hogg

Let me first state that I will not besmirch the name of several fine artists with a "Who is the slowest tattooer?" thread. Instead, let's discuss the fastest of the fast. I'll try to limit this to personal experience, but feel free to mention lightning-fast artists you've witnessed, too.

Our very own Scott Sylvia inspired this thread. I was at Forever Tattoo in Sacramento over the weekend and Ian Carder showed me the Rock of Ages backpiece that Scott put on him. He said it took about 15 hours. I guess I should stop being surprised at this point, but damn.

Horitaka is also really fast. I have a black and gray falcon from him that takes up most of my shin. It took him an hour.

Theo Mindell put a huge dragon head on my knee in only 3 hours--and he kept apologizing for taking so long! I'm not a tattooer, but it seems like the knee cap is moving target. That skin shifts all over the place.

And I've never been tattooed by Filip Leu, but no fast tattooer thread would be complete without him. I was lucky enough to see some of the work he did while at Diamond Club, like this tiger that (I think) he completed in 5 hours:

Along the same lines, I've never been tattooed by Robert Atkinson, but holy hell, is that guy fast.

Wait, that was YOU getting the backpiece from Scott? Right on! I can't wait to see pics. No one will believe you when they find out how fast he is.

Speaking of pics, here are some freshies of what I got last night.

Mike Wilson:

Richard Stell:

Haha...a man of many aliases. Great meeting you and Johnny!

Convention was awesome (hi, Dari!). Got tattooed by Mike Wilson and Richard Stell tonight.

I've got hours and hours of work thanks to being on cancellation lists. I'm a fan!

I plan on being there, too. If a skinny, bald bearded guy approaches you, it's me. I'm from the Internets.

Freddy Corbin does very recognizable roses. So does Scott Sylvia (the cool little shit in the leaves makes it). And Little Chuy (Quintanar) does killer black and gray roses. i have a similar one from Ben Grillo.

I have so many roses already, but I don't think you can ever have too many. I guess I feel that way about snakes, too, haha.

Shins and my kneecap were super easy for me, but lower back/ass/right where the thigh meets the ass were all fucking horrible. Who knew the ass would be so bad? Deep, searing pain that lasted for days. I'm so glad my backpiece is done.

I'd also like to nominate "any body part tattooed by Chris Trevino."

I was gonna say Mike, too. Rassier put a mean panther head on me, but he told me that Mike showed him how, so I guess Mike wins again.

Scott wins for mountain lions, though. He did the only one I've ever seen (it's on Dan Wysuph).

My man! Nice to see you here.

Now go start a VanBros thread and post those old pics. :)

I posted this as a blog by accident, but seeing as how I'm soliciting your stories, too, I think it's better as a thread.

Scott asked for stories, so here's mine.

There was a guy in Austin in the early 90s who tattooed out of his house for years. He wasn't bad, and the price was definitely right (I think he charged $60 an hour). He didn't have an autoclave; he used a pressure cooker, instead. Sounded good enough for me. Right after I got my first tattoos, I knew I was hooked, but I also knew that I was poor, so I went to see him about getting more work. I looked through his book (which included a cover-up over a peace sign that said "I WOULD'VE TAKEN A BULLET FOR JOHN LENNON" under it) and found a Haida Indian dogfish shark design that I liked. I'd seen some of his tribal and thought he did a good job on it, so I booked an appointment with him.

I showed up at the agreed-upon time and he stenciled it on. Then he grabbed a 3-round, which he proceeded to do the entire 3.5-hour tattoo with. You can see part of it above the gypsy cat in this pic:

The best part: towards the end, one of his friends stopped by. He'd just come back from Amsterdam and was telling my artist all about it. Then he said, "Hey...you ever smoke hash?" My artist said, "No--but I'd be down to try!" So with my tattoo almost finished, he proceeded to take a smoke break and hit some hash for the first time in his life. He did the last half hour of my tattoo uber-stoned.

I'm sure lots of you have better stories, ones involving Walkman motors and guitar strings, so please share them.

its a strange thing to me. I sit in either Chicago Tattoo or some other tattoo shop for 8+ hours a day at least 5 days a week and when people who i dont know or arent covered in tattoos come in with face tattoos it freaks the hell outta me.

I feel the same way. I've got full sleeves, a full backpiece and plenty of other stuff, but man, every time I see someone with facial tattoos, it really freaks me out. Like, "Damn, dude!"

