Graeme

Congratulations @Russ though I don't know why you'd want to cover that tattoo up with an LST t-shirt!

It's a tattoo you've had for a while and is healed? I have some tattoos that raise up a bit sometimes, usually and as far as I can tell, due to things like weather, heat, and humidity. I'd say that if it isn't much of an annoyance and only happens from time to time that it's best to just leave it alone and ignore it. If it is a nuisance I'd try taking antihistamines to see if that has an effect.

I'm not a tattoo artist, so take my advice as you will, but I think the tattoo would be a lot stronger if you dropped the text entirely or reduced it to a short phrase to represent the whole. It will be hard to fit that amount of text in a half-sleeve area and make it both fit your body and be able to do it large enough to keep it readable for years to come. For the drawing part of it, I looked at the album cover and I thought of the tattoos of Cris Cleen and Aron J. Dubois. They do this fine-line, kind of Victorian-styled thing that I think would work really well with an interpretation of that cover. Cris Cleen tattoos out of Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn, and Aron Dubois works in Portland, OR, but he does guest at Saved. Here's a Cris Cleen tattoo that is the kind of thing I was thinking about here:

I saw Robert Fisher play solo more years ago than I care to think about because it makes me feel old (I would guess around 2005?) and he has one hell of a voice. Really good performer and a nice guy from what I recall.

I love the humour in them. There's not enough funny art.

Welcome! As far as advice for designing a half sleeve goes, I strongly recommend that you leave the design up to a tattoo artist, especially because you say that you aren't great at art. What are you thinking of? Also, if you let us know where you live I'm sure we can recommend some great artists near you.

Black in your arm. Nobody here really gives much of a shit about the tattoos you get.

I posted in here before about how horrible my inner arm was, and I completely stand by that post--that was the only time I have literally gasped in pain while getting tattooed--but I've had a bunch more tattooing on my inner arms since and I think the problem with that really painful session was that I'd slept for around two hours the night (morning of really, fuck working nights) of the tattoo. Getting tattooed on very little sleep is the absolute fucking worst.

That same tattooed lady was advertising Thai food on public transportation here a year or so ago: Oh, stock photography.

Welcome! We'd love to see pictures if you have any.

I hate this kind of thing.

Dan Sinnes was there I guess four years ago so if he comes back...

I believe I read on instagram that she'll be showing that tattoo at the Perseverance exhibition. I can only imagine that it's one of those tattoos where the picture does it absolutely no justice, but yeah, those pinks and blues with the smooth black and grey...incredible.

I look forward to hanging out with you and talking dick tattoos again!

Welcome! What are you looking to get? There are a load of great tattooers in Alberta, even more if you look to BC. I'm a big fan of Lucas Ford's tattoos. He's in Red Deer. Website here. James Tex in Calgary does really excellent tattoos. You can find him at Deadly. Ollie XXX in Edmonton does great traditional. Website here. There's really nice looking work coming out of Bushido Tattoo in Calgary. See if any of those appeal to you.

If you're willing to go to LA to get tattooed, I'd suggest checking out Tattooland. Chris Brand, Stan Corona, and Mike Suarez could all give you a great tattoo. I'm not sure all these images will work, but let's try this: Chris Brand: Stan Corona (kind of wanted to find a picture of a dragon he's done, but this backpiece is just too good to not share): Mike Suarez: Personally, I wouldn't worry about things like waiting lists. You might have to wait, you might not, but it's far more important to get the tattoo you really want.

I posted this in the latest tattoo lowdown a couple of months ago when we got them, but me and my wife @Pugilist got matching tattoos (again) in December. Chris Hold at Sacred Heart in Vancouver did them and they're from Doc Forbes flash because what else would you get as a souvenir tattoo in Vancouver? Mine is on the left, hers is on the right.

Have you seen pictures of the skull octopus Yoni Zilber did on the author China Mieville? There are plenty of pictures of it around on the internet and it's rad. You're going to get a great tattoo.

What is this myth? That because somebody has tattoo equipment that they're automatically a professional? Who actually is saying that? You used a lot of words to express something that could be said in a short sentence. I find it odd that you felt the need to even post this here because if you look at the Latest Tattoo Lowdown thread and the Tattoo of the Month contests it should be obvious that people here know a thing or two about getting tattooed. If you take a long view of tattooing, none of this is new in any way. George Burchett wrote about scratchers in the early 20th century; Stoney talks about it; I can't remember if it's in Justin Spring's biography of him or in Bad Boys and Tough Tattoos, but Phil Sparrow doesn't have a lot of good things to say about the tattooers on State Street in Chicago. In Ed Hardy's autobiography he talks about people who tattooed for the money who didn't have any love or respect for the art. This is all way before reality TV and the internet. There have always been hacks. There will always be hacks. There's no point in wasting any excess energy caring about this.

I believe that the correct nomenclature here is "nip zips". I didn't think my collarbones were too bad. There were unpleasant moments for sure (hello vibrations through my entire skeleton!) but it wasn't awful.

I know it doesn't count for much, put I think a penis-headed Hot Stuff devil is hilarious

@Victor I don't see a "common sphere of activity" around tattoos. For the overwhelming majority of people who get tattoos or are planning on getting tattoos, their involvement in tattoos begins and ends with going into a shop and getting tattooed. And that is totally fine, I think there's nothing wrong with getting tattoos and not wanting to get covered or go to conventions or participate in forums like this one. When I think of a "scene" I think of people organized around a common interest, sure, but I also see a lot of boundaries and exclusion and trying to fit in, and that is going to push a lot of people away. If you want people to get better tattoos, being open and inclusive and actually listening to people is going to be far more useful. Now let's see some tattoo pictures.

Hah! You think we're cool.

My issue here is that while I more or less agree with the idea of educating people about tattoos so that they have the understanding to be able to look at, recognise, and get good work, I still don't want to read the OP's post. It isn't engaging, it doesn't connect with people, and I don't think it even makes a genuine attempt to connect with people. I also feel that one of the things that makes LST a really special place is that there is a tremendous amount of first-hand knowledge and experience here, at this point mostly with collectors, though if you look back far enough there used to be a lot of really great artists posting here too, and @Victor, I've seen a lot of thoughts and ideas from you so far, but you haven't said if you're an artist or a collector, you haven't told us about your tattoos or told good tattoo stories, you haven't posted pictures. Tattoo pictures are like currency here. This matters. Experience matters. It's always better to speak specifically and to direct personal experience. As far as trying to educate people about good tattoos--and I don't mean to imply any kind of tattoo evangelism here, because when it comes down to it, people get the tattoos they get and if people are going to go to hacks and butchers, that isn't going to have any effect on the tattoos I get--I think LST's motto of GET GOOD TATTOOS is key here. In my day to day life, people I know who are interested in tattoos will talk to me because it's obvious from looking at me that I like tattoos and I get good ones, and I can direct them to good shops and artists, or offer them solid advice. I have a friend who recently started getting tattooed who wasn't especially interested in tattoos until me and my wife started getting seriously tattooed because he didn't know that tattoos could look like the ones we get. He thought they all looked like the shitty ones you typically see around. Good tattoos begets good tattoos.