Beans

It's your tattoo, who cares who likes it. I agree, it looks fine to me. We all age, as does the art. I find it better to embrace our aging selves. If your lucky they will fade and blurr into nothing. A good sign of a life well lived. :)

So, I had my second sitting yesterday. 4 solid hours. Sigh, I sat my butt firmly and didnt say a word, Untill the hot towel and I admit I may have squealed like a little pig. :0 But it's done. This session was rough but that's the name of the game. I am thinking I may have been a bit overly zealous picking out my design. It's looking like I need 25+ more hours to complete it. BUT seeing the ever so small progress, about a 3 inch band is now shaded and colored around my forearm....I nearly cried. It's about the most beautiful thing Ive ever seen. I L.O.V.E my artists and he has been so wonderful to Hubby and I.(who is getting a back piece done by him) He is strictly a dry heal artists so I am following his directions to the "T" I will post healing progress. So far so good.

I think certain things look good with my tattoos and certain things don't, but it's not hard to coordinate since most of my wardrobe is black & gray. I tend to like the way a black tank top looks with my tattoos...so I have lots of different black tank tops!

Hey! I finally won one of these! I've been in the running a lot so I'm pretty excited to have finally won. Though I feel a little bad considering all the great tattoos that were posted this month. Thanks everyone (but mostly Matt Arrriola). I always tell people that it's impossible for me to pick my favorite tattoo or what I think is my best tattoo, but I'm pretty sure this is definitely my coolest tattoo.
@hogg that's awesome! What did you get from him?

The winner of Tattoo of the month April 2015 is @heathenist with this killer piece by Matt Arriola! Congrats!!

Please PM @steve1461686340 with your shirt info (size and male or female) along with your address.

Well guys, things are officially over. Thanks for the advice. Hopefully things will get better

Best advice.
Block her from social media, delete her number. Not to be nasty, so you can get to the point of not having her on your mind, driving you crazy 24/7. Work on that emotional strength....and one day, you'll find yourself at a time not thinking about her when you normally would. That's when you know you're progressing... then it just gets easier.
When a woman needs space, for whatever is driving it, whether we like it or not, we just gotta take a breath and give it to them.
And if all that fails?, follow @ Rad Kelham's advice. Pearler! :)

Asking for relationship advice on a tattoo forum...of course the answer will be GET A NEW TATTOO !
If you are hopeful that it is truly "a break" - then hang on bro but watch out because the heart bruises easily. I would be cautious, because what may happen is you wait around and put your life on hold only to find out she's already moved on.
So just like a tattoo, make a decision to what YOU want and commit to it.
On a side note, best advice I received from my buds...go bang some other people :p
But be true to yourself and spirit, stay pure
good luck

hey man, first off i feel for you and things will get better. day by day, it may be up and down, but overall hang in there. And by "hang in there", i mean don't hang onto her.
If/when your girlfriend wants to "talk", IMO its best to tell her you've moved on and don't want any false hope from a girl who after 3 years decided to end things. no matter how hard it is, the worst thing is to drag something painful on. Hope there was some closure, where you and her bother were able to tell each other exactly what you feel.
if things get really hard for you, its a great idea to talk to someone about it. friends/family too if you've got some good ones.
also, i found writing out your thoughts/fears/anger just to vent, really helps. i would hesitate with having any contact with her. its not worth it! get rid of everything that reminds you of her. that helps.
Take it at your own pace, but go out and distract yourself. reconnect with old friends, immerse yourself in hobbies, work, and work on yourself.
best of luck man
one love

@tacifone break ups suuuuuuck! sorry you're having to go through it right now. finding a hobby to immerse yourself in to keep your hands and mind busy is a great help. A strong support network is a plus, too. Good luck man!

So as soon as I finish healing from one, I went back in for work on my sleeve, and now I feel like someone has burned the inside of my arm. Sleeping was fun last night since we did color on the inside of my arm, and outlines on the outside of my arm, so finding a way to sleep so that nothing new was in contact with the sheets was damn near impossible. Oh well. Looks awesome.

things happen to tattoos as they age - hey - we age too lol - as does our skin
you know though - i like that
its why - imo - you need a bit of sense of humor if you start getting tattooed alot
because things happen
i see alot of anxiety on this board with regards to topics like this
dont get me wrong - totally fine topic
what i mean is that people have expectations about their tattoos that arent realistic
its art on skin that really never stops changing from the moment its on you
its like you gotta embrace the imperfection of it all if you're ever gonna really enjoy it - ya know?
anyway - love that tatt - but leave it alone - and get more tatts!

