losParanoyas

Might as well add my recent tattoo to this thread. ;)
Done by Steve Byrne at Rock of Ages in Austin.

Tony Hundahl just posted dates on his Instagram for the end of this month for when he's doing a guest spot at Invictus! Welcome to the forum!

Tony Hundahl just posted dates on his Instagram for the end of this month for when he's doing a guest spot at Invictus! Welcome to the forum!

I'm just gonna toss this out there and then fuck off to eat crap hotel food and ogle my new Gilsdorf tattoo:
I've seen plenty of people who don't like traditional best come here and express their opinions without getting everybody's hackles up. Nobody cares what other people like.
People get riled up when someone starts making condescending remarks about how the thing they love is in some way inferior - especially since that's a completely subjective opinion that has zero to do with fact. Everybody gets that you think trad is 'inferior' and 'for posers' (the latter of which is weird to me, because wtf, American tattooing was born on one-shot military pieces, but okay). They just don't want to constantly hear about it.
And it's kinda pass-agg to say things like 'true masters of tattooing,' insulting all of the other bitchin artists who are, yes, doing traditional work.
Tl;dr: nobody cares that you don't hold traditional in the same esteem as other styles. Just stop being a dick about it! Then we can all go back to just appreciating the stuff we DO like.

Well, I think a good majority here are aware of these people. I love Aaron Cain, Pacheco and James Tex. Certainly not oblivious to it. I'm also certain that I don't have a tattoo machine tattooed on my hand, but I can recognize most on site. There isn't a Captain Big Nuts card to attain around here. I certainly am not interested in making anyone stay if they feel like they don't belong. Just know your audience. Period.

Traditional and Japanese are hands down my favorite styles of tattooing. A really interesting thing is happening in the development of traditional tattoos right now, where artists are keeping in tradition with the technique and tools of prior generations but really branching out in subject matter, concept, and style. For instance, look at the work of James McKenna, Aidan Monahan, or Slawomir Nietschke. All of whom keep with the bold line, heavy black, saturated color, negative space ratios, and dynamic designs, while exploring very interesting and wacky themes. Or even the less weird but still very advanced and finessed work of artists like Herb Aeurbach, Paul Dobleman, or Gordon Combs. It's a super cool and exciting thing to be happening within a particular school of thought and is what makes the style most interesting to me.
It seems to me that the general populace prefers realism or new school tattoos, or even the more painterly stuff. If that's your preference, I don't really care, but I do attribute it largely to ignorance and a magpie effect.

Done yesterday by Mr. Chad Kopelinger at Rock of Ages... In 1.5 hours... Someone needs to do a study on how he can tattoo so god damn fast. Really awesome experience all around.
- - - Updated - - -
Such a good tattoo. We both had a nice painful day yesterday.

So, I have an appointment with Shige later in the year to talk about getting tattooed by him.
He knows I don't have much space left for pieces of the size he prefers to work on, so I'm hoping he'll agree to do a smaller tattoo on me. We'll see how it works out but fingers crossed.
Really excited about this. I've been tattooed by Tomo and it would make me really happy to also get something from Shige.

