Genie of the West

Touche' Lol guess I can't win here.

I had my first itch to get an impulsive tattoo yesterday. I usually try to sit on an idea for a piece for at least a year before committing to getting it. Also I'm trying to be wise about how and where I place my tattoos because I know I'll have a body suit soon. I have a sleeve pretty much complete and my chest totally done and I'm 21 so I'm not sure if I want to move too fast in covering my body. I thought of a pretty cool political tattoo yesterday and I really want it now. I want a pig in a suit behind a podium, with two wolves/wolfheads in cop uniforms next to him, speaking to a congregation of sheep. A nation of sheep, run by wolves, owned by pigs. Part of me wants to go out this weekend and get it at a local shop. The rational part of me says to wait and sit on the idea for a year. The last time I was impulsive about a tattoo I regretted the placement (peaks onto my throat whoops!). If I got this I'd get it on my right thigh. Anyone got impulse buy stories?

I don't often see bad tattoos. Maybe cuz I'm from LA? Maybe my standards aren't the highest but I don't think a tattoo is bad unless it's actually shitty. I'm not knowledgeable enough nor do I care enough to say someone has a "bad" tattoo just cuz couple lines are shaky or I don't like the shading. Most of the people I see walking around with ink have decent work done. For a tattoo to be "bad" something would have to stand out to me as noticeably poorly done. I also understand of the hundreds of millions of people in America who get tattooed, not all of them are going to be so invested in their tattoo to look up the most expensive and most famous artists for their tattoo. I think it's a bit snobby to look down on the laypeople who don't have the desire, knowledge, or money to get tattoos from big name artists only. That's kind of like expecting every person who drives a car to have a Ferrari.

I just put 4 fingers on my wrist and had my artist draw the line there for my right arm. Going to do the same 4 fingers length for my second sleeve. It works fine for me. At work I wear a dress shirt and tie but my ink never peaks out of my shirt.

This is so easy for me. As an extremely dark skinned African American, I only get black and gray work anyway. All my work so far has been black and gray fine line, and I'll probably get some black and gray traditional style for my second sleeve and on one of my legs, but it will all be the same color so even when the styles aren't identical it will still mesh. I'm still jealous of the options you whiteys have with all the colors and the awesome american traditional and japanese work available to you but I guess the grass is always greener.

Face, head. Only areas I would say for sure are never getting tatted. Wouldn't mind getting my hands tattooed but I'm not sure if that will ever happen unless I'm an old ass man. I'm even less sure about the neck. I have a chest tattoo that comes onto the front of my neck and I don't like how visible it is, and I can even cover it with button up shirts or fitted crew neck tees. Can't imagine what having a real neck tattoo would be like.

That's a little reassuring. I posted this on reddit and got a similar answer to yours as well. Now that I'm already planning my second sleeve I must be getting paranoid!

I went with a half-sleeve, then my entire upper chest, then I finished my right arm. I don't think the order matters except for saving the neck/face/hands for last. I don't mind showing my ink off that's part of the fun of having tattoos. Just when I travel, visit family, or go to work am I very conscious about covering my ink. I think when you know what you want next, just get that next. I don't see a point in having a "set" order. For example I know pretty much exactly what I want for my second sleeve and I also have a good idea of what I want on my back/torso. No point in me trying to think of something for my legs/thighs so I can abide by some "order" if I already know what I want on the rest of my body.

This is just fucking silly. The real world should knock this thinking right out of anyone and I'm only 21 years old saying this. As for myself I have my upper chest completed and my right sleeve completed in 1 more session scheduled next month. When I was 19 I made a huge mistake and got a chest piece that comes slightly onto my lower neck/throat. I was an idiot who didn't think it through and misjudged just how visible it would be. The tattoo shop I went to didn't do a good job of warning me and I wish that they'd refused to tattoo me. At the time I had a half sleeve and a chest plate. Definitely not enough coverage to be getting inked near the neck. Luckily for me I wasn't a complete moron and the tattoo is so low on my neck that I can barely call it a neck tat. It can be covered in a well fitted crew neck shirt and definitely with a button up shirt so I'm still employable! Whoo!! :cool: As for me I plan on being covered from collar to toe eventually. I have not established my career yet but I have a job and am also in school for a white collar professional degree. I'll probably never get my neck or hands done though. I would love a hand tattoo but it'll probably never happen until I'm like 60 and ready to retire. I don't understand the people who mentioned getting half-sleeves but not going full sleeve however. My first tattoo was a half-sleeve to my elbow at age 18. Fairly safe not too radical or anything. The thing is though, employment and career wise, I was already wearing long sleeve shirts for interviews and for work because my half-sleeve would peak out. Most half-sleeves can be seen in a short sleeve shirt so why not just go full sleeve? If you want to retain chameleon ability at all times I understand that because half-sleeves are quite discreet but if your only concern is getting/keeping a job, you'll be wearing long sleeve shirts anyways regardless of if you stop at the elbow or the wrist. That is why I decided a few months ago to finish my sleeve.

