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Traveled from NY to SF this past weekend to skull and sword. Hungout with some of my favorite artists and what happened next is pure magic that only a stellar human by the name of Yutaro can provide. This is my Baku!

My new filler from Johnny Domus done on his guest spot at Dublin Ink today

Had this lady blasted on my shin today. Just one more sizeable piece on the back of my calf and then my calf is ready for fillers! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Had my first session today (lines with machine) with Horitoshi I. Excited for shading and color by hand...

I've been working on this painting for the past couple of months, and I think I'm finally calling this layer done and now I'll let it dry a bit and then glaze it. I'm really happy with this one, I feel it's the first painting I've done where I've felt like I'm starting to get a feel for oils and how they work and that I'm actually beginning to paint instead of drawing with paint, if that makes any sense. It isn't a great photo because of glare, etc., I'll try to take better ones when it's finished. It's 12" x 36" on canvas.

@Graeme Man, that's really nice. I think the eye socket is my favorite part about it, you can really see the light reflected in there. Can't wait to see more!

Really good! @Graeme Well done. Couple of my latest efforts Worked with Jake Arnett on this sheet, In my opinion his paint and tattoo work is so good, It was an honour he wanted to paint a sheet with me. This sheet will be hanging up in my house before to long.

It's been a couple weeks now, but I recently got a promotion at work (for a 6mo. contract). First time in 17 years that I won't be working shifts, or nights. Not that I ever really minded, actually, but working night shifts isn't actually very good for your health. Last week my wife and I celebrated 15 years of marriage. But even more exciting than either of those.... My oldest son has autism, and we've tried for years to teach him how to ride a bicycle. Of late we had kind of given up, because he's much too big for training wheels, and he refused to ride an adult tricycle. We enrolled him in a week long bike riding camp for kids with disabilities, and it was last week. It was an hour drive every day (plus the wait at the border as it was in Clarence, NY) but it was totally worth it. He can now ride a two wheel bike, all we need to do is keep him practicing and work on his starts. I've posted two videos on my instagram (@shaunsomers), one that I took on day one, and one that I took on day 5; those were the only days I was able to go. Actually I called in sick to work on Friday because I just had to be there!

Got this from Steve Byrne yesterday, super excited about it: Based on this World War I German propaganda poster about the dangers of Bolshevism that I saw earlier that day in a World War I exhibit in town.

Redrawn picture machine flash done prison style by Alan Berg!

Rose morphs were the first thing to come to mind, but they rule so it's not really a bad trend. However, I think we often overestimate how popular traditional tattoos actually are, sure they are hip right now, but in the larger scheme of things, are they really that popular compared to other styles? Like among tattoo collectors, the punk scene, etc. traditional tattoos might be pretty popular, but like in the general public I don't think many people give a shit about them. Whereas things like black and grey portrait work and even Japanese traditional are actually pretty popular in the general public.

Some IG pictures of some new ones in the last week or two... plans for a biiiiiiiiig dragon coming soon.

Too much to ask. The degree of dickage sometimes grows over time and circumstance.

I agree sometimes the pain is random, although love handles and near the arm pit get a special stars for consistency. I'm finding that the pain goes up significantly any time he's working away on a spot that's directly over a knot in my back - generally the knots between my shoulder blades. Then the pain becomes exquisite. I lightly pulled a muscle in my back yesterday trail running, and I'm praying that's not where he decides to work tomorrow. Sigh.

It's probably too much to ask, but I feel like the first and the last rule when it comes to this stuff should be DON'T BE A DICK.

Hell yeah!! Now the other bike will be transformed into a track hack!

I'd like something based on the story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi - - - Updated - - - This is one on the shortlist and I have seen some really good work from him. Those are some nice recommendations in Leeds that I hadn't come across before. Massive thanks Fil Wood is very high on my shortlist

I love those. I love the...what's the word I'm looking for...dichotomy (?) of the tattoos and fancy dresses. Like the pins I've seen on pinterest of tattooed disney princesses.

