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Yay! finally finished by upper back today :D I'm sooo happy :D :o By Valerie Vargas at Frithstreet tattoo

Might aswell throw this in here, crossing my fingers! This month has stiff competition :)

I am more than happy with what came out of my trip to Amsterdam. Kim-Anh Nguyen did this tattoo at the wonderful Salon Serpent. Photo taken by her and stolen by me.

Go back to studying, it's fine. That color you see is cause of the blood. After a little bit it will go a way.

@Eilin may have broken the internet. Superb.

I want to be just like you when I grow up :)

Scott Ellis- Triple Crown Tattoo Austin, TX Pic with better detail:

The most awesome thing I've done in a long time:D

@keepcalm check out this link from Snopes : Thick Talk, it states that our hair does not actually grow back thicker and darker! Mayo Clinic corroborates here, as does this post from Aetna's InteliHealth, as reviewed by members of the faculty at Harvard Medical School. Looks like you don't have to worry at all!

Welcome @Inkless I'm not familiar with the artist you mention, but here's a couple links to some good shops I know of in your area. Tattoo Paradise Jinx Proof Tattoos

Wow @Eilin Valerie is almost unfairly good, like she has to be cheating.

I spend the majority of my time with old folks, and I don't think their tattoos look bad at all!! Faded yes, but bad? No way!! Everyone's skin sags. I'd rather have faded sagging tattoos, than be a sagging plainskin. Gonna sag either way. People spend way too much time thinking about how tattoos look on old people.

I did something awesome yesterday: Ed spoke at an SF museum about "tattoo culture." It wasn't promoted very well--there were only about 15 people there--but that made it cooler for me. Then I saw Tattoo Nation a few hours later. Great day all around. PS @Doug Hardy, I'm wearing one of your pins on my jacket. :)

Got tattooed today in Italy, i now have a bad ass skull on my inner bicep and an awesome memory of my traveling life. I posted a pic in the latest tattoo lowdown thread

I 'll donate the sales $ from the next 5 copies of ( my non- instructional satirically humorous book) " So you want to be a tattoo artist?" But I first have to figure out how and where to post a pic again

If I was going to get a comic book tattoo and I could go to absolutely anybody in the world, I would probably go to Dave Waugh. Just saying.

I do that all the time, feels more authentic to me- plan a few big pieces, have fun with the rest

I'm back at Saved next Friday for what might be the last session on my leg.

Kills. Totally.

14-year-old me is biting his tongue over here. Apologies.

Agenda for day off: Deposit loot. Draw tattoos. Share some loot with LST. Thanks you guys you rock

Getting into lining my paintings strictly with a brush:

I know some people on this forum don't really dig this guy, but Gen did a guest spot here in Hong Kong and I got my lower leg done. That ditch is something else eh? Taken from his instagram coz I couldn't get any decent shots.

Thats fucking great @Eilin love the yellow eyes

Haha! I was viewing it on my iPhone and totally missed that. Awesome.

Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm and interest. I still have a hell of a long way to go. I haven't finished interviewing yet and I have a day of two of other filming to get before I can start editing and figuring out how to make an interesting film from the footage I have. I'm guessing this summer will see a lack of interesting updates while I work on the meat of the film. @Russ I do know what boots Dante is wearing in that photo but he wouldn't like me to tell. He will appreciate your interest.

Hells Yes!! Really beautiful!

Welcome Tammy. The lower leg can be a difficult spot to heal, so just be patient, keep it clean, don't baby it too much, and you should be okay. And yeah, a lot of people have stupid opinions about tattoos and the worst thing about it is that they think they have this completely original and brilliant insight when they tell you that your skin is eventually going to sag. Fuck 'em.

Genie of the West--- You make the assumption that I don't eat properly or excercise. I'm 5'2 --- I'd like to be taller, that's not going to happen. I had my thyroid surgically removed because of thyroid cancer and I must take medicine, which keeps me in a hypothyroid state. I will never be thin. That being said, we must work with what we have. If you want your tattoos to be as outstanding as possible, working with your skin color and tone, Then I suggest a clear easy to read design, in black- whatever the genre. And I will wear clothing that best suits my figure! Also, extreme as it may sound- on my husband's recent trip to a laser treatment practitioner,to remove a tattoo, they discussed the different settings necessary for light and dark skin tones. Laser treatments are available for evening out uneven skin, spots,blotches, vitiligo etc. perhaps laser treatments are a viable option for your darker areas, so that your tattoos will be more outstanding.

