scubaron

I play in a pool league Sundays at 6, but matches sometimes gets postponed. Might be better for me not to see everyone's cool tattoos. Wifey giving me a real hard time about potentially getting another tattoo.

Where and when are you meeting ? Would be cool to see/meet others and show- discuss tattoos. How they look in person and aged vs. what we see in pictures. Although this time of the year it might look funny taking our clothes off in public. :cool:

You like the pain ? Yes that is weird. :cool:

WOW, AWESOME !! SeeSea !

Thanks. I've seen collaborations between artists too. Not sure if they were planned out in advance, done on the spur of the moment or done at the suggestion of the artist. I've seen some geometric work by Anderson, so not sure if he would want to do a geometric addition himself or defer to John. Good suggestion though since that's Johns specialty.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Have not heard back from Anderson and my wife agrees with some of you to leave the area as is and let that tattoo shine on it's own. When it comes to tattoos, I tend to get a little scattered. Old ideas bouncing around in my head mixed with new things I see on the internet. Funny, in my work life I am solid, focused, organized and decisive. I probably should shift my focus towards my upcoming consult with Yoni Zilber for a tattoo on my back.

Not familiar with Epic Ink. What channel is it on, what time ?

Anderson Luna did the original. I'd feel funny going to to John Sultana to add to Anderson's tattoo since they work in the same shop. I like John's work. If I decided to get something from him, I'd give him his own area to work with. Maybe my other thigh. I kind of like giving each artist their own area. Similar to painters getting their own canvas vs. making them share. For my legs, the knee is an obvious separation point. Anderson did my right thigh, Dan Trocchio did my right calf.

Yes, what I meant was not to change it, but add another piece on the side of my thigh, have some kind transition or shading between the pieces. The 2 pieces some how relating to one another so it flows. Definitely don't want to ruin the original piece or put something of lesser quality next to it. My artist is not the quickest to respond so my head is spinning trying to come up with ideas. If he says to do nothing near it, I'll take his advice.

I want to add/expand on this tattoo, using the side of my thigh and maybe a little above. I contacted the original artist but have not gotten a reply yet. Definitely will take his advice, but I'd like to have some ideas and options for him to work with. I'm really at a loss on how to add to this. Maybe some negative space then shading to a geometric or ornamental design ? Another head tattoo, but at a 3/4 angle ? All suggestions would be appreciated.

Maybe I missed it, but did you post a picture of your tattoo ? Curious to see what you are describing.

I am considering a back piece. Not full back, but something than runs along my spine and extends out a little to the sides. I'm guessing it would take at least 3 sessions probably 4. I like my octopus tattoo but the areas near my armpit, near the elbow ditch and my bicep, really sucked. Have to admit I am a little hesitant to do my back because it's a large tattoo in a painful spot.

How about in the NYC area ? Have not seen anything like Jess Yenn or Khuong Nguyen in artists portfolios in the NY area. Looks more like Asian themes/subjects done in realism or black & grey shading style.

Good question. What do traditional artists think about Neo/modern Japanese tattoos ? I really like the work I've seen from Shige, Jess Yen and a few others.

I live in a large city with a lot of talented artists. I have and will go back to the same artist to expand on their work, but I do want to take advantage of the opportunity of having so many great local tattooers.

Me too. Was nice to see head to head competition w/o fake drama.

Does silhouette & negative space mean empty skin ? Does a contrasting, non-busy background count ? Many times I see sleeves and back pieces that are so busy it's hard to make out the different elements of the tattoo. Not sure if this is done intentionally and part of the style or design. Other sleeves and full back pieces are easier to read because they have contrasting color backgrounds or separations that don't necessarily draw attention, but make the different elements easier to see and flow together.

The BS drama, the low skilled artists, the mostly mediocre tattoos..... but I still like to watch this show. It's the only current show about tattoos I can watch.

Interesting thread and really good info from those more experienced. I like the discussions on looser style. Guess each of us has our own preference. Some tattoos look too clean and perfect to me. Almost like it is a machine made decal and not a tattoo. Maybe those tattoos might look better as the skin ages and it becomes less perfect ? The tattoo experience is not something I think about. I might be lucky my tattoos have all gone very smoothly. Artists and shops were clean, friendly and polite. But tattoos hurt. 3 hours of pain is not something I look forward to. Some of my artists have a heavier hand than others and I have to admit, that is something I consider for future work. Especially if I am thinking of larger tattoos on sensitive areas.

Funny you mention Jondix and Mike The Athens. I'm kind of new to tattoos. I am drawn to that style. I think the 1st work I saw in that style was Tom Hooper. He spent some time in NYC and I believe influenced other NYC area artists. Out of all of them, I liked Hooper's work the most. Then I saw some work by Jondix. I liked his work more than Hooper's. Found out Jondix and Hooper worked together. Saw many other artists doing very good work in that style, but something about Jondix' work stood out for me. Then I found out Jondix was influenced by Mike The Athens. For me, I like Jondix and Mike's work the most. If I lived in Europe, I would definitely seek them out. Not because of their name, but because I can see and appreciate the differences in their work over others that do the same style.

Yeah. That is the piece i am considering something similar.

At this time I'm not interested in full coverage like sleeves, full back, full leg. Not sure if I ever will be. The look I want is tattoos decorating my body, not covering it. Does that make sense ? Not sure if I am explaining it correctly. I have tattoos on both calves, 1 thigh, and both shoulders/upper arm. It's the way I want to start in those areas and I can see myself slowing expanding in the future. Maybe going full coverage on an arm or leg, maybe not. The placement and subject of those tattoos makes it easy to expand or not. I was thinking the same is probably true for back pieces. Some placements and subjects are better if future expansion is a possibility, but still look good on their own if expansion never happens ? I guess a quality artist will know this and pick a design and location with this in mind ?

I'm considering getting a tattoo on my back, but I'm undecided on location and subject. A lot of different possibilities going through my mind. Sword, dragon, tiger, etc.. The back is such a large area and considered a prime spot. I'm not looking for a full back piece at this time, but who knows what I will want down the road. Are there certain areas that are good or bad if I will expand in the future ? Shoulder blade, side, center, top, etc. ?

Looks great for a 12yr. old tattoo.