I'm National Guard right now. I think the main bullshit part about the regs is how often they change them. When I was enlisting in 2010 the regulation was nothing that showed in the Class A/ASU uniform which is our dress uniform. So basically in a jacket and tie. Then within months of me joining they LOOSENED the regulations to allow neck and back of hand tattoos. Then last year they made the regs more strict again and are trying to stop people from re-enlisting even though those very same people were within the old regulations. I think that is the fucked up part that they will pass down a regulation, people will go out and get tattooed, then a year later come back and tell you that you can't re-enlist because they keep changing their minds. That is bullshit.

I've been losing my hair since I was 17. Tattoos and exercise are my only ways of exerting dominance over my body and my appearance. I have had that wistful feeling of looking at my body knowing I have embedded images in my skin forever, but I can't remember ever being depressed or crying over a tattoo... The only thing I'm sad about when I get a new tattoo is having to save money for more.

My tattoos all have a religious connotation so far. On my chest/lower neck I have the quote He Who Kneels Before God Can Stand Before Anyone. On my left chest plate I have the Ark of the Covenant. On my right one I have the Islamic crescent moon and star. My first half-sleeve is a dual phoenixes. The phoenix on my inner arm is being dragged down to hell. The one on my outer arm is flying with a cross in one talon and a broken tombstone in the other. My lower portion of my arm has a coffin with a snake wrapped around it and the snake is holding an apple in its tail. Every single one of my tattoos is an allusion or homage to the Abrahamic traditions. My story is when I turned 17/18 I found God and decided to turn my life around. Quit all the negative things I was into and joined the military. So I got the phoenix for rebirth. Soon after I converted to Islam and practiced Islam for years. Last year I became an atheist but I still love my ink!

It's been like 3 months since I got my lower arm worked on and parts of my tattoo are raised. This has happened a bit on another tattoo I have. I don't think it's wholly the artists because the artists I go to are pretty good I think the problem is my skin itself. Sure maybe a lighter hand could help but the thing is my tattoos only raise on a specific part of my arm. The same exact artists working on a different part of my arm give me great results. I'm black as fuck with super dark skin and when I scar, my scars rise up. The two tattoos I have that have some parts that are slightly raised are only raised on the super dark parts on the outside of my arm. The insides of my arm, where my skin is significantly lighter, my tattoos look and heal just fine. Also I have gotten work done on my chest that looks fine. It seems like only these specific spots on my body where my skin is darkest, has these issues. This west African blood just won't accept the ink. I am darker than most black people. Don't think someone can tattoo dark skin because they've done a few black people. I mean extremely dark skin tones not just someone who identifies as African-American. My mom is black and she's got a lighter skin tone than most Central Americans and Southeast Asians/Indians. I am extremely dark however, like my father. So now I'm not sure what to do. It's hard enough to try to get work done by quality artists but now I have to find quality artists that specialize or are well versed in doing dark skin? Seems like a big ass fucking pain. Also I had a couple artists in mind that I wanted for their talent in black and gray work. Pretty well known and famous artists. But now I don't know if I can trust even the best artists because they're probably used to working on white/light skin... I mean with all the consideration that has to be taken into account when planning a design, choosing a style, picking an artist, etc, this is just an additional huge headache. Short rant time. You light skinned people have no idea how lucky you are when it comes to tattoos. Not only is your work more noticeable at any distance but you guys can get pretty much any colors you want, any style you want, and all your ink pops because of the easy contrast, and you don't have to worry about raised tattoos unless your artist is a dolt! For example I could never get most American traditional or Japanese work because I'm so dark I'm pretty much limited to black and gray and those styles depend on use of color to make the pieces come to life. And even when lighter people do get black and gray work, it really pops and looks good because of contrast. So not only are your color options better but your black and gray looks better too. I've got skin envy about that. I've talked to a tattoo artist friend and she said dark skin is really easy to fuck up and it is very difficult to tattoo black people and she sees tattoo artists fuck up tattoos on dark skin regularly. I always talk to my artists about how comfortable and experienced they are with dark skin because even experienced tattoo artists have trouble with super dark skin.