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By the lovely and talented Kim Saigh at world-famous Memoir Tattoo in Los Angeles, California.

Aaron Coleman, three sessions.

This is another one of those, "there is no point in you winning this contest because why the fuck would you ever wear a shirt ever again" pieces.

Bam

Seems like we can expect a pretty weak showing this month (slackers!), so I'll throw my most recent tattoo into the ring. Torch + snake from Ron Henry Wells, done just before Christmas at Congress Street Tattoo.

I guess I'll post my latest... by Johannes at Good Faith in Boston.

I think this should be for finished work, not ongoing. I plan on posting the final shot of my back-piece for judgement when it's 100% complete. Don't think it's a tattoo contest if we have unfinished tattoos. No disrespect to you @Brock Varty . Aren't you looking to show off and be judged on the finished project? Show the beauty that the artist created, and commitment to the tattoo! The appointments, expense and of course handling the pain. The journey is shared on "Latest Tattoo Lowdown". That's where we all compliment and look forward to the finished project!!!!

One man's ceiling is another man's floor. There are shops I don't care for, but what I see as one thing, someone else sees differently. Guess I'd rather talk about shops I think are outstanding than name the ones I don't care for.

I see a couple of people suggesting that its a bad idea to go the freehand route. sorry but that is false. if you go to someone and they cant draw a good design on you chances are that they wouldn't have drawn it any better on paper. I am not saying they don't use stencils and I'm sure they do sometimes but I personally have never seen Richard Stell, Troy Denning or Chris Trevino use a stencil. also I work with both Horizakura and Yoni Zilber who I watch draw on entire sleeves and backpieces that become the most beautifuly executed tattoos. So what im saying is its not the process/approach that is to blame for giving you an unsatisfactory tattoo it is the artist that executed it. I'd hate to see you go into a situation where youre gonna get tattooed by a Chris Garver or Horitomo and he says he's gonna freehand it so you get spooked and end up opting out of it because someone on the internet said that freehand is a red flag. also drawing on the spot is perfectly ok if the artist has the experience and skills to do so. if Gordon Ramsey offered to come to my house and make me dinner using whatever i have in my cupboard I'm not going to request that he figure out the recipe a week in advance because he's going to nail it.

I don't think that naming names helps and I'd rather use this forum to talk about people putting on great tattoos and to try to educate people about what is a good tattoo and how to get one.

After I got my 1st tattoo (eagle) a year and a half ago I was happy - no regrets. Even after getting my 1st Gunnar piece this past October and seeing the stark difference in quality, I still had no regrets. I went back to Gunnar this past weekend with plans to "add" a cobra to the eagle to even out the size of the tattoos on each of my upper arms. He spent 1.5 hours freehanding the cobra onto my arm before inking, and then scrapped the whole thing becuase he wasn't happy with how the cobra looked with the existing eagle. He ended up going in a different direction which included reworking the eagle itself which was something we never discussed. After that he added sky, then moved down and decided to do a desert scene. I cannot believe the before/after. There were so many things wrong with the original, but I must have purposefully ignored it to convince myself of having no regrets. What I've learned over the past year is there is a difference going to a street shop to get a good tattoo, and seeking out an artist with a concept. I am not knocking street shops, but with my personal experience the street shop mentality took precedent over artistic quality with my first eagle. Before: After (crappy cell phone pic taken right after the session):

I love the contest when it is only two days in and the quality of tattoos are that which we love and seek! Keep them coming!!!...!....!....

tommy montoya did JC's face not too long ago, best one ive ever seen, its a must see

And when @phickey got his tattoo, panties dropped simultaneously around the world.... haha jk But seriously, that tattoo is fucking nuts. Love it!

@phickey, I can only second and third what others have said and add that that's one of the best tattoos I've ever seen. A panther, a dagger, a cobra, and roses. Everything great, all in one. Refresh my memory: aren't you the guy who showed up here asking where to go to get good tattoos? If so, you may rival @Scott R for LST's greatest success story.

@Hogrider I'm by no means an authority on this stuff, but I'm travelling along the same road you've just started... Part of the reason you can't find what you're looking for is because you're looking for literal or binary meanings. Most of the images you've seen tattooed are taken from Japanese and Chinese folk tales or religious stories. Imagine of you asked someone regarding western cultural art or tattoos: 1) "What does it mean when there's a guy hanging on cross with his arms outstretched?" 2) "What does it mean when there's a woman in blue holding a naked baby" 3) "What does it mean when the muscle-bound guy in the black mask overpowers the brightly dressed skinny man in the clown makeup. The answers depend on your level of interest/sympathy and how abstract or literal you want to be: 1a) It's Jesus. His father, God, sacrificed him to atone for the sins of the world. 1b) The wearer has faith in a religious power higher than himself and possibly feel kinship with or sympathy for the figure and character of Jesus Christ. 1c) The wearer wants to be forgiven for past wrongdoings. 2a) It's Mary, Jesus' mother. The baby is Jesus. 2b) She's a figure of worship because some people believe she should be revered because God chose her as the vessel for his earthly offspring. Her cloak is blue because traditionally goddesses were associated with the moon and night sky. Sometimes it has stars on it. Christianity adopted this symbol to make it easier for people who held older religious beliefs to adopt the new faith. 2c) The wearer may have sympathy or empathy with the concept of being the vessel for divine power or lineage. Also this symbol can have an added element of sadness because we know the eventual sadness and loss of a mother witnessing her only son be sacrificed for the good of mankind - possibly a greater sacrifice than Jesus, some might say. 3a) It's Batman, he's fighting the Joker. 3b) Batman is a symbol of vigilante justice. He works outside of recognised laws to bring justice to a world crippled by wrongdoing. 3c) This scene is a metaphor for the darkness of repressed homosexuality and it's power to overcome the sinister flamboyance of non-hetro feelings. etc, etc. In short, think about what you want your tattoo to 'mean' or 'say' - tell that to a tattooer who knows his stuff and let them find a story or theme that fits your idea. Or just pick one you like from a woodblock print. I try to tell people all the time that western traditional tattooing has just as much symbolism and poetry but nobody will listen. It's all sex, death and the struggles of humankind. Good luck.

