Gregor

I'm almost done with mine! Can't beleive it, haha

Pretty lame, if you ask me. Lots of great artists use rotaries these days. Then again, I'm not an artist, so I have no dog in this fight.

Black in your arm. Nobody here really gives much of a shit about the tattoos you get.

My latest tattoo was done at the Motor City Tat Con by portrait artist Kyle Cotterman.
Idk how I feel about it, what is y'all's opinion? Sorry if that's not an ok link, I'm new and don't know how to post pics yet
http://rightonkaleyross.tumblr.com/post/77534524828/got-a-portrait-of-my-beautiful-mema-today-by

This thread has been very enlightening. For my last tattoo, I applied ice immediately after to reduce the swelling, because I read that reducing the swelling makes for lighter scabs and faster healing. It helped with the soreness a lot, but there was still some heavy scabbing in certain areas. Next time I will try hot water first and then ice, to get all the crap out of my pores before reducing the swelling. Thanks guys!

been a bit since i've posted anything.. i've been working on a few projects lately, one being a new zine. 16 paintings, full color & spiral bound printed on cardstock. only made 10 of them and am expecting them from the printers on wednesday so if anyone wants one shoot me an email, they're $8ppd in the US (will also ship internationally) -- [email protected]

i'm a fat lady with a fair amount of tattoos. i know alot of people say you should go bigger with the pieces, but the way i see/saw it was that it meant i could get more work done, so i'm enjoying having a big amount of work on my arms and still having a bunch of space left. as for how it helped with my body acceptance, i couldnt really say. as i started getting tattooed at age 18 (nearly 24 now) i could say that having tattoos has made me feel more comfortable, if not proud to show off my skin, but i would also kind of hope that thats also down to me aging, maturing, knowing what i see as beauty in myself and in others. the only time where i have found being fat and getting tattooed an issue is when i am thinking of getting my stomach done. i know i dont plan on getting pregnant ever, but thats the one time when part of me is always saying "i'll wait until ive lost some weight" (knowing full well that i probably never will)
that is one thing i would like to see more photos of, ive seen plenty of mens beer guts with stomach rockers, but i'd love to see some chubby girls belly tattoos, maybe then i'll finally get round to starting my own!

<blushes> Aww shucks...
@cltattooing Even though I know and have confirmed multiple times that it's an owl, this is what I see every time your avatar pops up ahahahaha

Miss @beez, you are an inspiration!!

I hated my chubby, pale legs until I started getting them tattooed. Like, always wearing pants even though I lived in Texas, hated. Life is better now with my tattoos.

