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Original was my first tattoo from 20 years ago. Met with my artist to see what would work. He took several photos, did an outline tracing and committed to drawing what might work. The old dragon was 20 years old and tired. Got it on a business trip in Chicago at the Jade Dragon Tattoo Parlor. At the time a group of young, enthusiastic managers went downtown to see the iconic tattoo shop. 6 of us left with new ink. Many years later, I wanted something new, fresh and keeping with the dragon theme. My artist carefully explained what colors would work, what design would work and the size of the new piece to effectively cover the old work. Little did I know this was going to be a journey, a process and commitment of many months. Once I saw the stencil and the pc screen illustrating the color choices. I decided to take the plunge. First session was about four-five hours for outline work. Second session was the beginning of shading. (4-5 hours) Third Session more color. ( five hours) Fourth Session-almost done ( Was coming down with the flu and getting cold chills and shaking thinking I was getting cold) close to 4 hours.. Have been back for two touch up sessions and have the last one scheduled this week. If you notice the yellow areas in the whiskers and scales between the horns, a little more color saturation is needed to prevent the old image from showing through. Comments-Cover work can be very complex. Its a blend of design, choosing the appropriate colors that will cover light and dark and going larger to find a design that will obscure the old work. It may never be completely invisible, however the focus of the new work will draw the eye away from the previous work. Detailed shading and design is never one and done. Plan on more than visit to get the deep color saturation you desire and to cover the old areas. I waited 30 days in between sessions to allow my skin to heal and allow my artist to see what really needed to be done next. Learned a lot about what after care products I prefer. When doing a lot of shading work, some products with lidocaine do make a difference. While you might not experience the same level of relief on line work. When shading and the pores get opened up..there is a difference. At my age-(56) five hours is longest I can sit. Four hours is much easier. Having a cool artist that understands you and the end goal are very important. I wont be doing any more cover work but I plan on lots more ink. Have had a couple more new pieces since this piece was almost done. Hope this helps those thinking about cover work. My artist explained he would much rather work on a 20 year old piece than one done six months ago. Just one old guys experience.

shitty photo but i got my second tattoo from tim pausinger today, turned out great.

So many awesome tattoos here lately, wish my tapatalk likes would show up! I got double teamed on my feet today, Jason Walstrom did the pig while Mimi Wunsch did the rooster. Pics stolen from their IG's. Wasnt as bad as I'd thought it might be beforehand, but definately stung more in a few places than most other spots so far, a bit worse than collarbone, nowhere near as bad the rib cliff. It's gonna be a fun few healing days coming up I'm sure!

Daniel Albrigo, three kings in NYC. Still kind of freaking out

I've been on a tattoo hiatus which was supposed to last until October, but this weekend I kinda sorta fell off the wagon... By Nico, Blue Arms Tattoo (photo stolen from his instagram)

i dont know the right section for this, so just posting this to see if anyone knowns but does anyone know what this print is called?

got this pretty lady today from timmy tatts.

I didnt show you guys how I healed it lol I fucked it up. Got cocky and it got infected and removed the ink and has gone all blurry. Remis said he can fix it but I am not sure. Pics below! From this to this to this now

Aw man, everyone is getting such great stuff lately. I haven't been tattooed this year yet. I think tomorrow I will be making an appointment with some friends to get one existing piece touched up and another finished. Way overdue for that, so there's something to look forward to. Anyway I think most of you have seen this on the 'gram, but here it is again

Just Had the best two days ever, got to hang with some tattoo royalty get tattooed and spend an early Valentine in a cool hotel with my mrs, first I got my thigh / knee Tattood by Tim Hendricks Then I got my side / ribs done by Matt Arriola a day later I'm feeling a bit tender now, but it was totally worth it, pain killers and booze? don't mind if i do :D

Done by Rev. J.R. out of Vicious Ink in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Blue tiger/dragon by Danny Rossiter of Rain City, Manchester, UK. Fell in love with the painting when he posted it on Instagram so had to snaffle it up :) pleased and sore.

Some recent stuff: this was my end of the trade with Olivia. We decided to use her birthmark as a nipple. :cool: And then this was a medical illustration of a humerus bone. This is actually on a dude who is from the same town that I apprenticed in. It was pretty nuts actually, he told me that he had gotten work done at the shop I was at, and turns out he had a tattoo that I had drawn for my mentor to use. Small world..

