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haven't posted in a while. my bad, dudes! hope you are all doing well. I recently got this guy from jason ochoa: and here's a healed photo of a higgs design I got from mark cross not too long ago:

I thought it was about time I posted my recently in progress backpiece, started end of Feb this year. This pic is about 36 hours in progress. I am quite tall and also have a bit of extra meat around the "love handle" area so is a big amount of skin to cover. I have been doing constant 3 hour sessions every 2-3 weeks with 2 x 6 hour sessions thrown in. Generally have been pretty good with each session but I have to say left thigh background shading for some reason sucked incredibly, probably one of the least favourite sessions of all my new work. Strange thing was the right thigh shading a week later (not shown in pic) was easy. I just noticed btw the snakes body going across my arse does line up, it looks like it doesn't but must have been the way I was standing in the pic. It was taken after the left thigh shading session and I was not a happy camper. :) Also just attached the outline after the 1st 6 hour session.

A rose and a horseshoe. From Sukre One, in Superfly tattoo, Leon Guanajuato Mexico.

TAM is now available to the general public directly through them, if you guys weren't aware. Tattoo news y'all. Tattoo Artist Magazine

So Monday was the second session on my dragon back piece. There were definitely some interesting moments in it that were less than fun, but I am very happy with the progress and can't wait for the next session at the start of September.

This thread needs more tattoo movement for it being a thread about lifting. I had to stick it in quotes so that the video didn't embed itself in the box and display my big ass. Now you have to click through to see it for those who are squeamish. If you happen to peruse my channel, you can see me from a couple years ago, tattoo free.

If it means anything... the guy who invented the wheel is still getting fucked today....

Thanks Iwar, Kian Forreal owner of Authentink in Surry Hills Sydney is doing the work. Love his work and a great guy to boot. Unfortunately on my back he has had to work around 3 previous tattoos which I have had laser removal on. Already without it being finished and colour added I struggle to see 2 of the pieces and the 3rd is being covered next session. :)

Co-sign both of the above sentiments.

I just recieved a big ol box full of prints from Ian Bederman, @wonkytiger on instagram, he has a lot of cool stuff, not sure how many of this anatomy series are left but I thought it was a really good deal. Here is a terrible photo I took trying to get everything in the frame:

Welcome to LST, and definitely listen to the tattooers who post here! I hope you can love your tattoo with a bit of spiffing up. The oft-repeated advice about getting more and better tattoos is also so true.

Vintage Bottle Poison on my bottom left leg..... Still to continue on this specifc area with famous and my favorite "THE PRODIGY" songs..

Reallllly bad picture, but I got this lady from Steve Turner while he was guesting at Live Free. I'm super pumped on it.

This is the worst. I hate it. So much negativity associated with the word addiction. Tattoos have been nothing but positive for me. A bit of traveling, cool and intelligent people, and I take better care of myself now because I want my tattoos to look good for as long as possible. Only negative is I spend too much time looking at instagram.

I don't know if this has been mentioned already and I missed it, but there's the first of a 3 part documentary up on the Scorpion Font website about the Stab City book by Ross Nagle. Worth a look... He's a real top bloke.