Yeah, it was totally a "I'm actually conquering this" feeling. WANT MORE.

This is some good info to know, I haven't tattooed anyone yet with fibro but it's good to know that people are still having cool results.
Me personally, I have friggin Lichen Planus so I can't even get tattooed anymore!! It sucks for real....I need to my fat ass in shape again and hopefully my body will get back into wack...crazy how I didn't have these issues while I was cooling out and in some type of shape
Best of luck to you though bruh!

Why American Traditional tattoos are so liked here and mostly everywhere.
I had a long conversation with my tattoo artist while I was getting some work done. He is a collector himself and we talked about different artist that we both would like to collect from.
Than we started talking about the different styles and preferences...
Holly crap I had no clue a traditional tattoo was so complicated in sense of boldness, expression, and technic.
There is allot more to it than I thought. While still not my style I have learned to appreciate them even more.

I'll throw my hat in again this month with this piece, all healed and new :)

Today at noon I start getting color in my arm 3/4 sleeve. :) I'm so excited I can't believe it's fianlly happening. I spent the day yesterday with my hubby and our artist, while he started a giant octopuss on his back. Wow is all I can say.

Welcome dude! Adventure motorcycling sounds awesome, I'd love to give that a try some time.
You sound like a good guy, and are doing it right with your first tattoos! I hope you stick around; this place tends to be a hell of a lot more friendly than most forums, and extremely informative/interesting.
Lastly, thank you for your service to this country, and to our pets! I like my dogs more than most people, so vets are pretty rad in my book!

Hi Everyone,
I dont do too well talking about myself but I'll give it a try.
Since this is a forum for Tattoo aficionados, I'll try and stick with that and not stray. I'm sort of old for a person to get into tattoo's I guess. At 35 I have a solid 18-20 years on many collectors when they first started. I never saw myself as the type of person to get a tattoo. I'm just super fickle. Plus, I always lamented my more embarrassing styles growing up so I was never willing to commit to something permanent. Now that I'm older I embrace that I once had a mullet, once had a metal phase, tried the goth thing, even was a cowboy for a while. Thinking back to my mullet used to create a small pang of embarrassment (it was a serious mullet...like Billy Ray had a candy ass mullet compared to me). But now I embrace it as part of what makes me...Me. Now that I can embrace things like that rather than regret them, I feel I 'm in a mental place to get tattoo'd.
I've also realized that I have a really crappy memory. I've also realized that I have a really crappy memory. I remember being places, having feelings associated with an event, but rich details about my past elude me. I have a tough time living in the moment and tend to always focus on the future. I think that makes me a bit aloof and thus I never solidly lay down the neural pathways for cool memories. I dont want to be a boring old person who cant remember all their own stories. To me, tattoos seem a way to cement a memory in physical form and help one to remember details otherwise forgotten. Take my scars for example...I love every one of them. And when I look at them I am transported back to the event of their creation and all the feelings, events, people involved in my life at that time. I love that!
Lets see... I suck at Art. By suck I dont mean "You really should work on adjusting the angle of your light source..." No no no my friends. By suck at art I mean unable to draw a fucking smiley face. My stick figures are so bad, that were inability to draw a disease, I would need to be put down. I chose a life of science instead...and thank the Lord almighty. Dont get me wrong, I love artistic expression (I'm here right), I just need someone else to express it for me. So that leads into my profession, I'm a doggy doctor, porcine proctologist, Shiba Inu shaman, a feline wangateur...or just a veterinarian. I also happen to be in the Army (at least for a few more weeks). So, I'm a vet (veterinarian) and a vet (veteran) - VetSquared.
Tattoos - none yet. I have two days booked with Uffe Hansen of Meatshop in Copenhagen this June. The wifey and I are going to take our first real break from the youngin and take a holiday to Denmark (and get a rad tattoo). I'm not really into tribal, or neo-tribal, but they are doing some amazing dot work in a, I guess, "Neo-Nordic" style and I just love it. Plus my last name originates from a character in Norse mythology so I figure it fits. I also just booked a consultation with Horitomo this December. Hopefully that means we'll get started in February sometime...not really sure. Honestly, I'm not sure an image has ever resonated with me as much as his Monmon cats. Dont want to say too much until its in my skin...but I'll share when they're done and healed. Basically, It'll be a Nordic wolf like image on the left lower leg, a Monmon on the right lower leg. I'm a small animal veterinarian, cats and dogs make up 90% of what I do all day. I'll have a dog on one leg and a cat on the other. Honestly, I am still wrestling with where I want the Monmon cat. I like the lower leg because, if you're special, I can pull up my pant leg and show it to you. But it's also a great piece of artwork from a famous artist and thus feel like it needs a higher place of honor, like my shoulder/upper arm. Feel free to chime in.
To finish off - my hobbies. I'm into adventure motorcycling. I have a dual sport bike fitted out for adventure travel. Done a couple big rides, including across america on dirt roads from east to west. Planning an around California ride this summer, starting in So-Cal, going up through Sequoia, yosemite, kings, over to the lost coast, and back south. Going for as much dirt road as we can find. I also like mountain biking, backpacking, fly fishing, and building stuff.
I'm not very good at responding to PM's, or even on my own threads...I'm just too damn busy to sit at my computer all the time and Tapatalk doesnt work for shit. I'll try and get email notifications set up so I actually communicate. I also tend to not be a huge participant in online forums because, frankly, there are just too many dicks...so, so many dicks. Albeit, the only other forum I'm on is ADVrider. And, as everybody knows, all motorcyclists are assholes ;) You all seem to be a pretty good lot though. Hopefully I'll find this site more inclusive.
Cheers,
Clint

