scubaron

Me too. I guess exactly how imperfect is a personal preference. I've been seeing some tattoos online that are a little too "clean" or perfect to me. They look like machine made stickers. Maybe that is the style or artists intent, but I prefer something that looks like it was done by an human vs a machine.

Very good explanation. For me, it's also a way to help decide what tattoo to get. There are so many cool bad ass tattoo subjects, but I'm not ready for big coverage. Having a meaning/connection to the subject narrows down the choice.

:cool: Yes. Do some people start out with a tattoo that has personal meaning and then evolve to getting tattoos just for the experience or collecting ?

The question makes me uncomfortable and plenty of others in this thread as well. Agreed, some have no problem with it, but now that you know some don't like the question, why ask and potentially offend or make someone uncomfortable ? I'm born and raised in NYC. A question like this is not common. You see a stranger on the street with a nice diamond ring. You are curious how much it cost. Do you walk up to them and ask ?

I don't find the question, how much my tattoo cost, offensive. I'm just not comfortable answering it. Especially if I don't know you or it is one of my large expensive tattoos. Like someone else stated, tattoos are artwork. In some cases, custom artwork that takes multiple sessions and adds up to costing a decent amount of money. For myself, there is a line that once something costs more than a certain amount of $, I'm not comfortable telling people. I think some people feel similarly, but each of us might have a different $ line. Let's say you got a full back piece that took 10+ sessions, 50+ hours and you tipped the artist. Some stranger walks up to you on the street. Do you happily tell them the cost ? What if the person asking is a casual friend of a friend that you know is on hard times ?

I am new to tattoos also. Just started last year. This is a great site with plenty of people wanting to help. Being new, I had to learn what is "reasonable" in the tattoo world. Reasonable pricing, time frames, pain, what can and cannot be done in a tattoo, quality, fading, etc.. You cannot believe everything you read on the internet or read in discussion boards, but when everyone is giving you the same advice, odds are, it's good advice. One of the funny things about getting free advice on the internet. We sometimes discredit it because it's free.

This all sounds kind of impulsive or made up.

No interest in tattoos except a full back piece as your 1st tattoo is kind of a unique position. Take your time deciding on the subject and picking your artist.

10 years is a long time. I like the suggestion of getting a smaller tattoo 1st. Something by an artist you like, but you can afford.

I like the theory, but I prefer to choose an artist with a style that matches what I want. I would be nervous having an artist do work on me if they were out of their comfort zone. Luckily I live in an area with a lot of talented artists covering many different styles.

Tegaderm worked great on my calf tattoos. The final dead skin peel on some parts of the manta rays took a long time, but that had nothing to do with tegaderm. I think in general the skin in between the calf and ankle tends to shed slower, plus some heavy black areas in the tattoo.

People who mix styles, are you doing it on separate body parts ? For example, treating an arm, leg, back, chest as separate canvases ?

Definitely agree with the others. The opinion that matters most is your own. If you like it, that is what counts. This is a great board with a lot of varying tastes. American traditional and Japanese styles seem very popular and other styles don't get as many posts or compliments.

Only 3 leg tattoos so far, but I only got started 6 months ago. I'm Asian, so my legs are almost hairless.

All my tattoos are black & grey. Don't know how people deal with big color tattoos and all the shading. Outlining is tolerable. Feels like a sharp knife cutting a thin line. Shading sucks. Feels like a fork constantly rubbing back and forth. Guess I am a wimp.

SeeSea, have a good trip. You will be the topic of conversation and everyone will want to see your back. The fish will be drawn to you because they will see their relatives on you.

Are you willing to share your idea thoughts and/or artists choice ? I'm curious, but understand if you don't want to discuss.

Interesting thread. I kind of like letting each artist have their own separate area. Artist 1 gets my lower left leg, artist 2 gets my lower right leg, etc.. I worry about having 2 different artists working in the same area. Do their styles compliment each other well enough to be in the same area ? My thinking is if their styles are similar, then why not stick with one artist for that area ? This is just how I feel about it and what I plan on doing when I expand/add additional tattoos. Plenty of people feel differently.

Yes and it makes choosing the right artist really important. I'm kind of a research junkie so I don't mind. Also spoiled to have so many great artists in the area. Enough talented artists and customer demand that it seems many of the artists can stick to their preferred style and subjects and still be booked out for months.

Have fun in Utila. I'm totally jealous. Whale shark season is close.

I'd like that too, but all the artists I've gone to show me their sketch the day the tattoo is being done. Not sure what is the norm.

No scuba pics ? This hot weather is making want to dive.

When I was researching tattoo shops and artists, I did spend some time on yelp reading reviews. I've gotten work from 4 different artists/shops. Doing my part. I posted positive reviews on yelp and attached a picture of my tattoo.

Yeah, the extremes of light and heavy are kind of easy. :o

Curious, what is considered light, average, heavy ?