blackdots

No, there's not gonna be "growing up" here. It's late, and I'm tired, but I'll bite. Sit down and listen up, kid.
That word has been used since WWII to put down Japanese people within the US, but only just symbolizes the ongoing discrimination and illegitimation of Asians within the US, a country where discrimination against my race is seen as more permissible than most other minority groups.
Being called a jap along with other racial slurs, being treated differently and getting into fights over my race, that's not something that I'll ever grow up from.
It's not like I went hard at you, I asked politely if you could not use that word. I thought that you may not have been aware that it's an offensive term to use since you're not from the US, so I wanted to make you aware. Learn to keep your mouth shut and be respectful, especially when someone asks you to.

I think English may not be your first language, but could you stop saying 'jap dragon?' Jap is a racially derogatory term - and probably because I'm Asian, but that term skeevs me the fuck out, and might make others uncomfortable too.

Hey, at least she will have a cool story about getting her first tattoo one day.
"I was 17, on a trip to Belize and tricked my teacher into letting me get tattooed. My mom was pissed."

Soooo what about the longer, more detailed first part of that great advice then?

it looks unfinished
thats not black and grey - thats an outline
and neo traditional is more than outlines
now if you like just getting outline work done then god bless
but i think you need to take a minute to consider what you you really want
if you really like negative space - then stop getting tattooed
sorry - not trying to be an ass - just think you need some honest feedback

You sound really insecure about something that hasn't even happened yet. Jesus Christ.

Getting something by Jeff Zuck in a week. Really excited.

About to head down the road to the Summit Tattoo Invitational, picking up a little something from Mr. Lehi! Roommate is tagging along and is gonna try to score a walk up with Myles Karr.

Getting something by Jeff Zuck in a week. Really excited.

You sound really insecure about something that hasn't even happened yet. Jesus Christ.

Stoned Sailor Jerry Wolf!:cool:

that duck rules :cool:

Above is a picture of me laying like a passed out pale seal on Iain Mullens table. Today was the second to last session on my back. Can't wait to see it finished. We're doing the last bit and touch ups with Rudy Fritsch at the Scottish Convention in the end of March. Going to be fun/hell. Todays session was nice except for a few bits. I can't believe how quick this piece has been. I got the idea to start my back in April last year, asked Iain about it and then we started in mid June. It really helps that both him and Rudy work super quick and make for good company + conversations during the sessions.
Secret bit of knowledge exclusively for LST (I know people love that exclusiveness, I sure do): that ain't a dark red, but actually a light gray wash looking bloodied and irritated. Haven't got a piece of color on me, except for a few patches of gray and white.

Finished my back on Friday night (well, Saturday at 5:30 am). It was a hell of a ride - it took almost exactly a year of sessions every 2-3 weeks. We'll do a final session after this heals to tie the bow on it.
This tattoo was made by Sean Zee out of Brick, NJ from pictures I've taken while scuba diving. I gave him 50-some pictures and a wish list, and he selected about 15 shots to create this scene. These pics were taken on 4 continents from 1998 through 2013 using (mostly) a Nikonos V underwater camera with an SB-105 strobe, UW Nikkor 35mm, 28mm, and 15mm f2.8 fisheye lenses, Sea & Sea (no relation) macro kit and Nikonos closeup kit.

Sean is a great guy, dedicated and amazingly creative. It boggles my mind how artists just "see" stuff like this and make it happen. He put up with a lot of questions and "what ifs" and "why nots" from this nearly virgin canvas (as he likes to say, "this woman only had lil kitty paw prints on her shoulder before this"), explaining to me all the ways this tattoo would NOT work, and ended up just putting it on the table that it really needed to be a full back if I wanted so many references. And to prove it, he designed the whole thing superimposed on a picture of my bare back and emailed it to me. I remember the moment I saw it for the first time and it shorted out my brain. I committed to the full back about 20 minutes after I got the email. (And I admit at the time I did not understand in the least what I was in for...)
Kinda funny, thinking back on it, how all the chatter and uncertainty and 14 years of wanting some sort of tattoo with my eagle rays were completely silenced and resolved in a heart beat. Anyway...
So, the critters making appearances, starting at the top right and going clockwise are: two moon jellyfish, two Moorish idols, two clownfish and anemone, a batwing coral crab and mustard tube sponges just behind him, a leopard moray eel, two squirrelfish hiding in red sea fans that cross my lower back, a sea snake in lettuce coral (very poisonous, which I didn't realize until after I'd crawled up in his face to take the picture and then been admonished by the divemaster after the picture was developed), a queen angelfish and a hammerhead shark. In the center are two spotted eagle rays and the broken mast of the Nippo Maru, a Japanese supply ship sunk during WWII by US forces in Truk Lagoon, Micronesia.
When I look at this, I don't just see a tattoo of fish. It's a diary of my favorite diving experiences. Each part has such different memories of the location, the people I was with, and the experience on that dive. (Yeah, poisonous sea snake. Whoopsie on that one. And the clownfish was actually guarding a little ring of day-old eggs. And trying to photograph moon jellies in a surge without being hit is like playing a 3D video game. And that I really really wanted my spotted moray eels but Sean said the pattern wouldn't age well, so with resigned sadness, my handsome spotted moray had to morph into a leopard moray. Sniff Sniff.) All of this flooding my brain at the same time.
And then I get this goofy grin on my face thinking about walking around with this huge awesome back piece that anyone I know would be shocked to learn I have.
He put up a little video where you can see the ribs, too: Video of SeeSea's Back. Healed pics coming to an LST contest near you. I want a T-shirt, dammit :D

