Graeme

You can, but I will still add that typographical tattoos aren't necessarily bad ones either. Stephanie Tamez being an example of somebody who has done pretty spectacular large scale type-based tattoos.

I hope when you complete that thought it isn't total nonsense like it is here. When I look at the lettering tattoos that people like Tim Hendricks, BJ Betts, Katie Sellergren, Anderson Luna, to just name a few, I don't think for a moment that lettering as a craft, or tattooing as a craft, is being degraded. That is melodramatic garbage and I don't think you care enough about non-tattoo forms and ways of lettering to even believe that yourself (and if you do, you're still wrong about it). Even getting away from people who have made their names doing lettering, there are so many more tattooers who work hard to improve their lettering maybe not because it's the area of tattooing that they're the most excited about but because people ask for lettering, and they want to give their clients the best tattoo they can. This isn't just a new thing...read George Burchett because he writes about doing huge amounts of text on his clients. Obviously a lot of text-based tattoos aren't done well, but that doesn't mean that text is bad as such. Also, for the purposes of this forum and our attempt here to actively promote good tattooing, I think that completely dismissing text in tattoos as being bad is counterproductive.

Cool project, documenting how your tattoos age. How are you protecting them? Sunscreen? Long sleeves? Nothing?

I think that text tattoos, like any other kind of tattoo, can be done well or it can be done poorly. I'm on my phone right now so I can't post a picture of it but a couple of days ago the Frith Street instagram posted a whole block of text that Stefano put on a guy's ribs and it looks great. Would it be cooler if the guy got some kind of image to represent those words instead? Probably, and I'm sure that possibility was talked about, but at the end of the day the guy wanted text and he got a tattoo that was clearly done with care and skill, and the dude who got it probably thinks it's the greatest thing in the world. That's good tattooing to me, whether or not it's something that I like or would personally get.

Welcome! I still need to get the Black Flag bars myself.

Hello and welcome. I'd like to think that LST is a friendly and welcoming place so please feel free to explore the forums, watch the tattoo artist interview videos, go through all the pictures that people have posted, and so on. People who speculate on what they wouldn't or wouldn't do if they were tattoo artists are morons. I was watching that Vice video interview with Mike Brown (RIP) a couple of weeks ago and he was talking about mostly tattooing hibiscus flowers on tourists...because that's what tattooing is. That you're happy with your tattoos is ultimately the most important thing.

Ehhh...but most of us are taking pictures of our tattoos with cameraphones and it's not like those are good pictures to begin with.

Great tattoos and welcome.

Those are two completely unrelated posts, pal.

I recently read The Croning by Laird Barron. It's his first novel after a couple of collections of short stories and while I think he hasn't quite mastered the longer form, it's a good read if you're into Lovecraftian horror. It's got a good creepy atmosphere, malevolent cosmic entities and the cults that worship them, ancient megalithic tombs in the woods, all that good stuff. It's a fun read. I am currently reading The Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson and thank you @Badtastebetsy for the little warning because I'm not entirely convinced by it yet. It isn't bad, it's just that I feel that there's way too much "world building" stuff and not enough story yet. As a reader, I don't really care about the intricacies of how magic systems work in this world (in this respect I can totally see how the books came out of an RPG campaign), I want adventure and excitement and peril and good battles and all of that stuff. Granted I'm only a little over a hundred pages in right now and since it's a ten-book series I need to take a long view of the thing.

The last tattoo I got was super fun and easy but it only took something like 45 minutes so that doesn't count. The tattoo session before that was finishing up my sleeve and it was a long and brutal session and there were totally parts where I was laying there smelling the blood drying on my shoulder thinking that no rational, sane person should be getting tattooed. Thomas had also made some joke earlier that day about tattooers being like witch doctors being paid to literally bleed out the demons, and it was one of those revelatory moments about how despite everything that tattooing is these days that there's still a good bit of that primal sort of magic in it.

It's going to be a tiger vs snake battle done by Dave Cummings at PSC Tattoo. I am super psyched. @semele My only consolation here is that I'm getting tattooed locally this time so at least I can do short sessions...though maybe I want to do longer ones just to get it done and over with? Am I going to have another one of those moments where I am getting tattooed thinking that I picked something incredibly stupid to be into?

Hello and welcome. As for your question, I'd suggest looking through the latest tattoo lowdown and tattoo of the month contests on this forum, if you're on instagram use that to follow tattooers and see what they're doing, if you can get to the London tattoo convention go to that and see tattoos in person because pictures don't really capture the beauty and power of good tattoos, and just try to find what you respond to the most. Eventually you'll find something that feels right, and I think you'll know when that happens, and then seek that tattoo out.

Go to Inksmith and Rogers.

Jeff Gogue: Pretty damned spectacular.

The last session I had on my sleeve hit both the ditch and into the armpit and it sucked. The ditch was bad and did the scabbing, cracking, and bleeding thing but ended up healing pretty well...there are a couple of tiny spots that lost some pigment but they're barely noticeable. Going into the armpit was bad too with the bruising and swelling and not being able to comfortably rest my arm by my side for a couple of days. I'm glad that I'm not going to have a session like that again.

Last Sparrow Tattoo - Newbie Guidelines Specifically: Do not start threads asking about specific tattooing equipment or techniques, LST is not here to teach anyone how to tattoo. Ask your own tattooer, the next time you are getting tattooed. Maybe they'll answer you, maybe they won't.

This.

I have a consult next weekend for my back. I will be able to commiserate with those of you who were stupid enough to get your asses tattooed in the not too distant future.

I figured that you live in the Toronto area if you got tattooed by Mike Bialek and I know that Nick Wasko is guesting soon in Toronto and is going to have some super cool old flash with him so I made an educated guess. And yeah, this means you're going to get something super cool, so please hang around and let us know how it goes.

Jeff Mangum is tattooing tebori.

Nice tattoo and welcome. About the advice, the great thing about traditional tattoos is that you can really piece them together because they pretty much all go together. I probably wouldn't put the next tattoo directly below the eagle...I think tattoos like that look better when they aren't placed in a super orderly fashion if that makes sense at all...but talk with the artist about it and you'll work out placement. Is Nick Wasko going to do your next one?

I have a twenty-sided die tattooed on me and if you want to go toe to toe in a game of Pathfinder I'm pretty sure I could critical hit you, motherfucker.

It might be too late to book one if you want one but at the Montreal convention this year Filip Leu and Kurt Wiscombe are collaborating on three one-shot backpieces, one for each day of the convention.

That is so good.