GlaryMilberg

finally finished, totally hurt 
 

So, I got to spend a few hours yesterday with Jack freakin Rudy at Shanghai Kate's shop. Such a wonderful experience. Jack's a very cool guy and we talked throughout most of the tattoo.  At the end we all agreed that it looks like an old-school Jack Rudy tattoo.  

just about done
 

I think I found my wall at about 2 hours on the ribs. Thanks Ashley @senslessadornments
 
 

Since it's Tattoo Tuesday, here's a sneak peek at a WIP by Grez. The outline is done for the entire piece but only got to finish the dragon kite. In June, we'll finish the rabbit, her kimono, the moon and the background. I know that everyone thinks that their tattoos are cool but I really do think this is super amazing! Grez took my random concept and executed it to perfection. The kite is so freakin' awesome. Love this guy!

I have a new little friend! Snake and cherry blossoms by Chris Garver. My homage to spring. She fits the space so perfectly. He drew it on, made the stencil and we were tattooing in less than 40 minutes. Boom. (I'm swollen AF but whatever).

Yup money Congratulations! 

Here is a Fudo/Dragon sleeve I started on April first with Scott Sylvia. Still need to line the scales on the dragon and line the inside of the arm. This took roughly two and a half hours. I go back in early June. Biggest project I've started so far (my right arm I pieced together). 

I got tatt-toad by Scott Rusnak / Lucky Strike Tattoo Edmonton a few days ago. Coins are the size of an actual coin for reference ;)

I too was in SF but missed @gingerninja but failed to link up.  I did however I did stop in to see Kahlil at tattoo city. First and foremost what a great dude and great experience. The shop has so much energy. Kahlil's booth has seen some great tattooers adding to the mojo. I left with this bad larry.
On another note I can say that I stand behind tegaderm as a healing method. Ill go into it more in the tegaderm thread.

Done at Mondial du Tatouage (Paris) by Valerie Vargas.

Great thread!
My first tattoo was a Chicago Bears logo on my butt, in 2007. At the time I wasn't into the Bears or tattoo's, but I was watching the game with some friends and for no good reason exclaimed "if they win at this point, I'll get their logo tattooed on me". My friend made me shake on it. Sure enough, some last minute miracles happened and they won. The first shop denied me. I didn't get another tattoo for another 6 years.
Horitomo is in the process of covering the tattoo.

Got this frog on Sunday from Jay Watkins at Spider Murphys. I won my work's fantasy football league this year so I figured putting the pot towards a relevant tattoo would be fun. Super stoked on how this one turned out, Jay's great and always fun to talk to:

Just finished my first completed attempt at tattooing, on myself, of course... I have NO intentions of tattooing anyone but myself.

Not perfect, for sure ... but not too bad for a first try, I think. :)

What do you all think of it?

Session two with Horitomo! Almost done with the lining and am looking forward to the shading. 

Finished up my tiger with Chris O'Donnell on Friday. We added chrysanthemums, rocks and fingerwaves. I'm over the moon with the way it looks (healed photos to come) and thrilled that I never have to have the back of my thigh tattooed again! Oh, and all while having a full on vertigo.

Great thread!
My first tattoo was a Chicago Bears logo on my butt, in 2007. At the time I wasn't into the Bears or tattoo's, but I was watching the game with some friends and for no good reason exclaimed "if they win at this point, I'll get their logo tattooed on me". My friend made me shake on it. Sure enough, some last minute miracles happened and they won. The first shop denied me. I didn't get another tattoo for another 6 years.
Horitomo is in the process of covering the tattoo.

Well, I finally took the plunge and got a forearm tattoo, and I'm glad I did!  Here's my Rock of Ages done by Brian Tiger at Screamin Ink Tattoo in N.J. I've gotta say, this is definitely my favorite tattoo.
P.S. I'm sorry if it looks crooked, it's almost impossible to get a good pic of my arm.

Started my back with Marius Meyer yesterday. 

yeah that happens. my main tattooist has clients who get going on backpieces, meanwhile they are getting lazer hits on full arms and rib panels for him to start immediately after the backpiece is done. clients with ongoing work generally get priority on the schedule. you may not be taken as seriously if you don't have the mileage yet. some tattooers will say slow-down-junior, let's start with one project before moving on to the next. all tattooers work differently.
also important - don't bit off more than you can chew. big tattoo is hard on the body and the bank account. remember getting tattooed by someone is a privilege and honour and not your right.

