daveborjes

"Shitty" must be a style. Sure, I see plenty of nice tattoos, but most of what I see is pretty crappy work.

Haven't posted in a while, but I've finally gotten tattooed again, so I thought it would be a good time to revive my account.
Anyway, the talented Johann Ingemar recently started working at my favorite shop in Copenhagen, The Sailors Grave, so this one was a no-brainer:
Dragon in a nice big gap on my lower leg.

Just healed and still shiny, so sorry for all the glare in the photo.
EDIT: Why won't my picture show up as an actual picture in the thread, but just as a link?

Got this little memorial for my father from Tim Pausinger at The Pearl in Toronto on Monday. Its been a long long journey.

Got this panther/rose from Juan Puente a few weeks ago. photo by Juan that day.

Alix Ge finished my pharaoh's horses yesterday
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBnT4LcQCmd/?taken-by=alixge

The first time I travelled to Asia was in 2008. I was very privileged to have my Sifu (Master, RIP) take me along with his family to Foshan, China to learn about the roots of Wing Chun kung fu and experience Chinese culture. Then we would spend time in Hong Kong to train Ving Tsun with his Master (my Sigung, grandfather teacher).
We had some free time and went to explore the street markets one evening. We had been in the area the day before and I noticed the big blue “TATTOO” sign on the busy street. My curiousity had me drawn to it and I wanted to see what it was all about. I would say I was still inexperienced at this time, 5 years after my first piece (maybe 50hrs in?) however tattoo culture was becoming something I had become very fascinated by. If you wanted to see pictures of tattoos you would muster some courage, suffer through the intimidation of ~actually going into~ a tattoo shop; you could see what your punker friends had scratched on each other; you would sneak a peak at the BME website (the internet! Oh my!).
I went off on my own at night time to find this mysterious tattoo shop. I had split off on my own, away from my group. My time was limited to explore. I found the building underneath the big blue sign, went up several flights of a dark dingy stairwell. And there it was “JIMMY HO TATTOO”. Just an apartment door framed with classic tattoo flash pasted to the wall. So I rang the buzzer…
I thought maybe it would be cool to get a tattoo in China…but I was also very hesitant. Did I have enough time? My group didn't know where I took off too and I had to meet back pretty soon. I was uncertain about the safety of the needles and ink. Healthwise it seemed risky. China isn't exactly the cleanest place in the world. How was I going to heal a new tattoo being in the hot sun all day and then training (contact) the evening? Afterall, my focus in Hong Kong was Ving Tsun.
...I remember being so nervous when I rang the buzzer. Shaky. There was no answer. So I waited for a bit, my curiousity had brought me this far. But what the hell was I doing here? Sketchy. And then a head suddenly appeared through a gap in the flash covered window. This older gentleman opened the door, poked his head into the stairwell to see who else was around and waved me in.
I was pretty mesmerized. Here I am a younger, naïve kid, swept up in the energy of Hong Kong at night. Here I was in a sketchy, dimly lit building in an old man’s apartment studio. Old timey flash, certificates, photos, a lot of tattoo history covering every square inch of the 300 sqft apartment. What in the hell was I doing here?
“Tattoo?” He said. That was about the only English he knew and would speak to me.
He motioned at my long sleeve shirt, I didn’t have any of my tattoos showing. So I took off my shirt and showed him the work I had amassed at that point. Both my arms fully covered. Some leg tattoos. A big dragon on my ribs. He gave an approving half smile and motioned for me to sit down.
I think this man knew that I wasn’t there to get a tattoo from him that night. However he made my curiosity feel welcomed in his studio. Looking around the studio it felt like a risky place to get tattooed and I felt I wasn't experienced enough to think otherwise. Not very sanitary by North American standards (but probably cleaner than some of those tattoo conventions haha). The bench pillow was covered in ink and blood stains. I couldn’t see an autoclave. The ink bottles in the corner looked a little crusty. The older tattooer gentleman didn’t have any visible tattoos and there was a serious language barrier.
He gave me some his photo albums to flip through. It wasn’t a portfolio. It was more like family photo albums. Very old pictures of some American-classic tattoo designs he had made on people - eagles, panthers, daggers, hearts. There were pictures of him with groups of shirtless Chinese men, dragon and tiger backpieces and sleeves on display. Photos of this older Chinese gentleman with who I would assume to be elder American and European tattooers (I would be to naïve to have named at that time in my tattoo journey…I’m pretty sure there was a pic of him with Hardy, I think Pinky too? I really can’t remember).
The whole experience was very surreal, I was nervous and awe-struck. I was going to have an amazing story about meeting Jimmy Ho, but would anybody really believe me? Or care? Afterwards, I did a bit of research (in which there was and still is limited info online). It turns out Jimmy Ho was the son of the late James Ho, who opened up Rose Tattoo, one of the first tattoo shop in Hong Kong back in the 1940s. My mind was blown that I had just had an exchange with a man from tattoo royalty.
The next day I was exploring and ended up checking out another tattoo studio “Star Crossed Tattoo”. It was run by two friendly UK ex-pats Ross and Julia. I spent the afternoon talking with them about HK life, punk rock, tattoos, watched Julia tattoo and confirmed a few things. Yes, I had just met Jimmy Ho. He was tattoo royalty in Hong Kong. Hygiene standards were very questionable in Hong Kong/China at that time. Very risky, healthwise. The HK tattoo scene wasn’t regulated by the health board.
Later on in the trip I would venture back to the area of Jimmy Ho’s tattoo shop. I didn’t take any pictures inside his shop, I was too distracted by the reality of the interaction - a human exchange about tattoos that happened in spite of a language and cultural barrier - and I didn’t want to be disrespectful towards a man that had let a stranger into his studio apartment. But I wanted to get a picture of the big blue TATTOO sign from the street during daylight.