Hello. Gloomy here making my entrance. Tattooing, on and off since I was 22. Seriously for about three years now. Much more to learn of course, but I'm not one to have a big head. I'm very much into the "old masters" although people like Paul Booth, Caleb Morgan, and many more I can't think of at this early hour for me. I'm writing as well as gearing up to start a shop here in Central Florida, although there are so many fine artists here, truly, that I'm humbled every day to see fine work, and being my worst critic, strive to do the best work I can. I'm pretty gregarious. I'll pull a hunk of pork chop out of my mouth, put my beer down, and run after an old guy or gal on the off chance that they'll tell me about an old green one. The wonderful thing about tattooing that I feel sometimes we miss is that we're artists, we have more in common than not. There is room for everyone, it isn't going to die. Sure, the art will on skin, as we all have a shelf life. The flash, the machines, the crazy, scary, and down right funny stories (and what is up with the old time guys and monkeys? My grandfather had one once, terrible stories he told me, and every time I hear about an artist with a monkey I brace myself for something worse) that bind us, rather then tear us apart. It's not us against us, no matter what the back biting of the current and past maybe. For me it's balance always. I'm a 'mersh artist, I just happen to be one with a really friggin' cool jobby job. You can't go swimming without getting wet, so I put on my mask and snorkel and dive deep into as much of the art, the history of it, and the mechanics as I can. From making machines, tuning (things I'll admit I'm getting better at, but still I'm way lame), to cutting acetates, to dealing with people of all walks as we do these days, to taking classes with the retired folks at the library on watercolors. My goal is not to be the best, as Stoney St. Clair (a true inspiration when I'm feeling burned out) said, "Just as good as the rest." Sometimes I get asked what I do best. My answer is simple: clean, quality work. You walk away happy, smiling, and without a fatal liver disease. I do have other interests too. I love to write, and I'm doing some tattoo history research, albeit slowly, as well as working on a novel about tattooing, revenge, and redemption set right before world war two. I'm a big US Civil War buff. I've played music since I was 12 and have not let up on that either. Somehow, I even find time to be with my stunning woman, who I have no idea what she sees in me. All that aside I have a bit of the rebel in me. I hated school from the first day of kindergarden. It was a 14 year (I wasn't held back, but I was too big for another year of the little kid stuff, and too dumb for 1st grade) prison sentence. Even in art class, even though I didn't know what flash was, that's the kind of stuff I would draw. I used to be a bad kid. Anything I could think to do I would. Took me a long time to realize that my Mom, one of the five best women I know, had raised me with manners. Like to 27! I got a DUI. I liked to play two hand tag. Stay out late with the boys and I got my first ink on my 18th birthday, the first in my family. My sister may have beaten me in tattoo numbers by now. I dunno. These days though I try to take things slow, reason them out, and keep my head about me with a liberal dose of humor, much of which I pointed right back at me. I have a terrible temper that I try to control, and every now and again flares up big time. More often then not though it's for about five minutes, and then I have doughnut and some coffee and babble about the fierce look on Cap Coleman's mug, or how on my 10th birthday all I wanted was a Gameboy. That same day Paul Rodgers passed away and now I'd sell my left hand (yeah, I'm a lefty. Bad genes. I know. I know...) for a honest to goodness J frame or Mad Bee. Might just have to make it myself, ja? I'm currently learning German, and as well, even though I have no business doing it, I'm drawing with my best bro, who has recorded much of my music and puts up with my pique, and plays mean drums and keys, and he's into the idea of tattooing now too. We're learning from each other, bouncing ideas back and forth, delving into all sorts of dark corners of this "black art". Um... hmmm. I like animals. I hope one day someone asks me for a sheep tattoo rather then a wolf. My sister is 100 times the artist I am. She can paint! I'm just rocking the high end of bum, the lowest bottom man on the pyramid of greatness. If I can pull myself up to just being a solid worker, I'll feel pretty good. I expect nothing, but I will show all of you respect, and will do my best to help, inspire (such as I can), prod, poke and joke all of you, be you artist or client, into being better then me. Which certainly won't be hard for you all. All the best, and I mean it! -Gloomy Gus PS- Trust yourself in everything and you can't lose.

Looks great @Shaggy Thanks for the update.

That's fantastic news!

Flag over armband for sure. I don't know to what extent you plan on getting tattooed, but a flag tattoo gives you a lot more options in terms of future tattoos because you'll be able to work more things around it, whereas with an armband you're bisecting that space and really limiting what else you can put on your arm.

