Hospitelli

Got this dagger from Steve Byrne this past Friday at the Pagoda convention. Super stoked on how it came out and the convention was great! It was very cool to see such great tattoo artists and people all in one place. If I didn't leave when I did I probably would of walked out of the convention broke and with a few more tattoos.

Stick with the original artist. Book with him whenever possible and ask if you can have multiple sessions scheduled in advance at a pace you can afford. I'd like to also ask how do you think the artist is over charging you? Getting a tattoo that large of scale I'm guessing he is charging you by the hour. If that is the case the hourly rate is non-negotiable; it is what it is. If you couldn't afford it then you should of never started the project to begin with.

Watching Ink Masters use to be a guilty pleasure of mine but I've completely stopped watching it now. None of the shows that are on air benefit the community in any way what so ever. When you start bringing in movie stars, and athletes (with shit tattoos) for critiques and give them more air time then a legitimate artist that has done it for a majority of their lives they you become a joke. I can only imagine what next season has in store. Maybe they will have Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber on as guest judges!

@suburbanxcore Yea I just saw that this morning too and had the same reaction. His tigers are so good! Also, love the tattoo from Grez. He had to give you shit for being a Phillies fan though and remind you about the 09 Series. @BrianH I had a 2nd session on it sometime in April. Chris started on the upper background and tied into the two sleeves nicely. I took a break for the summer months though for vacation and don't go back to Kings Ave till the end of September. I'm very excited to get back started up again and kinda regret not just working on it thru the summer.

Finally got around to getting some pictures of my completed Nue half sleeve and chest plate. This was completed back in March by Brian Bruno at Absolute Art Tattoo and I can't recommend him enough. It's a really good shop full of great people.

Fantastic start @Graeme. Looks like it's going to be an incredible back piece!

Very sorry for your loss @Colored Guy. My condolonces to you and your family.

Wowzers! Awesome legs everybody. Here are mine,

I'd go with taking off Friday and having a three day weekend for sure. The longer amount of time where you wouldn't be busy on your feet the better. I made sure that I had a three day weekend minimum on my last foot and it helped a ton. You could get both feet tattooed just to be done with it but I don't think that would be too good of an idea. Having at least one good foot allows you to put more weight on that one while walking so that your able to baby the other foot which also helps. As far as the healing goes the 2nd time around I was a bit more diligent in staying off my feet and keeping the swelling down which helped with the healing. I wrapped my foot in plastic when I went to bed and whenever I had to wear shoes. It healed extremely well and I had virtually no scabbing. I was shocked considering my first foot tattoo was nothing but a pain in the a$$. Scabs and swelling for more then a week and a few spots that need to be touched up.

@Wilhell Fantastic man. Marius' dragons are so awesome!

Recalling the first session I had on my back I remember telling Chris that my goal was to complete the entire outline in one session! If I could go back in time to that very moment I asked that, I think I would of punched myself in the face for sure.

Yes! May the 4th be with you.

Love this! The possible combinations with a panther rose morph are endless and it's great to see different artists take on it. This one is spectacular.

This song no matter how crappy of a day can get me pumped up to power thru anything! So brutal.

I'll never understand why anyone worries themselves over what other people think in regards to the tattoos that they have on their own body. If I worried about that and listened to other people then I wouldn't have a single one. Get what you want and where you want it. Don't stress over cultural appropriation or any of that other crap. You'll live longer.

I do and I don't, it really depends on the person. They're people out there that can't afford to pay to get a high quality tattoo and get what they can afford. They know it's not the best but they are completely happy with it which is what really matters. That is something I can at least respect. Then they're the people that are ignorant, have subpar tattoos, and think it's the absolute best in the world. They don't know their a$$ from their elbow when it comes to tattoos and normally take selfies all day in the mirror making sure the tattoos are visible. You could show these people work from the best artists in the world and they still think theirs is so much better. They're tattoo snobs and elitists without actually having good tattoos, it's comical.