#1) Everything REALLY DOES look better with GOOD tattoos. (Even douchebags wearing Ed Hardy shirts...:rolleyes:). Whatever you're self conscious about ain't no thang when you've got a bad ass tattoo. Why would it be? You're too busy being stoked about the awesome tattoo. IMHO.
#2) Keep watching, @growltiger, because it's not anywhere near finished yet! :) And if you wanna talk backpiece stuff feel free to PM me for anything!
#3)
It really is. Like I said, I've spent a lot of time (years) changing scripts in my head and weeding out the shaming stuff - btw totally get rid of anything that has advertising and/or commercials in it...anyway - I visited a friend who I had not seen for 3 years recently, and some of the first words out of her mouth were about how heavy she was and her weight - in response to a question that had nothing to do with anything at all about her or her weight!
Because I don't have that particular shame-script running through my head any longer I was sort of shocked and surprised - and then really sad, because it sucks to have that awful, shameful, guilty, not-good-enough feeling running through your entire being at all times, and a lot of PEOPLE (all of us, regardless of gender) have that subconsciously ruling our lives. Just behind all of our other thoughts. And I felt sad for my incredibly talented and awesome friend who after three years, it was the one of the first things she wanted to communicate to me :(.
FWIW, when I was younger, I realized that when I saw a woman who was clearly confident and also fat or somehow unattractive, my thoughts went along the lines of "who does she think she is? she's fat! she can't do/wear/say that!". I became afraid to go into public for awhile, because if *I* was thinking that then what were people thinking about ME? Literally would not go in public unless I had to for work or groceries. I began to wonder why I had such a sharp reaction, and such a negative one, at that? And what kind of asshole thinks that!! So I actively reversed my initial instinct and began admiring confidence in all who had it. (Why am I writing all of this? This is embarrassing/painful to admit, geez )
I think that there was something in me that was jealous of them for having confidence when I couldn't - if that makes sense? Like how could you be confident if I am not? (How dare you!) I think society gets mad when people go off script.
I didn't like the way those thoughts made me feel, the way that negativity would sort of take over and poison me.
A quick aside:
Can I be honest, in the middle of this writing, and say that I am feeling a little bit of shame at ever having had such poisonous feelings...and feeling very grateful that I was able to literally change my mind....but wow, how petty and shortsighted and young. Life is a work in progress, always.
Anyway - I traced a lot of my anxiety, guilt, fear, shame, and poisonous negativity to some of those thoughts I was describing (and of course many other thoughts and patterns in my life) - and I realized that I didn't have to accept my part of the deal. Just because society or some jerk or my mom or WHOEVER offered me this deal (i.e. be 'fat'! = feel shame, you're worthless!) didn't mean I had to participate.
My thoughts are kind of falling apart here, but I think I'm trying to say - remove yourself from the equation. It takes some time to shed what we've been fed our entire lives, and you have to actively identify what is making you feel bad and then actively change it. Listen to your body. Do you feel bad? Knots in your stomach? Headaches? Active guilt/shame? Identify what triggers those feelings...dig deep if you have to...and then remove yourself from the thoughts/people/environments that are causing it.
Ugh, word vomit, in the end just go get a big, awesome tattoo. I think that encapsulates what I'm trying to say...

I'm a bigger guy, standing at 6 ft 2 and weighing in a few hairs under 3 bills. I honestly have never given a thought to what a fat person looks like tattooed, because it makes no nevermind to me. Never thought for a second about placement or visibility vs body type or any other dumb shit. I personally don't believe that tattoos and body shape should have anything to do with each other, one way or the other. Just my personal opinion.

People worry too much about tattoos holding up over time. Live for the moment and get what you want. Lianne Moule and everyone at Immortal Ink are amazing.

I think watercolour tattoos can be really beautiful, I particularly love Lianne Moules work, and I think it can hold up well if it's done right. I'm tempted to get something in that style, and find out first hand how it lasts.

I had a painting instructor who does really nice paintings. He's also a tattoo artist. However his tattoos don't look like his paintings at all. There must be a reason for that. Here are his paintings and here are his tattoos. They're different styles and they emphasize different things.
I love paint and I love the way paint looks, but human skin isn't like paper or canvas. I don't think it's just a matter of fading, some things look better on a flat computer screen than they look on an arm.
It seems to be that the best way to get something that looks like a painting on your skin, is to find a good tebori artist. For example, this bird by Horimasa has really nice subtle color transitions, more like a painting than like most tattoos. I also like how well white comes out with tebori.
Dotwork tattoos also look kind of like drawings or illustrations to me, here is one by Valentin Hirsch.

paragraphs are your friends! :cool:

HA HA HA HA! Seriously though, careful what you wish for!

Laser just seems more natural to me , let your body deal with the ink. All this "drawing out " of ink with salt like it was pus in an infected wound sounds wrong and potentially scarring.

Yeah get that cunt to fuck we dont need fools like this here . I'd rather have juggaloes

I have an ankh and people always ask me if it is:
a) a satanic symbol
b) a feminist symbol
c) a lesbian symbol
d) a cross
I tell these people it's a stick figure with their legs shut.

I'm heading off with my wife today as she gets to work on her half-sleeve. So, its not actually MY upcoming tattoo...although I will be in the shop....maybe a small one...

Blackheart Walk-In Day is coming up!!!

Greg Christian.

hi @Victor! that tattoo trees is shit. everything about it is stupid. am i an internet bully now? no i have an opinion.
LST is for good tattoos and good tattooing. not for dumbing people down with that bullshit tree thing.
oh, did i mention that tattoo tree is pure shit? i did did i?

@Victor dude, the tattoo decision tree is dumb.