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Yesterday, after two years in progress, Marius Meyer finally finished my back piece. It was 6 painful well worth hours. Going back for a touch-up in the belly plates and white in eyes/claws/teeth. @Iwar has some cool footage from the session that he maybe will post, I think?

Dude comes on here, introduces himself as a scratcher, and we argue art with him? We can do a lot better than this, folks.

Finally my tattooer put something up on his instagram so I can add an in-progress here! We are in the middle of a grind tonight. Adding tube sponges and corals along the bottom and up the right side. And standard disclaimer - nothing is done except the snake, which is under my top.

It's this blatant upstart attitude that earns you no respect, although please...don't beg, a dog does that when it loses all self respect. I see what we have here though, another art collector rather than an enthusiast. At one point, I might have been interested in the type of tattoos you have...the experiences you've had in street front shops...the understanding you have gained from this old time traditional culture...the networks you have established, the people who make this culture such a tight knit community based on respect, but I'm kinda guessing now you haven't. I have this feeling you have gained zero insight into how a traditional tattoo goes far deeper for some than just a picture, it's significant nature far beyond the lines you perceive as imperfection...mmm, but I'm not See, we don't need to convince you of fuck all. You haven't earned it. You bumbled your own way into this, all on your own. Well done.

You can like one thing without disrespecting everthing else.

Nope, you're ignorant because you're saying traditional takes no talent to create, and you're stupid because you're trashing a vast array of incredibly talented artists. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's shit. Trashing an entire style, and talking shit on work that artists have put their heart and souls into developing, for generations, is downright insulting to the art and culture of tattooing.

Phew. Thank fuck I chose a dagger through a skull with an eagle on top last week. Now I don't feel like such a cock.

"Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Carlos torres work does look very impressive but i still prefer tradional and japanese for my collection. Are those pieces on you?

Honestly, when I see black and grey pieces, whether it be portraits, or representations of statuary, I do respect the application, but usually just think "Oh, it looks like that photo." Never have I been moved in some astronomical way by a photorealistic tattoo. I do respect the craft aspect of it, but it has always boiled down more to craft than creativity to me, in most cases. Still impressive, but never spoke a single word to me. That being said, the first time I saw the INTO THE BIG NOTHING clouds/eye tattoo by Steve Byrne, I was blown away. It spoke far more than the four words in the banner ever could. After all, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Never been a big fan of opera. Yet I know some people are pretty passionate about it. And of course I acknowledge its rich history and understand it takes talent and dedication to succeed as an opera singer. What I don't do is go on opera forums and yell out, "OPERA SUCKS! TELL ME I'M WRONG!!!" Because that would be stupid and a waste of time.

I really have nothing to add but: "

No. There's no point. I think most here respect your right to like what you like. We don't need to convince you to like what we like. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm newish to this forum, and was a lurker for a long time before I posted. LST is a very tight community, and like any other community or club or social group of whatever you are new to, it's usually a good idea to try to spend some time getting to know what's it's like before jumping in the way you did. The reason you sounded ignorant and the reason so many of us were amused was because you clearly have no idea who it is you're talking to. The vast majority of people here favor and wear the style of tattoo you derided. If you had simply said traditional is not your thing, no one would have jumped down your throat.

No, I think your picking up what I'm putting down here @Fala. From the wise words of the ancient prophet Arhur Fonzarelli (better known as The Fonz) once said, “Exactamundo”.

This would be so much cooler if LST was a bar, and some drunken idiot blurted all that out in front of the regular patrons. Hahaha.

I'm putting this in because I've had good feedback :) Rose morph done by Nick Agnew at Kingsland Ink, Auckland, NZ

I just want to say that I read this thread now and then and my heart just sinks. I appreciate that this is a place where many of you feel comfortable sharing some of what you're going through, and I only hope that it offers you some measure of relief and comfort to know that many of us are thinking of you, and all of us are pulling for you

Dude... That sucks. My sister has a whole bunch of the cafe au lait spots and we've always wondered if that's what she has. So far so good for her though. I have my own incurable thing... I've posted about it some, and it's actually what led me here in the first place. The way I look at it is this - there are no guarantees at all. I could step off the curb and get hit by a bus tomorrow. "now" is all you can count on. I try my best to fully inhabit "now". The future is fuck scary. The past, it's gone. I want every moment I have to be as happy and good as possible, so I focus on the good, attend to the things that make me happy, and try to let all the rest of it go.

When did you get the tattoo? Doesn't look fully healed to me, just give it some time.

