Genie of the West

Yeah since I've gone below the elbow this year it feels a bit different. Having my half-sleeve peek out of my t-shirt is a lot different feeling than having extensive work all the way to the wrist. I'm definitely getting different looks from people and I'm not quite used to it yet. The weight of what I'm deciding to do with my body is finally hitting me now that my first sleeve is just about done. Being "tattooed" is definitely different than "having a tattoo".

I rarely see tattooed chicks. I have to go to drum n bass or dubstep shows to find even a couple of them. I swear every dude in LA under the age of 30 has at least a half-sleeve but the girls only get tiny wrists tattoos or some script or a butterfly on their rib/back. Usually a very small tattoo. You know the trendy typical "girl" tattoos? It's rare for me to see a chick with badass coverage.

I have a cobra on my right arm in black/gray fine line. It wraps around my entire forearm and it's holding an apple. Snakes for the win!

Finally got the inside of the elbow ditch worked on substantially. Still doesn't top the pain I felt in the inner arm close to the armpit. That was seriously the worst.

Yeah I just find it hard to lie to my mom these days. I use to try to hide it for a couple weeks but eventually I'll just walk around the house with my shirt off and let her see it. When I was 18 and got my first tattoo I let her see a full half-sleeve immediately after I got it. It was just too bothersome to try and hide it. Plus I hate wearing a shirt when I'm the house. That and me and my mom/family have been through so much in the recent past it's just hard for me to lie. I'm even contemplating telling her I don't believe in God anymore but I don't want to give the poor woman an early death. Maybe I can last a couple more years til I graduate and move out. I mean I have my chest and right arm completely covered it's just way too bothersome to hide it from someone you live with. I'm me and she has to accept that.

My parents, employers, and the military don't approve of them but I love them. Hoping to find a lucky lady that loves them as well! I got my sleeve worked on today and my mom asked me where I was. I told her I was getting my arm worked on and showed her the fresh shading below my elbow. She asked me how much my tattoo cost. I told her the amount. Then she told me to pay the water bill next month and that she would pray for me. Oh well! :rolleyes: I really love my ink though. When I got my first tattoo a couple weeks after I turned 18 I had no idea I would love it this much and go so big. My first piece was a pretty well thought out half-sleeve however, from a pretty good artist as far as I know (Paul Jameson) and since then I haven't looked back. I really like the way tattoos look and how they add character to the skin. It gives me a sense of satisfaction whenever I get a new tattoo. I think I got a lot of my friends into tattoos as well. I was the first in my group of friends to get a big piece with lots of detail in it so I probably influenced quite a few of them. Now I see them going out and getting more work than me and it's awesome! I love everything about tattoos and the tattoo culture. Wouldn't trade em for anything.

Dammit. I didn't even know there was a separate area for this type of stuff. I'm new forgive my ignorance!

Inked up mummy news article. You guys should really check out the actual news article. It's a lot of information and pictures where they recreate what they think the body looked like. It's a Siberian woman's body they discovered, with arm and finger tattoos, who they speculate was a healer or storyteller and . She was buried with 6 other men who were also tattooed. In Egyptian society they say that tattoos were a sign of social status. The more tattoos the longer you had lived and the higher in status you were. Looking at the tattoos I find it funny that these 2500 year old mummies had better tattoos than a lot of people I see out here on the street in modern day. I guess good taste really is timeless.

What a nosey douchebag! Are you guys both adults? Sounds like a 5 year old tattling on someone in the sandbox. As for me and superstition, I used to be a Muslim and of course when I converted to Islam my tattoos were all sins. The ones I got before I converted could be excused but any future ones were sins. Also there was a stigma about getting living creatures because there are some super traditional hadith verses about it being an insult to God to draw a living creature because only God can live life. Humans can only make imitations and cannot give life. So after I converted I was very guilty about my tattoos (though I still got them) and would not get living things. Also I would pray everyday for forgiveness for my ink. No offense to the religious here but goddamn the organized religions really have a way of making people think they're s*** bags who need forgiveness. I would wake up every morning and ask God to forgive me for being me. Glad I'm past that and can get tattoos with reckless abandon.