At that time I realized that I must have been a batshit crazy kid (even if I did know some kung fu!) to take a back alley into this area at night time, as there were a bunch of strip clubs, bath houses, massage parlours and gambling going on in the area with Triad looking Chinese (dragon/tiger halfsleeves) working the doors on the block. Not a place a young white tourist would want to find himself alone at night time. No guts, no glory I guess haha.
I didn’t get a tattoo on the trip. And I have no regrets about that. But what Jimmy Ho did give me was an incredible memory and experience. Another story to go along with all the pictures I wear on my body.
Thank you for reading :)
PS If anybody has any further info about Jimmy Ho, James Ho, Hong Kong tattoo history please do share, love to learn more about it.
- - - Updated - - -
I did find this https://www.facebook.com/jimmy.ho.7127/media_set?set=a.292623604111543.71717.100000917175393&type=3

You could always try the halt-the-conversation-with TMI approach if it gets really uncomfortable. "This Hot Stuff represents my struggle with irritable bowel syndrome." This was a super fun way of dealing with annoying questions about whether I was pregnant when I gained weight a few years ago.

That tattoo is so fucking cool. Thanks for telling us what you wanted too, because when I see tattoos like that I always wonder what the client asked for.

I'm going to try to post a picture from my phone here:
By Steve Byrne at Rock of Ages.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Her eagles have so much character - I love how she draws the faces. Congratulations.

So I finally got my chest piece. So happy with how it came out. By Valerie Vargas of course.

Here's an up to date shot of my torso tattoo. About half done, can't wait to finish it. Two and a half years in.

Obviously it's down to what you prefer, but personally I'm not into shading "around" a tattoo in general. I think it ends up looking like a blob on the skin. A crisp, clean line is attractive and looks better from far away. So I'd get it touched up darker but leave the edges alone. My 2¢

I agree with what @Valpolicella wrote. It's nice to keep a clean shaped outline on the tattoo.

So I was hanging out at my local shop going through Piotrs new book full of old woodblock prints and I saw in the corner of a Kuniyoshi diptych depicting Taira no Tomomori these little fish samurai dudes, I told him you don't see enough fighting fish, usually just rats and frogs carrying swords, and he sketched/painted this guy up for me.
Piotr Kopytek
Blue Heron Tattoo
Frisco, CO

got this lil' dude today on the side of my thigh from Joe Chatt. super great experience, lovely dude. showed me some old stencils, business cards, and flash that he'd acquired during his recent travels

only just stopped limping from the last one :rolleyes: aiming for Erl next and a large piece from my mentor before he moves back to aus

Damn, nobody is disappointing! Got this little one from Andy Perez at the new shop Allied in Bushwick when I was back a couple months ago visiting. Bad cell phone picture, but you get the idea. First one above the collar, d'oh!

Started my sleeve w/ Jason Brooks last Saturday... First new project in over 5 years... and first visible ink :)

@Sagesebad
Hello and welcome! I think with that design, if you find the right artist it could be done. But it would mean removing a big part of the lines from where they are most concentrated and save the most important ones only. Also I believe that with a kind of weird, abstract idea like this you will have to find a good tattooer that works in this style and that has a lot of experience with positioning bigger shapes on the body, otherwise I think it could look very odd.
But providing you find the right artist and you put trust in her/him it could work. Maybe if you have the attitude that you want something like this and put trust in an experienced artist to redraw it into a tattoo that works technicaly and suits the area of the body.

Tattoos aren't a reminder to the self, they are a statement to the world. Let that guide your decision.

no, it is not a good tattoo idea.
if your OCD doesn't affect your tattoos at all...then why do you need a tattoo to remind yourself not to do something?
a tattoo with strong imagery can give you confidence and will be a reminder everytime you look at it not to doubt yourself or whatever. tattoo doesn't need to be so literal and obvious.

at the risk of a little TMI
my most recent tattoo has to do with a degenerative retina disease that was recently diagnosed to me

I'll be direct here
Doubting yourself on this design is a good thing
Especially if you had ideas to use that exact script in the tattoo
On the positive - the idea of a getting a tattoo that symbolizes your struggle with OCD sounds like a cool one - but I think you should go with some imagery rather than text
And this next part is quite important - find a good artist
You've done the right thing coming here to ask some questions
Tattoos can be fun and impulsive things and work out just fine
But most of the time - it's better to slow it down and do some thinking and researching
It seems this is a case where you did have some doubt and it helped prevent you from making a bad decision - just my two cents - keep us updated

white ink tattoos are generally a bad idea IMO,the ink usually turns brownish down the road.

It happens. No tattoo is perfect. It's a handmade craft. Gives it character, etc. Chances are it won't bother you so much as time goes by. But at least let it heal. Fixing it could make it worse. Up to you if you want to take that chance. But I'd do what your artist recommends if you trust him/her. The reason why "get more tattoos" is the best answer is because you'll drive yourself crazy nitpicking over every last detail so you may as well put that energy into planning the next one.