...so on wednesday i flew out from germany to poland to meet up with one of my favorites, rich hardy. he started my back piece...and i`am more than glad that i chose him - i`m absolutely in love! one the one hand it was such an amazing and satisfying experience for my mind but on the other hand it was so horrible for my body. i wouldn`t call myself a pussy when it comes to tattooing but this time i was almost ready to start crying and stopping this whole thing; but somehow i made it through. :)

Outer thigh finished. A bit bloody.

by Tim Lehi So stoked on how this came out, will definitely be going back to him for more once I save up.

My two latest lowdowns! Cat-lady by Valerie Vargas at Frith Street Tattoo, and start of tiger and dragon thigh piece by Marius Meyer ( will post a better picture of this later!)

Got to catch up with Austin Maples when he was back in town @ third eye, he squeezed me in for this fun little gap filler, if you are in SF he's at idle hands.

Here is a terrible photo of what I got from Tony Nilsson while at NY Adorned over the weekend. Great dude and a really humble young tattooer. I'm stoked I went and got something from him while he was here in the states. Being that I really don't post all that much I've gotten a little behind, but I have some new stuff from Grez, Steve Boltz, and Bob Roberts that I'll try and get some photos of as well. It's funny because I am not a fan of forums or posting pictures of tattoos online in the slightest, but there is something so enjoyable about this site that I find myself always coming back and wanting to share. The tattoos that have been getting posted all over this forum are really mind blowing. There's too many people to mention, but I've been real jealous lately browsing around. Hopefully, whatever I throw up someone enjoys 1/100th the amount of how I feel about the O'Donnell or Rubendall (just to name a few) pieces that I get to see on here.

Got my last tattoo in September on my ribs in memory of my best friend who passed away last year. Since he was the brother I never had, I wanted something that would make the memory of him last forever. And since we both loved The Perks of being a Wallflower, I got a quote from the movie. The tattoo was done in Jessheim, Norway by Caroline @ Ringerike Tattoostudio, who also did my first tattoo. :) The quote is "And in this moment I swear, we are Infinite."

partial coverup/rework, script and anchor was already there, the rest is the coverup ie. rose, leaves, banner, rope etc... done at Belfast City Skinworks, Northern Ireland

Bent back girl from James Clements, on the road. Done last night. Had a good time, as always.

Tiger kneecap by Destroy Troy. Timeless Tattoo Kansas City, MO This was done earlier this summer. Awesome dude. I cannot wait to get some more work done by him. If you look closely there's a scratch on the bottom right, that happen a week before the tattoo and was not done during the session. Split in to two 2 hour sessions, with a short touch up afterwards. This was taken directly after the second session, I just can't seem to get a better picture than this. I highly suggest getting a tattoo from Troy if you're ever in the KCMO area.

got this classic filler from chuck donoghue as a final souvenir from a us-road trip. across the sea i got tattooed by him an stuart cripwell (posted a genie lamp a couple of weeks ago).both experiences and environments were different...but both in a more than positive way!

I managed to get tattooed by Capilli when he was at Captured Tattoo. I actually contacted him a few weeks after he announced his U.S. visit, and he was completely booked up. He emailed me back a month or two later and let me know he had a cancellation. I jumped right on the opportunity. After a near cancellation, due to some booking confusion, he managed to get me in at the time we had originally planned. I would have to say that getting tattooed by Capilli was probably the best Tattoo experience I ever had. He is genuinely one of the nicest people I've ever met. He shared some cool and funny stories, and had a long conversation about Type O Negative and Alice In Chains. It was hands down, the least painful tattoo I've ever gotten. He says he's going to start making regular visits throughout the year, so I would highly suggest getting tattooed by him if any one in the United States has the chance. That was the best photo I could get, being that it's on my Tricep and pretty gooey at the moment. PS-It's totally ridiculous how he has been tattooing for only 5 years.

Hey all! I'm new here and have a initiation thread going. Thought I would kick off my posting here with my latest tattoo, done two days ago at Blue Arms Tattoo in Oslo by Tony Nilsson. I have borrowed the picture from Tony's instagram, which can be found here: Instagram

Where: FTW Tattoo Who: Jay Watkins Wanted a tattoo to show my love for the city that I love. Oakland is an amazingly misunderstood place. FTW was an amazing shop. Jason, Sean, Alex Matus, Jay Watkins...All were so cool and fun to be around. Can't speak highly enough. Came here after Temple had no way to get my friend in for an appointment in the next two weekends. Glad I did! Thanks to cltattooing for referencing them on here!

