polliwog

@peterpoose WOW. You have a lot of fantastic tattoos AND the whole still manages to be more impressive than the sum of its parts. It's really cool to see how everything connects; thanks for sharing these pictures!

If this helps, it looks pretty feminine to me. A lot of the super-delicate tattoos that you see in pictures online aren't healed, which could be misleading. The placement of it is beautiful.

I felt like this has to be posted somewhere on this board, since I can't be the only one who nerds out over stuff like this: BBC One - Life Story, Courtship, Pufferfish 'crop circles' Pufferfish mandala. Animals are amazing.

Maybe you'll feel better with a nice big tattoo on that empty inner bicep? :) I'm not a tattooer and am no expert at placement, but it jumped out to me; there's so much you could do with a space that size. Alternately: I had an awkward spot on the back of my arm, so I got tattooed elsewhere, stopped thinking about that spot, and came back to it later. It helped.

Rad!! I was hoping she wouldn't feel insulted because the "friend" character, who the main character is growing apart from, does ballet, which is a source of tension--and you mentioned that your daughter does both. I liked that the book didn't stereotype and showed that ballet is every bit as demanding as roller derby, though. There are so many excellent kids' graphic novels that have been coming out lately.

One thing I've been thinking about recently is how "having good taste" is so often bound to spending money (knowing how to decorate your house, what books to have on your shelf, what to wear) even if you don't have a lot of money. I don't want getting tattooed to be another exercise in buying stuff in an attempt to define myself--I mean, I used to buy a ton of music, and what I got out of it felt like it had nothing to do with the exchange of money. But, at the same time, I'm sure I would've been happy if my collection got approval from the "right" people. This thread ties into http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/5978-fueling-culture-getting-tattooed-big-names.html in certain ways.

I love this!! Handsome barbels.

I was listening to an interview with the auhtor the other day where he talked about how Mars's thin atmosphere couldn't produce a dust storm of the kind described in the book...he figured that this wouldn't be an issue for the average reader, but of course he's been getting tons of letters about it since the book came out.

Currently immersed in "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara. I'm totally fine with this and Elena Ferrante's Naples books receiving a lot of over-the-top hype this year, because both are so good.

I found that using Saniderm on my healing leg helped a lot with the blood-rush feeling. Obviously, take your artist's aftercare advice, though. (The downside is that a lot of liquid collects under the Saniderm, so if you do get the OK to use it, you might have to change it a couple times to avoid leaking). Putting a bag of frozen peas on there helps, too. I basically tried to remember RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation). I just rock the leg hair over a healing tattoo for about a month.

So sorry, @Mark Bee. Thinking of you.

Where have you all stayed in the past when traveling to this convention from out of town? I'm going to LA with my partner in late October and would really like to travel up for the convention before going back home. Sort of apprehensive about trying Airbnb though I probably shouldn't be. Edit: turns out my boyfriend can't make it anyway, so I would probably stay at the convention hotel if I can do this. People who responded: thanks!

If you check out the flowers gallery, there are pictures of some black and grey roses that healed up very similarly to yours. Congratulations on a nice first big tattoo!

Only your second tattoo? Sorry, I think I must have confused you with another poster over on the convention thread! :o Regardless, that is jaw-droppingly beautiful and you are a badass for finishing it.

So cool! She's probably a bit young for it, but there's a great kids graphic novel that just came out called "Roller Girl" about a girl who becomes obsessed with roller derby just as she gets to that age when best friends start to grow apart. I wish I'd done jr. derby growing up!

@omeletta's lion just made my jaw drop. You have been getting some of the coolest tattoos!

THERE IT IS!! So cute! I love the way he drew her face.

D'AWWWW what a cutie! Perfect name!

The face makes it seem a bit more cat-like, which I think is a good thing because wildcats and domestic cats have moments where their behaviors can be strikingly similar. Like, some tattooed tigers look really fierce, in a way that can be a little one-dimensional (to me, not trying to put down anyone's taste in tigers), but yours also has that determined gleam in its eye that I recognize from my own cats stalking a vole or something. I like it.

Last night I dreamed that I was going to get a tattoo on my leg, but also somehow wound up with a medium-sized pink fairy silhouette right in the center of my back. Just a black outline filled in with solid Pepto-Bismol pink. Later on, after walking out of the shop, I "woke up" and felt relieved. Reached my hand down my shirt to scratch my back, to find that the fairy had been replaced by a terrible, half-finished meditating Guanyin that was peeling. I've never been more relieved to wake up for real.

Holy hell @RoryQ. Scrolling by that thumbnail, I thought it was a silk painting at first. @UglyButProud, I love that!!

Still sort of sad that I didn't get to see that in person (though I obviously don't expect someone who doesn't know me to take off clothes just because they have a famously amazing backpiece). It is perfect and I definitely want some combination of fighting animals on me, too. - - - Updated - - - I love the face, too. The brow markings give it such personality. It's a detail that's easy to overlook, but it seems so essential when it's done so beautifully.

Many of you may have seen this but here's an update from Needles and Sins.

I really, really don't enjoy being asked to participate in conversations that begin with "so I just bought a tattoo gun online."

Bumping this with a possibly silly opinion question for you all--what do you like to see in a Rock of Ages? Are water, background, some sort of border essential for you? Recently Chris Marchetto posted a couple stripped-down takes on his Instagram feed that are beautiful to me and suddenly make me really really want this design somewhere on my body, BUT I also really like looking at beautifully-drawn water and ornate borders and things like that. I did get to briefly look at the RoA book for inspiration but unfortunately don't own it.