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Those of you who follow Lee M Knight have probably already seen this one I got from him a few weeks back but here it is anyway. Done at Cult Classic Tattoo on my trip to England. Was a ripper bloke to get tattooed by and he went out of his way to make this tattoo happen!

Woohoo... tattoo locked and loaded for 13th of January... this time it's a lemur rose morph!

If you are looking for Japanese tattooing that is a three hour drive from Seattle I have two suggestions. Chad Woodley tattoos in Vancouver BC. He doesn't post a lot of tattoos, but his Japanese stuff is as good as you will find in western Canada. Jason Kundell is in Portland Oregon, and he is as good as it gets. His style isn't exactly what I think you are talking about when you say bold Japanese tattooing, but it is definitely bold Japanese tattooing. Just maybe not as traditional as you have in mind. You also have Jim Rosal in Yakima, and Bo Mcconaghie who tattoos somewhere right outside of Seattle. Having a Hori attached to your name doesn't necessarily make you a good Japanese style tattooer. Nothing against Horiyru. I am familiar with his work, but it isn't something that I am into. It is all a matter of taste so if you like his stuff don't worry about what anyone else thinks.

Just got back to the hotel in Oslo after having Marius Meyer blast me for 4 hours or so. Shout out to @Iwar for being an awesome tour guide, host, driver... really the only way he could have made me more welcome is by offering some hand relief. Maybe on the next trip!

It was so insane watching a bunch of tattooers talking about contracts and rules. I hope their agents and managers approved. Tattooists. Contracts. Agents. Just saying. Royboy didn't sign no damn contracts.

After I had 7 laser sessions I finally could get a cover up I wanted. I booked in with rob Richardson months ago when he opened his books. This is what I came back with after 3 sessions in a row full days :).. I will post healed pics later and if anyone wants to see the before pics let me know! Iphone camera used nothing fancy. hope you like it! adult image sharing

Just confirmed that I'll be off to Denmark to get tattooed by Henning Jorgensen in May. Starting a big old Dragon up my leg and on to my ribs. Can't wait. Yay.

I saw a Kiku backpiece in person a while back and it was just about the boldest, most dynamic thing I have ever seen. He is amazing.

Unless the fame has gotten to their head, then you should act the same toward them as you would any other tattooer. Ask.

I'm glad Jason won as well. Given the requirements of the challenge, Jason had the better tattoo. Clean was supposed to do color realism. The only realistic part of his tattoo was the wrenches. Although Clean did much better tattoos during the season, those were 3-6 hour tattoos. The final tattoo was a 35 hour piece. That is equivalent to roughly 6-10 individual tattoos during the season. I like the Superbowl analogy.

to me - i think all tattoos have meaning - even if it was just marking a time in your life in which you had no idea about what to get tattooed on your body - maybe you just felt compelled that you wanted a tattoo - you wanted to peek behind that door - thats why i think i often like tattoos that people share where there was a poor design or application of the concept - the tattoos are 'bad' but in a cool way - dont get me wrong - i would hope that folks that get into getting more and more ink seek out better artists or think their ideas through a little better so they end up with tattoos that enjoy wearing - but i just have such love for those "crappy" ones that so many of us start with

It was explained to me that depending on how long it takes to get yours done, the lines will look more aged than the rest by the end. Maybe that seems obvious to some, but it wasn't something I considered. I'm not the artist. Really it's not so bad the second time around. You'll be fine, although beer did help.

Likewise man, thanks to you and your lovely lady for helping make my trip so great (Kinda wish i still had a bit of that curry stuck in my beard!). Looking like i'll be back your way late Jan/early Feb although i haven't set anything in stone with Marius just yet, but i'll be sure to let you know.

I had some parts of my sleeve relined at the end. There was nothing wrong with those lines prior to them being relined but the second pass did make them pop a little more even after they were settled in. But that is the arm. But yeah, it can be a thing depending on how the artist works. I wouldn't let it frighten you off getting a backpiece though. They're a considerable investment in time, pain, and money, but, in my opinion, there is nothing in tattooing as impressive as a well-done backpiece so it's worth it. I'm not going to be so brave when it's going down.

@Graeme - ooooooo noooo, and LOL! The re-lining makes sense I suppose. My last session will be a lot of relining anything lined, then more saturation for details and whites and the like. Seems like they want to put all the finishing touches on that one last session, regardless of what it does to the poor "canvas." Hopefully the impending joy and awesomeness of finishing your tattoo will help carry you though the pain. I think I will be so excited, and like a girl, I will likely shed a few tears. This time in joy, heh heh.

@sophistre It was nice meeting you. I don't live on an island, but I have kids so I know all about time constraints.

That "friend" was me, @sophistre! Unfortunately, getting both of my knee ditches tattooed by Marco didn't make me the best conversationalist. :) Those Greg Whitehead tattoos look killer, and it was awesome to see them in person. Hopefully you had a good trip back home on the ferry!

My latest, first in a few months. Small piece but so nice and easy to sit for. Done by Jovic at Eternal Ink in Sunbury, Melbourne, Australia. I seem to be leaning towards the idea of filling up my legs with lots of small pieces rather than one large cohesive one. @ItsNewport that is an amazing piece, can't wait to see more progress on it.

I fucks with The Black Keys HEAVY!!!! I can't believe I forgot to mention them on my list!! I never was big fan of Jurassic 5 in the first place, but it was cool to hear they got back together.

So we have finally started the shading on my back piece. It's a great feeling to be filling in all those lines. There's a long way to go but here is a picture of the first bit of shading we have done on the back of my leg.

