jimmyirish

This is my latest one, by Marius Meyer (Photo is also taken by Marius Meyer).
I am super stoked to get it coloured in later on.

By Franz Stefanik, Okey Doke Tattoo, Toronto.

@jimmyirish I am certainly not an expert on any of this stuff, but I do know a local tattooer here who got a one point from Horiyoshi 3 while she was in Japan a few years ago. @taaaro has a one point from Horitoshi. So I wouldn't necessarily assume that the older guys wouldn't do something smaller. It never hurts to ask.

Just emailed back and forth with Scott Sylvia and nailed down a time for a big ass snake on my leg at Pagoda City.

Me and my girlfriend got tattooed yesterday by Marcus Kuhn while he's guesting in Paris at Laura Satana's shop!

Girl head and rose from Paul Dobleman:

Good for you for working it all out. To be quite honest, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, it looks like you're just starting to figure out some of the basics of drawing for tattoos. I'd spend some time tracing stuff. Seriously. That SJ rose you see on the wall. Trace it 100 times. That way you know it by heart. Repeat. On whatever subject matter you like. Nothing too big. Just things to get your understanding down.
I would hesitate to do any of those as tattoos just yet. That whole crawl before you can walk thing. I started in the same place, and not too long ago at that. While I have a fine art background, learning to draw a panther, or oni, or rose, or swallow, or dragon, or whatever...it takes a lot of practice to do so correctly. I'm still figuring it all out...much like the rest of us.

You gotta be around it to know it. Nobody is going to be able to tell you what to include to make your work more applicable to tattooing, just start small, save up money and get work from good shops. Turning up at a shop with no tattoos and a vague desire to apprentice is likely to meet with a very blunt response. Pay your dues, get tattooed and maybe something will happen for you in the future.

You gotta be around it to know it. Nobody is going to be able to tell you what to include to make your work more applicable to tattooing, just start small, save up money and get work from good shops. Turning up at a shop with no tattoos and a vague desire to apprentice is likely to meet with a very blunt response. Pay your dues, get tattooed and maybe something will happen for you in the future.

Welcome Darrin. Without seeing your work I would suggest that if you are serious about learning to tattoo that instead of soliciting critiques from strangers that you spend a lot more time in the shop getting tattooed.

Well it's criminal that Alex Binnie isn't here !
Alex Binnie | Heartbeatink Tattoo Magazine
There's so many great artists in this country check out some of my favourites
Ian Flower https://instagram.com/ianflowernst/?hl=en
Duncan X https://instagram.com/duncanxtattoos/
Tomas Tomas https://instagram.com/tomastomas108/?hl=en
Valerie Vargas https://instagram.com/valeriemodernclassic/
Stewart Robson https://instagram.com/stewart_modernclassic/?hl=en
Bradley Tompkins https://instagram.com/bradleytompkins/?hl=en
Curly Moore https://instagram.com/curlytattoo/
Alex Reinke https://instagram.com/horikitsune/?hl=en
Jimmie Tatts https://instagram.com/jimmiebss/?hl=en
Lee Knight https://instagram.com/lmknight/?hl=en
I'm also a fan of Claudia De Sabe's , Richie Clark and Jordan Teear but they have been mentioned already .

Check out this short video on one of my favorite tattooers (featuring another favorite, Bob Roberts):


I've said before that Matt has a bit of a Big Liebowski vibe, but now I realize that that comes across as a bit unkind (or at the very least, sells him short). He's both passionate and compassionate, and that comes through in this piece.

Luxury or not there is a particular stigma about money and tattoos that doesn't seem to apply to other goods and services. I had a friend (who has tattoos and knows what they cost) say to me when I started my sleeve something like, "You guys must be doing pretty well," which kinda stuck in my craw. I mean would anybody say that to someone if they pulled up in a Lexus instead of a sh*tbox car? Both take you from point A to B. Why go out to dinner when you can just eat rice & beans from the bulk bin for every meal?
For me the experience of getting tattooed is definitely worth something -- like going to a spa or something. But when you get a massage you don't walk away with anything except a good feeling and that fades. There are also few things in life that are truly one-of-a-kind other than a painting or a sculpture, but with tattoos you carry the art with you all the time.
As far as the money goes, I do feel guilty about it sometimes for reasons I can't quite explain. Then again since I quit drinking and smoking weed, tattoos are pretty much my only vice, and if I added up the $$$ spent on booze and certain illicit substances, I can say with some certainty I'm well ahead of the game!