Steve does real nice solid work.but we also have good realistic tattooers in Jersey.. Instagram does beautiful realistic work. Instagram is up in N.Jersey. Instagram Biagio's Tattoo Gallery : Biagio : Tattoos : Page 1 Instagram

That's gonna be such a rad tattoo! (Already is, but you know what I mean)

Or keep feeding until it explodes.

I feel like telling anyone "why" you got a tattoo (when it has deep personal symbolism/meaning attached) lessens the meaning and relevance of said symbolism, makes it sound trite. Get a tattoo because you want one, get whatever one you want, and that's it - the act and experience of getting it carries more weight than what it is in a lot of ways. I'm now approaching the point where I'm getting tattoos because I like them and they don't need to have any meaning whatsoever, there's great freedom in that. I'm probably missing @Mick Weder's point, but that's where I'm at after this hellishly long workweek.

This is the best advice in the world. When you understand where a lot of us come from here Miss Veronica you will see @Graeme was being genuine, welcoming, friendly and sincere. Now, after you apologise for calling his knowledgeable response dumb, maybe you can start appreciating and learning why this advice is so sound. Plus, I like it. Reminds me when I wanted my eagle slammed into my stomach and ribs, I said to my tattooer. I don't give a fuck how it looks, all I want is a trad looking fuck off eagle in flight gripping another big fuck off skull drilled into my mid pipe. He knew exactly what I meant. For me, it represents my freedom, my flight from a dark period into a brighter future, although carrying elements to remind me of where I've been, and to where I'm going. Ha! No it doesn't, I literally just made that shit up on the spot! Maybe I watched too many episodes of M.I. Sounds fuckin cool, I mean stupid but doesn't it? No, I got it because...well, you should kinda get it by now I'm hoping :) Welcome the fuck to LST. The friendliest place on the web ;)

An eagle is too cool for a step child. The real biological kids would feel less loved. Ask the kid to pick a flower or animal and get that.

Glad to hear he will make it through allright!

Welcome Veronica. I think you should get a big eagle across your chest because tattoos represent whatever you want them to represent so you might as well go for a huge fuck off eagle.

One of my brothers come off his bike this afternoon. Ambos got him in to Trauma pretty quick. Nurse 1st on the scene, I got the call. Made it to the hospital just after the Ambos did. He's alright lucky enough. Broken fingers, smashed teeth and face. No head injury. Lucky, he was ripping into a set of lights just turned red when a pedestrian stepped out on to the road at the same time. Locked up and over. Ha! And I was only just saying to our mum just before, ya don't fall off bikes. Ya either loose control or get T boned. Think he better upgrade to some ABS I think :)

Congrats on the weight loss...I'm about 330lbs,and would like to lose about 75lbs.Mostly just have a big gut.I would actually just like to see my penis when I'm pissing,and then I'll celebrate with a new tattoo.Check out @ Electric tattoo near Asbury Park.And who you have an appt. with in Nov.

"Tattoos are not an addiction; they are a collection. A tattoo collector is just like a conventional art collector who buys a painting, hangs it on the wall, and then moves on to acquire the next, unique piece. Tattoo collecting is a spiritual pursuit, while addiction is a physiological need. Addicts repeatedly take the same drug over and over without limit. A tattoo collection has variety, and it has an end. Once you collect the whole set, you're done." -Horiyoshi III Side note: I also have a Hello Kitty. It was done by my fiancée, is about an inch and a half wide, and took her about an hour. It's just lines, aside from color in the bow and nose. She was really trying.

You know who was a hack? Picasso. His people don't even look like people! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

haha, you done did it now. @Steele I will add that I started out admiring traditional 'sailor' tattoos the most. But as I was exposed to more of the culture and background my tastes have slowly shifted towards japanese and black & grey. I especially appreciate the big black & grey japanese pieces. Who knows what I'll like next year.

loads of this, was just mentioning it to someone at the shop a few weeks back. also it seems like everything is becoming a hybrid....crabs with oni faces, shark eagles, geisha snakes, etc....and everything is "sick" "soooo sick". looking for someone to start doing "healthy" tattoos.

