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I've heard that one before!!!

I've experienced this before. It's usually a very fleeting feeling, but I think it has to do with getting used to the change. I know I'd be a lot sadder if I woke up and a tattoo was missing.

I've never got the blues directly after a tattoo, I do remember it being odd when I got the first thing on my chest because my eyes would catch it when I glanced down and I wasn't used to it being there. I did get the blues after the SFO convention, more like go into a mini depression, only because it was such a great trip getting tattooed, watching my Wife get tattooed, hang out and shoot the shit with some of my favorite tattooers, etc. It was so much excitement that when I got home to real life things kinda sucked :( Right now I'm in the excitement stage, I even have a count down marked on my calendar, for my appt. with Grime. Getting to travel to SF, 2 days in a row with Grime and whatever else I get into, I predict a great few days but I also see getting back home and being a little down for a few days when I get home. Fortunately I'll be able to look forward to a few more trips to finish the tattoo :D

nobody gets just one or two.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Getting tattooed can be like Christmas, months of build up and anticipation to that day, then it the day comes you get the tattoo and you wake up the next day and start the wait all over, and nothing magical happens, you are the same person just now you have a tattoo, a badass tattoo, but still just a tattoo. i can relate to that and I imagine it also afflicts me. It's probably thing in my head that always makes me focus on how much blank skin I have, not on how much of it is tattooed. I would say sometimes I shake my head at how silly this whole tattoo thing is and how I got involved, but most days I wouldn't have it any other way. This is kind of the reason I don't travel more and get tattooed, it is kind of a head thing for me. I feel much better about going to someone i know and getting tattooed either same day or next couple days type of thing. To many stuff involved, too many things to go wrong, and I hate being on vacation and having to stick to some schedule.

Agreed! My tattoos are more precious to me than almost any materialistic item in my life. The "can't be stolen, broken or lost" aspect makes a strong selling point. I lose and break shit all the time.

I have people ask me this all the time, I only have 11. I joke and say never. I'll be done when I feel like it. I know that's kinda vague but it's the most honest answer I can give. I don't sit around thinking "I'll get this here, and that there!" It's more instinctual almost. I just see something or an idea pops up and I go and get it (once I have the money.) I also hear a lot of comments about it being addictive. I don't view it that way. An addiction would mean I couldn't stop if I wanted. I don't want to. It's just something I really have a passion for and enjoy. That's not an addiction, that's a party!

I think I've mentioned this before, but I heard from an artist on Season two about how heavily edited they were. You shoot tons of footage and use the best of the worst to 'create a show' that has 'villains' and drama and tension. You're also coached on things to say. You look like a giant ass on tv, but... after the show airs... you find your appointment book is a little fuller, even though you looked like a giant ass on tv. Turning a culture into a commodity isn't new, its just affecting us a little closer to the chest because... well.. it's us. We had to bleed for these damned things. We had to get stared at in line at the bank. We have to answer the litany of dumb questions on a daily basis... "why yes ma'am, it did hurt" and "yes, I AM tattooed other places... wait, we mean my dick, right?"... Im kind of biased though... I grew up on Royboy videos. Tattooers hated them, too, but.... damn they were fun. I should mention that a tattooer friend asked me to write some Inkmaster erotic fan fiction that he's going to illustrate and we're going to accidentally leave at tattoo conventions the 'stars' are at. If he ever finishes the first chapter I'll write more. Kay Kutta and Sarah Miller are in it. "Penetrated by more than your needles" comes up a lot. Because we think it's ok to make fun of people we don't know. People who may be genuinely nice. Because we're children. :D

i've traveled and gotten tattooed ~20 times this year. no plans of stopping or slowing down anytime soon.

I used to think I had to slow down, so I don't run out of space, but now I don't have as much free time or money to get tattooed and all I want to do is get more tattoos. I can't imagine I will stop. I see other friends who are a little ahead of me and they seem to find ways to keep getting tattoos with limited or no skin left. I don't really want face tattoos even though that seems to be the trend right now, I have a feeling it will slightly harder to live with and a little more regretful than all the tribal armbands that came out of the 90's and I would just assume skip it.

Nope, never happened. Not with stuff I put on myself, not on stuff I've gotten since then. Always enjoyed planning it, having it done, watching it heal.

I remember feeling awkward after the first session I did on my front. It was really weird to look at myself in the mirror afterwards. Only took a couple days to get used to though. Besides that one time, I can't say that I've been anything else than stoked after getting a new tattoo.