Just booked my first cruise. Going the Saturday before Christmas and coming back the Saturday after. I've been doing a lot of traveling the last few years but I've never been on a cruise. Excited as hell.

Funny how people think we're such exhibitionists with our tattoos when we're more likely to cover up than anyone.

Danny Rossiter is in Manchester and does really nice Japanese tattoos: Danny Rossiter | Rain City Tattoo Collective

Needles and Sins pointed out this gem, a CBC television interview with Doc Forbes from 1964. CBC Digital Archives - Pastimes General - Doc Forbes, tattoo artist The interviewer talks with Forbes and his clients, we get some nice looks at his tattoos and his flash, but the coolest thing about the interview for me is near the end when Forbes is tattooing an 82 year old client who has really extensive work from George Burchett including a battle royale backpiece from 1906. I've posted this picture before, but I'm a bit of a nerd about tattoo history and when I was visiting my family in Vancouver last Christmas I made an appointment with Chris Hold at Sacred Heart Tattoo so that me and @Pugilist could get matching tattoos from some Forbes flash. What could be better as a souvenir tattoo in Vancouver than a design from Doc Forbes? Chris was amazing and super accommodating about fitting us in on short notice, and the tattoos are great, so simple, folky, and charming. Chris had also fairly recently visited Lyle Tuttle, who has a pretty huge collection of Forbes' flash, and we got to see scans Chris had made of it and there's a lot of really great designs in there. Lucky's Tattoo Museum also has scans of a bunch of his flash that you can view here.

I love that.

I get what you're saying- thanks - FWIW, when the skin is healed I wear SPF 30 under my T-shirts on the ink. The mesh isn't see through and the shirts aren't white cotton. To that end, I have an awesome farmer's tan...dark face, hands, and legs...my torso is a lot lighter:cool:

It is a tattoo.

I have to agree with Mick completely, for me the amount of pain and discomfort is almost random. Some sessions I have thought would be unbearable have been a breeze yet on the other side some areas I read are easy I have found quite tough. Recently just had both back of thighs background shading done. Left hand side I completely struggled with and couldn't wait for the session to be over. Yet just a week later the right side was a breeze. Elbow pits are another area alot say are bad, yet For me they were not too bad. My thoughts are every session hurts, some more than others. Thankfully no session has killed me yet so only makes me stronger. :) For me the end result is all that matters, getting great artwork.

Ooh, Sciatica. That's literally a pain in the arse.

Pain's mercifully/stupidly easy to forget but not at all easy to get used to in the moment... I can only imagine people who say you "get used to" the pain have never experienced arthritis, sciatica, etc etc etc?!

tattoos are cool.

Drink more alcoholic beverages to make up for the lack of swimming pool activities. That would be my advice.

Picked up the Tiger today. Belted 200k's on her straight up. Jesus, had more fun riding this today than the Harley. Dropped in to see Grand Ma on the way home also, think she too would have liked this old girl. Awesome.

Beautiful tattoos, and could someone please give my boyfriend this idea?

wrapped my back up yesterday with max kuhn and it is a great feeling. 4 sessions total, around 13 hours.

Had franz stefanik put me through some pain yesterday, he was really fast and just a really nice bloke to get tattooed by, very happy with it and it dosnt look out of place next to my Santoro gorilla, he also did a butterfly on my girlfriends leg which I got her as a birthday present, which is always a win win I get a girlfriend with tattoos n she gets a new tattoo Obviously stolen from his Instagram, we all know how hard knee pics are to take

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

I'm gonna wait til I get a better pic to post, but Grez did the whole back of my leg today. Topped off with the back of my knee. One of the longer sessions I've had in a few years, but it was totally worth it. We also got to talk a little bit about my left arm, which he'll be sleeving starting in January.

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]

Thought I'd throw this in. I hope no one minds as I've not posted too much on here. Done by Stewart Robson - Frith Street Tattoo

That reminds me of a quote from the late great Rollo Banks: "...the basic premise of tattooing is pretty goofy. It's like, here you have this human body, like a beautiful piece of sculpture...like somebody owns Michelangelo's David and goes 'I just bought this and I want to get some fire and devils and things on it.'"

