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Further work in progress, nearly finished, koi and Japanese maple leaves by Mo Coppoletta from The Family Business in London ...

Nice one, I am also getting a skull and snake combo on my thigh, getting mine at Hunter and Fox next month by Greg Christian.

@CABS - Yeah man, definitely worth the trip. The shop is cool as hell, and I showed up early expecting a line but ended up being the only client there for the first hour+ of the sitting. Jeff is a solid dude, I highly recommend him. Jeff and a couple other guys from the shop (including Jason) will be at the Bay Area Convention this year, too... Here's a slightly better picture from Instagram:

It doesn't matter what anyone else does. All the things everyone else does that you may not like or agree with are just distractions from focusing on your own goals. That's not limited to tattoo sales.

Bored and unmotivated at work this morning so why not day dream about something cool... Convention Website Convention Facebook Instagram: "@bayareatattooconvention" From everything I've seen this is one of the top North American conventions. Anyone else plan on going this year? I think I can convince my girlfriend that a weekend trip to SF would be romantic. And nothing adds to the romance like a fresh tattoo from an elite artist.

Next one two weeks from now. Rock of ages, with the cross up side down on the side of my thigh. By Peter Lagergren at Malmö Classic. Going to be a fun one and the last before summer. Hey, do you guys get tattoos in the summer time too? Being from sweden I can't really afford to miss out on the few months of sun bathing, swimming and outdoors skateboarding so I choose not to get anything new between late May and late August

I'm lusting after ANYTHING by Steve Bryne at the moment and would absolutely love to have my back done by him... however unless i can find a reason to be in Texas for a considerable amount of time i imagine anything i get from him will be a one shot! So in a word No, not at the moment at least. I'm going to get a tattooer to look at my back and advise me as to if theres even any point in considering i can have more than just lower back done... sorry for digressing so massively from the point of the thread!! - - - Updated - - - I'm lusting after ANYTHING by Steve Bryne at the moment and would absolutely love to have my back done by him... however unless i can find a reason to be in Texas for a considerable amount of time i imagine anything i get from him will be a one shot! So in a word No, not at the moment at least. I'm going to get a tattooer to look at my back and advise me as to if theres even any point in considering i can have more than just lower back done... sorry for digressing so massively from the point of the thread!!

Finally booked session #5 on my arm w/Spencer Briggs...coming up 5/4! ?

Well I used to run every day in Central Park. Little did I know, so did my bosses. Well I ran into them one morning and later that day, some disrespectful comments were circulating through the office. And the show I was working on only had around 10 people on staff, so it got pretty uncomfortable. It was just your typical bullshit, but it got old fast. As far as tattooers in LA I'm planning on visiting, I have Bryan Burk and Jim Sylvia high up on my list. I'm also going to the SF convention in October and plan on getting another piece from Grez.

we sure do.. it's the time of year we go from looking like corned beef to looking a milky reddish colour :)

Just booked an appointment for me and my Fiance, Im getting a lantern on my chest that im having him freehand. This will be my first experience with freehand and im excited as can be. I cant wait to see how his style come out!

THEE best show. Hands down. Always a blast.

summertime isn't an issue that affects me :)

Finished my chest piece by Nick Rutherford at Third Eye Tattoo ,melbourne on Sunday ,It hurt like all hell could'nt get the best picture of it but oh well.

I'm always paranoid that if I mention an upcoming tattoo, someone out there will call that shop and cancel my appointment. Weird, yes I know.

i'm going to ask my next client if she would rather i did it in my underwear. I do get paid extra for that though right?

Finished up the piece with Dana Helmuth a few weeks ago and I got around to shooting some decent photos of it all healed up. I'm really happy with it and can't wait for whatever is next.

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

Ed Hardy Books for sale I have doubles of all these rare and out of print books that I wish to sell. A few of them are in the original packaging others are all in good condition no tears etc but not showroom. I have priced them below what you would find them on Ebay or The Book Mistress, I can combine shipping, items will be shipped from Sacramento CA Eye Tattooed America $50 USED good condition White TattooTime Art From The Heart $80 NEW (a few copies) Red TattooTime Tattoo Magic $30 NEW (a few copies) Blue TattooTime Music & Sea $80 USED good condition Yellow TattooTime Life & Death $80 USED good condition Tattoo Flash (Big Red Softcover) $130 NEW Rock Of Ages (Small Hym book cover)$200 NEW Permanent Curios $30 NEW Tattooing The Invisible Man $200 NEW I also have a few copies of Outlaw Biker Tattoo from Mar 1993 Featuring Don Ed Hardy, Dan Higgs, Alex Binnie, Marcus Pacheco, Elio Espana, Timothy, Jeff Rasier, Kiwi Kim $12 I also have a VHS of Micheal O Stearns DE Hardy Tattoo Art Gallery from 1988 was $50 when sold then -$100 I have a few more items I will post have a new Greg Irons book but unsure of price as they are going for crazy money on Amazon Payment via Pay Pal [email protected] I will be back at my home Monday 9th July and will send any items out on Tuesday 10th once the shipping is worked out, will combine shipping. Email me or PM with any questions ~ Duncan