Yesterday finished my piece with Alex De Pase. Its a take on Eve and apple with nails going through the apple and Alex added the drip of blood from it, which i really like :) Onwards to Silvano Fiato now :)

A fun and quick one last night. By Aron Dubois at Scapegoat Tattoo in Portland, OR.

Only depression I feel is having to wait to get another one. Or perhaps realizing there's another awkward spot ill have to fill. But mostly excitement here

My wife and I each have three tattoos and have gone through some similar feelings to varying degrees after each one. Just as a disclaimer, we both love our work, it is amazing, no regrets, exactly what we wanted, etc. Does anyone else feel slightly depressed after getting tattooed? My wife has cried after two of hers (she loves them both) just because her body has been forever changed and she tends to respond more emotionally than I do. I've definitely felt minor pangs of sadness - kind of like a low-level grief that happens after any climactic event. I started an half sleeve yesterday, had months to think about it before starting, etc, and I love the work. Its just this strange wistful/longing feeling that takes a couple of days to go away! Can you all relate? I'll toss up some pics as the tattoo progresses.

I made out like a bandit -Mariano Rivera jersey -Ben Sherman shirt -pair of Levi's -LST t-shirt -book on baseball -bunch of star wars goodies -some awesome candy -a case of saranac winter ales and saranac glasses -a bottle of southern tier chocolate stout -bottle of il bastardo wine

Got the new Smashing Pumpkins record, stoked on a few tracks, still getting into it overall though. Anyone into them? Anyone buy it? Anyone still obsessed with them?! They've also put out crazy re-issues with extra tracks and DVDs, see: money pit. I still love this band. There's also a great interview Howard Stern did with Billy Corgan. It's over an hour long, I listened to it two consecutive mornings opening the bar, really interesting no matter what you think of the dude -- and he plays an acoustic version of Tonight, Tonight. http://vimeo.com/44532986" Good listen!

by exactly that; managing my money. i've got a car loan and all that but while all my friends are out at the bars or whatever i'm just hanging out at home and saving money to get tattooed.

This, exactly. I think I have almost always woken up the morning after getting a tattoo thinking "what have I done?!" The feeling passes quickly and I have never felt it deeply, but for me it's a pretty normal part of the adjustment to having this new imagery on my body forever. It has nothing to do with how I feel about the tattoo itself and I have never gotten a tattoo that I actually regretted. But every once in a while it just feels all very Keanu Reeves "whoa" that we do these things to ourselves.

the SFO Convention was our Christmas :D I"ll be picking up that Tattoo Time when I'm in SF next month...

@DJDeepFried and I have some fun new books to read.

I used to hate this show and feel like it was such a joke. Honestly, this thread turned me and made me enjoy it. As David Flores said, there were some awesome judges on this season. I gotta admit, this shit was super entertaining once I settled down and saw it as just that.

'til the wheels fall off.

My work? There's pix of most, if not all of it on my profile or posts..

@blacksandtattoo More artwork than tattoos. Hopefully that changes to "more adventure than artwork and tattoos."

I got a spider tattooed on my thumb earlier this year and for maybe two hours I was thinking "Man, maybe I shouldn't have done that" (BTW that shit is in there. It ain't washing off). But that went away real quick because I really wanted a spider on my thumb, besides no one hardly ever notices my hands anyway. Far worse than regrets, I've had this nightmare two or three times where suddenly all my tattoos are gone, i'm a total pinky all over again.... It's caused me to wake up in a panic thinking "Oh God, now I have to go through getting them all over again".

I am going to have a booth at both Austin and San Angelo so if your coming through stop by and say hello. It's always good to meet the people you only know from online...fb, instagram, forums, etc... So stop off at the Tattooagogo booth and let me know who ya are from here.

ME TOO!!! Course, that would mean I was missing an arm, or a leg, or a chunk of my chest, or ribcage, or...

I get it only slightly... nice when I have an outline done one week and I know in 2 weeks I go back for the coloring, so I know when my next fix is coming. Even better when I'm having 2 tattoos done and I skip back and forth having them completed. Rob

I can relate to the awkwardness @Iwar speaks of now. I thought for the longest I'd never go through with getting my chest tattooed and looking downward I'm like holy shit my chest is tattooed. It's more of a fuck yea followed by staring at myself for 10 minutes. I never felt this way about any tattoos on my legs or arms. I guess it's because it's a big step versus extremities which seem to be just commonplace

well i can understand. its a bit shocking to think that what you got tattooed is now on you forever. On your body forever. More people should realize this before they go and get a tattoo they never really wanted

I'm in Austin and will be going to the convention and to San Angelo, also.

