Graeme

I feel kind of bad about singling out paragraphs of text as being especially bad because I've seen good tattooers do them skillfully. It's a dumb idea, images are way better in almost every way, but that doesn't make large amounts of text automatically "bad tattoos".

Have you watched the Vice Horiyoshi 3 video that's been posted here in another thread? It's in a similar vein and also really mind-blowing. I'd also love more of this, this is the sort of thing that makes me proud to be tattooed and to have a connection, however small and tenuous, to all of this.

I mostly meant that ignoring sound advice is a sure way to a bad tattoo.

A tattoo will age poorly if it doesn't have enough black in it. I think that another problem with realism is that you're going to lose a lot of the finer detail over time. I think as long as the tattoo has things outlined and adequate black in it, and that the different elements in the sleeve have strong silhouettes you'll be fine. I think you can totally do Japanese-themed stuff in a non-Japanese way and have it look super cool...I'm thinking in particular of Canadian tattooers who tattoo sort of Japanese-inspired new school stuff like Steve Moore, James Tex, Rob Noseworthy. Anyway, those are some good looking tattoos Ian Ink does, please let us know how it goes.

How about dollar bills flying past sweaty men hauling a fridge up three flights of stairs? Fuck a moving tattoo, that shit sucks. (Not trying to discourage your ideas @BrookR70 but I moved about a month ago and I hate moving)

So fucking amazing. Still one of the best ever tech death bands because Luc Lemay uses his proficiency to make something unsettling instead of some Yngwie-worshipping sweep fest. Only thing I've heard that comes close to Gorguts in doing that is Portal:

I am going to submit this thread for evidence: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/initiation/4369-1st-tat.html

You got a tattoo that sucks because you didn't listen to your artist's advice to make it bigger. It's going to heal up poorly because you aren't going to follow your artist's aftercare instructions, nor are you going to listen to the people here who have a lot of experience in healing tattoos because you're instead going to cherrypick whatever sounds right to you, whether or not it's actually sound advice. And now you aren't interested in listening to suggestions that an artist should draw a tattoo. All of this is to help *you* to get a better tattoo--it doesn't benefit any of us--and if you're content with shit, that's fine, but this isn't the place for you. Good luck with that attitude, pal.

As I see things, your body is going to undergo a lot of changes over the course of your life. You'll gain and lose weight, you may get pregnant and your body will undergo changes then, as you get old your skin and your muscles are going to slacken and sag, and your tattoos along with it all. That's just bodies, and it isn't a reason to not get tattooed. So what I'm saying is that you should get the tattoos you want to get regardless of how you feel about your weight. A well-designed, well-executed tattoo is going to fit your body and age gracefully with it, so make sure you get a good one. The list @BrianH gave above is a great start, I'd add Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn to it (Seth Wood works there and he rules), and if you're going to move to LA there are plenty of great shops there too. That tiger you posted is by Bryan Burk in LA, some people here have gotten incredible work at Memoir Tattoo, and I'm sure somebody who knows LA better could recommend plenty of other great shops there.

Nice, what are you getting from him and welcome.

Amazing week!

Hooper hurts way too damned much to have him be the only person to tattoo you.

If you really want to get something big like a dragon or a phoenix, I'd say to wait, do your research and save your money, and go for that instead of getting something smaller just for the sake of getting a tattoo. Take a look around here at the Latest Tattoo Lowdown thread, the Tattoo of the Month contests, and because you're thinking of going big, the Full Back Piece thread to see the tattoos people here are getting and who they're getting them from. That tiger you posted is on a poster here, and it's amazing.

I hope that isn't just a clever name. Welcome, and what do you have so far?

Really nice tattoos. The Rats Get Fat tattoo is always so awesome.

Welcome to LST. I have a nautilus tattooed on my forearm so I like the idea, but that one does nothing for me. It looks like something pulled off of Google Image Search and just looks kind of cheap. To give you a couple of ideas of what you can do with a nautilus, here's a picture of my forearm, which was tattooed by Thomas Hooper (it's kind of hard to get a good picture of it because it wraps around my arm): And here's a picture of one Seth Wood did that I also think is super cool:

Hi and welcome to LST. If you aren't ready to commit to the permanence of a tattoo, you shouldn't get tattooed. Period. Sit on it and think about it for a while...there's no reason to rush into getting tattooed. Stick around though, watch the artist interviews, look at the tattoos people here are getting, and maybe it will help you to decide one way or the other.

I haven't been there but the guy who did my arm got his fingers tattooed by Oliver Peck and they look all real nice and solid. There's a video of that somewhere.

Go to Elm Street.

Every time I see the scholarly skull design I think that I need it, even though I basically have one. I need another.

Some dude was getting those silhouette birds when I was last getting tattooed and while I'm sure they are annoying to do because that shop is probably doing that tattoo at least five times a day, it's the shop minimum for what seemed to be very little work. Same with those infinity signs. Seems not too bad to me.

Much respect, man.

You could have also posted that you are the toughest dude ever for getting that in one go. How long did that take? Seriously amazing.