hgiles

I've been really impressed with Ryan Mason out of Scapegoat Tattoo in Portland, OR's work. I see his stuff online on blogs and stumbleuponing quite a bit but a quick search shows me that only one other person has mentioned him in the forums. I really dig his style and I'm working on planning a trip out west to get some work done.

I recently saw some of his work and read his blog. Definitely top shelf!

Yes, it costs more for a variety of reasons. I dont see tebori as offering any particular advantage over a machine, so I wouldnt insist on tebori...Shinji is great though.

Memento - great movie!

My left ribs weren't too bad I had 5-6 hours on them but when I got my right side done just the 45 minute-1 hour outline was brutal. It was the same artist also.

I got my back done by Karl Fisher in Oakland and when he got on the sides of my back behind my ribs that was pretty bad also.

The chest wasn't too bad, certain spots hurt pretty bad. Center of my chest felt really weird and sometimes it was like the pain was happening where he wasn't even tattooing.

Weird! I experienced the same thing! My right side rib panel was brutal from the very first line and I ended up tapping out in less than 4 hours with not even all the shading done. My left rib panel was completed in 7 hours by a different artist and it was just bearable.

Some artists have a knack for 'helping' a client sit longer...they seem to know more 'tricks' I guess. Some artists have a heavy hand, course wiping towels and jack hammer for a machine -- I am starting to think this weighs more heavily into how we perceive the pain than the actual body part.

Going through this very thing right now with my Bruno piece.

When are you putting up The Bruno piece for us to see?

It's 4 days post right now, so really flaky and dried out. I will get some pictures in a few days and post it. It's a 3-tailed Kitsune with a skull...pretty bad ass! "Toughest" tattoo I have so far, I think! :-)

Ya know, as far as price, a few are getting mighty tweaked over a RESPONSE to a poster talking price.

I get tattooed in Chicago. It's a fairly large city, indoor plumbing and everything. Might not be Nueve Yorico, or el-Lay, but hey-it's still a city.

Custom work will run around a c-note an hour, unless you are getting poked a bit. That's roughly, hey, maybe it goes $150, maybe it goes $75, whatever you manage to negotiate for. If I'm going to get custom-work done, I want an hourly rate, not a flat-price that might work out to be $500 an hour. I have no problem paying an artist for his time working on the design...if he tells me he spent 3 hours working on it, fine, I'll pay him for it.

But don't charge me $350 for a piece of flash from the wall that took you 25 minutes to zap out.

Sure enuf, if you like the work, it's worth whatever you want to pay for it. My whole point was that I think sometimes the market is pushed by TV and such, and the rates get inflated.

Reading about prices doesn't scare people off, reading about why prices could be kept secret is what scares people off. Used to be, the price was posted right on the piece on the wall, and the hourly rate was typically posted as well. No muss, no fuss, and everyone knew where they stood.

That's my last thoughts on it, again, if it violates a rule to discuss money, then an admin should delete my posts. And the one by the OP who talked about how much he paid.

Dan S, I agree in the sense that I gotta know what I can expect to pay and how I am being billed. I don't like paying by the piece either, becuase I don't know what the piece is until it's finished. This leaves you quite vulnerable as a client and Ive definitely been burned before. Otherwise you might as well walk in and say 'Rape Me!' However, I generally don't think the talk of money is necessary for anyone except the artist and client.

When someone asks me what I paid, I often just offer the shop/artist hourly rate.

I can do day trips. I can't really justify any more expense (time, money, travel) than that. I am in Central Virginia and there are some great tattooists in the Richmond and DC areas... not really gonna do much better.

I started a Tibetan Skull (rib panel) a month or so ago with Chad Koeplinger. In the meantime I started and finished the other rib panel with Brian Bruno -- who I have to say is a super-competent, professional tattooer as well as a great artist. Seriously, I have mad respect with him after having sat with him all day (1p-730p).

I am finishing up with Chad in about 2 weeks. And am looking forward to having it finished, but not looking forward to the pain! Ugh! It'll be well-earned. I will put up some pictures as soon as I can get someone to take some. I can't very well do that myself.

Looks like I am finishing up a Tibetan Skull with Chad Koeplinger on 5/12 -- < 2 weeks away! I am healing my other rib panel that Brian Bruno did a few days ago...

Tomorrow is my next session - YAY!!

If you guys could pick a great artist that's booked a few months back in any part of California who would it be? I'm graduating in August and going to do a trip there and my girlfriend offered to get me something for my graduation. Is it hard to get in with Grime?

Without a doubt I would go sit with Jess Yen Horiyen:

ChrisvK, I think you'll find that once you find out how strong you are -- well, that's how strong you are. Once you know how strong you are, then you can work on conditioning and finding out how strong you are in other exercises.

Billy Hay has started to do some awesome Japanese work. Its lovely

Unique color palette.

Here's some masterful fine line black and grey work too:

American quirks?

You never know if an American is carrying a gun.

It doesn't bother me a bit.

1 It just makes my tattoos look that much better.

2 If you have to justify a tattoo by telling how little you paid then it's probably a shitty tattoo.

3"You'll appreciate the quality long after you've forgotten what you paid."

Making a trip to Chicago next weekend and having Mario tattoo my stomach. Im super excited but not looking forward to the pain.

Getting nauseous just thinking about that! My appt for my ribs and stomach is on Thursday with Brian Bruno.

Can anyone recommend some "new school" Japanese artists? I love traditional Japanese work but I also love more detailed stuff. I have both my feet done, one a Hanya and the other a Kapala skull. I had my artist do them in a more new school style and I love them.

The skull is not finished in this pic.

I am going to start my other leg soon and wanted to do a black/grey piece. I was thinking of doing a couple Foo Dog statues protecting a temple. I am having a hard time coming up with a good reference though. I thought if I could look through some similar tattoo's I could get some idea's.

You could probably ask your artist for ideas. But my favorite Neo-Japanese artists are:

Filip Leu

Shige

Horiyen Jess

Kore Flatmo

Jeff Gogue

Kurt Wiscombe

...and a bunch of good ones in Asia...

9 hours! Damn! You're a soldier! Lets see the ink!

Yes, there still is a lot of racism in America.

Society rewards folks like Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony.

Favor NASCAR over F1.

Think a good deal trumps a good tattoo.

Like everything super-sized (Meals, Lattes, SUVs, TVs).

...too many to mention.

Blaming everything on the current president is also an American quirk. There was a girl on FACEBOOK that actually blamed the POTUS for her having to sell her Jeep because it got poor gas mileage. As if she didnt' know the gas mileage when she bought it. As if she were unaware that putting bigger tires on it would make the gas mileage worse. As if she were unaware of the endless cycles and trends towards higher gas prices over the past 40 years!

At 42, I am not trying to win any contests, but I do work out 5 days a week. Ive been doing it a long time, so I don't need to go extra hard nor extra heavy. I know what works for me, so I hate being offered unsolicited advice in the gym... anyway...

Jesse Tseronis in Winchester, VA is really good. I love his Japanese work. He's a great guy, real easy to work with. Jesse Tseronis | Facebook. He's currently doing a sleeve for me.

+1 ! I got some work from Jesse too! Solid tattooer -- any style, but especially Neo-Japanese.

Looks like nice work!