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Some guy named @Scott Sylvia put a cobra over my elbow. It swelled up nicely: But healed perfectly: Every tattooer who sees it is amazed that he got that red in like that in one pass.

Those are amazing! I love the one with the wolf. Here's one that's in progress. He told me I could do whatever I wanted. I decided on a girl head...of sorts.

I'm wearing this one, I've since filled in the rest of my arm, but this was her when she was brand new. Andrew Conner, Harrisonburg, VA

You get a print of one of the repaints. I don't want to spoil it and say which one. You will be stoked though.

@hogg and @UrsulaThomson -- wow, those are some well healed elbow tattoos. Here's one I did on our front person. Healed, about a year old. All I have is a cellphone picture he sent me.

I go to tattooers for tattoos; their personal beliefs are their own.

I finally got the side of my head tattooed! My Tibetan Snow Lion.....by Dave Kruseman or Olde Line Tattoo I still have one more sitting to go (maybe an hour...to add a few things) It was hard to get a good photo!

Cool thread! That first piece is killer, but her right hand and left arm looks a little bit strange to me. Maybe just the picture, or maybe just me... I don't know. The piece as a whole looks really bad-ass though! Most of you have already seen my front piece, but I found a better picture of it on Marius' blog a while back, so here's to those who haven't seen it already (sorry about the insane size of the photo)

Here's mine. When I was first pursuing an apprenticeship, I talked to one of the artist's at the best shop around. He invited me over to his place where we talked about it, mostly over his old Triumph. I drove him around for bits and pieces he needed to fix it up and by the end of the day, he had given me tips on presenting my portfolio of drawings and said he'd put in a good word for me...not schmoozing, just an organic conversation...then after all his wrenching and swearing, he kick started that bike. The look and sound had me hooked and hanging around at the shop after that when he'd pull up...I had to have an old Triumph. As it turned out, unbeknownst to me, he was moving. I was apprenticed to take his place. Having married young, there was never any money for extras (or three meals some days) but I worked hard for years, doing my best to be good to tattooing and it rewarded me. When I found this 68 at the right price, I jumped on it and when I see my bike in front of the shop, I feel like it came full circle.

My elbow by Kyle Crowell (Torch Tattoo in Anaheim)

I swear I won't post every hand tattoo I do but here's a recent favorite of mine. This kid was born to be tattooed. I could tattoo him all day...and Ihave.

unfortunately i am a graphic designer...well at least that's what pays the bills helvetica has its time and place and it is not a bad font pretty easy to kern works well for body copy legal etc if all someone is designing are pieces for their book or record album covers then helvetica is sort of boring i guess i certainly wouldn't get a helvetica tattoo though

Most definitely! I don't think I would ever get a cheese tattoo, but we always joke about it at work. The best idea has been Chuck E Cheese skipping along a golden cheese road.... working hard!

Sid Stankovits and a few of his artists

i really like elbow tattoos that just pretend the elbow isn't there...like this. well, i like those and i also like heavy spider webs that scream look at me, look at me... i am an elbow...

Paul Booth :) He used to be an alter boy when he was a young boy in Jersey.

My name is Kevin (first name) and I disagree with both of you. Just in principal because you are both Kevins and I turned my back on the club.

My first tattoo was done when I was 15. A tattooer called Steve, as far as I can remember, in Bath. My first visit to the shop was with a couple of pals. I went first, I think we all decided on a swallow on the forearm. Anyway I had a bit of a rash on my forearm. The tattooer asked me about the rash. I said it was probably a sun rash. He said ok come back when it's gone. So my first visit ended in bitter disappointment. The next in the chair was my mate Pete. He always fancied himself as a bit of a tough guy, but he was looking very nervous. So the tattooer started the tattoo. He did the outline on this tiny tattoo and was about to start on the colour when my mate said " you don't have to colour it in do you". The tattooer, looking rather puzzled said "no not if you don’t want me to". We really took the piss out him on the train on the way home. What a pussy. I went back a few weeks later with two pals and we all had the same deaths head tattoo on our forearm. Ones now dead the other had his covered. So mines the only one left. That was 41 years ago and I still love that tattoo. So much so that I booked Alex Binnie to recreate the tattoo on my upper leg on April 13th.

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet Apparently one of north America's largest art supply chains will begin selling Skin Candy tattoo inks. Any decent tattooer I know or follow online has been freaking out about this. Apparently the ink is shit and so's the dude who sells it. (I don't know him or even his name). Tattooers worth a fuck have been urging people to visit this link and send them (the art store) an email in hopes of stopping this or at least getting the word out to boycott. Http://www.dickblick.com/customerservice/contact I know, I've never shopped at dick blick and now I never will.