I like traditional because it looks fucking cool. Ask anyone on the street to close their eyes and name a tattoo, what will they come back with? Traditional! Japanese! Tiger/Skull/Panther/Rose. These decisions have been made over generations, there is a reason for this. There is an elegance and power in their simplicity, is it not harder to convey a message in a few lines and few colours? They hold up (BOLD WILL HOLD!) So when I'm old and saggy you'll still make out what tattoos I have. When someone comes up to me and asks why I got a tiger/skull/heart and dagger on my arm? I get to say cool shit like ' it's a tiger,/skull/heart and dagger what else do you need to know!' Someone once said to me your tattoos look like tattoos. I thought that was awesome. You can tell what my tattoos are from 5 feet away (back piece 20 feet, take that!) It's a tattoo, its on me, my bodies a temple etc etc but I ain't the sistine chapel. All that said, I appreciate the technicality and application of portraits etc, still not sure how they'll hold up, hopefully very well and it'll prove a few cynics wrong, but it ain't my bag. As for this forum, just a little more tact maybe...

John Joseph is unlikely to write a poem about his fixed gear bicycle though so he's cool. - - - Updated - - - Though if John Joseph wrote a song that was like "FIXED GEAR COMIN YOUR WAY" it would be hard as fuck.

SWEET!!! You're a lucky guy.

[emoji106] I'd probably say the level of intoxication should be high with all parties involved whilst participating in any form of bizarre drunky blunders, although admission of such activities shall remain strictly confidential. My 9 year old daughter sets up tattoo booths, lines up all her colours and charges 50 cents for custom designs. All hearts and arrows [emoji4] I sometimes forget to wash them off and rock into work with a little texta tattoo slammed on the back of my neck.

Hey, it's not brilliant, but not bad enough to go into the 'worst tattoos ever' thread either, I'd say ;-) I'm sure someone on here will be able to help you find fantastic tattooers in Spain (are you willing to travel anywhere within Spain? If not you might want to be a bit more precise...) and then it's probably best to go and see someone in person to get a professional opinion. Good luck and welcome!

Hereby banned for using one of the worst words of all time!

I got this the other day, but the "excuse" was pretty funny. He's older now (>50) and he'd wanted a tattoo as a late teen and came home with a cross on his arm that he'd drawn on with a permanent marker. His father, as expected, assumed it was real and hit the roof. As he described the scene and the layout of the dinner table area where his father discovered the travesty, he was clearly boxed in by the radiator and the wall and the rest of the family. His father then proceeded to grab steel wool and scrubbed it off his arm, along with a layer of skin before he realized he'd been had. The teller of the tale said he didn't want to get a tattoo after that. All-in-all, not a bad excuse and completely forgivable because he told the story with such vigor and humor!

My cousin is a lovely, intelligent young man, but he just asked me for shop recommendations and then described a project that combines almost everything listed in the "most hated tattoo requests" thread. I'm trying to gently persuade him to describe what he wants to convey and leave as much of the actual design to the artist as possible. And to get tattooed with me in Portsmouth so I can buy him a drink afterward. (He just turned 21.)

got my second tattoo from claudia de sabe today needless to say i'm extremely happy with it (and sore) on the back of my upper arm

I did! Kind of. I made it to Three Tides in Tokyo where I had a wonder experience all around and ended up with a nice little dragon head by Ganji. [/img]

There are too many great replies to quote, but @cltattooing, @mmikaoj, @suburbanxcore, @smiling.politely, and @DJDeepFried are killing it. @Steele, to quote one of cinema's greatest characters, "That's like, your opinion, man." And you sound like a missionary trying to convert us. So stop doing that, stop scratching, and go get on Carlos Torres' waiting list. PS You diss Ed Hardy, you diss yourself.

I have no respect for anyone that likes apples. Those are snacks that second graders eat. I mean, you don't even have to peel an apple. Where's the skill in that? Seriously, explain to me why I should like apples!

It's like comparing Chopin and Black Flag. One is well constructed, technically "perfect" (whatever that means to the viewer), and is intended to come across that way. I find it well made, but kinda boring to my taste. The other, for lack of a better or less uncouth term, has balls. Strength. It punches you in the gut and gets your attention. As much as perfection is impressive, I like balls.

Yesterday, after two years in progress, Marius Meyer finally finished my back piece. It was 6 painful well worth hours. Going back for a touch-up in the belly plates and white in eyes/claws/teeth. @Iwar has some cool footage from the session that he maybe will post, I think?