I had a 20-year-old ankle bracelet of small flowers I have hated for pretty much all 20 years. Last night I went in for my cover-up. It is not finished. Here is the side that is done. I think it is done anyway. Here's the front Here's the side that isn't done where you can see the old stuff Here's where it meets in the back I lack any artistic skill so basically it was all up to the artist. My only suggestion was bigger flowers and then after he drew them and there was that empty space in the front, I suggested those red ball thingies. He's a genius as far as I'm concerned. Look at those amazing leaves! Even the leaves are beautiful. I was really scared when I saw how big he was going but oh my god, look at how nice it looks on my big fat leg! We ran out of time last night and I was getting pretty swollen and exhausted. I am really looking forward to seeing the final product. (P.S. The map and emblem of the Pacific Crest Trail were already there.)

Hello, Last Sparrow. I've finally decided to join you. I guess I heard about you guys from being linked to your artist interviews from TAM blog interviews. So far I think that this is a pretty rad forum, and seems to be lacking a lot of the nonsense and fluff that saturates a lot of other tattoo forums. I also think it's really cool that technical secret spilling is discouraged here. More attention to focus on the actual quality of art, rather than who thinks they know what. But! Forgive me for not thoroughly looking, but is there a section for critique? I'm a novice who has confidence in their potential for great tattooing, but I also feel that I have a really long way to go before that becomes part of my reality. I think one of the biggest obstacles in my progression is that I don't often get to make art in the company of other artists and don't really have a lot of people who are available to give solid and honest feedback. There are a lot of people posting here who I look up to, so I'm pretty stoked to be able to dive into the community here. I live and work in Oakland, California. I would choose no other place to be at this point in my life, it's probably one of the state's best kept secrets. Also, the caliber of tattooing that is present in the area is both astounding and overwhelming. I often find myself comparing my work to those who have been at this for (usually) 5 times longer than I have, and I still haven't made up my mind as to whether that's a good habit or a bad habit. Anyway, hello, nice to meet you all.

That's LA for ya! It is just like that here... tattoos are part of the culture.

I decided early on that I would only get black and gray work. I am a pale native swede so I am sure colors would fit my skin but I just think black and gray looks good. I am pretty anal about matching clothes, for a long time I would wear mostly black and I think if I would have colors in my tattoos they would have to match each other and I would have to match my clothing with the colors in my tattoos. That's just impossible to me! (I might come off as a bit weird here) I don't know, I'm just a black and white kind of guy, I'm a photographer and I shoot mostly monochrome film too. I can drool over the subtle gradients or the harsh contrast in black and white photos for a looong time. And with tattoos, it's just beautiful with the skin and the shades. Don't get me wrong though, I love a lot of the color tattoos I see every day and some of my favorite tattooers are very distinctly color artists. It's just not for me. Having said that, whatever I put on my body is going to match a bit easier than for those of you who get different colors too. When I first started getting tattoos I had no clue about it really but soon I settled into a more traditional taste. (The next sentenced I have tried to write 5 times all ready, struggling to not sound pretentious) Nowadays I try to find artists with a style of their own, something that will shine through even without the help of colors. I'm pretty sure that to people who aren't as nerdy about tattoos as me and you, LST:ers, most of my tattoos probably look like they could have been made by the same 2-3 artists. But they aren't and I for one appreciate the fact that I can look at my tattoos and see each artists own vision and way of doing things. So even if my scope is pretty narrow, disregarding any colors, I am letting different styles meet. For example I'd love to have something made by Hooper, I'm getting my second Deno-tattoo later this year, I have several ideas for tattoos to be made by Guy Le Tatooer and my next piece is going to be more neo-traditonal than anything I currently have. </black n gray nerd rant)

I'm of the same school of thought. My next session at Kings Avenue with Mike Rubendall will be Tuesday May 7th. Then I break for the rest of the Spring and through the Summer. I'll start everything up again with appointments in October and onward. I was tattooed once in late May and it was unseasonably warm already in NYC. Healing and sweating was just not personally fun for me. Plus I have several travel vacations this summer and I prefer to be all healed to enjoy a good swim and also some sun.

