Graeme

Good thing neither me nor @Pugilist are single then.

I recently finished The Terror by Dan Simmons, which I enjoyed a lot. The book didn't entirely work for me because I think it could have stood alone as a speculative historical novel without the added supernatural element, but that didn't get in the way of it being a great fun read. I haven't read Dan Simmons before this, but I'll be sure to read some of his other books, especially with what @Mark Bee said above. I'm currently reading Black Wings of Cthulhu, edited by S.T. Joshi. It's an anthology of contemporary "Lovecraftian horror", and it's about what you'd probably expect from that description, so basically a few good stories, but a lot of pastiche. Caitlin R. Kiernan's story I thought was really strong, and I've read another story of hers in a sword and sorcery anthology that was excellent, so I'll have to pick up her books and comics. Though I've previously read the Laird Barron story in this book ("The Broadsword", also published in his book Occultation) it stands up to a reread. I'll have to get his new collection of stories because he's one of the best people writing this kind of horror right now.

Welcome to LST!

What kind of style are you thinking of? Because when I think of tattoos in magazines I think of super realistic portraits of Jim Carrey as The Mask, and I hope that's not what you came here asking for.

@DJDeepFried I'm going to assume that Seth only lined one dragon 3/4 sleeve while he was guesting at Memoir? Goddamn dude, you must be so happy.

Sometimes the best way to make a decision is by not making one at all! My right forearm is still open and I want Yoni to tattoo it to finish my arm off. I don't know when that will be because I'll need to figure if I'll be financially able to get a fairly large tattoo while saving for/working on my back or whether it's something that I'll have to do after my back is finished, I'll need to work out travel plans, etc., but his tattoos are so beautiful and powerful and delicate and I want one. I don't know what my opinion counts for here, but he's one of my favourite tattooers. Between me getting basically a sleeve and a half there and my wife getting her back done there, we've spent a lot of time at Saved and so I've seen a lot of Anderson Luna's tattoos and he's amazing. He doesn't put a lot of his work up on the internet, but he does knock-you-on-your-ass tattoos. The pictures of his tattoos don't really do them justice. He has that combination of beauty and toughness perfectly dialed in. His script is, in my opinion, some of the best out there. So yeah, you should totally get tattooed by both.

And whatever her influences, there's so much life in her lady heads...hell, in all her tattoos...that she's really made them her own.

@Deb Yarian wrote about this for TAMblog: Flattery, Thievery, Or Just Plain Business? | TAM Blog

@scubaron I can't wait to see what you get. Both of them do amazing tattoos, you can't go wrong with either of them.

Welcome! Tell us about your tattoos.

I'd suggest at least being basically familiar with what you're getting tattooed before getting it. Taking the Sri Yantra and adding things to it that really don't belong there is aesthetically obnoxious, disrespectful, and really represents the worst aspects of the current popularity of sacred geometry in tattooing.

My experience here is limited to what I've seen pictures of on the internet, and I'm not sure we're talking about exactly the same thing either, but I've seen pictures of 20+ year old black and grey Brian Everett portraits that still look fantastic. You'd never be able to tell that the tattoos are the age they are. So realistic black and grey done well has the potential to hold up and look great over a long period of time. In any case, I think the attitude @peterpoose has towards his tattoos, which is that they'll last as long as they last, and in the meantime he's getting tattoos that he's excited about and enjoys getting is something we should all feel about our tattoos.

Hello! From Montreal too, myself.

Welcome! Who are you getting tattooed by now?

Get a tattoo of animals fighting. Big cat versus snake is always a winner, but any combination of big cats, snakes, dragons, eagles is always badass. Representing struggle that way I think is way more visually powerful and makes the point a lot better than a pair of complimentary half sleeves based around vague ideas.

I exfoliate from time to time, but it's not really part of my regular skincare routine. I try to exfoliate spots where I'm going to be tattooed prior to the session to have my skin in good shape, but after the tattoo is done and healed, I just moisturise after showering.

Great tattoos and welcome!

@Abe Froman It sounds to me that you're on the right track. There are some shops I would go to and I'd be happy to be tattooed by anybody there, but for the most part, when I get tattooed it's because I've found an artist who does tattoos that really speak to me, and I want to get tattooed by them in particular. And I think especially for what you're asking for, I don't think it's unreasonable to want to go to a particular artist. And yeah, personality matters.

I'm going to second what @JAllen said about your username and I like you already because of it.

My old boss had been putting money in the stock market for something like fifteen or twenty years planning for his retirement. Then the recession hit. If he'd spent that money on tattoos he'd at least have something to show for it.

I would suggest talking to both your artist and your doctor about it first, but you've already done that. Hopefully somebody here has some experience about getting tattooed while on blood thinners (or tattooing clients who take blood thinners), but can I suggest that you keep us updated as to how the tattoo and the healing process goes? One of the many reasons why LST is great is that there are a lot of people here with solid first-hand experience and I think that having you tell us about how it goes would be really helpful for anybody else wondering about the same thing.

Yeah, that's the video. Good stuff. With these kinds of threads I feel that we too often miss the point. When talking about Chad's tattoos, for instance, what makes his tattoos so great is that they have real power. Line weight plays into it, sure, but not as much as that his drawings are loose, they're big and bold, they're aren't picky or finicky, they're just straight up fucking powerful. Fat lines alone isn't going to make a tattoo good.

Be wary of pictures like that. It looks great like that, but how is it going to look healed? How will it look 20 years from now? I think if I was in that guy's position that I'd rather get laser and have far more options. But seriously, talk to an artist and get a professional opinion because all we can do here is speculate on what will work.

I agree with @HaydenRose here. Does your existing tattoo wrap all the way around your forearm? Either way, you could go from your shoulder down, blend it with your existing tattoo, and then do something like HaydenRose pointed out the other day in the blackwork and dotwork thread and do geometric patterns as background in the negative space. Probably the best thing to do though would be to find the tattooer you want to do the rest of your arm, and talk with him or her about whether your existing tattoo could be incorporated into something larger, whether you should laser it, or whatever.

Haha, I'm not sure how I'm all of a sudden an authority on good tattoos.