@mmikaoj I have got to say that you start some killer discussions man. This, alongside the conversation you opened up about big names in the industry (contentious as it was!) is what this forum is all about. It seems to me that taking refuge in the false safety of consensus is always a dangerous thing- and its through these kinds of lively debates between passionate people that we are able to better understand our relationship with tattooing. I remember reading when I first came to this forum someone say that tattoos are like currency here, and I think you are in a really good position to open up these conversations as someone who has made the effort to get a lot of rad tattoos. So I guess I'm just saying thanks, really.
I think the topic of whether tattoos should be seen as a luxury product akin to buying a car or a watch is really interesting, I have to admit to myself that I come at this from a very biased perspective. I'm not into cars or watches, so for me there is far more intrinsic value to a tattoo, as others have mentioned, the craftsmanship and and history of tattooing gives it a rootsy charm that I just don't see in other mass produced 'luxury' items. However I'm sure there are people who are super into all kinds of things that seem dumb to me but are beautiful and significant to them. I have a friend who is crazy about raw denim, spends thousands of pounds a year importing different weaves from Japan and charting the way the denim ages with wear. Now to me that is bordering on the autistic but for him its got all this significance and it makes up a large part of his identity- he sees another bloke on the bus who is wearing a pair of jeans by FullCount and they start talking about fades and all kinds of stuff!
But even as I type I can't help feeling that there is some kind of extra significance involved. I had booked in to get tattooed by Steve Byrne at the London Convention last year, but was forced to cancel my booking at the last minute due to a family tragedy. For a long time afterwards I felt intensely guilty about not just getting tattooed but having tattoos, as if in the midst of what was going on I was just this walking monument to my own narcissism! As time has gone by that feeling has faded and I'm actually on the brink in the process on confirming some large scale work with Paul Dobleman which will require a lot of travel and expense. But its a consideration that is always somewhere in the back of my mind, because unlike jeans which eventually will wear out, tattoos are a permanent reminder of something you decided on purely for your own benefit and sense of self. And its been a good lesson to learn for me that there is nothing wrong with that- as Virginia Elwood says 'its for me'.
I don't know if that makes any kind of sense but i'm really enjoying everyones ruminations.

@mmikaoj I have got to say that you start some killer discussions man. This, alongside the conversation you opened up about big names in the industry (contentious as it was!) is what this forum is all about. It seems to me that taking refuge in the false safety of consensus is always a dangerous thing- and its through these kinds of lively debates between passionate people that we are able to better understand our relationship with tattooing. I remember reading when I first came to this forum someone say that tattoos are like currency here, and I think you are in a really good position to open up these conversations as someone who has made the effort to get a lot of rad tattoos. So I guess I'm just saying thanks, really.
I think the topic of whether tattoos should be seen as a luxury product akin to buying a car or a watch is really interesting, I have to admit to myself that I come at this from a very biased perspective. I'm not into cars or watches, so for me there is far more intrinsic value to a tattoo, as others have mentioned, the craftsmanship and and history of tattooing gives it a rootsy charm that I just don't see in other mass produced 'luxury' items. However I'm sure there are people who are super into all kinds of things that seem dumb to me but are beautiful and significant to them. I have a friend who is crazy about raw denim, spends thousands of pounds a year importing different weaves from Japan and charting the way the denim ages with wear. Now to me that is bordering on the autistic but for him its got all this significance and it makes up a large part of his identity- he sees another bloke on the bus who is wearing a pair of jeans by FullCount and they start talking about fades and all kinds of stuff!
But even as I type I can't help feeling that there is some kind of extra significance involved. I had booked in to get tattooed by Steve Byrne at the London Convention last year, but was forced to cancel my booking at the last minute due to a family tragedy. For a long time afterwards I felt intensely guilty about not just getting tattooed but having tattoos, as if in the midst of what was going on I was just this walking monument to my own narcissism! As time has gone by that feeling has faded and I'm actually on the brink in the process on confirming some large scale work with Paul Dobleman which will require a lot of travel and expense. But its a consideration that is always somewhere in the back of my mind, because unlike jeans which eventually will wear out, tattoos are a permanent reminder of something you decided on purely for your own benefit and sense of self. And its been a good lesson to learn for me that there is nothing wrong with that- as Virginia Elwood says 'its for me'.
I don't know if that makes any kind of sense but i'm really enjoying everyones ruminations.

Finished up my arm with Grez last month. Here are some healed shots (that I also just put in the contest thread).

