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The only advice I have is to be really careful what you do to that tattoo. I've seen more tattoos made worse than improved by monkeying around with them.

This is one of my favorite tattoo topics: The experience of tattooing. I find tattooing therapeutic, enjoyable, exhilarating, empowering, painful, agonizing and annoying all at once. I echo Dan’s comments about the importance of the process. It is a ritual of planning, creating, collaborating, preparing, enduring, healing, and loving the result. I love every part of it. And as @Dan said, it is intimate, which is appealing to me. Not sexual intimacy, but the intimacy of permitting and trusting someone who is basically a stranger to touch you, to wound you, to permanently alter you body. You may be largely unclothed in front of them (my husband and I dated for over a year before he saw my breasts. My tattoo artist was touching them within 15 minutes of me meeting him). The pain? I like it…No! I hate it…No! It’s not that bad!…Well, sometimes it is bad, and I hate it. But I like it….Well…I don’t really like it… blah blah blah. The bottom line is, it is a pain I choose, no one that was inflicted on me unexpectedly. I don’t like it, but I like that I am able to endure it, I like that it challenges me and pushes my limits, And I love, LOVE the result.

Agreed it looks unfinished. Is that the artist's normal style? Definitely going to need to proceed with caution . . .

Had my first tattoo at the beginning of this month and then a second one last week. Waiting for them both to heal before I get my next one which will be a bigger one. I personally find the feeling quite therapeutic, and like looking after the tattoo once it's been done.. It's not as uncomfortable as having an injection or blood test in my opinion, how about you guys. Before I had my first one I thought it would be painful but i was wrong 😄

what's up friends I'm going to Belgium & France for 2 weeks in July...my best friend is marrying a french gal, so the wedding is in Montpellier, Southern France. I will be flying in/out of Brussels, Belgium. Going to check out Ieperfest hardcore music weekend festival as soon as I arrive in Brussels, planning to meetup with my LST penpal Pascal in-person, then will go with the wind to get to Toulouse and Montpellier areas to meet up with my friends for the wedding. But I also have a bunch of free days after the wedding before I fly home and have to make my way from the South coast of France back up to Brussels...seems like a great opportunity to smash on a new european tour tattoo ! Any suggestions of tattoo shops for a walk-in? Or cool ideas/places to check out? I've never solo adventured before, so I'm taking advantage of my new freedom. thx budz 🙂 Eric

I've got no love for the pain: it's just three hours of pain. No adrenaline kicks in, I'm just getting stabbed repeatedly in my back while lying on my stomach naked, trying to talk as much as possible and to breathe through the pain. It's all about gaman: perseverance. I only ever do 3 hour sessions with breaks. It's about the rhythm of life and integrating sessions into that rhythm. The pain makes me discover my body in ways I'd no idea. haha. It's about doing something for me, only me; reconnecting with my body and focusing my mind in ways I've not done otherwise or previously. I do enjoy the me time. The ritual. The worst is having to take a shower when I get home. I just want to drink a pint and go to bed. But I've got to clean and coat my back. ugh. My tattooer rules; so much fun to shoot the shit with him, such a great artist with his own style and yet traditional. So part of it is being connected with him and with a certain tradition which I've chosen to be connected to. So like most long term things we go through in life, it's not so much about enjoying it. But I guess I'm heavily tattooed individual now. haha

@soraya You are a much more creative/profound writer than I. My gf's a phlebotomist and she told me the reason people are more afraid of blood draws/shots compared to tattoos is because of the difference in the needles and amount of penetration. Shots/blood draws have to go deep beyond the layers of the skin while tattoos (hopefully lol) are only going through a few layers of the skin. No idea if this is actually backed by any science but I love her so i'm going to go with it for now 😉 But I agree with people here. It's a therapeutic painful experience. 3 hours is my tipping point where the adrenaline is gone and it becomes miserable.

Sorry it took a while to upload Jimbo, I've been extremely busy over the last few weeks. There's been some additional work done this year. I'll be honest I was expecting more colour loss with it being on the knee itself but it survived well.

Oh man! I just got back from Paris on Monday, and while I didn't get tattooed, I did stop into Tin-Tin Tatouages and it's a very cool shop. Small, but with a very talented group of people, and lots of Mondial memorabilia. I stayed on Rue Lepic so it was only about two blocks away. Paris is great to just walk around and it's easy to take the metro everywhere.

I find the liner hurts more than the shading. I get some kind of rush from it, but it is difficult to explain to people who aren't pretty heavily tattooed. I've sat for about five hours in the past. It get worse and worse as the time passes after about the third hour. Come talk to me after you've done more than 15 minutes. That's nothing. My Mom has done that, and she's in her 70s. Haha.

I agree, I put off getting my first tattoo because of my fear of injections and blood draws. They are completely different. A tattoo, to me, is more of a scratching sensation, where an injection is a sharp poke. Tell the truth, I think getting tattooed has helped minimize my fear of the medical jazz. Your mind set is also different. You want the tattoo and are looking forward to it, whereas the shots and draws not so much. Two other factors. I've found there is difference in artists, some are definitely more heavy handed than others. Also it amazes me how much of a difference there is within just a few inches. The outside of the bicep, directly below the shoulder only feels like a vibration. But move around to the underarm... yikes! Feels like they're pealing the skin right off.

Hi, it is therapy in a way for me, getting tattooed is such an intimate experience,the entire process from consultation to mentally preparing and physically preparing the day before and the day of,eating good,pre-hydrating,good sleep the night before,mentally over coming the pain,to the after healing,etc,etc. is a process I enjoy.