It's refreshing to hear that some one has this same experience! I cried after my first one, I wouldn't say it was sadness or happiness, just a mix of emotions and exhaustion and what not. It's hard to ignore the permanency of a tattoo and some times the idea is still slightly startling. With every one since I feel a little pang of "wow, what did I do to myself?" ---not that I don't regret it, it's just a strange feeling. Although, I think these emotions will become less and less the more tattoos I get (I have only 5 now). Once you're more covered, it's probably not such a big deal.

yeah he's super fast. i was just there yesterday & had a great time.

Here is a wolf head that Ron Wells did for me last night at Congress St Tattoo, in Portsmouth, NH. Not sure if you can tell by the pics, but it's on my right forearm, up close to the elbow. LOVE IT! Great experience, Ron is an awesome dude. Also had the pleasure of meeting @Graeme, and @Pugilist, who drove down from Canada for an appt with Ron as well. Pugilist got something amazing, but i won't divulge as I haven't seen her post a pic here yet.. but I did see it on instagram and it is completely and totally sick. rob true to iphone form, the pics are pointing the wrong way, which is annoying as can be.

Thanks for your comments! I'm very excited with the piece. I forgot to include another part of my experience that I think you all would appreciate... So when I was going crazy with anticipation waiting to see a drawing for the piece and checking my email a billion times a day, Eddy sends an email saying that his "old friend Dan Higgs" said "whoa" three times in a row when he saw the drawing and that that was a very good omen. And then my head almost exploded ;)

People are always going to have an inaccurate representation of tattooers and the tattoo lifestyle. I don't think this show started it, the world is full of mediocre and bad tattooers who are completely delusional with over inflated egos, this show just happens to give those people 15 mins of pseudo fame. But I don't even know if this could be considered Z list celebrity status, the contestants are pretty forgettable and at best have a short career headlining traveling tattoo conventions. Why does it really matter what people think about the lifestyle. People who are serious about tattooing whether it be clients, or tattooers understand the hierarchy and where this show place is in it. People who aren't into it probably already have their per-conceived notions or don't really care one way or another. I have had to listen to plenty of customers rattle off their interpretation of what happened on last weeks inkmaster, and a lot of them are completely clueless about a lot of things, but most of them understand that these people aren't that good and are full of themselves. All I really have to do to give tattooing a better perception amongst them is just not act like the contestants. And as annoying as listening to this stuff, if people watch a show about tattooing and it makes them want to get tattooed, I am not going to complain. For the record there are hundreds of threads about who is the best tattooer, favorite tattooer, who's doing your next tattoo, a thread for each genre of tattoo, a thread for each animal that people get tattooed, and so on. If you added up all the activity of these threads you would probably see how little people really talk about this show in comparision. But really why wouldn't we talk about this show. This season alone has had Rubendall, Jack Rudy, Richard Stell, and Forrest Cavacco judging tattoos. I don't know one person in tattooing who hasn't watched one episode (most have watched more, but some will only admit to watching it once).

I like this thread because I hate the show. I hate Lady Face Navarro. I hate the clients that get tattooed. I hate the editors and producers, the advertisers and the viewers. Yet I watch it. Every week. So this thread gives me more to talk about than 'my next tattoo will be' or 'did you see that photo on instagram' or whatever.

mines dirbab

mine is jack_trouble I don't do anything cool.

Forgot to post this in last month's contest... Got it done mid-fiancee visit, so I was too busy with sushi joints and Klingon Monopoly to be online. Also, in what may have been a small miracle, we got the stencil (which was two pieces) perfect on the first try. Josh Cruse JP Cruse Professional Tattooing Wichita, KS

Very much agree with the above posters. I am not sure I feel comfortable judging a 63 year old man's decision to get a tattoo and/or the placement. Right or wrong, let him enjoy his life and body art. Good luck to the both of you.

This confuses me, why only go to cheap shop for a wrist script? Imagine getting something from say Katie Sellergren. Right off the bat he would have an awesome tattoo that's well written. Sure script on the wrist isn't the best tattoo placement and size wise, but he's 63... even if his wife gets angry so what.

Man, he's 63 and you're talking about him like he's a teenager. Make sure he doesn't get it upside down.

Interesting, because mine is a battle royale that does go down to the back of my knees and when I looked at it the other day, I thought 'No way would I want to cram this into a smaller space.'