I had another (relatively small (3.5 hours) session on my Tamatori-Hime sleeve today, we finally got to put some color into it :-) Unfortunatly the octopus will be colored next time, which i think will give a big change as to how everything looks now. And a nice (almost) full body shot :) :

hello! this is my amazing oneshot tiger from Henning Jorgensen! got it done at Royal Tattoo/Helsingör about 6 hours!

Today was the third session on my Tamatori-Hime sleeve/chestpiece. It took 5 hours to put in some background on my upper arm :) (There is some old kanji on my upper arm that's in the process of being covered) And this is the complete picture of how it is now:

I got my third piece from Ron Wells Friday, and I LOVE HER: & if anyone wants the link to my Grez back piece progress, PM me. I don't want my butt all over the internet before its finished--after that, I of course give zero fucks.

got a nice souvenir from stuart cripwell a few days ago...its my favourite shop in the whole world now!

derek noble knee today.

My second tattoo from Frith St., from Valerie last week.

Got this yesterday at FTW's Owen Jensen flash BBQ party. By Jason Phillips. Got a sweet painting of the design too!

Got this a few weeks ago at Electric 13 in Austin from Zach Taylor, who was gracious enough to come in on his day off to accomodate my schedule. Really cool shop, great experience all around. p.s. I apologize for the photo size, but people here like to see detailed photos of tattoos, right??

New in the last two weeks: From Heath Nock today during his guest spot at Handcrafted Miami: And the start of my back, a Sailor Jerry remix from Chris Buckholts at Howl Tattoo/Gallery in Fort Myers, Florida. Little bit of a cover up in that. Kinda self conscious about seeing my entire back but whatever you guys are kind.

I started a 7/10 sleeve and chest panel with Martin Lacasse about three weeks ago at Olde City. It's a samurai piece based on the Yoshitoshi print below and what he drew up floored me. He did all the line work(a lot) in about 3.5 hours for the first sitting and we just did the first shading session Friday. If I had the money I'd go every couple of days because I'm fiending to see what this looks like completed.

Finished this tonight...at least for now. Will post more pics once it's all healed. Spencer Briggs at Memoir Tattoo. 6 sessions...great experience.

Not sure if this is even kosher but I just saw this on Reddit and had to share here. Dude got the same tattoo that his grandpa got in Pearl Harbor in '42. New one is by Daryl Rodriguez from Hold it Down in Virginia.

Mat welch from black rat tattoo las cruces, NM came to visit and I got a sweet Saturday walk in

Continuation of my Robert Hernandez leg piece, still in progress. Went to Madrid for this, 7 hours 30 mins:-)

I finished my ankle band coverup last night. I now have two big blue roses instead. Hopefully you get the idea. All my ugly tattoos are gone now. From now on any tattoos I get will be all NEW.

Got this one last year off Sway, first pic is fresh off his instagram second healed I just tried to take, if you've ever tried to take a pic of your inner bicep you'll understand why it's so shit :D

Latest addition to my collection of lady-heads! :o Photo's are stolen from Xam's IG account, will post some healed photos on my gallery later :) The shop is amazing, and the people who work there are amazing! A very good tattoo- experience! Happy :) By Xam at The Family Business, London :)

New one from Valerie Vargas at Frith St on my calf. Taking pictures of your own calf is a bit of nightmare!

I got the opportunity to get tattooed by Stewart Robson while he was up in Scotland for the Scottish Tattoo Convention. After the convention Stewart was tattooing at Lab Monkey Tattoo in Stirling so I travelled through and got this Kitsune mask on my shoulder/chest. This is my second small tattoo from Stewart and I suspect it wont be the last. Edit: sorry the picture is massive but I can't seem to make it smaller...

I always feel a little weird running to the computer to upload a pic of a new tattoo, I don't know why. I like to savor it for a little. Then I rush to Instagram to pop it up hahaha. But anyway here's what I got on Sunday from Chris Smith at Deluxe Tattoo in Chicago. He took the picture. I stole it because I couldn't get a better shot, it's tough to get a really good photo. You get the idea.

Just wondering who this piece is by and is it classed as traditional or new traditional. I love it :)