TahmidThrashCat

As you grow older and become more familar with tattooing, i find that you become a lot more open to different styles and being to want to incorporate them for your own tattoos. Prior to working in the industry i was pretty much a generally strictly into traditional, but after a year i found myself wanting to get Japanese, Chicano, Ben Grillo styled Black and Grey and more. I've worked with a lot of tattooers who have blast over sleeves etc, and the mismatched "styles" suit them, it's kind of a reflection of their journey learning and engaging in tattooing in a broader sense.

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.

My friend Pat did this one which i liked a lot. I think from memory i've seen Ben Grillo do one i really liked too.

@hogg If you're a fan of Chad Koeplinger, i got this done by him today! Took about/Just under 2 hours!

Thanks @hogg ! I've seen some of your photos, you've been tattooed by some of my favourites! Tim Lehi, Stuart Cripwell etc!

Looks amazing, i love his work. So upset i wasn't able to get tattooed by him whilst he was guest spotting at Hunter & Fox.

First Blood in Sydney! We have One traditional tattooer, One portrait artist, One Neo Traditional artist and One kinda all round artist.

Hi there. So i've been lurking the threads on here for about half a year, have seen all the artist videos on Youtube and only just joined as a member. I'm 21 years old, and work as a studio assistant/counter hand in a tattoo shop in Sydney. I'm into western traditional, anything ranging from the old Bert Grimm, Ben Corday, George Burchett stuff, to the Spider Murphys asthetic, to the Dan Higgs Jeff Zuck sort of stuff and of course the Smith Street sort of stuff. Decided to join so i can communicate with other Tattoo enthusiasts from around the world and to be able to see work coming from all over the world.

I'm someone that regularly spends time in hospital for an illness, and due to this i have numerous spots on my body i can't actually get tattooed, my entire left arm is unable to be touched by a tattoo machine, and my stomach region has undergone a lot of surgery and more to come, so any tattoos that could hypothetically go there, would just be ripped open. So i don't really have much "Balance" as such at all with my tattoos, but i'm not really too concerned, i'm someone that wears full sleeves most of the time anyway. I do however reserve spots for ideas that i know i definitely want in particular locations and wait a while until i can finally get that spot filled in.