Hey there I'm from LA too welcome to the forum, though I'm new here as well. What kind of stigma have you had to deal with at the corporate level considering all your ink is on your legs? I'm assuming you wear pants to work everyday right? And what tattooers in LA do you plan on visiting or are you considering? I'm always interested in hearing about local talent to check out.

Thanks so much! James Briggs I almost forgot about him. I emailed him like 2 weeks ago actually and haven't received anything back! I really like the look of Kim Saigh's work as well but I'm just not sure if I should pick any good artist or specifically seek out a black/gray work specialist. Thanks @CABS as well. When I saw your post in another topic about Port City I checked out their work it's really good. I'll be shopping around in the next couple weeks and see how to spend this here tax return :cool:

Wow. I'm going to Port City for my stomach. Hopefully they can transfer that skill to a black and gray custom piece. I really like Eric Jones and Tom Moser's stuff.

I see your KILL FEDS and I raise you a FUCK COPS

Only discounts I've seen have been on Friday the 13th flash and special Halloween flash.

I'm thinking this forum should have quite a few people in or around the Los Angeles area. Have any of you heard of 3rd St. Tattoo in Hermosa Beach? It's relatively new but one of the first tattoo shops opened in the city of Hermosa Beach when they changed the city laws to allow tattoo shops. Anyway I went there once for a chest panel from Nick Hayes and I'm planning on going back soon. A lot of local people and people I know have gone there for work and I like my artist there. I was just wondering if anyone in the area had heard of the shop or artists who work out of there and also if anyone had any other shop suggestions for the area. I want to do a walk in and get my stomach done soon and was planning on going back to Nick Hayes but I'm also open to collecting from other local talent. I've heard that Johnny 2/3s from Yer Cheat'N Heart is pretty good as well. The more famous shops in LA area I've heard of are Zulu and Broken Art (owned by Jeremy Swan).

Thanks. Sorry for being a bit of a prick earlier.... Just frustrated I guess.

For me it's inner arm next to the armpit. The closer the worse. God I hate getting tattooed in that spot.

Why don't you just wear different color shirts other than white? Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. And I guess only white guys have to worry about that anyways. I'm black and you can't see my tattoos through my white shirt (I wear one at work as part of my uniform). You can barely see them in a dimly lit room if you're not fairly close lol.

You can exercise and eat properly and stop being fat. I can't exercise my skin into a lighter color. It's really not the same at all... But I appreciate your attempt at consoling me. I don't even know what to do about my next tattoos now. So discouraging. Do you think traditional style pieces in black would be good? I mean the traditional designs are usually pretty big and bold without too much detail.

Ugh totally slipped my mind! I ended up doing laundry, exercising, and ordering a pizza then calling it a night! Dammit!

Well that sucks. I don't even want colors in the first place. I really don't understand how I'm supposed to get a quality tattoo if I can't have detail and I'm limited to black only... Sigh.... A dude just wants to be tattooed!

I'll probably end up going. I would love to check this out. Thanks for sharing!

Cool I'm not the only one familiar with Mike Adams. I plan on flying out to the east coast and having him do my 2nd sleeve in all black/gray traditional style.

I'm just now learning this after doing an entire sleeve of black and gray fine line. From now on I'll look to get stronger bolder pieces so I don't have to worry about the lack of contrast. It took me a while to figure it out because my chest pieces look fucking great. My skin is a bit lighter there and not as exposed to the sun. But my arms are really dark and when I got my sleeve started I noticed it wasn't a coincidence. How do you suggest I handle the shading for my next pieces? I mean it's not like I can get color so black and gray is what I'm stuck with. Should I avoid black and gray fine line tattoos completely or just pick big designs with minimal details? Perhaps black and gray in a more traditional style?

In a way I guess I'm a huge snob because in my head I will totally rip apart bad work to pieces, but I almost never vocalize it because I know how dear peoples tattoos are to them. I don't have the heart to take people down a peg. It's funny after I posted in this thread I went on facebook and saw a girl I know post pictures of her sidepiece on facebook. Everyone fawning over it and telling her how awesome it looked and all I could pay attention to were the uneven lines and the lack of depth caused by lack of black ink... In real life though I'd probably just say "Oh that looks really nice". Even if I tried to point out the flaws with tact most people would probably get very upset at my critiques.