Dude comes on here, introduces himself as a scratcher, and we argue art with him? We can do a lot better than this, folks.

You can like one thing without disrespecting everthing else.

ET looks like he has a certain *ahem* apendage

A firestorm to purify (the internet).

My trolling has purpose. Street by street.

This would be so much cooler if LST was a bar, and some drunken idiot blurted all that out in front of the regular patrons. Hahaha.

well. i did not get my touchups. but i did get a new tattoo which did involve a tear-out: My pug. Winston. Riding the red rocket. Which was really hilarious. Until I got a call 3/4 of the way through the tattoo that my mother passed away. Shout out to my pal Ollie for working like lightning to finish the tattoo before my ride showed up to go see my family. So some more to add to the arguement that a tattoo is more than just a silly picture on your skin. It's not just about "what" the tattoo is of or the "why"...but the "where" and "when" and "who" of the experience is of equal importance. A colourful timestamp for this lifetime. And now I'm left with a lot of sorrow to deal with, a good laugh and a great tattoo. Laughter is the best medicine. And my Mom really loved my idiot pug. But I think my next tattoo will be little more serious and carry a lot more weight. Peace.

Actually I was just out, talking to the super in the building. He can get me rats, but according to Health Dept. regs here they're fine to use in a wheel power supply, but I have to run chords from the dirty room.

You must not have read a single post in this thread

I decided to test this theory, being unfamiliar with Dio and today's work requiring a little 'awesoming' up. This just resulted in my secretary, a quite stuffy retirement-aged man who had come into my office to do some filing, throwing me the devil horns and having a little mosh. It's made my day. Dio for the win.

There's something magical about the full back tattoo. As young as 12, I was always awe inspired by seeing pictures, especially group photos of people posing for the photographs. I just knew that some day, I too needed to have that full back tattoo. Today, that's the tattoo out of all my collection that has the most significance. As people have already mentioned, it's no easy task. I think those big long sweeping lines that pick up all those different nerve endings was the most memorable experience for me. Don't concern yourself too much with the time you spend under the machine. I too use to look at long sittings as a significant feat, but these days I come to realise that time spent, is still time spent under the machine, whether you sit for 10,5,2 or 1 hours...every hour is still earned. There's no shortcuts. That tattoo has been earned through determination, a particular mind set and pain.

I just got around to watching the Kore Flatmo interview. He had some comments on "pain management" that reminded me of recent comments on this thread. He was talking about the benefits of pain killers and how they are going to become more available in the future: "...When I’m doing a pinup on a guy’s ribs, I don’t want him to move, and if he’s moving that’s going to be a problem. So for this guy, he manages the pain and it allows him to get bigger and better tattoos. And of course the first argument made is, 'well that’s not pure, tattoos need to hurt.' Anyone who makes that argument--they don’t have to use the pain killer. I’ll tattoo ‘em straight up. Right? They don’t have to worry about the other guy’s tattoo. They can worry about their own."

Wait are you saying you take your pants off before posting on LST?!

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 ;)

Not mine, but here's an incredible pair of legs that Myke Chambers did.

That's because your back is weirdly sensitive. Ever asked someone to rub your shin? Nope. But back rubs are awesome because your back has a million sensitive spots, all of which feel super fucking awesome when getting tattooed, especially the lower back. You already know that tattoos hurt, and you seem to be acutely aware that the back will hurt, too. You also know that you're already on this path (didn't you just get your hand tattooed?) and that the back is the ultimate canvas. you just need to figure out what you're getting and who's gonna do it, although something tells me that you have more than a few ideas in mind. While I did find the process to be painful (and expensive), I have no regrets at all about doing it. It was so exciting to see it come together, session by session. There's something about having a full back piece. It's something that I've always admired, but for years, I didn't think I'd be able to make the physical/financial/mental commitment to go through with it myself. Completing it was a big milestone for me, and I have a beautiful souvenir of the experience that I get to wear for life.