Hospitelli

You can never go wrong with a dragon back piece! I too am going full back and pretty much gave Chris freedom over it with the guideline of to go dark. I told him my interests were deities, demons, malevolent creatures and that it would cool if it came from Japanese folklore. In the end though it's going to be whatever he comes up with. Start in January 2015 with a session every month except for June, July, August and September with the same scheduling for 2016 till completion.

Oh hell yeah man you must be all kinds of giddy! Sh*t I'm giddy for ya lol. Do you have an idea of what you want or are you letting Mike have total freedom and are you going to the knees?

@introspect Looks like it's coming along nicely! Going to look awesome once it's finished for sure. @BrianH Whose going to be doing your backpiece?

Managed to get an appointment with Grez to do a traditional Gorilla head on my right foot on Sept 25. Stoked to say the least. Now my right foot won't look naked in comparison to the left.

@Graeme, that is just sad especially when the aforementioned people were taking walk ups. I try my best to educate people and friends without sounding like a total snob but sometimes it's just plain tuff. I got a buddy of mine that has like about 50 hrs + invested in a full arm sleeve in which the work is sub par at best. How do you go about telling them that it's A) Crap and B) Could of gotten a 100% better tattoo from someone else without hurting their feelings? It's extremely difficult especially when they think the world of it and that it is the best thing since sliced bread. Then when you tell them your opinion of the artist that they go to and recommend some solid people they blow up and go ape shit crazy. It's a lose lose situation and makes me not even want to waste my breath trying to help people make a better decision when it comes to something they are going to have on them for the rest of their life.

All healed; done by Chris O'Donnell. I couldn't be any happier with it and can't wait to start on my back in 2015.

The tattoos that I have seen from Montreal has been nothing short of amazing! It makes me sad that I couldn't of made the trip out.

Foot tattoos are probably one of the most hardest places to heal. I had my foot done July 24th and it too scabbed up pretty good. In fact there are some spots on my foot that are still scabbed over. The key is to just let the healing process take it course however long it takes and to not pick the scabs. I was worried at first that I was going to need a touch up cause the blacks look so faded after the scabs naturally fell off but like others have said it's turned out fine.

No way!? Could it be possible that we have another Guyver fan on the board other then myself? I love the anime and the movies! I mull over the idea of getting a guyver head done on the top of my foot every now and then again. I think it would be cool as hell just don't have a clue on who'd I want to do it.

Very nice sleeves, welcome to LST!

Top of the foot has been nothing short of a pain in the a$$ for me. It took easily over a week for the initial swelling to go down in the foot and then after that it scabbed up pretty good. Now I'm just worried about loss of pigment but I'll wait till it's fully healed before making the decision if I'd like it touched up. I'll also consult with the artist first to get his opinion on it as well.

Speaking of Mr. O'Donnell, I start the full back piece experience with him in 2015. I remember at one point in time I thought people were nuts for getting their whole backs done. As time went on though it slowly became something that I admired and dreamed about doing. With that being said it's time to start saving!

Balance and placement were def important for me at one point. After getting my left calf sleeve completed I remember thinking to myself if I were to ever get something done on my arms it would go on the right to balance things out. To me if I had done something on the left it just wouldn't have looked right. I also thought at one point that mixing styles of tattoos would look off and out of place. Now though I think that life is just too short to worry about any of that stuff. Get what you want where you want and from who you want.

Took a trip down to Virginia yesterday and had my consultation with Brian Bruno. First appointment some time in November for a half-sleeve and chest plate. Changed up my original plans of Henning do this because I decided to have him do my ribs instead as that is something I wouldn't mind as having in progress for an extended period of time.

A recent conversation with a "non-tattooed being" friend of mine; Friend: Why in the world would you get a severed head tattooed on your chest? Me: You're asking the wrong question. Why wouldn't I get a severed head tattooed on my chest? I also get asked what my tattoos symbolize/mean and a majority of people when I tell them that they have no meaning tend to be shocked. How can you put something on your body and not have it mean anything? I blame that way of thinking towards tattoos solely on Miami Ink where everyone had some crazy story to go with why they are getting it done and what it means to them just for the sake of good television, when in reality this isn't the case. Some people just love the imagery and tattoos in general.

I couldn't agree more with @Delicious. I also wasn't a fan of the suggestion that the contestant should of tattooed himself during this past weeks elimination when his "canvas" walked out on him.

Ultimately, I think people get bad tattoos simply because they don't have the funds and your average person that may want a tattoo is uneducated about what would even be good. The more people that get educated the better and which is why LST is a such a great forum. I applaud the people that come on here asking questions or even just looking because your heading in the right direction. Of course though you have the people that will continue to get subpar work done and think it's the best sh*t since sliced bread but they're a lost cause and not even worth the time of day.

That came out beautifully @HaydenRose. I absolutely love that wolf head!

How did I completely miss this thread? I just watched Episode 7 and what a treat it was. Apart from being very well done it's great to hear from Horiyoshi III and Shige as their approach to life and to their art is nothing short of inspiring. Seeing those Shige pieces on video is also something else. Looks like I got some catching up to do as well!