I'm sure you'll get lots of advice here. My two cents? I use the dry heal method. I wash the fresh tattoo the next morning in very hot (don't burn yourself) water then pat it dry wish a fresh ,clean cloth. Then...I do nothing. I keep it dry and clean and away from things like wool, cat/dog hair and dander. Try not to think about it too much and definitely don't pick at it. The human body is an amazing organism and does a remarkable job of healing itself. I find when I leave it to take care of business it does just that. Congrats on your first tattoo!

slightly intimidated by the talent in this thread but none the less here are a few of my more recent ones

Montreal convention, dude.

Yesterday the rain in Philly was crazy and my jeans got soaked commuting in. So I spent three hours at work in my underwear. Dealing with vendors. USPS. Staff. I was going to put a tie on, but that would have been weird. Random musings.

My wife and I got tattooed by Matt Arriola yesterday. The tiger was three sittings, but only took about three and a half hours.

Dennis at @ProvidenceTattoo

Why is it a shame that his tattooer copied someone else's style? Anymore, almost all tattooing is evocative of some other persons work.

Got this one from Mr Desa at frith street yesterday. Hope he doesn't mind my lazy ass borrowing the pic from his instagram

Just got this done today its my first tattoo i sat in the chair for 5 hours and when its healed I have to go for another 2 to finish the shading Sent from my XT910 using Tapatalk 2

Totally understand....thanks for being honest. Again, love these pics/stories keep them up.

Updated full back progress pic. Pretty much healed up from my last session. Will be seeing Rubendall again in May to finish shading the back of my left thigh. Probably start some color too!

@vPooch As you learn more about Japanese tattoo you'll see that there are certain elements that traditionally go together, and Karajishi-Botan (the lion and the peony) is one of those combinations. Click this link for a snippet of an interview between Crystal Morey and Horimasa about some of the dos and don'ts of traditional Japanese tattooing, and if it continues to interest you then get to researching, son! The article in full is interesting, as well - I think le google will help you find it. There is a lot of great info out there, it's up to you to find it! Hopefully this is a good (albeit tiny!) jumping off point.

Lost my LST shirt so maybe my tiger can help out. Tony Hundahl - Rock of Ages Austin, Texas - one shot

ok mine is frome Chad Koeplinger! done at invictus /Oslo a few days ago!

I'll put my newest up there, from Mike Fite:

Tony Nilsson at Blue Arms Tattoo in Oslo, Norway is doing incredible girl heads in my opinion. I just recently started paying attention to his work and it is very solid. I would definitely love to get a tattoo from this guy.

Most of my favorite video games involve 1 quarter and 3 lives. Mario Kart is my exception to the rule.

To that effect...I know people with a thousand or more hours into a WoW profile, that they can sometimes sell for a couple thousand dollars. I want to add up my lifetime in-game time on the CoD series. I think I have roughly 600,000 kills and probably about 700 or 800 hours over the last 7 years.

It's my understanding that the reciever of the 14 machines googled them to find out where they came from and link to LST came up, and that's how he knew who to contact. Now we're fighting crime and injustice against more than just the skin, go LST.

@Iwar Thanks. I knew someone here would find it eventually. Thanks for sharing. I've told a few people face-to-face about this project but I want people online to find this on their own, for now. If I shout about it and create hype, everyone will be bored of waiting by the time it's finally finished. I expect a long gap (at least 6 months) between the last shot and the finished edit. At the moment I'm doing this 100% on my own - Camera, lights, sound, music, graphics, editing, planning, photography, layout, writing, interviewing, transcribing, promotion, etc etc. I'm glad you like what I've done so far. As well as the guys at the shop I have some great people lined up to get interviewed too. Some of them you know, some you don't know. Actually, on the subject of transcribing... I do need help. Lately I've been thinking about asking for help but I wasn't sure to do it here, twitter or wherever. Without turning this into a sob story, I can't transcribe every interview myself. I've done a few but my wrists can't take the strain of tattooing 5 days a week and typing for 2. Having hard-copy interview transcripts is essential to the editing process. So I guess this is an open offer for someone to have some low paid, occasional, boring work but to help out on a project that I think might be interesting. I don't have the budget for professional transcription services (actually, I have zero budget, everything is paid for out of my own pocket) but I can pay a percentage of the standard professional rate. If you think you'd like to help or know someone who'd like to help, email [email protected] Thanks. HOOPER versus PECKer: The footage of Oliver getting tattooed was almost an hour long. It was tough to cut some of the hilarious one-liners but the best ones are in there. @Scott R I'm the guy holding the camera. We did meet at the SFO convention. There ware lots of people watching Oliver get tattooed from outside the room, but the guys you can see while Thomas gets tattooed are Chad Koepliner, Stefano C, Shane Wilcox, Me and Thomas' friend James.