bugxjuice

Man these are really fantastic. I especially like the ones featuring his bulldog, too funny! Japanese tattoos aren't really for me but I love the artwork, I may have to pick up one of these in the future.

I think it's less about being offensive and more about sounding stupid, but you seem to have no problem with that

I highly encourage you to be disloyal to your current artist and try out some folks at the afore-mentioned Name Brand or Depot Town... they have some amazing tattooers for sure, and your current artist leaves a lot to be desired...

That or just cut it off.

Put a big black panther over it. Panthers cover everything, and everybody needs a panther. Your artist is really the only one who can decide if it can be fixed or covered... another tattooer could weigh in on here, but it's really up to your artist's vision and abilities. Someone already touched on this I think, but often when people get hung up on mistakes in tattoos they have... we suggest to just get more, and better, tattoos. You know, go out and get a kick-ass new tattoo and the other one won't bother you as much (and yes, that star is a little wonky, but it's not hugely obvious or some scratcher garbage either). Have you thought about branching out and checking out other tattooers? You're not too far from Philly, which has plenty of good shops, and in the opposite direction there's Tattoo Mark's in State College, which has some great tattooers.

This guy sounds like a community college philosophy major.

Spotlight Tattoo in LA is worth a stop just to see all the hand painted Bob Roberts flash

Those are so cool. I hope people start expanding on this some more like that shark - obviously the panther is classic but I'm sure there are some other great ideas out there waiting to be done

Oh good, you've got your hands tattooed before most of your body it seems like.

Ditto to what the others said. And to address the idea of more public education (including some of what was posted in your intro thread), from my perspective as a non-tattooer, I don't necessarily think it's a good idea. "You get the tattoo you deserve" is something thrown around quite a bit around here. Tattoos aren't for everyone, and in this day and age when there are plenty of resources out there (this website, instagram, etc), and plenty of good/GREAT tattooers, if you're stupid/ignorant enough to believe whatever mr. tattooed guy on whatever dumb TV show tells you, or if you can't be bothered to do a little digging, find the good stuff, that's your fault.

@9Years how about all of the above? I'm jealous. I'm going to meet him and pick up a shirt I won from him (woo!) on Tuesday but I can't afford to get tattooed this time around. He seems to come to the US fairly often, though I wouldn't mind a trip to Spain either...

I don't know if any tattooers posted in that thread - maybe one will chime in here, maybe not. I'm not a tattooer or really much of an artist so I'll try to keep it short: 1. A line drawing is not a tattoo - a shoddy artist can take a great line drawing and turn it into a horrible tattoo. A poor line drawing is not a great indication though. 2. You really should spend some time with this thread - http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/2396-what-makes-good-tattoo.html, and go through the lattest tattoo thread too, as almost all of the tattoos posted in there are great quality work. 3. How could you expect someone to critique a design at such an oblique angle?

forever no, times infinity

Yeah, this is a little absurd. Thirties??? I mean sure, maybe don't rush out and get your hands and face tattooed when you're 18, but I'd hope the average person on the cusp of 20s doesn't need an entire decade to make a good decision.

I thought that looked familiar! Super cool. This thread makes me want to work on my back some more. It's been six months since my first and only session... at this rate we'll be finished in 2018.

Maybe I missed them, but do you actually have any suggestions for how people can protect their work? Your approach seems to be if you don't want to get ripped off, don't show your work anywhere(?). Your pro-rip off attitude is mind-boggling.

Have you considered that the phoenix was generally thought of as very colorful and vibrant in the mythology? Also, a color tattoo will be just as strong looking and striking as black and grey - they'll both have bold line work and plenty of black to provide depth. Just a few thoughts - either way will end up looking great since you've picked a very talented artist, so you've really got nothing to worry about, except maybe the anguish of waiting!

What? I'm referring to the website visible in OP's other posts in the forum, tatspiration dot com

What exactly is the point of your website?

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/crazy-tattoo-stories/549-dropping-bomb-how-your-parents-found-out-about-your-first-tattoo.html

Austin and Dallas have plenty of great shops, but honestly there's no need to go that far - San Angelo TX is home to Trufant Brothers Tattoo. The Trufant Bros (Alex and Aubrey) are both solid tattooers, and they put on the West Texas Tattoo Convention, which is just around the corner, Feb 21-23, in San Angelo. There's a laundry list of incredible tattooers at that convention, I would definitely recommend getting tattooed there. As far as your idea, I'm in agreement on the rose and flag - a rose is a strong, classic image and the rose/flag combo is not uncommon.

Agree with this sentiment... I have plenty of open space left, but then I look at the list of people I want tattoos from, and I start to wonder if it's really enough? Anyway, in keeping with the thread topic, I can't get enough of what Matt Bivetto's been doing lately. His tattoos and paintings/artwork output really sticks with me in the right ways. I was in NYC for a few days recently, and I dropped in at Three Kings hoping to meet him and get a glimpse of some of his art firsthand. I was not disappointed - he was super nice and quite humble, and his art is even more stunning to see up close, especially after he explained some of his processes to me.

Pretty sure they meant the hourly rate the artist charges, not that the tattooers get hourly wages like a normal job in the US. Also I'm pretty sure tipping for the service industry as a whole is not common in Europe in general. I haven't experienced this firsthand though, just relaying what I've heard.

Howdy from the North Bay, and yes, some pictures would be great! When did you get tattooed by Chris Conn?

^^^ This and that Ron Wells fox both rule! Definitely need something from both gentlemen at some point. Ron Wells is San Francisco bound soon but I am so broke.