Tesseracts

Looks like the attention has resulted in some action at least.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/21/my-little-pony-backpack-banned-school-north-carolina/6685403/

What the fuck is wrong with people, seriously

^ school basically told him it was his fault (shoulda chosen a different bag) people were picking on him from my understanding. Pretty weak on their part.

I recently bought a book called Mythical Beasts of Japan. It has a few bakeneko pictures in it. I don't know if you have already seen these but I'll post them anyway.
Kuniyoshi, Kyosai, Kuniyoshi, Yoshifuji.
Just found this blog. It's not in English but it has a lot of good pictures of Yokai.

No tattoo shop with self respect refuses to post any of the shop's own work on their website.No thanks.No.

I think websites like this are literally written by robots. They probably have some computer program that finds popular search terms and constructs paragraphs about them along with some random images. Kind of sad but also hilarious.

So I was surfing random sites, and I found this excellent and informative article about tattoo blowouts that finally clarified for me the meaning behind these artistic tattoos. The article has several inspiring examples. Enjoy.
URL: Tattoo Blowout | Tattoo Designs, Ideas, Meaning and Pictures

a kitsune is probably more badass than any iron maiden tattoo ever. his link is megadeth not maiden....
and yeah your tattoo will look awesome when you're 60!

In my opinion a troll is somebody who upsets people on purpose. Some of the people here seem to lack the social skills to avoid accidentally insulting people. However the outcome is the same either way: people are upset.
I have to say this forum is probably the only forum I've been on that feels this strongly about women's rights without actually being a feminist forum, and that's pretty cool.

I recently bought a book called Mythical Beasts of Japan. It has a few bakeneko pictures in it. I don't know if you have already seen these but I'll post them anyway.
Kuniyoshi, Kyosai, Kuniyoshi, Yoshifuji.
Just found this blog. It's not in English but it has a lot of good pictures of Yokai.

I have a feeling that we have met the most recent re-invention of Bruce Cove/Andre Murray/Master Zao

I agree, the lines look so solid and clean. I love all the black.
As for me, I have black & gray, but my black & gray left arm incorporates a little "dotwork" type stuff in the background. I don't think I put this pic on LST... This is my inner arm after the 4th session w/a Spencer Briggs Style mandala. It's not finished yet and my iphone takes crappy/grainy pics but here it is:

I'll answer a few questions in no specific order RE: Penis Dragon.
That customer came to the shop after searching for someone who would be willing to do the tattoo.
I agreed to do it because he was clear about what he did and didn't want from the tattoo and unlike others who inquire about similar work, he didn't seem to be 'getting off' talking about it. Also he wanted a tattoo that looked good, rather than just a tattoo that obliterated his genitals.
It's his only tattoo.
He's not what I would call a 'tattoo person' he doesn't really care about tattoos, he just knows what he wants and expects a high quality outcome.
He has a profession where you would never know or see his tattoo. I'm told the only person who will see it is his long term wife.
He handled the pain exceptionally well. He applied Emla cream before I tattooed the head of his penis but it seemed to wear off fairly quickly.
He tells me the most painful part was his scrotum. That was also the most difficult part to design, draw and tattoo. I didn't need to see his penis erect to design or tattoo it. Tattooing involves stretching skin and it's possible to predict how skin will distort. He assures me it looks great at all times and all angles.
That tattoo is by far the most technically challenging, stressful and difficult work I've ever produced.

Jesus fucking christ. I'm looking into this guy, and as hard as this is to believe, it only gets much worse. He's a convicted violent criminal who has been running terrible internet scams for years. His current scam is basically a promise of a free hour of tattooing for anyone who writes a negative review of other tattoo shops in the area, and gives him their contact information without seeing a portfolio. Read this. I hope the police hear about this soon.