Just got 2 new pieces yesterday so I have a total of 3 now. I'm sort of a newb when it comes to tattoos but I've definitely got the 'bug'.

Yeah, go to MY TATS and get tattooed by Jess Yen (Horiyen):

Wow... there are some awesome bikes on here! I have nothing special... it is a 1980 Yamaha Maxim 650. Good for getting to work and back.

I've been thinking about it since I posted this, and I think they should let people do as they please. The more people end up with jacked up infected garbage and shit that looks like a blind asshole tattooed it on them the better I think the good stuff looks. You know the best way to teach someone not to get tattooed by his buddy in the kitchen? Let him get a case of MRSA that eats 1/2 the flesh off his arm and leaves him with a limb that looks like it's been through a wood chipper..... ;-)

@RoryQ oh no doubt about boxing and thai bringing same type of crowd especially boxing here. THats were I started out TOughmans and smokers. Its you and 39 other dudes in a big room/or on a stage in a smoker bar waiting to get their name called to make their entrance into a sometimes 10x10 ring with lights at about the 8 ft mark. All you can see is bright light and smoke. In toughman it used to be 3 one minute rds usually ending in tko or total beating. this went untill 1 man remained. my first ever competition I had a real tough fight against an unbeaten amatuer guy multiple toughman champion on my 3rd fight(semis). I did well enough not to get knocked down or out even though i was 185 he was around 240. At that time I still had my prison type tattoos and all a group of guys could say as I was leaving was your back should say white power. Really?? I thought, this is the crowd I am bleeding for??The unbeaten guy Rod Webb won the tourney and Honestly It was more meaningful to me to loose to him than it was to win my first 2. I ended up fighting around 17 amatuer boxing matches before competing in MMA for 7 fights. I am no coach I dont aspire to be, I still do privates when asked but have never advertised services. I do make money from boxing/mma usually the strength and conditioning side of the sports and am grateful to earn money doing something i like. I have trained with some guys that deserve real cudos for being at the forefront of this movement. Frank Trigg,Pat burris,evan tanner,Joe stafford,Jon English,kendrick coleman,Ross purity. One last memory about the new breed of kitty kat out there . We were at a localish fight being put on by the aforementioned Rod Webb(to see one of my close friends fight in his 2nd pro fight) in a town about 1hr south of OKC. I was the smallest guy in our group by 20 lbs around 200 at time. I was there with a judo black belt. A 4time all american oklahoma wrestler who beat randy couture all 4 yrs then competed internationally and 2 dudes who couldnt do a shit ton in a fight but were fucking big strong dudes. Fights were good our friend won big and we were leaving. I dont even recall if any of us had a drink but we were in good spirits talking of where to grab a bite to eat on way back. Well these 2 little skinny fuckers maybe 150 soaking wet walking right by us only had wifebeaters on (dont know if they started with more then stripped down as they got lit. these 2 fucks began staring hard basically maddogging. Shane who was about 280 powerlifter build bald with a stell like goatee politely told the 2 dumbdicks that we were just having a good time not looking to cage fight in parking lot but if they persisted he would just watch because that shit would be too funny. the 2 guys just scofted and walked away.

Absolutely. I had not heard of this but you are right. This is bad all around but Blick doesn't owe tattooing the debt that someone making money from inside the industry does. Our relationship with tattooing is supposed to be symbiotic but now it's gone one-way for so many people that it'll be sucked dry -- for all of us. And our relationship with outside industry should be limited, cautious and beneficial to our craft. I've bought from them a lot, but will not now and intend to contact both companies.

Can this become a cheese tattoo thread? I don't have one, but I'd love to get a mouse running with a big ole triangle of cheese.

so excited for this, cant wait to get my copy!

I had an opponent who would just write out every word instead of drawing it. So I responded by writing one unrelated word after another, scrapping each one, before eventually drawing the word she had to guess. Eventually she stopped taking turns :( On another note, @ShawnPorter drew the best Dracula ever.

I have not but it sounds delicious. Also, that is a very interesting process how they get they shell to form on the outside and to keep the cream in. We don't do many artisan cheese, but mainly focus on a natural, clean part skim mozzarella. Are you a farmstead operation?

welcome drew...have you made burrata before? it is delicious and we make it a lot in the summer to go with our tomatoes...

I have come very close to a hooper tattoo, I would say your right about the large scale artists. The better guys/girls in big markets can be a bit more selective in the work and clients they accept which puts clients in the chair which allow the artist to make a better(bigger thus longer) tattoo. If an artists travels alot it allows the savvy or lucky client to get some work done

Preorders have reached 150 and all limited edition prints have been spoken for! Standard preorders will continue as normal and we thank you all for your support! Books are expected in late may. We will update if we have any unexpected delays with customs.

