knucklehead211

Whew, I didn't know if I could sit through all this. Even Nathan was skeptical, but I wanted to finish. We didn't get a full on battle scene, but I loved what he came up with even more, especially the detail in the drowning hand, the ship, and of course, Poseidon's luscious locks!

Awesome! That is going to be amazing. Glad you got a couple of nights off and were able to take it easy. How is it feeling today? When do you have your next session?
-Rob

That is one heck of a start! It is very clear in the story depicted.

I just worked the Lady Luck convention in Reno this weekend and had such an incredible time. My teacher was about to receive some traditional Tatau from Si'i Liufau on the back of his thigh. We were sharing a booth, so I knew I would have an amazing view into this ancient way of tattooing. About 20 minutes before they were to start, Si'i came over and sat on the mat. He looked at me and said, "Nate... we're going to need you to help stretch". His apprentice asked me to take off my shoes and hat, then gave me a sarong to wear. We all sat on the mat and, with some initial guidance from Si'i, we went to work for over 4 hours. It was truly unbelievable to be a part of something like that. No breaks. No food. No water. Just blood and sweat. To be honest, I haven't been able to walk normal all day, because my back and hips are so sore. When it was over though, Si'i said, "Malo, Nate. Good job. Most people can't do what you just did. You did yourself, me and your teacher proud. Next time we come to the area, I'm going to have you help again." I really just can't even put into words how much of an honor it was to be a part of this. I'm exhausted and need to go to bed, but I just felt I had to share this experience.

Enjoy your session today. Looking forward to seeing pics.
-Rob

Whew, I didn't know if I could sit through all this. Even Nathan was skeptical, but I wanted to finish. We didn't get a full on battle scene, but I loved what he came up with even more, especially the detail in the drowning hand, the ship, and of course, Poseidon's luscious locks!

Whew, I didn't know if I could sit through all this. Even Nathan was skeptical, but I wanted to finish. We didn't get a full on battle scene, but I loved what he came up with even more, especially the detail in the drowning hand, the ship, and of course, Poseidon's luscious locks!

Whew, I didn't know if I could sit through all this. Even Nathan was skeptical, but I wanted to finish. We didn't get a full on battle scene, but I loved what he came up with even more, especially the detail in the drowning hand, the ship, and of course, Poseidon's luscious locks!

Whew, I didn't know if I could sit through all this. Even Nathan was skeptical, but I wanted to finish. We didn't get a full on battle scene, but I loved what he came up with even more, especially the detail in the drowning hand, the ship, and of course, Poseidon's luscious locks!

Whew, I didn't know if I could sit through all this. Even Nathan was skeptical, but I wanted to finish. We didn't get a full on battle scene, but I loved what he came up with even more, especially the detail in the drowning hand, the ship, and of course, Poseidon's luscious locks!

Whew, I didn't know if I could sit through all this. Even Nathan was skeptical, but I wanted to finish. We didn't get a full on battle scene, but I loved what he came up with even more, especially the detail in the drowning hand, the ship, and of course, Poseidon's luscious locks!

The obvious elbow tattoo. Scott (Skotydont) Fox, Columbus.

Well, the outline of my calf is done. Most fun I've had recently. Hurt like a bitch on the ankle bone and Achilles tendon, but well worth it. Next appointment on the 18th i will post pics tomorrow as the wrap is still on

Dagger through skull with snake and a banner, eagle as well. You could go with a more traditional girl head portrait of your mom too.

Or Phil and Lil?

Too soon, wear longsleeves!
Edit to elaborate: you need to keep in mind this is an open wound we're talkin about here. Ya know how after a tattoo it usually feels like someone tenderized your arm with a meat hammer? That's basically what happens. A million tiny stabs into your body to get ink into the skin. And just like the sun, sunscreen has a lot of chemicals in it. Some people have actually got cancer from putting on sunscreen they left out by their pools over the summer. I would say wait the same amount of time you would to actually show it off, at least two months. But I err on the side of caution usually. It's going to be on your body forever. You want it to look good, right?

Haha another reason to hold off, what if you want to do a massive backpiece down the road?! I've left my back and chest alone for that exact reason.

