irezumi

It's made from heavy metal and unicorn blood.

Nobody is gonna top Bunny in this thread
As far as myself;
deVita
Tux
Higgs
Sonny Tufts

lil Picture Machine jam from a tatbro at work

When pretty girls come in and give me/us cookies or whatever its pretty much one of the best things of the day.

@spookyluke All we (the forum) are asking you to do is not post homemade tattoos or ask advice. You haven't asked for advice so I'm relieved for that. It's a simple house rule and should be no problem to accommodate. I wouldn't come into your house and do something relatively simple you asked me not to do. It's just a respect thing and even if you feel bristled up by other responses you can read this and know I'm not being a dick or anything, just asking you to come correct and respect the forum.

if it looks like piss, smells like piss and tastes like piss it probably is indeed piss.

5 minutes.

Joel D. Long Art Exhibition - Boulder CO | 15th Street Studio
Asian Inspired Scrolls Art Show by Joel D Long | TAM Blog

On the subject of a backpiece in a day...


I can't seem to link it as a video, not sure why. It's Dana doing a black and grey dragon backpiece in one sitting. May have been posted before, idk.

this is all i need to learn how to draw a bear.
also worth noting is smile now/cry later bears

Does anyone that likes this style look at pictures of old tattoos? Junior, I recommend that you look at photos of vintage tattoos as they are today. There's a great one on IG called @vintagetattoos. Go figure.
What you'll see is that when all the color eventually fades (it will) all that is left is the backbone and foundation of the tattoo. Meaning, all that is left is the black. Which is why whether it's 'traditional' or any type of (well designed) tattoo there is a good structure of black in it; preferably 1/3rd imo.
That photo you linked to will have eventually have a few bits of crooked black lines and look like shit. That's not a debatable topic, the proof is in the pudding and there isn't anything being done today in tattooing that changes the very nature of our skin and epidermis. Meaning that this is a fact, color fades and as long the damn skeleton of the tattoo is there it will be better looking than without it.
edit*looks like you already got some replies on that while I was typing. I'm pretty slow at that.

What the fuck happened there?!?
That's not a panther cover up; that's a combo of a panther eating a black rose while wearing a black top hat with a thought bubble contains black flag bars with the whole thing surrounded by black clouds.

People come in all the time asking me to just fill up their arm with backround (not in those words)
"just a whole lotta smoke around this and fill up my arm with it" *pointing at tattoo the size of my palm*

Fly tattoo from Dietzel on my boss. 1964. $5. About the size of a golf ball.

Oh I've got a few, some laughable some not, but I'm definitely not ashamed of this one

First tattoo I ever did, at Tux's studio in '99. I was so nervous telling him & his wife the night before; I asked them to meet me for coffee and got it off my chest that I was ready to do this. He tried to talk me out of it by mentioning no heath benefits, no retirement pay, high-risk occupation, "why don't you be a vet or something, much easier. That's what Alex Herman did after quitting the biz". I could not be swayed. So he said"OK, show up at the shop tmrw and you can tattoo yourself". That really surprised me, I was not expecting that. I was prepared for "what the fuck, you shouldn't be doing this get the hell outta my sight". He had a legit rep for being rather brash and didn't pull punches. Chased a few people out of the shop looking for apprenticeships.
When I got there I realized I had no idea what to put on myself. That part had not even crossed my mind, just "Holy shit Tux is gonna let me tattoo myself". So I said, "what should I pick?"
He handed me this one and said "That's the first one I did on myself" which may or may not be true (once upon a long time ago he did the borneo scorpion on Higgs and told him he drew it himself hahaha what a classic fibber) but I didn't ask twice. He set up 2 Percy Waters, loud as hell, told me they were worth more than my life, showed me some basic info and turned me loose. That was one of the most exciting moments ever up to that point in my tattoo experiences.
Best design ever? no. Best job ever? No. Some good blowouts? Yup. Something I'm proud of? Most definitely.

Keepcalm, it's entirely possible you won't be a lucky as to have an artist or situation where you feel you don't need some input. Like above people said, personally I have never changed a design simply because I approached them for their style.
99% of most clients are not like that. That's a special breed. Ok maybe 97%.
I have been stuck redrawing something a bit too many times and it does get aggravating in some cases. It happens but thankfully not often. It's kind if part if the deal; we try to make you what you want, with the exception of professional judgement calls of technical aspects such as design structure. But if it's as simple as "I'm not sure I like the way those wings look, it's too ____ for me" then it's part of the job to try to make it more appealing to you, without the ego of "this is what I wanted to do so that I can get a picture of it.". I would rather re-draw the wings and make you happy than have you go to a different shop later and say "this isn't what I wanted".
The other day I drew up a bird and roses and banner for someone brought in some shitty JPEG that they liked. I took down what they wanted, made an appointment, and then spend some time making a drawing for that tattoo. When he came in for a follow-up before the actual tattoo he looked at it and I could tell something bothered him. Apparently the bird I used (thanks Jerry) wasn't to his liking, he wanted it closer to the lame one on the JPEG. To me it looked rad because it was a classic looking bird. To him he just wanted a different style, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just a matter of personal taste. I was a little bummed, but I gave him the kind of bird he wanted. And he left super happy. Which means he'll be coming back and bring his friends and maybe one of them want the 'cooler' bird.
Don't be scared to speak up. You live with this tattoo until you're dead. I will see that tattoo maybe once in my life at the most. You should be comfortable with what you wear, I often hear that they didn't want what the artist wanted to do. Well if you don't speak up then it's not our fault!
Be assertive and make sure that if you don't like it then don't get it.
Edit; Siri made all kind of blunders here, Apologies for odd sentence structure or the use of wrong words.

Just because you got something stabbing through your head doesn't mean that you're having a bad time

awesome.

Doc Webb, San Diego 1964

Japanese manhole covers

Taxes.
Outside of that everything is great.

It's all the same to me. Little tiny circles and blood.

When I drive somewhere it takes me a certain amount of time. It might take 15 minutes, or it might take 2 hours. Depends on where I'm driving to.

Guaranteed to cover anything.