So I am in need of some advice and thought you guys might be able to help me out. Having drooled over Paul dobleman's work for ages I've decided he's the only guy do the rest of my left arm, that sleeve that @hogg posted was the clincher! I have my eagle by Valerie on my bicep and was hoping to maybe get a panther on my forearm as I thought that would look rad next to the eagle. Other than that I'm hoping to get a clipper ship on the inside of my lower arm and a cobweb over the elbow. That just leaves filler and the inside of my upper arm which I guess we can just figure out as we go...
The only problem I have is that I have recently relocated to Melbourne with my partner, so I'm looking at a 21 hour trip to get tattooed. We are looking at buying a business and property over here and once all that stuff is in place I think it's gonna be near impossible to find the time or the disposable income to do such a trip- so I figured it's now or never! As you can imagine she's pretty sceptical about the wisdom of travelling to the other side of the world to get tattooed but she's very supportive (long suffering?) and says she will support me in the project as long as I figure out exactly how long I'm gonna need to be away for.
Which leads me to the advice bit, do you reckon the best course of action would be just to contact Paul and talk to him about the project and in that way try and get a sense of how long the project might take, what sort of time frame he'd be interested in undertaking it in etc? I was also kind of hoping to get the bottom of my 3/4 sleeve on the right arm finished whilst in San Francisco, as I know that there is just an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Japanese tattooing in that city, but I don't want to bite off too much...
I really hope this doesn't sound like one of those how much/ how long for a sleeve kinda questions, I have been considering this trip for a long time and this window of opportunity has just come up. There are some great tattooers here in Australia, but if I get someone else to do the work I think I will be forever thinking 'what if'.

Thanks a lot @jimmyirish
It's been quite interesting finding out who has worked with Ian, or who he has worked with at various times. The walls of his little studio are covered in great bits of flash and paintings as well by people like Wido de Marvel, Alex Binnie, Thomas Hooper, Jondix and Valerie Vargas. It helps quite a lot when having sessions on my back to state at something cool.

You must be joking, right? ... right?
Seriously, not that I'm even close to being a scientist, but having all those chemicals on you every day will probably be a bigger danger to your skin and your health than getting a bit of unfiltered sun.
I used to be really paranoid with the sun and my tattoos, and get stressed if I had to be waiting for the bus for 20 minutes in t-shirt and no sunscreen on. It's not worth it, all that stress. Now I cream up when I know that I will be in the sun a lot. Normally I don't bother. It's easier to just move to the shade after a while if there is no 50+ around. Perhaps I tend to wear long sleeve shirts a bit more. I think it's a shame if you let some over-protectiveness around keeping your tattoos pristine stand in the way of having fun and enjoying life. You are going to age, your tattoos are going to age, and you will die eventually.
(Could be that I have this attitude because I never cared about being a lot in the sun, getting a tan or hanging out at the beach anyway. It's not a part of my life, so when I do spend time in the sun I can allow myself without feeling some "guilt" around it. My favorite weather is when it's cold enough for normal length jeans, but you can walk around in a t-shirt if you want to. Oh, and also I live in Sweden so that helps, we only got 6 weeks of summer most years haha..)

@Graeme, if jealous was a picture it would be your back. That is truly a thing of beauty, I love the look in the tigers eyes. Like he's been in one hell of a fight but has finally got the better of that snake.
@MrToby, your back is by Ian Flower right? Absolutely amazing composition, he's got to be one of the very best Japanese tattooers in Europe. Doesn't get the credit he deserves I think because his shop is in a bit of an unfashionable outskirts of London. He seems like a really nice bloke though?

This was last Saturday's progress on my back. We're getting close.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello all,
So I haven't put up any progress shots on my back for a couple of months. In all honesty it was a lot of cherry blossoms. Anyway after the weekends session at the Bristol Tattoo Show I thought I better put up a full progress shot. Apologies for the slightly blurry pictures these were taken with my slightly rubbish little compact digital camera. I'm stoked with how it is coming along though now and am super excited to see it coming together with the colour in the dragon over the next few months.

@Graeme, if jealous was a picture it would be your back. That is truly a thing of beauty, I love the look in the tigers eyes. Like he's been in one hell of a fight but has finally got the better of that snake.
@MrToby, your back is by Ian Flower right? Absolutely amazing composition, he's got to be one of the very best Japanese tattooers in Europe. Doesn't get the credit he deserves I think because his shop is in a bit of an unfashionable outskirts of London. He seems like a really nice bloke though?

Those tiger paws are around the size of my hands. Tough stuff!

Oh man I love that tattoo @heathenist, looks so tough and folky at the same time. Just so nice, congratulations...I gotta keep a closer eye on Matt Arriola, such great work!