smiling.politely

Fun times in New York with my newly immigrated fiancée. Bug is on her by Bert Krak, torch and rose are on me by Eli Quinters and Beau Brady, respectively.

Fun times in New York with my newly immigrated fiancée. Bug is on her by Bert Krak, torch and rose are on me by Eli Quinters and Beau Brady, respectively.

Fun times in New York with my newly immigrated fiancée. Bug is on her by Bert Krak, torch and rose are on me by Eli Quinters and Beau Brady, respectively.

Fun times in New York with my newly immigrated fiancée. Bug is on her by Bert Krak, torch and rose are on me by Eli Quinters and Beau Brady, respectively.

Fun times in New York with my newly immigrated fiancée. Bug is on her by Bert Krak, torch and rose are on me by Eli Quinters and Beau Brady, respectively.

Fun times in New York with my newly immigrated fiancée. Bug is on her by Bert Krak, torch and rose are on me by Eli Quinters and Beau Brady, respectively.

It's more that it's a disrespectful and ignorant statement, due to how hard we all do work. A hobby is a passing interest... Playing guitar is a hobby I really enjoy. Just because you're having fun, doesn't mean you're not working extremely hard.

I knew what he meant, and I passed it off jokingly. I made it clear what tattooing is to myself, my coworkers, and those who take it seriously. As I said, some people don't know how to phrase what they mean, and I helped him learn, hopefully.
Also, whenever I hear someone say "Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life" it strikes me as infinitely uninformed... I love drawing, painting, and tattooing, but it's very hard work. Who knew that all those nights with two hours sleep drawing the same thing 20 times in a row didn't count as work? And it implies that you're supposed to hate your job (and, of course, usually do it to a subpar level because you don't care about it), which is a poor mindset to have as a standard bearer.

I knew what he meant, and I passed it off jokingly. I made it clear what tattooing is to myself, my coworkers, and those who take it seriously. As I said, some people don't know how to phrase what they mean, and I helped him learn, hopefully.
Also, whenever I hear someone say "Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life" it strikes me as infinitely uninformed... I love drawing, painting, and tattooing, but it's very hard work. Who knew that all those nights with two hours sleep drawing the same thing 20 times in a row didn't count as work? And it implies that you're supposed to hate your job (and, of course, usually do it to a subpar level because you don't care about it), which is a poor mindset to have as a standard bearer.

I knew what he meant, and I passed it off jokingly. I made it clear what tattooing is to myself, my coworkers, and those who take it seriously. As I said, some people don't know how to phrase what they mean, and I helped him learn, hopefully.
Also, whenever I hear someone say "Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life" it strikes me as infinitely uninformed... I love drawing, painting, and tattooing, but it's very hard work. Who knew that all those nights with two hours sleep drawing the same thing 20 times in a row didn't count as work? And it implies that you're supposed to hate your job (and, of course, usually do it to a subpar level because you don't care about it), which is a poor mindset to have as a standard bearer.

And some people don't really know how to articulate their compliments and phrase what they want to say well. This was a case of that.
"Man, it's cool you guys found something you're passionate about."
"Man, it's rad how much fun you have at work."
"Man, this doesn't even seem like a career, just a hobby."
One of those doesn't fit the other two in terms of how it sounds. Also, if you think I'm looking for something wrong in what people say to me, or have a negative disposition, then you don't know anything about me. My signature and my username sum me up pretty well.

It's more that it's a disrespectful and ignorant statement, due to how hard we all do work. A hobby is a passing interest... Playing guitar is a hobby I really enjoy. Just because you're having fun, doesn't mean you're not working extremely hard.

I knew what he meant, and I passed it off jokingly. I made it clear what tattooing is to myself, my coworkers, and those who take it seriously. As I said, some people don't know how to phrase what they mean, and I helped him learn, hopefully.
Also, whenever I hear someone say "Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life" it strikes me as infinitely uninformed... I love drawing, painting, and tattooing, but it's very hard work. Who knew that all those nights with two hours sleep drawing the same thing 20 times in a row didn't count as work? And it implies that you're supposed to hate your job (and, of course, usually do it to a subpar level because you don't care about it), which is a poor mindset to have as a standard bearer.

And some people don't really know how to articulate their compliments and phrase what they want to say well. This was a case of that.
"Man, it's cool you guys found something you're passionate about."
"Man, it's rad how much fun you have at work."
"Man, this doesn't even seem like a career, just a hobby."
One of those doesn't fit the other two in terms of how it sounds. Also, if you think I'm looking for something wrong in what people say to me, or have a negative disposition, then you don't know anything about me. My signature and my username sum me up pretty well.

Fun one from a client's moral support... "I mean, this doesn't even seem like work. Just seems like a hobby... you guys are having so much fun!"

It's more that it's a disrespectful and ignorant statement, due to how hard we all do work. A hobby is a passing interest... Playing guitar is a hobby I really enjoy. Just because you're having fun, doesn't mean you're not working extremely hard.

Fun one from a client's moral support... "I mean, this doesn't even seem like work. Just seems like a hobby... you guys are having so much fun!"

