Graeme

This in-progress bodysuit is pretty breathtaking: By Horimatsu

We already have several threads about bad tattoos, could we keep these kinds of posts to those threads? There are a lot of places on the internet for laughing at bad tattoos, and very few places where people with real knowledge and experience can talk about, post pictures of, and give people advice about good tattooing, so let's keep the board mostly focused on that.

In my experience it's best to just let it dry out completely and give it time. When I've moisturised scabs they've sometimes fallen off and left a kind of "cloudy" appearance underneath instead of solid tattoo. Worst case scenario, you get it touched up. If you're going to get a lot of tattoos, having some tattoos heal up kind of shitty is part of it.

Hello and welcome to LST! I think you have some great ideas there, do you have any idea of artists you'd like to go to? I'd also suggest to look at the design section of the forum because there are threads full of wolf and snake tattoos, so you should be able to find plenty of inspiration and see what's possible. @justvee Here's a badass in-progress crocodile tattoo done by Seth Wood. Though it might be an alligator, I don't know. This is on an LST poster:

Is this kind of comment really necessary? LST should be a welcoming place for everybody who is genuinely interested in getting good tattoos, and I don't see any purpose in being a complete dickhead to somebody who comes here asking for a little bit of advice.

Hello Lilly and welcome to LST. I'm curious about your idea of starting with something, as you put it, "generic" as your first tattoo because it sounds like you have grander tattoo plans. If you want something bigger and bolder, start by getting something like that. As for the ideas you have, I don't think they would make for good tattoos. White ink tends to age poorly, and if you're concerned about keeping your tattoos concealed--and I think this is a totally legitimate concern, especially because you're young and you don't know what your life is going to bring you--there's a lot of space that is easy to keep covered by clothing on your torso and upper thighs. The Peter Pan one could be done well, but you'd have to go a lot larger than the side of your foot. You could do a nice thigh piece of that. If you let us know where the middle of nowhere in Canada is, I'm sure we can recommend good artists near you.

Gorgeous work on that raven!

Deno!

So many killer tattoos so far, and I don't want to win, but just to make things fun, I'll throw this one in the ring: Done by Chad Koeplinger at the Montreal convention in September. Also because of this forum I have this impression that Scandinavia is full of super nice people with jaw-dropping tattoos.

Welcome to LST, let's see your tattoos!

I just want to put it out there that there's a picture of a UV pigment tattoo that Ed Hardy did in one of the Tattootimes. I can't remember what issue off-hand, I think four or five. Which isn't to say that these tattoos aren't mostly a stupid gimmick.

Oh great, because I didn't spend enough time as it is playing Oblivion and Skyrim.

I've found that I heal the best when I do as little as possible to my tattoo, but I do take arnica tablets before, during, and after getting tattooed to mitigate the worst of the bruising and swelling. I still swell and maybe bruise a bit depending on the spot, but it seems to be better than when I didn't take the arnica.

From the same people who did this great interview with Mike The Athens, here's one with Tas who currently tattoos at Into You in London: Tas Danazoglou | heartbeatink.gr

Welcome to LST. If you want ultra-realistic ocean creatures you need to get in touch with Deano Cook.

I spent a long time looking at the pictures on IG of that one today, it is so unbelievably good. It's so bold and powerful yet there's this really remarkable subtlety there like with that almost spectral Sri Yantra in the middle of his chest. It's easy sometimes to get down about all the negative things happening in tattooing at the moment, but then you see something like that and that tattoos like that are being made right now and you realise that we're in a really incredible time for tattooing.

I also want to add how much I love how @mmikaoj described tattoos as a journey.

@HettyKet Spend less time on the internet, spend more time getting tattooed.

Trevor McStay is one of the best anywhere.

I think you and me understand entertainment differently, son.

Looks great, but it seems like your knee stops up around your balls!

Why does this matter? Rubendall is one of the best--I'm going to say that he's even better than you think he is--so if you actually want to get tattooed by him you ask his assistant what you need to do to get tattooed by him and take it from there.

Welcome! It's always great when people who are already getting amazing tattoos sign up.

Does anybody here have any advice about lighting? I've been trying to paint with oils more and more and I generally paint in the daytime in a room with plenty of natural light coming through a large window facing roughly northwest. I am finding it especially difficult to get nice even lighting on my canvas without too much glare. I am wondering if a translucent blind that could diffuse and even out the light would make things easier to work with? Does anybody have any particular suggestions for lamps?

For a tattoo like that I would go to Jondix or not get it at all.