No, there's not gonna be "growing up" here. It's late, and I'm tired, but I'll bite. Sit down and listen up, kid.
That word has been used since WWII to put down Japanese people within the US, but only just symbolizes the ongoing discrimination and illegitimation of Asians within the US, a country where discrimination against my race is seen as more permissible than most other minority groups.
Being called a jap along with other racial slurs, being treated differently and getting into fights over my race, that's not something that I'll ever grow up from.
It's not like I went hard at you, I asked politely if you could not use that word. I thought that you may not have been aware that it's an offensive term to use since you're not from the US, so I wanted to make you aware. Learn to keep your mouth shut and be respectful, especially when someone asks you to.

you probably gonna need to give some ideas of what you're into or you're likely to get alot of "panther" in the ol suggestion box

i'll put this up here, not all healed up yet but whatevs
Untitled by misomad, on Flickr

Check out work from Miya Bailey and Gino Belizaire as well as the Instagram Page "Darkskinbodyart" bruh. You're across the pond so Im not familiar with any artists over there in the UK who do that type of work

Lars Krutak has written a fair bit about tattooing in Africa. I believe he has written books about this, but here are some things available online:
Tattooing in North Africa, The Middle East and Balkans by Lars Krutak
Tattoos of Sub-Saharan Africa by Lars Krutak
TRIBAL TATTOOS of MOZAMBIQUE'S MAKONDE - by LARS KRUTAK
I once worked with a woman from Senegal who was casually interested in tattoos are she talked a little bit about traditional tattooing in Senegal, nothing really in depth, but there is a tradition of tattooing there.
In general, if you want good information, I'd spend less time on the Internet and more time talking with people. I would guess that Lars Krutak, who wrote the above articles, has an email address and probably does speaking engagements or lectures. You said that your nan doesn't like tattoos, but what about your other relatives? They may know things, and even if you don't get anything useful about tattoos in Ghana, maybe you'll get some good stories regardless. You're in the UK, right? I'd also suggest talking to guys like Curly, Alex Binnie, or Tomas Tomas because I can only assume those guys have a tremendous amount of knowledge and information about pre-technological tattooing, and I'm sure they'd be super happy to do a tattoo like this. Finally, you have access to some of the world's greatest libraries and universities, use those.

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

No, there's not gonna be "growing up" here. It's late, and I'm tired, but I'll bite. Sit down and listen up, kid.
That word has been used since WWII to put down Japanese people within the US, but only just symbolizes the ongoing discrimination and illegitimation of Asians within the US, a country where discrimination against my race is seen as more permissible than most other minority groups.
Being called a jap along with other racial slurs, being treated differently and getting into fights over my race, that's not something that I'll ever grow up from.
It's not like I went hard at you, I asked politely if you could not use that word. I thought that you may not have been aware that it's an offensive term to use since you're not from the US, so I wanted to make you aware. Learn to keep your mouth shut and be respectful, especially when someone asks you to.

No, there's not gonna be "growing up" here. It's late, and I'm tired, but I'll bite. Sit down and listen up, kid.
That word has been used since WWII to put down Japanese people within the US, but only just symbolizes the ongoing discrimination and illegitimation of Asians within the US, a country where discrimination against my race is seen as more permissible than most other minority groups.
Being called a jap along with other racial slurs, being treated differently and getting into fights over my race, that's not something that I'll ever grow up from.
It's not like I went hard at you, I asked politely if you could not use that word. I thought that you may not have been aware that it's an offensive term to use since you're not from the US, so I wanted to make you aware. Learn to keep your mouth shut and be respectful, especially when someone asks you to.

No, there's not gonna be "growing up" here. It's late, and I'm tired, but I'll bite. Sit down and listen up, kid.
That word has been used since WWII to put down Japanese people within the US, but only just symbolizes the ongoing discrimination and illegitimation of Asians within the US, a country where discrimination against my race is seen as more permissible than most other minority groups.
Being called a jap along with other racial slurs, being treated differently and getting into fights over my race, that's not something that I'll ever grow up from.
It's not like I went hard at you, I asked politely if you could not use that word. I thought that you may not have been aware that it's an offensive term to use since you're not from the US, so I wanted to make you aware. Learn to keep your mouth shut and be respectful, especially when someone asks you to.

No, there's not gonna be "growing up" here. It's late, and I'm tired, but I'll bite. Sit down and listen up, kid.
That word has been used since WWII to put down Japanese people within the US, but only just symbolizes the ongoing discrimination and illegitimation of Asians within the US, a country where discrimination against my race is seen as more permissible than most other minority groups.
Being called a jap along with other racial slurs, being treated differently and getting into fights over my race, that's not something that I'll ever grow up from.
It's not like I went hard at you, I asked politely if you could not use that word. I thought that you may not have been aware that it's an offensive term to use since you're not from the US, so I wanted to make you aware. Learn to keep your mouth shut and be respectful, especially when someone asks you to.

No, there's not gonna be "growing up" here. It's late, and I'm tired, but I'll bite. Sit down and listen up, kid.
That word has been used since WWII to put down Japanese people within the US, but only just symbolizes the ongoing discrimination and illegitimation of Asians within the US, a country where discrimination against my race is seen as more permissible than most other minority groups.
Being called a jap along with other racial slurs, being treated differently and getting into fights over my race, that's not something that I'll ever grow up from.
It's not like I went hard at you, I asked politely if you could not use that word. I thought that you may not have been aware that it's an offensive term to use since you're not from the US, so I wanted to make you aware. Learn to keep your mouth shut and be respectful, especially when someone asks you to.