guitguy

I agree with all above. Some serious wow factor there. Awesome work ! :)

- - - Updated - - - my untrained eye. Meh, I'd say your eye is relatively trained ;) Thanks for the cool and entertaining posts.

Roses rule. End of story. Do it. I'm diggin' on the "Thrush Brush" bird. Cool !

Welcome :)

That is EPIC ! Congrats all around !

My sentiments exactly. I thought too that it might become an interesting thread but, perhaps I've missed the boat and this has already been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere here. If that is the case, mods, feel free to ditch this sucker ;)

Hugely heart warming. Thanks !

Sorry if this subject can be found in another thread. My search skills may be lacking. I often spend time searching out tattoo media of some sort; either here or shop websites, blogs, Instagram or Youtube. I happened upon this series of vids by Billy Hill on Youtube. Surprised I'd never seen them before. Perhaps I passed over them a hundred times. Who knows. I am not a tattooer but I am interested in the craft from many angles. I've found these vids fairly entertaining and informative. There seems to be a shitload of them, of which I've only watched a few. I'm just curious about opinions of those here, especially tattooers, that are familiar with the man and/or the series. In the current era, is it still taboo to talk about techniques and methods openly as opposed to the old school's guarded secrecy? I have huge respect for those artists that came up the hard way not so long ago. I recall the Tim Hendricks LST interview when he talks about counting drops of ink on the sly while being tattooed. That's fucking cool imho. I can relate to that on a somewhat different level as a guitarist in his 40s. When I was coming up, I was in many ways, on my own. I learned what I could from books and friends and local badasses. Other than that, I picked up and redropped the needle (no pun lol ! ) hundreds of times on Hendrix, Zeppelin and Sabbath albums, to name a few. No Youtube tutorials and what have you. I think that relative solitude hepled me develop of voice distinctly my own. Many a tattooer could probably tell relatively similiar story. But them days is way over so....sorry....didn't mean to get all philosophical n' stuff lol So....anyone seen, like or hate these vids ? Guess I should post a link.....the trailer in pretty funny I must admit ;) Billy Hill - YouTube

Well yes. Thanks @hogg for asking hahaha.... The pic I'll post is current. The whole thing was actually re-outlined and re-coloured by a different tattooer about 3 years later. At that time the birds were added along with some tiny alleged plant matter hahaha...and along with serations on the leaves, which was absent in the original. But, the original design is still in tact. I wrote a bit about the experience in another thread. It ain't bad for nearly 30 years old. I still like it. The bold has holded :cool: And I wrote about this in another thread as well but too lazy to find a link, sorry ;) I found this second pic I believe on Mike Wilson's Instagram. Pic of he and Tony Polito at Smith Street? This freaked me the F out. The flash sheet on the right behind Mr. Polito has my tattoo on it and I hadn't seen the original design anywhere since I picked it off the wall so many years ago. Middle left off the sheet. Has me very curious about its origins. Obviously age old subject matter but, who first drew that one? Oops...pics reversed. Cheers !

My first tattoo was done in 1983 by this man: Carol "Smokey" Nightingale

It is sad to see someone who was once so vital and dynamic loose a few steps. I saw him in that period as well and felt the same way. While he kinda looks like hell, he is actually doing a lot better now than then. He has put on some weight and seems pretty lucid. He still has a hard time getting around on his own and he's very nearly blind (and has been for years) but, he saw my hand as I extended it to him to shake. I did not get to hear him play this time around as our shows were the day after his on both festivals. I did see him 2 years ago at my hometown's blues festival and he was fantastic. The first time I saw him was in '84. He played a club here in town and I got in with fake ID as a 16 year old hahaha.....it changed my life!