I'm pretty sure that's a guy named Edwin, who I know is basically covered in Conn girls.

lucozade is basically just fizzy glucose syrup in drink form.. lts like 500 calories per quarter bottle or something ridiculous like that haha.. brings the blood sugar levels up.. Irn bru is a typically scottish fizzy juice which is bright orange in colour and said to stain your insides! All exceedingly healthy things!

Second appointment this Sunday at Lighthouse, Sydney. Garth is working on a skull and snake for my thigh. Getting nervous/excited just typing about it. Driving me nuts thinking about colours, have changed my mind many many times.

I just recently got a skull from fergus , hes such a humble dude , you should get all of the above smashed into one piece :)

Thanks so much! James Briggs I almost forgot about him. I emailed him like 2 weeks ago actually and haven't received anything back! I really like the look of Kim Saigh's work as well but I'm just not sure if I should pick any good artist or specifically seek out a black/gray work specialist. Thanks @CABS as well. When I saw your post in another topic about Port City I checked out their work it's really good. I'll be shopping around in the next couple weeks and see how to spend this here tax return :cool:

That's sick man. I want a rose and dagger on the back of my leg too, how fitting. I like visiting conventions, but I'd much rather visit tattooers at their home base. Jeff P and Ross Carlson do killer tattoos. Maybe I'll make a trip to Portland this summer. Flights are cheap from the Bay Area.

I don't know those shops you mentioned (except Broken Art)... but @DJDeepFried and I both go to Memoir Tattoo on Beverly in west LA. We have gotten great work from Kim Saigh & James Spencer Briggs. Shawn Barber & Brendan Rowe are also great, and they get really good guests like Seth Wood. memoir tattoo ©2010 Then there's Unbreakable Tattoo...a lot of good artists there, I'd be interested in getting one from Jim Sylvia. Unbreakable Tattoo - www.tattoounbreakable.com Then there's Dark Horse with Bryan Burk who has an interview you could watch right here on LST. He's amazing. Best Tattoo Artists | Top Tattoo Shops and Parlor in Los Angeles | Dark Horse Tattoo Los Angeles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TujVa9bS6L0 And last one for now: Shamrock Social Club. I have one from Mark Mahoney. It was just a small one before I knew better, but what a great experience. Coolest guy. Shamrock Social Club

Got this earlier today from Jeff P. at Art Work Rebels here in Portland, Ore. Every 23rd they do a half-off flash special, so I picked this one off the wall. Sorry for the shitty cell phone picture, it's the best I could do.

My first thought as well.

I agree with the rest of you, one can never have too many lady heads! I now have a lady from Valerie Vargas, Todd Noble and will have one from Xam on friday, and from Conn next month! And I will have many more in the future! :o

I like the red detailing on the leaves. nice touch and it pulls your eye to the spaces that arent coverup space

lol thaaaats the word - yes..it helped with her back pain and my tattoo transition lol

Matt Brotka is moving out to Full Circle Tattoo here shortly. That is a win for California!

Ladies?! . . . Hell, now I'm thinking about getting my nails done . . .

Got this from Steve Byrne on Saturday. Couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Sorry for the crappy iphone pic, I'll try to get better pics once it heals.

quoting my own post from February because I'm getting excited about this appointment on May 11th!

Kylesa did a free all-ages show last night, which doesn't happen around often enough. Was really cool to see a big turnout of all generations and more faces than the usual people I see out. Made me feel a lot younger even if I was in the top 5% of the old kids attending.

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

Valerie Vargas at Frith St Tattoo on my calf.

Better yet... Get your lovers name tattooed across your face in 5" letters. That one always sends a nice message.

It looks like a South Park Jesus.

Yea I think I remember something about this as well. RUSSIAN CRIMINAL TATTOO ------------------------------------------------------------------ Amazon.com: Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia (9783882439205): Danzig Baldaev, Sergei Vasiliev, Alexei Plutser-Sarno: Books

Shannon, if I understand you correctly which be honest your past few posts is a little bit difficult. We are not judging other people by the places that they have gotten tattooed. We're saying places that we don't want to get tattooed or to get tattooed yet. Not everyone on this board has jobs that take kindly to visable tattoos, or not everyone wants tattoos that are out in the open all the time (neck/face). A cock and balls on the top of the head, yeah it's an odd tattoo, but if that's what the guy wanted alright. If I misunderstood your post forgive me, but it just seems like rantings when your drunk. So take care and have fun.

My two favorites are: SAND WICH and PLAN AHEA