I was definitely unable to contain myself the last two months. 
-Dan Sinnes scribbled on this locust yokai at Temple. I'm so pumped on how it came together. He posted a photo of the draw on for hilarity.  
-Valerie Vargas did the Oni/Gorilla fight on my arm at the Bay convention. I liked the idea of the eastern/western imagery clashing. My right arm is all american traditional patchwork and my left is semi-american traditional style patchwork with Japanese imagery. This has already healed ridiculously well.
Henning did the namakubi at the Bay convention. I had been waiting a few years to catch Henning at the convention when he had space from his larger works and this was the year. This is absolutely one of my favorite tattoo's. My girlfriend is definitely not as pumped. I'm blown away by his skill and kindness. 
 

I've been gone for a while. I'm stoked to see so many great tattoos being done.
Started my back with Horitomo in December.

Was stoked to see this pop up on instagram! Very cool to see all the phases.

Update May 20....
Today was Session #2 with Scott Ellis at Triple Crown Tattoo. 5.25 hours in the chair with only a few short breaks. Some of these sections are pretty swollen, and I have one area behind my arm that is super red and angry... but other than that, it looks great. Gonna be a long weekend of feeling sunburnt and frequent washing, and hopefully it will heal as quickly as the line-work. Tomorrow I'm going to the movies, so no need to move it all day.
Before:

After:

UPDATE: Well, today was the day!
What a long, but great day! It began a little before 11:00am. I was the first one in the shop with Scott (most of the day, there were 10-15 people there, and at one point six artists were tattooing simultaneously). He had been working on a few designs based on the sleeve length I wanted. Over the week between today and our consultation, I had decided to ask him to put the dragon's head somewhere on my arm instead of with the head in the more traditional chest area. I was a little worried to be asking for this, as Scott has a relatively new sleeve with the head in the center, and the last thing I wanted was for him to think I was trying to copy his own tattoo. Luckily, when I got there, he informed me that the last several dragons he had done had the head on the chest, and he was dying to do something new. Perfect! His sketches had just what I wanted. It was a really good sign.
However, getting it right took some time. Using thin paint brushes, he created the design over four separate layers. The dragon's head had to be moved several times, and the unique swirl of the dragon we decided on what difficult to get right without looking like the head was plopped onto the center of the body... but Scott is a perfectionist, and after a lot of erasing and revising, and then relining, and revising, etc... we were finally done with a design ready to be inked at 2:40. With only a few short breaks, it took a lot longer than I expected. But the result is something that works specifically with my body as opposed to just slapping a template onto my arm. I love it.
Here is a quick snap of Scott somewhere between layer 2 and 3 of sketching on me:

I haven't had a tattoo in nearly 20 years, so I had no idea what to expect from the pain, especially over so many areas. Tattooing in the ditch was no treat, but not as bad as I had come to expect from reading. The outside of the elbow lived up to expectations. But the worst was around my collarbone, where any wincing or tightening of my face would risk pulling the skin under his needle. And there was one spot on my chest where I could clearly feel the vibration on my pec, but the pain was in my neck. I could have sworn at the time he was tattooing my upper-middle neck.
Long story short (yeah, right), we finished up the linework a little after 5:00pm. I am absolutely thrilled with the result... and was getting tons of compliments on it by the many artists and clients in the shop throughout the day. Here is a front shot:

It is a little difficult to see from this angle and with only linework, but the dragon's body actually goes out the back of the head and swirls up and around the shoulders through the clouds and comes out belly showing under his head before turning again towards the end of the sleeve. It makes a little more sense visually if you can see the back. I also have the dragon clutching a pearl with his talons on the back on the sleeve and will actually be filling the pearl with a significant flower logo in the next session.
Overall, a fantastic day. I couldn't be happier that Scott got all the elements I wanted into the design, was able to keep it very traditional, but also with a great deal of uniqueness built just for me. If any readers are in Austin, Triple Crown Tattoo on Chicon Street (right around the corner from Franklin's BBQ!) is a must-visit.