I felt a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of hipsters suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something amusing has happened.

Oops, guess I'm trendy, now---does it count it if wasn't on purpose?! I found an artist whose stuff I loved (she does a lot of geometric mandala-ish work), and had her create shoulder caps for me--I wanted them to be symmetric, and reminiscent of Egyptian Revival jewelry. I *guess* they look kinda like mandalas...(?) Personally, I think they are kinda badass, but that might just be me.
In all seriousness, I find some of the more popular stuff, like black tree skylines, flocks of black birds, feathers, cartoony stuff, tiny finger tattoos, mustache tattoos, etc., not to my liking. But I'm not the one wearing those for the rest of my life, so if it makes a person happy, great. If someone chooses to think I'm being somehow trendy, oh well. Guess I'll live with it. I'm old enough I really just don't care if someone thinks I'm cool, or a poser, or whatever.

This is a great discussion! A tattoo could be considered "trendy," but you LIKE it and enjoy it for years and years, and don't regret it, then there's nothing wrong with it whatsoever. Some trendy tattoos are actually very attractive. You just have to ignore the comments of others (we all judge each other based on appearance, it can't be helped).
Think about how trends start - someone starts it, somewhere, others see it, and independently, they do the same thing, because they LIKED it. There is something to be said for an idea that has such strikingly wide appeal. That doesn't happen by accident. Is there really anything wrong with that? The only issue I have is people who tend to jump on board just to be doing it because others are doing it, to feel like they belong, and to fit in, and that's the WRONG reason to get a tattoo, for sure. A haircut, a style of clothing or shoes, no problem - you just move on and hope the pictures never surface. Tattoos are a different story.
Has anyone had an original idea/concept for a tattoo that they'd never seen before, had it done, been happy with it, and years down the road hear people talk about it as if it was just a "trend?" Isn't there always the first one to come up with it, the proverbial trend setter?
Like the OP describes, it can be demeaning and a pejorative label to write something off as being trendy.

This is sad.
My first tattoo was an ankle band. There's a tattoo artist who is a friend of a friend who I ran onto at a party. I started talking tattoos because I wanted more serious work in the future but when she saw what I had she literally turned her back and walked away. Years later I have more ink than her.
Don't judge. It does no one any good.

As other have said, take some time to plan and definitely consult with your artist or even seek out those whose work you admire. If you are into nautical themes and traditional style work, the history of modern tattooing is deeply rooted in that imagery. Check out classic stuff by the forefathers like Cap Coleman, Paul Rogers, Bert Grimm and Sailor Jerry (to name a few).
As an old guy...my advice would be "pace not race". You have a damn nice start, but if you enjoy getting tattooed, what's the hurry? Use your travels to the advantage of getting work by people you admire around the globe!

So, I've always wanted tattoos but waited so long because life got in the way. Now, that I've had my outline done for my left arm 3/4 sleeve, my first tattoo, something I've wanted for 20+ years. (I'm 43) I've become unhappy or itchy? :( I look down and my right arm just looks so...Plain/weird to me. I'm feeling the need to fill up the other arm with something equally as beautiful. Which leads me to a new thought. How fully tattooed do I want to become and I'm kind of freaking myself out. Maybe fairly heavily? Though, I haven't discussed this with the Hubby. I think I'd like to do both legs after my arms. I guess I'm leaning to a balanced look.