Fun one from a client's moral support... "I mean, this doesn't even seem like work. Just seems like a hobby... you guys are having so much fun!"

Fun one from a client's moral support... "I mean, this doesn't even seem like work. Just seems like a hobby... you guys are having so much fun!"

Not sure it's all in the name, location trends come and go (not overall styles, mind you, trends). I haven't seen a wave of girls avoiding the ribs after the advent of the term "skank flank." I've done probably two lower back tattoos that fit the term (symmetrical, side to side, etc.), while I've done hundreds of rib ones.

You're right... I was thinking about going to Horitomo or Rubendall, but they would probably give me something washed out and faded looking anyway. Probably not even worth thinking about getting anything on my back for now.

I didn't know Japanese work only went down in Asian countries... here I was, safe with the knowledge that there's way more people doing large scale Japanese work in America and Europe, only to have that crushed. Looks like the Fudo on my back down the line is going to be way harder to get.

"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated, and well supported in logic and arguement than others" -Douglas Adams (in reference to some of the discussions of a few of the older generation)
As for the collector idea being a positive or a negative, the same could be said for any other type of collection. We all knew that one guy who had $3,000 worth of guitars and amps, but couldn't play to save his life... or the guy with an original pressing of some band's album that he actually can't tell you a thing about. Some people get it and seek it for that reason. Some people seek it because they want to seem like they get it, and they're supposed to.
For a personal story... my first two favorite tattooers (as in could see their work and know it was theirs' somehow) were Steve Byrne and Chris O'Donnell. Two years in a row I've gotten tattooed at the West Texas Convention. The first year, Steve Byrne stopped tattooing and asked myself and my coworker if we had any questions, and if we did to ask him, since Dreyfuss wasn't in yet. And he did the same for everyone that came by, including answering questions while tattooing. When I got my hand tattooed by him this year, he asked me various questions, asked how I enjoyed entering my second year as a tattooer after it came up, told me about why he has regular roses and not Tudor/geometric roses on his hands, made Gorilla Biscuits and CIV lyric jokes with me about my Civ appointment the next day ("I don't want him to mess up... I better stand still." "I bet you can't wait one minute more for it, huh?"), and was nicer than almost anyone I've met in any circumstance. He also easily took the stress of the convention, the poor lighting (Thomas Hooper broke his lamp the night before), and dealing with potential clients or box-set purchasers the whole time. And the next day, he saw me walking around, called out to me, and asked if I had a travel lightpad, before suggesting I get one since I didn't. And asked how my dad liked his new rose tattoo from Bobby Padron a little later. My right hand is absolutely my favorite tattoo, not just because of who did it and what it represents, but also all of those aspects about the experience. When I was looking at his booth when he wasn't there, Forrest Cavacco yelled from 50 feet away that, if I had questions, to come see him. Adam Hays had me check out the Lando tattoo he was doing when I bought prints from him, since he figured I liked Star Wars from what I was buying. Ben Cheese and Clayton James have been among the nicest people I've talked to as well, even when we couldn't afford to get tattooed and just grabbed prints from them. I plan on getting tattooed by Ben this February when we go.
That being said, I stood at a few people's tables for almost 15 or 20 minutes, even when they were taking an Instagram break mid-tattoo, waiting to buy a shirt. After they had looked and made eye-contact me. And ignored everyone else that was there, even the person in their chair. I unfollowed a few very well known folks on IG and decided I'd take my business to others. At least a quick "Hey man, I'm kinda busy, can you give me X minutes" would have made all of the difference. I'd imagine there are lots of folks who would still throw money at them and get whatever would get the most likes on IG or Tumblr, but that's what separates the mindsets, as everyone here has already explained in was far less rambling, far more concise, and far less fanboy-ish.
EDIT: Slight addendum... my hand has a few blow outs. One spot took over a month to fully heal. A few lines are a bit thin in places compared to the overall average. One line on a wave between my fingers has a 1/16" gap that doesn't connect. But it is absolutely my favorite tattoo.

Still trying to establish myself enough to afford all of the books I want... plus, my little bookshelf at the shop is already full. There's a few new sketchbooks and flash books I'll be getting ahold of soon, and the next book I really, really want to get is Ed's big red book. As of now, if the shop were to catch fire, I'd grab the prints GTC sent me, my Malone acetate, and the Irezumi book by Morita and Ritchie.
This omits my fiancée's Angelique Houtkamp books (she's since moved on to Wendy Pham and Guen Douglas in that vein), ElevenFourteen, Our Tattoos Vol. 1, 3, & 4, and The Mammoth Tattoo Book. I also have a few suitcases full of magazines I'm slowly cutting good stuff out of to make a few scrapbooks of what got me more interested in tattooing.

Not sure it's all in the name, location trends come and go (not overall styles, mind you, trends). I haven't seen a wave of girls avoiding the ribs after the advent of the term "skank flank." I've done probably two lower back tattoos that fit the term (symmetrical, side to side, etc.), while I've done hundreds of rib ones.