Graeme

Does this friend also think that rose tattoos aren't manly? Because there is no tattoo more manly than a rose, and that's a fact.

While acknowledging what you hint at about the complex issue of masculinity, I'm going to say that I think that butterfly tattoos are actually pretty tough.

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If you have any questions you can ask them here in your intro thread.

I liked the start of the article before it devolved into the usual clichés you find in mainstream writing about tattoos. Tattoos don't need validation from journalists, academics, or the art world.

I don't believe you because anybody who actually spent some time here, watched the interview videos, read the threads and so on, wouldn't then start an account saying that they're butchering people out of their kitchens but that they hope this place can help them fulfill their tattoo dreams. Stop tattooing.

I'm just curious, did you spend any time lurking here to get a sense of what this place is about before you created an account?

I'm going to elaborate on this from the report @Lance gave of Shige's seminar from this year's SFO convention: So based on that I'm going to say that doing straight copies of Shige's tattoos is garbage and that even if the copy is technically well done it's soulless and completely misses the essence of the tattoo.

I had the exact same reaction as you. Goddamn that is going to be incredible.

I think I post this every time you get tattooed by El Monga, but I really need an El Monga tattoo. I am envious that this tattoo isn't on me.

Hello and welcome! What are you getting?

I have a former neighbour who seems to be doing pretty well for himself--if you count gallery showings, publications, etc., as an indicator of "doing pretty well"--doing exactly that and calling it art. Doesn't mean that it isn't complete and utter flash-in-the-pan garbage though.

If you actually read what they're going on about (here) there's nothing banning tattooing, but they are outlawing carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reprotoxic ingredients (list here) being used in tattoo pigment. How much does this affect tattoo pigment in reality? I don't know. All of that said, I do know that prior to this law, France was already strict about regulating pigments, and that the regulations haven't stopped anybody from using whatever pigments they want to use. It's a non-issue.

Hahahahaha. Best of luck to you, good sir. I don't know what route you would take, but the I-87 through Upstate New York is a really beautiful and easy drive. It takes 7-8 hours for me to drive to NYC from Montreal and I've done that drive enough that it goes by pretty quickly. Realising that it really isn't a big deal to get there was really great not just in terms of getting tattooed, but also just in terms of realising that going to NYC can be a weekend trip. I feel that people here tend to think of it as being so far away, but it really isn't. And yeah, considering how many AMAZING tattooers are there, you'd be foolish to not go.

I don't know where the design originated but Flash From The Past has a couple of sheets with the design, one from the 1950s from Paul Coman and one from the 1920s with two variations of it by Owen Jensen. I'm not going to post pictures from the book on here though.

Thank you. I just mean that this conversation does touch on the business of tattooing and while I may have thoughts and opinions on things, I don't tattoo, tattoos aren't how I pay my bills and put food on my table, so I don't think that my opinion should carry much weight.

@BrianH With my rose morph I didn't supply Chad with any pictures. I told him that I wanted a panther rose, kind of like that famous Hardy backpiece, knowing that he would know what I wanted. Chad drew it on me with Sharpie. It was pretty amazing to see him just draw something like that on with no reference, but that's why I wanted Chad to do that tattoo. Basically, I agree with @CultExciter here about wanting to promote the best in tattooing. Sure, people are bringing in things they printed off the Internet to get tattooed, but there are also tons of people who want words tattooed upside down and I don't think we should talk about and promote that as an idea here either. And sure, there's plenty of grey area here too. Sailor Jerry stuff is maybe one thing, but the mention of "modern flash" in the original post bothers me. Anyway what I think about this stuff doesn't count for much.

Why? Because flash is a source of income for tattooers, and not just designs that you can take for free.

Holy shit that looks incredible so far! The expressiveness in the hannya is unreal!

Are you talking about flash that you purchased, or of pictures that you printed from the internet? Because there's a difference.

Here's an older awkward of matching swallow tattoos me and @Pugilist got almost three years ago: I got mine from Bert who then tattooed at Tattoomania, she got hers from Rebecca Guinard at Pol Tattoo. Next year is our fifth wedding anniversary and we have tattoo plans for that, but you all will have to wait and see about those.

I think that $68 is an awful lot of money to pay for moisturiser and sunscreen.

Hello and welcome. If you want to do a coverup/rework, you should first find an artist and ask him or her what will work because that isn't something we can tell you on the internet, and generally speaking, you need to be very flexible with a coverup. However, without seeing the tattoo, I think it may be better to just leave this tattoo alone for the moment and get that next one you want. Adding things here and there to an existing tattoo that you're not happy with isn't necessarily going to make it better and I think in the case of adding coloured flowers to an all-black cat on a moon, it's just going to look muddled. When you get that next tattoo you'll also focus less on that first tattoo and it won't bother you as much. Who is this artist you've found?

Music I've been listening to lately:

Thanks for that. I went into this kind of like a moron figuring that I'd work it out as I went along. There's a lot to be said about that approach, I think, but it's also really humbling to realise that as difficult as oils are, they're in a lot of ways even harder than I thought. All of this is to say, thank you for the advice, I appreciate it.