But Freddy Corbin rocks his face tattoos well, they just seem like a natural part of him, he pulls it off in a way no one else can.

True--same goes for his diamond tooth! Freddy's the best.

I was talking to him a few months ago and he was telling me how excited he was because he was about to get tattooed by Tim Lehi. He said, "I'm getting Jesus on the cross--can you believe that after all these years, I still don't have a crucifix?" I said, "Um...you have one on your forehead!" He said, "Oh, right--I guess I do."

I'm not a tattooer, but I've dealt with some repetitive stress injuries as well as a really painful heel spur. I found that Graston Technique really helped me. I see that there a few practitioners in London. It might be worth a shot.

For the record: no, I'm not affiliated with Graston in any way! It's just something that I found to be really helpful when nothing else (cortisone shots, a brace, orthotic inserts, etc.) didn't work. Good luck.

My story is a combination of first tattoo and best tattoo I did not get. I got my first tattoos when I was 20. Like most 20-year-olds, I was painfully dumb. I lived in Austin and heard from my heavily tattooed friends that Mike Malone was coming to town and that if I wanted to get tattooed, I should get work from him because he's world class. So I booked my appointment with one of the best traditional artists to ever zap a tatt...and I got a pair of Borneo rosettes from him.

It gets worse: I requested them in green. Whoever said that everyone gets the tattoo they deserve sure had his thinkin' cap on tight that day. I can say that I got my first tattoos from Rollo--in a motel room, at that--and that it was a great experience (those of you who are fortunate enough to have met him know what I mean), but man, of all the BULLSHIT to get from him!

My wife's theory is that this is the new "butterfly on the ankle." I'm starting to think she's onto something. I notice more and more women who don't seem to have any other tattoos, but have something small (like a star, fleur de lys, or little flower) behind the ear.

Can the pros among us confirm or deny her theory?

Bonus question: is the torch (like this one by Sarah Schor) becoming the new dagger? I'm not mad at the trend; I think they look great on the forearm or shin.

I love that eagle and girl backpiece you did.

Found it:

How stoked does that eagle look?

Is this Nico the Viking Surfer? If so, I met you a few times--once when I flew down to get tattooed by Ben and again at last year's SFO convention. Welcome! And by the way, you do great work.

Ha! Eddy Deutsche once told me that he was about to start a piece on some guy's ribs. The guy said, "I should warn you before we start: I'm really ticklish." Eddy just grinned and said, "Don't worry--it won't tickle."

Welcome, Valerie. I second the compliments on your work. Very nice stuff with a recognizable style, to boot. I love that eagle and girl backpiece you did.

Haha...UGK is one of my all-time favorite groups (they're from my hometown), so I'd be stoked to hear them while I was getting tattooed. I guess I have to go to Milwaukee for that, though. I'll save a spot for you, Julio.

Big fan of your work--especially your snakes.

Patrick! Stoked to see you here, Homie. Love that Zoidberg tat. Who did it?

This one's by Jeff Rassier, but everyone seems to know that without my having to tell them:

It's a panther-headed eagle versus a hot stuff-headed snake.

And another fun one by Heath Preheim:

I moved to SF from Austin in 1997. Leading up to my move, I was finishing a piece with Chris Trevino, and every time I saw him, he'd tell me that I had to get tattooed by Eddy when I got to SF. He'd also tell me stories about his guest slots at 222 and how it was the nicest shop he'd ever set foot in. By the time I actually got to SF, I was broke. I stayed that way for a few years, but when I finally got a decent bonus in 1999, I went straight to 222 on my lunch break. Rassier was the only guy there that day, and he told me that Eddy's wait was 6 months. (It's funny to look back on that chat with Rassier, as my wife and I both have a few tattoos from him now.)

The 6 months finally went by and I got my half-sleeve from Eddy, which he knocked out in no time at all. Right before he started, I said, "So, are you as heavy as Chris?" He laughed and said, "No one's as heavy as Chris, dude." We talked a lot about martial arts, other tattoo artists and the usual stuff, but the funniest thing is that he lit up a cigarette and my girlfriend asked if she could have one. He said, "Yeah, but you gotta smoke it outside." She thought he was joking, but he was dead serious! "It's my shop--I'm the only one who can smoke in here." So she declined, haha.