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Hey everyone! My name is Emily. I'm 26 years old, originally from Michigan, currently living in Florida. After a solid year of researching and reflecting, I finally got my first tattoo three weeks ago! You can imagine I sifted through a lot of shit information on tattoos and tattooing during that time, so I'm happy to have landed here at last. I've been lurking for the past few weeks and the trove of solid advice I've found here has done wonders for easing my numerous healing process anxieties. I'm also excited to have found a community of tattoo enthusiasts since my husband and most of my friends are completely uninterested in tattoo culture. I'm looking forward to joining the community, continuing to learn about the craft, and continuing to collect tattoos. Here's my new tattoo by Myra Oh out of Jacksonville, Florida. fresh: three weeks healed: close up (also three weeks healed; forgive my leg hair, I have no idea when it's okay for me to shave again): I'm a pharmacist currently pursuing advanced training in toxicology, so all of the plants in the tattoo are toxic.

This was done last night at Studio 69 Tattoo in Ronkonkoma NY by Gina... on my foot. 2 hours and it really didn't hurt.

By Franz Stefanik, of Okey Doke Tattoos in Toronto, ON.

Stupid story / missed connection - and I would up with this horseshoe. So unplanned. Healing two at once now. ? John Schaberg @ Tower Classic Tattoo

@briankelly Nice art!!! I like the way you've kept true to the boldness of the traditional and updated the images a bit. Sweet.

Hi Emily! Your tattoo is beautiful! I also got my first one and joined the forum recently, and I am also very happy about finding this place because I have absolutely no one with any interested in tattoos among my friends. Welcome!

thanks for the mention @ibradley, i think if you want to make traditional tattoos, you should reference older tattoo flash. for me it gets a little boring to just repaint the older images, though there is nothing wrong with that. i have been applying the brion gysin/william burroughs technique of cut-ups to try to make something new, while staying very rooted in traditional tattoos. there is a great book called Milton Zeis: Tattooing As You Like it that you should check out if you haven't already. I'm including a picture of some of my latest flash, just to give you something to look at.

I have one last session to go on my back,I already had tattoos on my chest/stomach, two sleeves, legs, feet, hands, fingers and neck so ok with the pain. Ive been waiting ages to get my back done as i couldn't decide what to get or who to do it but anyway i found a guy and an idea and away i went. First session was just outline and it was tough, i realised that the back was comparable to my stomach/chest/feet Second session was black and some color on shoulder blades....this session was a bit easier as i knew what to expect, sat for 6 hours felt crap after Third session blasted it for 6 hours with not much left to do...I found the top of my back the absolute worse. here it is so far roughy 15 hours of actual tattoo time. its worth it but it does hurt and itches loads but looks badass and makes you look fully sick and the disco.

At Precisely Veiled? I got him there last trip through. He's seriously good people and that shop is one of the nicest I've ever been tattooed in.

Latest work: 49likes5comments Can't figure out how to get the pic off of instagram. It's a tiger, part of my ongoing quest for full coverage. EDIT - figured it out!

Now that would be something! I like it - no nausea with that at all...

I agree, I would not expect any negative attitude towards tattoos in academia, that's why I didn't even think about that before getting one. After that, I started thinking about all possible negative consequences of that (literally ALL, you cannot even imagine what crazy thoughts were in my head). And on one website I read somebody saying that it is a very bad idea to get a big visible tattoo if you are a university teacher. And some woman working in academia wrote in her blog that if somebody is not going to hire her because of her tattoos, then maybe it is not a place for her anyway. So, I thought, there might be this problem! Being in a very fragile state of mind, I over-generalized it of course. That is what I often tend to do: focus on some negative possibilities that are only in my head and worrying worrying worrying about them. So yes, I have some anxiety issues in general. The transition to being a tattooed person for some reasons for me was much harder than I could expect it to be, and it magnified all my worries. I've also had some kind of a personality crisis recently, it doesn't help either. But I am so much better now already, especially during the day time. Mornings and evenings seem to be difficult times in this respect for me. I am starting to accept my new look and I like it very much. Thank you for your support a lot, people! I hope that soon I'll stop whining here for good.

I wanted to add this one,it's not my first,but probably my 2nd or 3rd from around 1985,I still love this one. and as long as the tattoo of the month is skulls,I thought my old school skull patch is pretty cool. this was by California Ralph @ world famous emporium of tattoos in Van Nuys, Ca RIP Ralph

Another addition to my tattoo leg quilt ...

Awesome topic!! Many of the images we consider traditional are rooted in military tradition. Before the days of cyberspace and social media, having a military client base meant that your tattoos would be traveling the globe and reaching a much larger audience than if you just serviced a local clientele. Good examples would be artists such as Sailor Jerry and Ernie Sutton. As far as style goes, the old saying, "bold will hold," kind of sums up the qualities that give a tattoo that traditional look. Older tattooers had a limited palette also, so there are some colors that don't quite look right in a traditional tattoo. @briankelly puts out some awesome flash along those lines... perhaps he can add a thing or two to the discussion?

Gentleman's Tattoo Flash is a good company and have treated me well. They do not just take anything, so respect. Congratulations on getting your Flash out there.

Dude that's awesome, you have some great work man!

In 2008, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco invited Horitaka of State of Grace to participate in their MATCHA series. Horitaka not only gave a lecture on Japanese tattooing--he also tattooed a client in the museum, as did Horitomo, Horiyuki (aka Jill Bonny), Colin Kenji and Shige (who was also accompanied by one of his clients). Horitomo put in a few hours on my arm, then worked on Khalil Rintye's ribs for a while. It was a very odd experience. I've been tattooed at conventions, but this was very different. At conventions, most of the attendees are tattooed. At the museum, that was not the case; tons of people were coming up and asking me all kinds of questions. (If only I'd brought earbuds--plugged into nothing--I could've played it off like I couldn't hear them.) In the end, I was happy to participate. Until last week, I never knew there was a video of the event. Check it out: at 3:40, you can see me and my buddy Clem comparing open spots on our legs. Clem's the guy with the huuuuuuge Jeff Zuck panther on his back (as well as lots of other awesome stuff). But my favorite thing about this is that the top youtube comment says, "0:59 is that Ami James?" :D