In terms of awesome experiences, I had a wonderful life moment this past weekend. I'll try to cut a long story short. Wish me luck ;) As a bit of back story, I posted in this thread last month that I am a guitar player by trade and played the Montreal Jazz Festival with the band "Soulstack" (by far my favourite band of the handful that I work with). There is a video of that show in that post if anyone cares to check it out. Anyway, we had a road trip this weekend to play at a couple of festivals in Quebec and Ontario respectively. Our first show was in Donnacona, Quebec on Friday night but we drove up Thursday so as not to be rushed and be fresh for our show the next day. We pulled in to our 2 star motel in the middle of nowhere QC at around midnight after an 11 hour drive. We settled in and had some well deserved beers. A little more backstory. Johnny Winter is a famed blues guitarist/singer from Texas with a long and storied career and is still out on the road at the age of 70 or so. He has been my ultimate superhero since I was 8 years old. That in itself is a long story hahaha...Let's just say that he has been one of the most important musical inspirations in my life. We knew that Johnny was playing the same festival that evening and joked that there was no chance he would be staying at the same kinda lame motel as us. Turns out we were wrong ;) One of my bandmates was out for a smoke and sent me a text saying "Dude! Johnny Winter is here!" I ran out to the parking lot to see a modest motorhome and through the blinded window I saw the long white hair of the man. I was freaked. I am shamefully star struck I must admit, even though I fully understand the absurdity of being so. At that point, I went back to my room and kinda paced around for a while not believing the circumstances I had found myself in. I had the door propped open and I saw Johnny walk past on the way to his room 2 doors down! More freaked!!!! I overheard their road manager tell the band that they would be leaving at 10am. I was in the lobby by 830 lol. I am very shy by nature and have missed out on a great deal of cool experiences because of it but, I could not live wth myself had I not made the effort to meet my hero, especially since the opportunity had really just fallen into my lap ( I do belive things happen for a reason and don't belive in coinsidence;) As he fired up the motorhome, I asked guitarist/road manager Paul if there was a chance I could meet Mr. Winter. He said that Johnny would be coming out at 10 to get onboard and that once he got settled in, I could come in and say hi. I was scared shitless but so fucking stoked. I got on the 'bus', said a few words, shook his hand and got a pic taken with him. I had a million thngs I wanted to say but, I didn't wanna be that guy so I said very little and have no regrets. I just wanted to be in his presence for a moment and not be a bother. He was sweet and gracious. It felt like a dream to me and still does. If anyone reads this far, thank you for indulging me hahaha...Writing it out has helped to digest the experince a little more;) I'll post a pic from my meeting and also, as an aside lol, a link about Mr. Winter's cool tattoos. If you scroll down, you can find the entire article from Tattoo mag. Pretty cool! http://www.yee.ch/winter/Mags/winter_mags_1989.html

That's awesome! Looks like the shroud of turin LOL

I'm sorry but, that's just SO wrong! LOL ;)

Welcome! That's an impressive gallery. I like your style sir. "Drink the corn liquor, let the cocaine be," Bahahaha!!! That's awesome! :)

I was browsing Mike Wilson's Instagram and happened upon this photo. My very first tattoo is seen on the flash sheet right between the two gentlemen's heads. It is the little rose and dagger design on the far left side of the sheet on the right. Maybe no big deal but I got really excited when I saw it because I haven't seen that exact design anywhere since I picked it off the wall back in '83. Nor have I seen the original design since I got my tattoo refurbished and added to a few years later. I never knew whether or not it was just from a generic flash sheet or if it was my tattoers take on an old design or what. Nor do I recall if that's the same sheet I picked from years ago. I knew I wanted a dagger and once I saw it, that's ALL I saw hahaha..... I believe the caption said the picture was taken at Smith Street. If so, I imagine it's a hand painted sheet by one the guys there but, maybe not. I haven't been lucky enough to visit those fine folks quite yet. Does anyone out there recognize this sheet or know anything about its origins? I would love to purchase a print of this sheet. Thanks :)

I know, I know. I've felt bad ever since. Very uncharacteristic, which makes the story a lot more funny ;)

Second viewing starting now. Probably the second of many ;) ......and yes, I caught a lot more the second time around (Hanky Panky's hair LOL! thanks @cltattooing ) There is so much to take in, especially visually. Aside from posts here on LST in the past few months, this is my first major exposure to the work of Shige. My mind is officially blown! If I had to make one criticism, it would be that Marcus needs to make his questions more concise and much less wordy. I felt really bad for the interpreter lol :)

Welcome Shelly! Yes, really nice work you have there. I was struck in particular by the water on the butterfly's wings. That's killer! I was in Virginia Beach once for a weekend a few years back. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be back. I got terrifically drunk and pulled 2 "dine and dashes" in one night. One by accident and one completely on purpose LOL! Oops :) Anyhow, best wishes!

Seems the iniations are almost hard to keep track of. More and more everyday. Not surprising as this is just such an awesome forum. Indeed, welcome :)

Nice ! How did your wife manage to get time with Dan ?

Wow. Feels like I've been waiting a long time for this, but I really have no idea how long it's been hahaha... This is such a great series and this new episode may be the best yet. And so begins the wait in anticipation of the next installment. sigh ;)

@real meta......I was wondering if anyone here got this. Saw this on Steve's FB the other day. I think I stared at it for about an hour ! No shit. Stunning ! Congrats :)

Those cholo girls.....man! He just kills that shit !

Well, I know what you mean. I'm sure I will have the same problem when the time comes. I myself have been dreaming about a pin-up in colour and perhaps a little cholo dude in black and grey as a filler somewhere. Or perhaps just giving him a vague idea and saying "go for it". The cobra/roses idea is a good one as he certainly has an affinity for both of those images. Are you thinking black and grey?