sirblackfinger

Theses Old Blue Arms the life and work of Amund Dietzel volume 1&2 are pretty amazing books. I got Eye Tattooed America about a Year ago and I fell in love with it after first look, Ive probaly looked at it once a week ever since.

All that being said, I think it takes a lot of hard work to get good at doing it on the level of the people mentioned in this thread. It's a kind of tattooing that doesn't allow much room for error, and I respect the amount of work all these people have put into getting ladies faces down
It's a little more complicated than copying chris or things from magazines. I can guarantee that for every head we see that looks "good enough" or "looks like a Conn girl", these guys did 3 or 4 that they weren't happy with, that are living on people as we speak
it's easy to say that someone just "copied a piece of Sailor Jerry flash" onto someone, but if you've ever tried it, you know it's a little harder than it looks. I've fucked up countless girl heads trying to even get in the ballpark of people like Valarie or Uzi, and in the end I always come to the same conclusion: they've simply put much more time in with the pencil than I have
Garver, Jack Rudy, Cartoon also do really great ladies

It's funny how when you pick just one basic design the possibilities are endless. So since we're talking about panther tattoos, tiger tattoos, etc., what do you like in a lady head? And who do you like for a lady head? Contemporary tattooer or past tattooer?
I'm not a tattooer myself, but I like dark eyes/eyelashes and the heavy makeup/color thing. And lots of dark hair.
Bailey Robinson does some really great ones..
http://copperbeehive.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/a-piece-of-you-for-a-piece-of-me/face/
http://copperbeehive.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/i-have-no-idea-what-i-meant-to-be/lady-2/
On the other end of the spectrum I also like Todd Noble's softer ladies:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=497092566067&set=a.468392576067.266608.620436067

Hi! Welcome! Hello!
First lovely piece of advice, don't refer to yourself as a "canvas."

That said, please stick around. Lots of good tattooing talked about round these parts.

Lets put this to bed with this timely shot of Lemmy

Where are my manners? I've been posting in the forum and I have yet to introduce myself, so here goes nothing. I'm 23 years young and as I've said before currently live at home with the parents in Central Jersey and work in NYC. Growing up I always admired tattoos and wanted to get one mainly because of my fathers small winged dragon that he has on his arm that he got when he was young (wish he'd let me snap a pic). Once I turned 18 I knew I was going to get a tattoo it was just a matter of who, what, where and when. If there was one thing I did know..... it was that I wanted a quality tattoo and was interested in Japanese as I was just fascinated by the imagery and artwork. A few years ago I eventually found out about Kings Ave and just loved Justin Weatherholtz work so I booked an appointment for my first tattoo..... a calf sleeve. I told myself and more importantly my mother that it would be my first and last tattoo. A year later I got an Oni on my other leg from Justin. A year after that I'm currently getting a half sleeve with a chest panel from O'Donnell with upcoming tattoos from Chad Koeplinger, Henning, and Rubendall. So much for only one tattoo. Pics below!

If you have more tattoo machines than clients, that is too much.
Guy who tried to be a tattooer I know, worked one day a week had to bring his own clientele, always had a new machine to show off, never had anyone to tattoo.

Wow! That's the attitude that every great tattooer had when they started.
I've never worked in a tattoo shop with Photoshop. I've never showed a customer digital mock-ups or proofs.
I can show a customer a sketch and have them in the chair before I could even open the file in Photoshop. That's not 'cos I'm old and slow (I was a graphic designer for a decade before I was a tattooer)
I use a copy machine % +/- every day. but sometimes it's much quicker, ant the end result fits better if I draw it on the skin with pens or markers.
Nobody was born great at lettering but you can bet your paint-bucket tool that they didn't get good by tracing fonts or typefaces.

The newest contestant of Ink Master has arrived.
- - - Updated - - -
Part of me hopes this is Karl Hedgepath playing a joke on us.

Hi, Joe!!!!!! Here is our first gift to you: Last Sparrow Tattoo - Newbie Guidelines

yes!

I hate to bust balls, but I don't think people are going to answer your question, it kind of blurs the line of talking about technical stuff. It may seem like no big deal, but if some person who is tattooing out of their kitchen reads this forum, I would rather them have to figure it out for themselves than give them the answer to stuff like that. I am not discrediting your question, but just this forum isn't the place for it and it sounds like you know enough other tattooers to find out the answer anyway.

Well all i can say is weather you agreed with Huck as a business man or not he was a huge part of the tattoo world and for that we all can agree. Some hated him because he was the biggest tattoo supplier name for years and years with advertisement in almost every magazine selling starter kits and what seems to have become the blue print to shops and stores that are now selling supplies with no inhibitions. Others knew him as the ex-business partner of the late Paul Rogers and also have an opinion of him from those stories, but many of us were in the Spaulding starter kit generation and the book A-Z was a large part of our beginning into the tattoo world. so it seems that no matter what side you were on in the world where Huck Spaulding was we have indeed lost a huge part of an older tattoo world and with that said, R.I.P. Huck.

Here is the one from my copy.
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My biggest pet peeve is how everyone now specializes in tattooing because they have happened to see an episode of Miami Ink or LA Ink... I still have no idea what I am doing yet they do... Fuck it... I have seen an episode of Dr. 90210... Anyone want a nose job or a face lift... Just saying... I am now starting to hold consultations for breast augmentations...