The rest of y'all don't even bother trying!

Had the last major session on my backpiece this past Saturday. 8 sessions over 6 months, 25.5 hours and 2 tubs of Aquaphor later, it's basically done. Have to go back next week to get a few touch-ups and darken the blue up a bit, but basically done. I'll get some better pictures soon.

Tux, 1994

I loved the DeVita episode's, but there's one thing in Thom Devit's story that's always left out, and that would be Tux Farrer. Why does he always go so unnoticed/unmentioned? There were parts when Nick Bubash/Thom mentioned "Tux" but they never went into detail as to who he was or what he did. Especially considering that he's tied, directly, to both Dan Higgs and Thom DeVita, who are both considered very "big name" types in this niche of the tattoo community. Does anybody know anything about him? All that I could gather was that he had a shop in Baltimore in the eighties near a Greyhound station, learned under Thom Devita, broke in Dan Higgs, and tattooed a young Scott Weinrich (also known as Wino from the Obsessed, Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan and just generally the coolest guy ever). I wish I could find out more about him!

So...you gonna keep it?

Well this would explain the MASSIVE amount of panties that have been frequenting the streets of Brisbane as of late ;)

This wraps it all up in a neat little package. So good @phickey so friggin good.

@phickey dammit all to hell. that's on you!!!!!!! that's winning at life material.

This is just the sketch that I gave my artist, shes turning it into a full chest piece that will flow into my arms and what I already have coming off my shoulders. Starting it on the 17th!

I've got a sacred heart and a giant St. Francis portrait that takes up most of my stomach. I'm nowhere near being religious, they just ended up cheongsam things that hold a higher meaning than the Christian thing. I'll don pictures. I'm at work, so I can't take my shirt off.

Very slick. He debunks the usual arguments to make you feel like he is on your side, then brings up a bunch of new arguments, almost in an apologetic manner. He comes across as a folksy, good old boy, but this has a very calculated approach.

Finished this on New Years Day - start as I mean to go on for 2013!

i'm getting a panther done this month by Robert Ryan @ Electric tattoo, very excited about it

i've been spending more n more time with my son, which is awesome for me

I am obligated to try. At the end of the month I will have had the first two sessions on my back with Mr. Kore Flatmo done. I gotta at least toss it in...

Thank you everyone :) I wouldn't have gotten those amazing tattoos if it wasn't for Scott, this forum, and all if its wonderful members. And all of the other entries were just as worthy as mine, every month gets better and better. Again, thanks LST mods and all it's members. Looking forward to another year of amazing tattoos!

@phickey Thats the quintessential tough tattoo , overall your stuff shows you can never have too many Roses .

@MGblues Aaron Coleman, we got it done in three session. Yesterday we did every bit of color five hours straight...ouch.

got these two by lowercase j @ tattoo marks

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.

not part of the tattoo age series, but still done by vice..pretty awesome video about horiyoshi III(turn subtitles on at the bottom):

Mike Wilson duel jax beach, FL. Less than two hours. Tapped out on doing any shading. (I blame it on the late night arrival the night before, it makes me feel better)

A nice one by Peter Lagergren at Malmö Classic Tattooing - Sweden.

Heavily tattooed = someone with more tattoos that you have. :-)

Lobster Club on brioche the start of 11 dozen tamales

Here's my latest and last for 2012! @Lindsey Carmichael at Gold Rush Tattoo.

You keep on believing that. Keywords: "at this time".

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

fun little walk-in with mark cross yesterday. been wanting this dude for a while.

Wassap guys, im new here to this site. Finally a quality tattoo forum. Ive been getting tattooed for around 4 years, my first was a cross by Dan Santoro. Ive been getting tattooed by various artists in the NY area, most of my tattoos have been from Kyle Sajban out of Red Rocket Tattoo and my left arm sleeve is currently in progress by Rodrigo Melo of North Star Tattoo. Awesome tattoos in this thread. I have 2 sleeves as of now, I dont have any good pics of my right arm sleeve unfortunately, just old pictures. Heres some pics of my chest and my left bicep, which I had a session on yesterday. Two koi fishes on my left arm with some peonies and cherry blossoms.

Those tattoos...

Speaking of Senor O'Donnell, here's the latest from his instragram:

I definitely would get tattooed by Uncle Allan.

Seth Wood through the neck.