This is the worst. I hate it. So much negativity associated with the word addiction. Tattoos have been nothing but positive for me. A bit of traveling, cool and intelligent people, and I take better care of myself now because I want my tattoos to look good for as long as possible. Only negative is I spend too much time looking at instagram.

well. i did not get my touchups. but i did get a new tattoo which did involve a tear-out: My pug. Winston. Riding the red rocket. Which was really hilarious. Until I got a call 3/4 of the way through the tattoo that my mother passed away. Shout out to my pal Ollie for working like lightning to finish the tattoo before my ride showed up to go see my family. So some more to add to the arguement that a tattoo is more than just a silly picture on your skin. It's not just about "what" the tattoo is of or the "why"...but the "where" and "when" and "who" of the experience is of equal importance. A colourful timestamp for this lifetime. And now I'm left with a lot of sorrow to deal with, a good laugh and a great tattoo. Laughter is the best medicine. And my Mom really loved my idiot pug. But I think my next tattoo will be little more serious and carry a lot more weight. Peace.

Every man (or woman) has got something to stay away from, or die from it. In spite of all the bad shit going on with me, I'm not drinking much, staying away from the white powders as well. Been a while since I visited the needle and the spoon (1987) and I have no desire ever to go back to it. It took me maybe 10 years to shake that compulsion. Good thing I have no idea where to find such drugs and anyone I know that is into them is now dead. I was always attracted to taboo things. I dated black women because I wasn't supposed to, started drinking at age 15, drugs followed soon after. Somehow I knew I'd eventually find my way to cocaine and heroin, it was like I was on a path set by fate. And you're right, heroin is like June Cleaver (blonde milf from TV show Leave it to Beaver) just performed an oral act on me, gave me a back massage and wrapped me up in a nice warm blanket. If anything good came out of it, I related some of my story to my kids and so far they've turned out well and haven't gotten into 1/4 of the shit I did at that age. Hang in there! Rob

That thing looked so killer in person.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Sounds like an interesting approach. We grew up being scared about falling peril to the evils of narcotics. I mean, to the point as I've mentioned, literally being petrified about growing up and becoming that very person I was told that was so bad. Experimenting in activities that brought nothing but death and despair and that how "bad" it was and how bad it would make you feel. So, from that initial experimentation...treading very carefully, and then you discover how good it made you feel, contradicted everything that was installed by fear. No one ever told you that this shit actually makes you feel good. How can something that makes you feel good really be all that bad? Pffft! Maybe we just approached the whole education behind it from the wrong angle. I don't know, and I probably never will. And maybe I look too deep for an answer why it all went wrong. Never the less, as long as I can try educate my children with an open book as opposed to a closed one we can make a positive difference. Anyway, interesting article. Appreciate the share.

Getting tattooed by Thomas hooper at the bay con I'm pretty fucking stoked - - - Updated - - - Thinking of him doing a fudo on my neck. His fudo heads are so cool and he seems like a humble guy

Throw me L side in. Crocodile (from my Croc fighting days :)) & my ugly looking bat. Tattooer CP, Australia. @polliwog. I love that Eagle. F_uck_ing rad.

Guess I'll throw this in for this month. The only black & gray piece I have, and hopefully not the last. By Yoni Zilber.

I'll enter this one because I love my eagle. Happy to see her every day, and she has a name :o By Chad Koeplinger at Congress St. Photo from his Instagram.

Yeah, pretty much. Just passed 3 years sober but I can't seem to lose all my durgs knowledge, ha

Got the dagger done by Tony Nilsson at Blue Arms Tattoo today! Heart is healed. Stole his instagram picture(The black square is another piece he posted that isn't mine! Blacked it out)

Couple more quick ones from Fergus Simms

I got this lil' dude on my forearm from Mat Welch yesterday. It's really hard to get a solid picture, but you get the idea...

A bunch of people on here have probably seen this all ready but here is what Rudy Fritsch and Iain Mullen did to my back today, took approximatively 2 hours all in all I have a new found respect for people with back tattoos as of this session. Shit is brutal! Only a small portion of it felt all right. I had to struggle really hard at times. I was trying to surf the balance between consciously being there with the agony and discomfort and zoning out and into my head as much as possible. Divine moments of pain, that's what I kept thinking, while also trying to breath slow and stable. Getting tattooed by two tattooers working simultaneously is a good idea though. It's only about 1,568 as painful as getting hit with only one machine but it's about twice as quick! Most of the time the machine working at the most tender spot would be my focus and the other one was mostly irritating. You do get some crazy synergies and some combination of spots gives you new concepts of what pain can feel like. Recommended! Also very happy with the result so far, of course, hardly any need to say that right? Very rememberable afternoon at Imperial Tattoo in Stockholm

I have the fronts of both thighs done, saving the back of my thighs for a back piece. I'd say go with the front of thighs and do little fillers on the sides.