Mav Mess at Deluxe Tattoo, Portland Oregon, a devout christian and a great tattooer and only one state away from you.

the rest of what you posted was good as well but they are definately underrated. i was glad relapse reissued those albums

My best advice is to live somewhere that is both relatively close to work and gives you multiple driving options (ie more than one freeway that will get you there and back). The less traffic you deal with on a daily basis, the more you will love LA.feel free to ask any specific questions as you go.

Concerning the article from Miami about the FL laws. It should be illegal to tattoo out of your home. The tattoos it showed the artist "fixing" were just as bad if not worse than the tattoo he "fixed". Any journalist worth a fuck wouldn't be interviewing someone who's never worked in a shop, never had an apprenticeship, and who doesn't know what the fuck they are doing. So in conclusion, just another bunch of totally ridiculous bullshit. That guy to me, is in the same boat as all the others that we've called "finger breaking worthy".

To clarify my last post, I guess it blew up for Cho, but then again she got people on the internets talking about/ defending her. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess Chris Trevino and also Thomas Hooper. The common thread here seems to be artists that are known for large scale intricate work.

I'm a Christian but generally separate myself from the church. I think you have to these days. I believe in God more than in His people and feel like, collectively, they don't necessarily represent Him, much less me. For example, I don't want to be lumped in with homophobes, bigots and warmongers or have them speak for me. Sorry for the mini-rant but it's a distinction worth making these days. To bring it around to tattoos, I'm fortunate enough to work for/with people who know what I'm about. I'm happy to do tattoos for people that represent other faiths/religions or even darkness and evil, but I don't do anything overtly sacrilegious/antichristian. I celebrate people's ability to get what they want but they won't get it from me. I'll pass it on to my coworker if I'm not into it. I just don't want to make my money doing things that go directly against me or my beliefs like upside-down crosses or Baphomet pentagrams, for example. I hope this doesn't start a debate about imagery. I just do what I can feel good about at the end of the day.

so im pretty sure ill be there

El Monga. Goddamn that's awesome

Great work on here, now I want to do a girl head on the hand...or two. Here's some I did years ago on an old punk rocker from the glory days. [/img] Sorry for the pic quality, had to snag it from a small pic online as our shop computer crashed.

This from Duncan X. Tattooed about an hour ago.

I just got home from our little trip to LA, and I brought a friend: I went to Bob Roberts and asked him for one of his tiger heads. He saw the spot I had open and furrowed his brow. "That's gonna be tough." He tried to sketch something on, but I could tell he was kinda flustered, so I said, "Ya know, I also really like your spiders." He lit up and said, "Now you're talkin'!" He drew it on and knocked it out in half an hour. All in all, it was a great, great experience. He and I chatted about music and, of course, tattoos. He asked to see my back, then said, "I got a snake on my back, too." He then proceeded to melt my face off by showing me his Ed Hardy backpiece, as well as his Horiyoshi III torso pieces. Coolest fucking dude ever, and I am beyond stoked on my black widow.

just in case you missed it... this dude... wow. i JUST recently saw his work for the first time in the bloodwork bodies book. i might just not know my shit, but this is one artist i ran across where i thought to myself, "how the fuck have i NOT heard of this guy?!" Geordie Cole he also got a full backpiece from horitomo Geordie Cole Turns Japanese - THE TATTOOED HEART love this thread, by the way!

Did I ever mention that one of my friends growing up- older gent, had a full leg squid tattoo? From hip to ankle? REAL SQUID PANTS!

I was 18 when I got my first, managed to hide it from my mom for a week when we changed the sheets and I realized i had gotten blood on the sheet.. perfect print of the tattoo itself. My ex drove me down to some location in Philly.. Walked in and he pretty much said we weren't leaving till I picked something off the wall. Coney Island Joes was the name of the shop and Joe (or his son) had just gotten out of jail. Something to do with Hells Angels Yeah. First and last time I went there, that tattoo still bothers me, swells up and gets irritated every once in a while. Crappy piece of tribal.. the picture is from a few hours after it was finished... I should take a picture of it now, so you can see how crappy it is haha

Yeah, Scott nailed it--and it only took him an hour. I showed up not knowing what I wanted to jam into that weird space. He said, "We'll figure something out." Right before I walked over to his station, my wife noticed a cobra on some old Lee Roy Minugh flash and said, "Get a cobra!" I love that woman.

Jeff Srsic

Also my co-worker Mike Moses is a pretty off the chain illustrator/tattooer, here's his tumblr Thedrowntown

valerie vargas