If you get it on your back you'll never see it! Not to mention I feel like between the shoulder blades would be a hard spot to take care of on your first tattoo; hard to wrap, hard to sleep on, hard to monitor and hard to apply lotion to. Then again, I have no ink on my back, so another member may know better. I think on one of your pecs would be the better of the two.
As far as bicep goes, I hear ya on the scrawny arms. No one needs to ask me "do you even lift bro?". BUT, the nice thing about the arm is that you can make something that would look small on your back look big on it. The inside of your bicep is a nice flat area that can hold a big design if it goes from pit to elbow really well. Plus, it's way easier to sleep on, wrap, and keep clean and moisturized. But, it's just my .02. Good luck with whatever you go with!

This holds true.

Haha another reason to hold off, what if you want to do a massive backpiece down the road?! I've left my back and chest alone for that exact reason.

Back tattoos are bit hard to take care of? Yes they are.
My wife and kids for the most part help me for the first 2 weeks or so and than I try to just do it my self.
I bought two lotion back applicators to help me one) apply lotion on my own and two) I use the other stick to wash my back on my own.
Other than that back tattoo's are awesome! :)

this thread seems like a classic case of ''It's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission."
if this thread started, "hey... i'm thinking of getting my first tattoo on my neck. what do you LSTers think?" the answer would be a overwhelming and resounding "OH HELL NO!!!"
for some reason, folks have seemed to go easy on the fella and i guess it's because what's done is done... and was done with a certain naivete. if you haven't caught on @<a href="http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/member.php?u=53505" target="_blank">TheAsian</a> , there are plenty of unwritten rules in the tattoo community and you just happened to break one of the big 'uns right off the bat. now that you're part of this great forum and dove neck first into the tattoo community, it might be good for you to peruse the rest of the site, read up on some neck and hand tattoo threads and watch some (or all) of the interview vids. there's plenty of information to absorb and growth and humbling to be had.
we're (mostly) a nice bunch ;) and can provide guidance for how to handle this recent life change of yours and other tattoo related changes to come, if guidance is what you're looking for. as you've already found out, advice often comes whether solicited or not. don't take it the wrong way... there might be a few folks on here who are racecars in the red...

https://youtu.be/QOBvGGaDnKQ?t=39s

I thought that getting lower leg tattoos at close to 30, with steady employment, was a bold step for me. Having read this thread, I guess I need to yolo harder.

I'd probably go with worried to be honest. I'm looking at a career in law enforcement too, and most places will not even allow half sleeves. Neck and below the elbow are no go. However, it probably makes sense to research the departments around you's rules. Most of them are easy to find on google.

Generally twice a month was realistic for me for multisession pieces like my chest, ribs, legs. Getting tattooed is a delicate balance: of finances (save up in advance), time off work (bank your vaca/sick days), time to heal and recover (sched around your activities and commitments while having your body feeling raw w/ limited mobility), and most importantly time to enjoy life (I enjoy the masochism of tattooing my body haha).
For my leg it was 1-2 x a month for a couple months. A Leg has roughly double the surface area or an arm, keep that in mind.
I would recommend sittings every 2~3 weeks, if your tattooer's schedule works that way. Minimum once a month. Any longer gaps than that and you run the risk of being an unfinished statistic. It is best to keep a routine and frequency, it gets you and tattooer focused on getting it done. The best and most efficient way to get a big tattoo, don't f*ck around get it done in a timely manner!
Also consider - find your equilibrium of how long you can/should sit. I don't sit for more than 4 hrs, but that is me personally. I can and I have, but sitting a marathon session just makes it harder on my body to heal and bounce back and keep up with the rest of my lifestyle. Tattooing the body is hard on the immune system. So keep healthy and keep that in mind if you are planning on long and/or frequent sits.
Don't be a statistic, there are too many unfinished sleeves that get shown off in the summer.
If you can do an accelerated schedule and are starting right away, you will likely be fine for summer but caution that a tattoo may be superficially healed in a few weeks but it doesn't really settle in the skin for about 6 months in my experience. Best is to get your tattoo work during the winter months aka "tattoo season" so you are good to go for the summer sunshine... But this is coming from the Great White North (Edmonton, Canada) where we get like 9 months of dry -30C cold and then 3 glorious months of summer. Yeah, we were colder than friggin Siberia and Mars (WTF) at times! Like hell I want to be peeling, wearing pants and shirt, hiding from the sun fun when I finally get to come out of winter hibernation! The only healing I want to worry about is my sunburn (on non-tattooed skin hehe). But hey life happens and it's always moving forward (well hopefully for ya) so you do what you gotta do. You want this kick ass big tattoo now or do you want to kick it by the pool in the summer? Eh there's always next summer ;)