People who's spouse, significant other, or loud tattooed friend does all the talking for them. "Oh, he want's it like this, not like this.", "we would like something that goes on her wrist. so she can read it. because, you know, this one is for her...."
The fuck outta here with that shit.

i hate that, too. i always blatantly ignore the loudmouth know-it-all and talk directly to the customer. then i don't let the loudmouth come past the wall for the tattooing.

1. People bringing their kids to the shop. Nothing pisses me off more.
2. People canceling the day of the appointment OR them "forgetting" they had an appointment. Thanks for the deposit and wasting my time.
3. Asking how much "a rose" is or how much "some letters" are or a how much a "medium tattoo" costs. Fucker, how much is a new car or a bag of groceries? I don't know!
4. Trying to get me to price match with other shops like Im Walmart.
5. Parents that bring their kids in to get tattooed, even though they dont approve, and act shitty to me when I do the tattoo.
6. When a client's friend is with them while getting tattooed and they tell their friend, "its almost done"... um... did i say it was? no... it isnt.
7. Clients who talk with their hands or keep moving their head fast when Im tattooing them.
8. Clients I dont know on a certain level that think Im their therapist.
9. People who think I love L.A. Ink. and "have to get a tattoo from Kat Von D before they die".
10. Clients that put their friend's opinion before their own.
I was bitter towards people before becoming a tattooer from working retail... it only got worse. I could go on all day. Im really not an asshole.

The phones are an every day occurrence. It's always "I wanna get this...." I say, "A blackberry? The iphone is cooler looking, you should get that tattooed on you,"...chirp chirp fucking retards. Nothing against retards. My other one is "Yeah, I have my reference, can I use your computer?" What the fuck? Use your own, spoiled fucks try to put a little effort into it, just a little. If twenty years ago you told me that 90% of everyone I tattooed was gonna bring me a picture of a tattoo they downloaded off the internet as reference I would have laughed my ass off. But I have to say, it save a lot of the "thats not at all what I wanted" crap. Fuck! Where have we come too?

i hate it when the client rings up on the day of his appt and says " sorry i can't come in , i got called into work" really motherfucker so did i , two months ago when you booked in

@SailorClaire welcome and think you just got your Community Research 101 course on going into a community todo research without doing research ahead of time and how that can backfire therefore excluding you from being able todo actual research. Consider it a gift very few grad schools could teach their students. A researcher needs to be more humble. The only thing we know is nothing and we are always students. There is no master!
Unfortunately this hierarchical thought process that grad schools give their students who are accepted and/or graduate is historically how many researchers have tried todo research and it is almost like colonialism thus leaving a bad after taste on the community long after the researcher has left the community...i.e. what did the community actually gain from partaking? Or, how factual is this researchers work if they didn't actually enter the community? Amongst many other things, any good person questioning your thesis would ask then leaving your research irrelevant. Or even worse drawing a BS (yes that is a clinical term, haha) research study that influences others who care not to actually learn about a topic or community, i.e. mainstream news or books. These are thoughts to help you better defend your thesis when the time comes.
As a professional who does lots of work in communities and research internationally your pitch to do the research is what I fight not to do. May I suggest a book for you? Research Methods for Community Change; A Project-Based Approach by Randy Stoecker. I am just one of many people who work with many exploited populations so I write this as a polite offering.
Lastly, as was suggested by many LSTers take a look around the site and I think you will find lots of good pre-research to your research....consider it a Lit Review. I had one of my old staff actually join the site for her thesis on Tattooed Professional Women in Social Work and she got some impressive results from LSTers. So check out that search feature and put it to use and maybe reintroduce yourself and maybe the community will re-welcome you.
LSTers, thank you for voicing your concerns politely and offering constructive criticism so this site is not exploited!!! As well as an opportunity to teach the ones who unfortunately get into positions to teach about others when they are not a part of the other and/or truly know about the other(s)
EDIT: oh yeah as one of the site owners you may want to contact us first or if you're trying this on other forums as well the mods.....

@SailorClaire Matt Lodder beat you to it by a few years. My opinion of this subject aside, I presume you've read The Post Modified Body?
I skimmed your proposal and read the first questions. I must say, I'm not impressed. You won't get any further insight or information than a Daily Mail article or any of the tattoo books you can buy in HMV.
Here's my opinion: When it comes to tattoos (and probably other areas of life), anything online is very far from the reality of the situation. Speak to real people in the real world and get a more honest view of what you're writing about.
I don't know why I keep saying this to academics, they rarely listen...

Well @SailorClaire, you could have asked us before you just threw down what you'd be doing. Im sure if you participated in this forum beyond what you can gain from it (your thesis paper), many of the women on here wouldn't mind participating.
If you love tattoos, then participate in the threads on the forum... Im sure that we'd love the input.
its always better to give as much as you take away

Sorry to be so rude as to not read all of that but basically you signed up to take take take and not give back to the forum? Do you even have tattoos? This seems pretty one sided from where I'm standing...

Oh yeah....that's what im talkin bout....another star is born. We've got oil embargos , howzabout tattoo kit embargos. You ever look at "Lucky Supply's'' tattoo kits? ya gotta love it.