This conversation about taste and whether 'traditional' American tattooing really can be described as timeless is so interesting. It also ties in a way to a conversation I was having with my grandfather a couple of weeks ago after I showed him my tattoos for the first time. He's 89 years old in November and got all of his 4 tattoos during the 2nd World War whilst stationed in Germany. He has a crawling panther, an anchor, a swallow and his favorite, an eagle on his bicep. He got all of his tattoos in 1944 and he still loves all of them to this day, he says that getting the eagle was one of the best decisions he ever made 'its given me so much joy over the years'. Interestingly though I asked him if he ever wished that he had got more and he said no, he got just the number he wanted and stopped there. Now this is a guy who has lived with his tattoos for 70 years now, tastes have changed, fashions have come and gone and through it all he's remained stoked with those four tattoos he got in the 1940's! This got me to thinking about my own approach to tattoos and how different it is to his, like most people on this forum I'm always planning who I'd like to get tattooed by and have pretty much mapped out my arms and torso in my mind. But its easy to forget that those images of heavily tattooed sailor from the 1940's actually made up a tiny minority, my grandad was considered pretty heavily tattooed at that time. I wonder with the whole traditional thing whether we are chasing something that didn't really exist in the way we think it did, and whether he might be onto something when he said to me that if you want to continue to love the tattoos you have through your life then sometimes less is more... That being said its not advice I'm going to take, I cannot imagine a time when I won't want to get tattooed. Sorry if that was a bit of a rant and off topic, I just thought it tied in with the flavor of the thread.

not just metal but chrome...

I hate outlining. Hate. It. Hate. Hate.

Recalling the first session I had on my back I remember telling Chris that my goal was to complete the entire outline in one session! If I could go back in time to that very moment I asked that, I think I would of punched myself in the face for sure.

Valerie finished my backpiece yesterday. Had some serious post-tattoo nausea after this one. Glad it's finally done, but will miss the process.

A healed shot of my Back piece:)

This is where I'm up to with my back piece so far. Got a few more months to wait before I can get some more done.

Lyle Tuttle and his spider web elbows and stomach/ribs.

Well, I can say getting my backpiece has made me think I don't have any other tattoos. It is physically and mentally the most challenging thing I have ever put myself through (tattoo wise). I chose my artist (Henning Jorgensen) because I admired his work, and because I was comfortable around him (I'm pretty shy). I just told him the basic idea, and obviously let him do whatever he wanted. I'm about 65 hours into it (It goes from neck to knees), and we started about 2 1/2 years ago. We should finish this year. Because of the traveling involved I have to sit all day. Even on bad days, when it is horrible from the first moment to the last moment.... I have a regimen that I go through to prepare for a session. Getting my body as healthy as I can (no booze, lots of healthy food, and sleep). It seems to be the only way that I can make it through all day sessions. As I've aged, I definitely have gotten to be a much worse sitter (at least in my mind.) But, you can do anything if you really want to. I tried taking a pain killer for the 2nd lining session (because the first one was so rough), and it made me so dizzy and nauseous, I decided I would rather deal with the pain. Now that we are getting closer and closer to the end, I feel very happy that I have gone through it. I feel like I've crossed into a new level of being tattooed. And, I feel like I really now can be justified in the pain I cause others (tattooing them), because I now have been tattooed over the majority of my body. It feels like I've been going through a right of passage getting it done. Moreso than any other tattoo. Healing has never been a problem, and I usually get on a plane across the ocean a day after getting worked on. Sometimes I'm bruised, sometimes a little scabby and a little limited in my mobility; but never overworked, and never had a problem with sticking to clothing or healing up really rough.

Today on twitter Morgwn Pennypacker ( @FTWSKILLS ) from Love Hate Tattoo Shop in Miami posted this cool thirty year old Ed Hardy backpiece a customer walked in with that made me miss and think of the awesomeness in this thread.