Its all about the flow. The dragon head on my chest faces in, the bird on my upper arm faces in. They would look awkward otherwise.

I know that @MrsGougeTheEyes has one on her forearm that I believe she got from Cody Miller and I'll vouch for it being super rad. Also @polliwog won a Tattoo of the a Month contest with a big rad fuck off Chad eagle. I think Chad's eagles are the best, they're so powerful. I don't know how much my opinion counts for here, but I'm going to say that eagles on women (or on men) are pretty fucking badass.

welp just got another appointment with robert ryan for january 2nd but down at electric in NJ this time. getting my hand tattooed 4 days later by max kuhn. starting the year off right, i'd say ;)

I'm thinking about sweet eagle tats, and possibly having one, or three, on me. Are there any ladies out there with some good strong eagles on them? I do think of eagles as more of a masculine back piece/ chest piece, and I'm no tougher than a geriatric miniature poodle. To be clear, I'm not asking for opinions of what to do with my body. I'm wanting to get feedback/pics regarding eagles on chicks, from chicks with eagles, or dudes that love chicks with sweet eagle tats. I'm also not opposed to finding out whose eagles are so good that they make you mad.

Chipped away a few more hours on my back. I think we're pretty much done the black shading, I think there's some greys to do in the water still, we still have to figure out the scales or patterns on the snake, but we're making progress. All work, as always, by Dave Cummings of PSC Tattoo.

This has given me entirely too much to think about, but I am thankful for the education. I am a newbie, I would say, (20 years old, 5 tattoos, only 2 of substantial size), and I favor the realism style. I am thinking I will have to find a middle ground with my future tattoos because its not that I DISLIKE traditional by any means, it just wasn't the path I intended to take. I must admit, I am probably guilty of drooling over pictures taken of realism style tattoos the day they were finished and holding in my head that "MINE CAN LOOK LIKE THAT TOO!".... yeah.... for a couple years.... I would be curious to see photos of tattoos that sort of fall in between realism and traditional. Or perhaps I have seen many examples and just don't know what to label that particular style. Again, newbie, sorry! While I'm here, could I trouble some of the knowledgeable ones to identify a style for me? It would be greatly appreciated. I have attached a picture of a "look" I'm rather fond of. Sort of water-color ish, not really? Iddddkkkk. Also, feel free to comment on the expected "lifespan" of those particular tattys. Thanks guys!

Just finished up my second session with THooper on Monday. Have some serious crankle action going on today. Next booked for 2 days in a row in early Feb. Wife also got her 1st tattoo started yesterday, with Joey Ortega. They'll also finish up this one in Feb:

I did a couple shitty stick and poke tattoos on myself when I was a dumb young punk rock teenager (all have since been covered). But I was 19 (the year 2001), walked into the shop in the town where I went to university, and gave a print out of the Rocket From The Crypt logo to this really nice fellow named Andrew Conner and he did it on the inside of my arm. I got a couple more tattoos from other folks, but then, four years later, I was reintroduced to this Andrew Conner fellow, and we became friends. He tattooed me a lot out of his private studio, and then he moved back to that same shop where I got my first tattoo. He opened my eyes to what good tattooing is, taught me how to paint using liquid acrylic/watercolor, taught me how to use an ink nib, and has become one of my biggest inspirations. My first good tattooer changed my life and is the reason I am even making tattoos now. He isn't my "teacher" but he has taught me so much and supports every step I take.

Oni Head by Stewart Robson guesting at Blackheart tattoo before the SFO convention. This shot is from today, healed. BOOM in your face, @Cork you're not the only one with a massive Japanese tattoo this month, haha!

You could call it a rule, or you could call it a design principle - so the tattoo flow looks right. If the head faces backwards, the tattoo will always be in conflict with the wearer, moving opposite to the body. Rules are meant to be broken! But if you are breaking more rules (or principles) than you are following you lose a lot of the focus on the piece. That being said, I have a tattoo where the head of a dive bombing eagle faces backwards, but the momentum and body of the eagle fits with the flow of the body with the placement. I think it works in the context of my surrounding tattoo works and also on its own.) To the OP, if you put the beak on the shoulder, the body of the crow will remain static and the beak may twist awkwardly with the arm. It may look distorted if the design and placement isn't correct. But if you find a legit artist, they can tell what they can make work and (hopefully) will make your crow design look like it was always meant to be there on your body. The tattoo becomes part of you. Tattoos need to look good on their own, but more importantly tattoos (and placement) need to look good on the wearer, to flow with the body and move through life. ---- ps...and trust me, after you get a bunch of rad tattoos on your chest/back/torso, you'll be going shirtless more often than you'll care to admit! haha

Hi all, About to highjack the thread. My justification is last activity on this thread one week ago. I am a newb so I cannot start a new thread. I have used the search function without result. My question is along a similar line as the Op's question. That being said here goes. for my second significant tattoo I want a Japanese style. I live near Seattle and don't want to travel too far so I can do multiple short sessions. My first tattoo I traveled to SF (Analog). Did 5 1/2 hours day one and four day two. Rather not go that route again. I have found a portfolio of a guy in Vancouver BC called Horiryu I. Shop is called Strictly tattoo. They seem to have a lot of artist's who's portfolio's look to be along the lines of what I want. Any one out there have experience with Horiryu I or the shop? Would you recommend? Thanks for your feed back. Please don't hurt me too bad if this post is a egregious example of bad forum etiquette.

I finally get to give this a shot! Dana Helmuth, 95% completed at Read Street Tattoo in Baltimore, the rest done in his private studio.

Chris Brand. Check out his 108 heroes of Los Angeles work.

Drew Flores is pretty bold.