Rainbow Dash is my favorite!!!!
Kind of related to this......
Rob Rutherford made a 1-off machine based on Pinkie Pie that is up for auction on his FB page until March 30th! It's a pretty awesome looking machine too.....It is being auctioned to help a little boy's family with medical expenses!
Seems an 11 year old boy in Raleigh was bullied so much about liking MLP.....that he tried to commit suicide and ended up in the hospital with possible brain damage!
Anyway.....I have an MLP tattoo....he he he!
AND.....I thought I was the first troll here!!! :D

For one thing, I find it hard for someone to write an article like this about tattoos without having a tattoo. It sounds from her article that she has some self-image issues. I also picked up that she has her own pretty well defined idea of what personal decoration is, which is fine but to say what looks good as a black and white fact is impossible since looks are all about opinions and not about facts.
I prefer to tattoo my body, as some prefer to go to the gym, or buy "nice" clothes. I also find an attractive quality in girls that have tattoos, in the fact that they are confident enough to have one and also confident enough to commit to an idea for life. The attractive quality of other peoples' tattoos are not always about the actual image (although some can be amazing), it is more however the concept. Also my opinion about girls who go out of their way to look 'perfect' is actually unattractive, because it seems that they are not confident enough in their own skin.

"But at the end of the day, are you really a happier person? Has this tattoo, for instance, caused you to learn something new about yourself? Has it challenged you? Has it led you to self-growth? Nothing comes out of getting a tattoo. You get a tattoo, and that's it. You do something productive, though, and you see results. That's a genuine, satisfying change in life. Not ink."
At the end of the day when I've gotten a new tattoo yes I am happier. Tattoos can cause you to learn something new about yourself. Tattoos can change you. Tattoos can lead to self growth.
Her idea of doing something productive "Invest your time, money, and effort into a gym membership, or yoga classes, or new clothes, or experimenting with different hairstyles if you're craving something new with your body, not a tattoo"
So instead of getting tattoos all women should do whatever it takes to be skinny and have the latest fashions? So according to her going to the mall is a way to promote self growth and positive change? Wasting your money on overpriced goods so that some guy will want to fuck you is better than investing in artwork you will carry for the rest of your life? Awesome glad I know how to make my life more awesome now.
And just to be a bitch I'm gonna go ahead and guess that girl who wrote the article is just dealing with some jealousy as she's not very attractive herself and looks to be rather plain and boring. Way to go lady!
P.s. since when is a woman equal to a Ferrari or any other car? Talk about degrading yourself by getting tattoos and then you're gonna write and article comparing women to cars. Shit like this drives me up the fucking wall.

i've always enjoyed the "body as a temple" arguement. after all, places of worship have always been so humble, understated, and sparsely decorated over the centuries.

It's stuff like this that is the reason it's difficult to Google information about tattoos. You Google something like "good realistic tattoos" or "tattoo styles" or "how to choose a tattoo"... stuff any normal person would want to know... and all that shows up is tons of lists and images of tattoos that aren't even good, on websites that give you no real information and are just designed to be click bait. Most of the time they don't even credit the artists so you can't readily find the other stuff in their portfolio on the off chance you find something you actually like. The descriptions of the images are just superficial uninteresting descriptions of what you're looking at, like "birds are pretty." Or it goes in depth about something pointless, like how this chart is careful to explain to you the difference between monochrome and color (?!).
I just now Googled "Japanese koi tattoo" so I could get an authentic example of stupidity, and this is a sample of the literature I found: "Of course, people may love fish tattoos for no reasons, just for cool." Not only is this sentence a worthless introduction to a page of 50 random fish tattoo images (without artist credit) but "just for cool" isn't even proper English. The only reason this sentence exists is to make the website more likely to show up when someone Googles the word "cool."
Oh yeah and there is the occasional article you stumble upon filled with cliches about how "tattoos are no longer for criminals and sailors any more" which doesn't tell you anything interesting.
I mean I know sometimes it takes more than 20 minutes of research to find something worthwhile, I'm just saying, stuff like this makes the entire internet worse. There is even more nonsense on the internet about tattoos than there is about most Googlable subjects. LST and a few blogs are the only decent sources of information I've encountered so far.

