blujax01

Now that I better understand the question, I have given it some thought and came up with this, my answer: I don't give a flying fuck what anyone else thinks of me. As long as I live my life in line with the morals I believe are fitting to me, I am good to go. Will you be judged by the tattoos you choose? Absolutely, and by the very same people who would judge you by your clothes or hair or car or any number of things even if you didn't have tattoos. In this Millenneal age of "Tolerance", I have come to realize that the tolerance only extends to those thoughts and actions Millenneals deem to be correct. In other words "you shall tolerate that which is, by our standards, tolerable. Otherwise, you will be shunned." Which is as it always has been. You will outgrow it, sooner or later. But you may miss some pretty great times along the way. If you are worried about what others think about a tattoo, then do not get the tattoo, because you will allow them to make your reaction. But realize that you are not getting something you think is beautiful because you are worried that someone else - who has no stake in the matter - may disagree. There are enough things happening in our lives over which we have no control. To give up that which I do control willingly because of peer pressure? Not gonna happen.

Details here: Hell City Tattoo Festival Artist List (I count 176) | Hell City Tattoo Festival

It's an interesting conversation. Some trends hit society like the whole Middle Earth/ Celtic thing of the late 80's early 90's and boom everyone has Knotwork. Also, some is due to advances in Technology. Ther technique of color wash/water color tattoos lent itself to softer tattoos without an outline. And in came all the girls with their Audubon bird images. WWF wrestling became popular on TV and there were a ton of barbed wire/tribal arm bands followed soon after. Tattooing has always been a marker for a point in time(Tazmanian Devils, Little Devils, marijuana leaves,etc, so whatever style one chooses will become dated. And hats as it should be. We wear our history on our sleeves-hey I just made a pun- but I fear a lot of kids are thinking that here will be an eraser cream so they don't even try to be original. Hey, try to keep a "PMA" because after all "YOLO."

The last major piece for my right sleeve! Now I need to address the negative space - or not... Original artwork by Biz Matos, Columbus.:cool:

For decades, cigarettes were called coffin nails.

Oh my. There are classes on the history of rock and roll, country and bluegrass. The history of religion, be it Christian, Wiccan, Islamic or other. The history of psycho killers, psycho lovers and psychoanalysis. In short, if a thing exists, a school will be more than happy to take your money and teach you about it's history. I fail to see the difference.

I'm so ready to kill my television. Cable is $118 a month and for what??? 300 shopping channels and 75 network/cable shows with the same basic plot line that has been going on since Shakespeare began stealing scripts? I can get 20 channels with an antenna - most in English - And Half Price Books has thousands of used DVD's for $5.99. Just gotta pull the trigger...

Nailed it! :rolleyes:

I have some near-twenty year old ink I was considering getting reworked. Then I watched a show on Velocity about these guys who totally rework the innards of hot rods but clear coat over the faded paint to preserve the mojo. "It'll only be original once", they said. So I slapped some Aquaphor on those old tats, looked at them in the mirror, and smiled, remembering every moment that led up to those early decisions. "They'll only be original once."

It's all a matter of prospective and when I find myself getting all high and mighty about the quality of my work versus someone else's, I remind myself that Tattoo is, and always has been, The People's Art. A lot of folks do not have hundreds or thousands of dollars for tattoos, but they're just like a lot of us who get off work Friday with a paycheck and can't wait to get stewed, screwed and tattooed. I was raised in Appalachia dirt-poor and broke, escaped when I was 22 and will never forget where I came from. There will always be a place in this world for $50 ink and may God Bless those who go for it!

The obvious elbow tattoo. Scott (Skotydont) Fox, Columbus.

The Brittany/Brittney thing is a whole 'nother discussion. (Last night I saw a basketball player with his first name spelled Don'tay. Apparently Dante is too common. SeeSea has the correct approach. Programming 101 (or ID-10-T) errors are all too common. For a tattoo artist to say he/she can't be bothered to check the correct "to", "your" or "their" spelling is an indication of a lackadaisical attitude. Work with the client and both of you take ownership. Once you get some practice, using correct grammar isn't that difficult. I promise.

When did tattooing become a case for caveat emptor? While I agree that the client does share responsibility here, the artist should point out spelling errors if indeed that is the submitted text, or at least do a grammar check on his/her own work. In December, I had to point out to my artist that there are two "o's" in "This too shall pass." He cursed under his breath and reworked the stencil. A well respected nationally known artist based in Columbus just became extremely embarrassed on FB due to the "Your" "You're" thing. He reversed a phrase that ended up reading "Your only as strong as you're faith" on a large shoulder piece. Some may think that it's the customer's fault, but whenever the error is pointed out, I guarantee that the customer will blame the artist. Loudly and publicly. Every time.

Its It's You're Your Yore There Their They're To Too Two For fuck's sake, your clients will be wearing this their entire life. It. Matters.

Wil Murray banged out a filler on my arm this past Saturday.:cool:

I use Google extensively (Eagle snake chest tattoo) and Pinterest (traditional snake eagle flash).If you can find a copy of "Sailor Jerry Collins American Tattoo Master" and look on page 75, there is one kick-ass Wivern (Wyvern).

Billy Hill owns Envy Skin Gallery on Bethel Road at GoDown. Envy Skin Gallery | Columbus Ohio's Premier Tattoo Studio Dustin Hysell owns Fate Tattoo on High Street at Lane Avenue. Fate Tattoo Consult with either of these gentlemen. They both do quality work. And if what you're looking for isn't their cup of tea they won't hesitate to steer you to an artist they think will do a bang up job. Or you could wait for the Hell City convention. May 1,2 and 3 at the Hyatt downtown. Hell City Tattoo Festival

Josh's lighthouse may have been boring to the judges but I would wear it. WTF was that thing Gentle Jay did? I love a traditional girl-in-a-martini-glass image but this one looked like a biker bar back room special. Wrong time to have a bad day...