ry4n

thats awesome! are all your tats B&G/you planning on color? pretty rad overall aesthetic. simple, clean, readable.

where abouts sf are you going to be? and what are some of your interests? if weather permits, walking around and drinking a few beers while people watching in golden gate park (or any of the other parks) would be pretty relaxing after a weekend full of tattoos. theres tons to see, and tons of places to just kick back in ggp. the de young museum is located in the middle of the park as well, but if you like low brow, graffiti type art FIFTY24 is a nice little gallery on lower haight to hang at. as for restaurants, options are bottomless. id definitely suggest hanging out in the mission (tons of bars, food, murals, and sick art around) and grabbing a burrito at either farlito or cancun.

shared this in my introduce yourself thread, but this guy is traveling around america and stopping in my city. anyone heard of/have experience with/have thoughts to share about him and his work?

@KBeee hey thanks i took up on your advice and ordered a couple books through UCSB's Interlibrary loan program! fuuuuuuuuuckyaaaaaaaaaa lets see how that goes. books should be gettng in within the week anyone familiar with takashi matsuba? hes coming around SF in May and im tempted to make an appointment with him to get something from him. any thoughts on his work?

I am really on the fence about leaning towards a Japanese sleeve like Hospitelli mentioned. After being on this board for like 2 days, I really do think it would be more fun and neat to collect different styles and different artists. When said and done, eclectic sleeves always do seem to come together.

paying homage to the croc hunter.... what an interesting idea. dont know much about him myself, so my opinion wont be much help haha.

hey man thanks! unfortunately, the week of the 9th i have finals. and damn those guys have some neat looking books, but theyre rather pricey for something im not certain ill use. i did just find her on IG. again, big ups for the help.

@Killercook76 interesting. yeah tebori was just an idea im entertaining . seems like a fun experience, but i had no idea it took double the time. perhaps youre right in it not being ideal. i do follow most those guys on IG, and boy do they have some neat stuff. ill keep an eye on them and their colleagues. i have a separate IG where i only follow artists, and have thus far racked up a couple hundred followings. thanks for sharing bud. @beez yes! that makes me so excited to pop by their shop. i just stalked your profile. are the snapshots from DC's IG your ink? thats fucking rad. i love kevin and claws work, so its fantastic to hear such great things about their work environment and their personalities. ive looked at a couple of online portfolios of nearby shops (i.e. picture machine, freddy corbins place, state of grace) but none have caught my eye quite like DC has. a little bonus being that one of their sites icons is a lucky cat :rolleyes: @Gregor woooah dude im actually going to seriously keep that in mind. theres some killer sketches of him on google. thanks. any other suggestions? gonna peruse some Japanese deities. overall, thanks for the warm welcomes guys. my first tattoo was eh, sorta sporadic. i dont dislike it but it feels incomplete and looks rushed. im trying to figure out how to best compliment it with some good work, but feel kinda overwhelmed and lost. its great to come into this place where you guys are all so invested in what you wear. cant wait to learn a thing or two :)

Hi all So I’m currently in the market for a half to a ¾ sleeve Japanese tattoo. Because I already have my forearm tattooed, I do want a sleeve that goes from the wrist up to the elbow/a little bit beyond. I want to leave the bicep/shoulder area as free real estate, maybe adding to it later (tebori possibly). Not sure if this is a common practice, as almost all half sleeves I see are shoulder to elbow. This tattoo I have now feels incomplete and weak, so I do want something more badass/masculine. I’ve been toying around with different ideas of how to fill it in, but can’t seem to find visuals that I really dig. I have perused the Japanese/Chinese tattoo gallery, but I don’t want an oni mask, koi, or dragon, so that eliminates a good majority of what you guys shared. The idea of a samurai would be pretty bad ass, or maybe some sort of mythical creature/beast? Anyone know of a good place to look? Reference books are rather expensive, and I can't seem to find a site that has quality images. I have decided that I want to go check out The Diamond Club in San Francisco, as I am a big fan of what their artist’s posts on their Instagrams. Anyone have any experience here? I’m from SF, but am at school in SoCal til December so I can’t meet for a consultation til then. Until then, I want to be as prepared as possible so when we meet I can best get across what I want to them. (step one being figuring out exactly what I want) Stumbled across this forum, and figured since I don’t want to create a new thread elsewhere, this little thread could act as an open online journal. I am pretty damn tattoo noob, so my bad if I commit any tatoo faux pas. Cheers guys. Ryan