tattoo, especially when they're working in very different styles.

@rozone Have you ever posted that Keith Stewart tattoo? I'd love to see it.

Credit should go where credit is due, this idea actually came from @BrianH Anyway, here's my legs, or the start of them anyway. You can't actually see most of what I have on them. The panther rose was done by Chad Koeplinger, the ship is by Ron Henry Wells, you can see a bit of a swallow done by Bert (I don't know his last name but he goes as "Bert Monster") who worked at Tattoomania in Montreal when I got that tattoo, but now works out of a private studio, I believe. You can also see tiny bits of a rose and a snake done by Tony D'Annessa, and a tiger-faced hannya done by Danny at Tatouage Artistique. More towards the back of my right leg, and totally out of view is a piece of Doc Forbes flash done by Chris Hold who tattoos at Sacred Heart in Vancouver. Not everything on them goes together, but I like my legs because it's been a lot of fun getting those tattoos. I'm waiting to hear on some time off I requested from work to go to Barcelona, so hopefully I'll manage to add something else to my legs from El Monga or another one of those Aloha guys in July.

Congratulations @TrixieFaux! You know how much I love a good raven tattoo and yours is a great one!

The Rubin Museum is incredible, I'm going to have to see if I can make it down before the exhibition ends. Thanks for the heads up.

A guy who tattoos in a local street shop was telling me about flash they have of a manatee with a big cock. Nobody has ever gotten it, kind of surprising given the neighborhood really, but you can't account for taste. I wonder if there's any relation to the manatee jumping over the moon design.

Welcome!

No matter what you want you should instead get two animals fighting. Unless you want three animals fighting.

New signature.

Find the best artist you can and get a dragon fighting a lion as a full torso piece.

Haha, no. I was looking through a book of Buddhist iconography and that was the only thing they had for drum. The book unfortunately doesn't have any pictures of the drums, thus Google. Still pretty cool though.

Do they not have Google in the Bay Area because I swear that I read somewhere that they do. Something like this: