Cork

I just went with a plain white sheet fabric. Now it looks like a rainbow though. Mostly red.

There is a lot of stuff if you just search #mikeroper on instagram. People seem to have been tagging stuff for a while.

Thanks to the internet and places like this, my first was pretty damn good and they've only gotten better. If it weren't for the internet, I would not have been so lucky. I started getting tattooed at 26, so I had a little more wisdom and focus on what I wanted. My first was my chest oni by Dave Fox that is in my gallery, and avatar.

Oni Head by Stewart Robson guesting at Blackheart tattoo before the SFO convention.

This shot is from today, healed.

BOOM in your face, @Cork you're not the only one with a massive Japanese tattoo this month, haha!

I like this, but not I'm not going "like" this. Jerk. And look at all that open space around it, what an amateur.

I will forever recall the video of Oliver Peck getting his hand tattooed by Hooper. So funny.

Imagine Mick jumping around like that.

I don't know, you wanted a water color skyline and then you say it looks muddy? That's what you asked for. Throwing in random blue dotted lines would confuse the whole thing. Instead of trying to have so much control over it, why don't you get your artists opinion on what he would do. I'm not sure why you would give him a reference picture of cotton candy coming out of a volcano and then be angry at the result.

The red is the huge bruise already starting.

Love handle? Mine bruised like crazy too. Looks great!

right now i'm leaning towards being a selfish jerk and not sharing any progress pics until we have a substantial amount completed.

If I were in your shoes, I would try to truly understand why your mom hates them so much. She hates them just because they are trashy? It must be more than that for her to act so serious about it. I'd sit my mom down with a bottle of alcohol, and I would force a clean answer out of her (my mom prefers avoidance of issues).

And you have to ask the right questions too. This might seem silly but root cause analysis is a valuable life tool, use the "5 Whys". "Why don't you like tattoos?", "In your mind, what makes them trashy?" I'm not going to role play this whole thing out, but I hope you get the idea. Then explain your side, why you like tattoos, how tattooing in this day and age is very different than tattooing in hers, etc. In my own experience, I see a lot of it come from pressure from our parents own peers. If your mom's friends hate tattoos, then that makes her look horrible as a mother that she raised some miscreant that likes tattoos that would embarrass her in front of her friends. You have to see it from her side. If you were on her side of the fence, what would it take to change your mind?

I can tell you, sure as shit, if I were to go to the beach with my mom, she would immediately be fearful of what the people around us would think about my tattoos. She can't help it, she is a mother. She wants all her kids to be seen in a respectful light, and that is her opinion of what respectful means. My older brother rocks a mohawk. It looks good. My mom hates it and it embarrasses the hell out of her because her friends see her son with a mohawk and she feels ashamed.

Haha, well done @daveborjes! Inside the cheeks is the best.

My brother has a tattoo on his shoulder of a tattered american flag behind a battlefield cross, with text that says "Freedom isn't Free"

I finally get to give this a shot!

Dana Helmuth, 95% completed at Read Street Tattoo in Baltimore, the rest done in his private studio.

Those wind bars need more black! Looks fine otherwise.

Greg and I didn't get to two tattoos last night, since we got an unavoidable late start. We did go with the creepy Lo Pan hand holding a dragon that we were joking about the last time I was there. It's pretty much all a result of talking about Big Trouble in Little China with he and his coworker when I was the last one in the shop on my last appointment

Great tattoo for an awesome movie.

Drew Flores is pretty bold.

Graeme looks about exactly how I pictured. Grats on your peonies @Pugilist, they look lovely.

Thanks to everyone for the awesome advice & encouragement! I am proud to say that my back piece is now finished!! Woohoo! Did my full back in three days! Here's a pic for those interested :)

Artist: Erin Chance, Guest tattooing at: Sacred Tattoo, Auckland, New Zealand

Holy shit, kudos to you! Tough as nails.

@Graeme @Mick Weder @ironchef

Thanks guys. It was only semi bittersweet, he sent me home with a print, a shirt, and a black light poster.

Beware December Tattoo of the Month Contest, haha. It's too late in the game to try and take it away from that amazing Lehi piece on Wilhell.

It's done. It's actually done. The last session was the worst one I've had to endure. Major touch ups to the wind bars/clouds, double lining, basically every soft spot got hit in one day. By the end I was definitely spent, but so stoked. Dana was very pleased with how this came out, and that makes me happy too. He wants me to show up to the Baltimore or Philly conventions and do the back piece contest.

This took a year and a half, and it was an amazing experience.

Sorry no pics. I got a chance to look through a pile of Dana's secret stash of Roper pics, some are pretty good. I also got a chance to scroll through Bloodwork Bodies. Man, that book is amazing. The green dragon is in the book, I had to steal a clean pic for you guys. Not to mention it was good to catch a glance at @hogg's ass on more time.

Not to make you all jealous, but to make you all jealous, I'm forcing Dana to show me his entire torso tomorrow. It's all Roper.

I'm currently fascinated by Tobatsu Bishmonten, Repeller of foreign invaders and Protector of Capitol cities. Imagine a 3 faced Diety clad in armor with 10 arms each bearing mostly swords and other knick knacks, all the while astride a lion. A very strong image for a back piece. Hokusai did a crazy 4 faced, 12 armed version that I've been drooling over.

Is that who is on this tenugui? I don't think so. Does anyone know who this guy is?

Japanese American National Museum -- Museum Store Online

@Kinglambert that shading looks great so far.

First pass at a label. I think I am going to go with Horibrew or I just thought of Irebrewmi.

Great progress @Graeme! The love handle was a good stinger for me.

Looks great @introspect. I love the solid colors.