Graeme

You're in New York? Why go for "a lot of potential" when there people in NYC who do unbelievable Japanese work? Just off the top of my head, look into Chris O'Donnell, Mike Rubendall, Troy Denning, Shinji, Kiku, Chris Garver.

For your first tattoo do exactly what your artist tells you to do. You'll figure out what aftercare works best for you with experience but until you understand how you heal, just go with what your artist tells you to do. Other than that, be well rested and have a decent meal beforehand. Good luck and have fun!

I got this picture of Chad starting the gorilla on you: And here's one screencapped from Pierre of me getting zapped by Chad earlier that evening:

This is true, I take so much better care of my skin with tattoos. Sunscreen whenever I'm out in the sun, moisturising pretty much every day, the occasional exfoliating scrub...

Chad posted it on instagram and HOLY SHIT.

Nice list! I'd love to see pictures of some of those if you're willing to share them. Welcome aboard!

Did you have your appointment with Chad yesterday? Or is it today?

So are you suggesting that artists should have a lawyer on retainer to go after anybody who infringes on their copyright? Because that's really the only thing I can think of that would, and in only specific cases, prevent people from ripping off artists. Ryan Begley who does Shirts and Destroy recently wrote a thing about Affliction ripping off S&D and how in his case, even with a lawyer on his side, he wasn't even able to get a cease and desist order against Affliction because intellectual property is a "grey area". I'm sure Affliction can afford better lawyers than Ryan Begley too. I don't know any artists who have the time or money to actually fight against every instance that somebody has ripped them off, and no, that does not "equal consent".

If that's the case I will buy you a beer afterward because it will be well-earned and necessary.

This fits with this thread. This is some of my favorite all time music:

Anybody who lists "manipulation of others" as an interest sounds like a total douche.

This year's Montreal convention is still a long way off, but they just released the poster for the convention: Mike Rubendall did the poster and it's a truly great one. If past years are any indication, it'll be a while yet before we see what artists will be attending, but Val and Pierre from Tattoomania always do a tremendous job with the convention and get some of the finest tattooers from around the world to attend, it's held in a beautiful space, and it's a really fun time in a great city. We also had a little LST meetup last year and it was a real pleasure to meet some of you in person. This year, the convention is going to start off at the Yves Laroche Gallery with a showing of new paintings from Phil Holt, Timothy Hoyer, Lango Oliveira, and Edu Cerro and if you've been following those guys on instagram you know that the show is going to have some pretty spectacular pieces in it. Anyway, here are links to the convention: website instagram facebook Who is planning on going?

Not a tattooer, but I'm going to be in Providence next week and I've heard great things about Providence Tattoo, and met Dennis briefly at the Montreal convention last year, so I hope to stop by the shop and check it out.

Welcome! Jeremy Swed sure does some nice tattoos and that interview with him is great. I'll second the call for pictures, we'd love to see them.

I think the most important thing here is to go to an artist who does tattoos that you get excited about and that you trust, give her your ideas and let her figure out what will or won't work. In general though, I'd say that it's better to keep things simple and not try to fit too much in a single tattoo, because that's what other tattoos are for. Also, don't worry about giving her ideas that in retrospect might seem stupid...I'm sure we can all look back at some of our tattoos and think "what the fuck was I thinking asking for that"...part of the fun of getting tattooed is that there's this whole learning process involved that you can really only get from actually getting tattooed.

A lot of literary tattoos are terrible because people are far too concerned with the literariness of them and not enough with actual tattoo design. I think there are a lot of ways of doing literary tattoos that are great and are probably overlooked by most people wanting literary tattoos...the scholarly skull or any permutation on that design is always great, you could look at ex libris bookplates for ideas, I can't find any reference images from a really quick google search but I am certain there are some Mucha or other Art Nouveau drawings that would fit the criteria. In general, I think too many people who want "meaningful" tattoos don't care enough about aesthetics and get crappy tattoos because of it. Here's my book tattoo done by Seth Wood. It's the Necronomicon, pretty obviously.

Thanks for that @taaarro

You're getting tattooed by Ron? Ask him, he always has excellent recommendations.

I pillaged this one from Tomas Tomas's instagram and he said there that he got it from the Yokohama Tattoo Museum: That suit is so striking and powerful. I will readily admit that I am pretty ignorant about tattoos, and this photo really hammers that point home: I had no idea that there were Japanese bodysuits done like that with the heavy black and negative space. Does anybody know more about this photo?

I don't have the banhammer but lumping bluegrass and folk together with indie and alternative makes me want to pulp your balls with a hammer. That said, I always have time for some Townes: And I dig that 70s British acid folk stuff quite a bit too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFl6VlorBMo

I've come back to this thread so many times just to stare at @Russ 's back. That tattoo is so fucking phenomenal.

@DevilMan that's so bold and rad!

Prime Meats on Court Street (pretty much next to Black Gold) is excellent and only a couple of blocks away, though I've only had brunch there. There are a load of great places on Smith Street. I don't remember the name of the place but there's a great Cuban place nearby, Seersucker is supposed to be great, the bar next to it...maybe it's called The Brooklyn Social Club? is great for a post-tattoo drink. Nice cocktails and some Sixpoint on draft if I remember right.

Welcome Roel! Who has tattooed you?

I'm not a tattooer, but I think that would be a tattooable design. I don't know how dramatic you're willing to go, but I would think that a more faithful rendering of the Apollo 8 mission badge would look better as a tattoo than your simplified rendering of it though.