My parents are very religious muslims, so it wasn't even a topic that was open for discussion as tattoos are so forbidden in Islam.
My older sister got a tattoo before me, and whilst i knew my parents hated it i was never around to see my parents finding out about it so i had no real idea about what sort of reaction they had. So i got my first tattoo on my back, second on my chest, and then my third on my forearm. During healing i was wearing a long shirt to hide it, and i kept bringing up the "Can i get a tattoo" and my mum would always say no, i brought it up once when i was in my mums room and whilst talking about it, she spotted the gap i had in my shirt (It had buttons down the sleeves kinda thing) and demanded to see my arm, she freaked out had a nervous breakdown, sent me out of her room, cried for a couple of hours and i could tell it was easily one of the most upsetting things in her entire life. This same ordeal happened (And to this day does) everytime i'd get a new tattoo and she'd "Find out" about it. I have a full sleeve now, entire chest and other tattoos here and there, and it's still something that plagues her, she can't stand my tattoos. The point is, even if your parents are only a little bit opposed to it, or completely opposed to it like my parents, showing them sooner than later is the only way to go. When i'm hiding tattoos i have this constant fear of them seeing them, and when they do know all about my tattoos at least i have a sense of relief.

Most forums I've been on allow you to either search by thread or search by post. Seems this forum only allows you to search by thread... that's an inconvenience. However you can partially get around that by using Google to search LST.

I had a painting instructor who does really nice paintings. He's also a tattoo artist. However his tattoos don't look like his paintings at all. There must be a reason for that. Here are his paintings and here are his tattoos. They're different styles and they emphasize different things.
I love paint and I love the way paint looks, but human skin isn't like paper or canvas. I don't think it's just a matter of fading, some things look better on a flat computer screen than they look on an arm.
It seems to be that the best way to get something that looks like a painting on your skin, is to find a good tebori artist. For example, this bird by Horimasa has really nice subtle color transitions, more like a painting than like most tattoos. I also like how well white comes out with tebori.
Dotwork tattoos also look kind of like drawings or illustrations to me, here is one by Valentin Hirsch.

I had a painting instructor who does really nice paintings. He's also a tattoo artist. However his tattoos don't look like his paintings at all. There must be a reason for that. Here are his paintings and here are his tattoos. They're different styles and they emphasize different things.
I love paint and I love the way paint looks, but human skin isn't like paper or canvas. I don't think it's just a matter of fading, some things look better on a flat computer screen than they look on an arm.
It seems to be that the best way to get something that looks like a painting on your skin, is to find a good tebori artist. For example, this bird by Horimasa has really nice subtle color transitions, more like a painting than like most tattoos. I also like how well white comes out with tebori.
Dotwork tattoos also look kind of like drawings or illustrations to me, here is one by Valentin Hirsch.

In my opinion a troll is somebody who upsets people on purpose. Some of the people here seem to lack the social skills to avoid accidentally insulting people. However the outcome is the same either way: people are upset.
I have to say this forum is probably the only forum I've been on that feels this strongly about women's rights without actually being a feminist forum, and that's pretty cool.

It's stuff like this that is the reason it's difficult to Google information about tattoos. You Google something like "good realistic tattoos" or "tattoo styles" or "how to choose a tattoo"... stuff any normal person would want to know... and all that shows up is tons of lists and images of tattoos that aren't even good, on websites that give you no real information and are just designed to be click bait. Most of the time they don't even credit the artists so you can't readily find the other stuff in their portfolio on the off chance you find something you actually like. The descriptions of the images are just superficial uninteresting descriptions of what you're looking at, like "birds are pretty." Or it goes in depth about something pointless, like how this chart is careful to explain to you the difference between monochrome and color (?!).
I just now Googled "Japanese koi tattoo" so I could get an authentic example of stupidity, and this is a sample of the literature I found: "Of course, people may love fish tattoos for no reasons, just for cool." Not only is this sentence a worthless introduction to a page of 50 random fish tattoo images (without artist credit) but "just for cool" isn't even proper English. The only reason this sentence exists is to make the website more likely to show up when someone Googles the word "cool."
Oh yeah and there is the occasional article you stumble upon filled with cliches about how "tattoos are no longer for criminals and sailors any more" which doesn't tell you anything interesting.
I mean I know sometimes it takes more than 20 minutes of research to find something worthwhile, I'm just saying, stuff like this makes the entire internet worse. There is even more nonsense on the internet about tattoos than there is about most Googlable subjects. LST and a few blogs are the only decent sources of information I've encountered so far.