Thank you very much!! I am thrilled with it.
You aren't alone in those feelings. His instagram gets comments frequently from people lamenting the passing of his 'animals wearing necklaces' phase, though less these days than before, since he refuses to tattoo it anymore. That original style is what first drew me to him; it's beautiful artwork and seriously impressive...but maybe not very optimal for a tattoo.
He's told me that he was really into it while he was doing it, but he was tired of it, and he said he's realized they're all going to age very poorly. Listening to him talk to one of the other tattooers in the shop one night, he also said he finds doing the actual tattooing with traditional much more satisfying and enjoyable -- that he used to enjoy when he achieved the effect he was going for with the neo-trad, but he didn't actually enjoy the labor of it.
This last time I was down there, he talked about how he admires the simple economy/elegance of the designs...that he's played with altering some of them and most of the time he discovers that the thinking that went into that simplicity is actually extremely complex, and most of the designs he likes best just cannot be improved on; that it's difficult to change parts of them without compromising something else.
As for the sleeve thing, originally I did want a full sleeve. I've known I wanted to be tattooed since I was pretty young -- early teens -- but I wasn't much for American traditional. I made a lot of the same ill-informed judgements about things like flash and whatnot that I hear other people making these days. I did love Japanese traditional, though. I wanted to be covered with it! I even exchanged faxes with Horiyoshi III back in the day. (Faxes. Seriously.)
I don't regret the way things worked out, though. Like Bmore, I find the use of negative space extremely striking. It's fun to show up to the shop and not know what you're going to be getting; it's sort of like getting a present. And you can get all kinds of different things -- so many different artists doing different takes on all kinds of styles and subject matter. Full sleeves (and squid pants :o) are gorgeous in their own way, but they eat up real estate. It's a trade-off, I guess.
Also, I sort of feel that piecemeal sleeves like this one ARE full sleeves, in a way. You may not know what the full character of the sleeve will be until it's done, but when I see people who have whole limbs done in this style I still get a very specific impression from the overall collection of images -- something with no less an identity as a cohesive piece. It's one of the things I was thinking about when I read all of the nice comments on the other thread...I almost wish I could get some distance on my arm and see it the way other people see it, as a whole thing rather than a collection of parts. It's hard to do when it's on myself, for whatever reason.

Hokay, cross-posting by request, cos SeeSea is such a flatterer. I was going to wait until Greg posted the pictures he took of the new stuff, but he may not. Sun came out today when I was about to head to the gym, so I tried to get some myself.
I got a diving girl, and we started a cobra, though we didn't finish it. They're looking a little bit foggy/chalky because I peel fast; they'll probably start flaking by tomorrow. It makes it hard to see the blue details in the diving girl, sadly. Sorry for the terrible angles!


These links are just an overview of the whole thing, before we added the cobra.
https://instagram.com/p/1gugZ7TBPK/
https://instagram.com/p/1guZOxTBO-/

I'm booked in with Chad Koeplinger when he comes to Oslo next month! Really excited!

A week from now I'll be finishing up my 5th session with Thomas at ROA. All the outline is complete, so psyched to get into some more serious shading.

Next session with Kore Flatmo is 2 weeks away! Then I start stomach/rib pieces with Thomas Hooper a few weeks after that! Super pumped!

It turns out that it's really difficult to take pictures of your inner biceps but here are mine. The skull is from Ron Henry Wells and the Haeckel mandala type deal is from Thomas Hooper. I am glad I don't have to get that part of my body tattooed anymore.

Next session with Kore Flatmo is 2 weeks away! Then I start stomach/rib pieces with Thomas Hooper a few weeks after that! Super pumped!

I had my first session (outlining the sleeve) yesterday. I was sure that I had made a good choice with Chris and now I'm even more sure. Great guy, great work. I've only had one tattoo before and nothing at all like this size, so I was a little apprehensive but I thought it went well. Even the worst part for me, the elbow ditch, wasn't all that bad.
I also had a nice surprise. Several people on here suggested I have Mike Dorsey do the work. I didn't ignore that advice, but for various reasons it didn't work out. So I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in to the shop and who was there? Mike Dorsey. Very nice guy - he stuck around while the stencil was applied and everyone looked at the placement.
Anyway, here's the first result. Back in three weeks for shading.

Next session with Kore Flatmo is 2 weeks away! Then I start stomach/rib pieces with Thomas Hooper a few weeks after that! Super pumped!

Next session with Kore Flatmo is 2 weeks away! Then I start stomach/rib pieces with Thomas Hooper a few weeks after that! Super pumped!

Next session with Kore Flatmo is 2 weeks away! Then I start stomach/rib pieces with Thomas Hooper a few weeks after that! Super pumped!

Next session with Kore Flatmo is 2 weeks away! Then I start stomach/rib pieces with Thomas Hooper a few weeks after that! Super pumped!

Next session with Kore Flatmo is 2 weeks away! Then I start stomach/rib pieces with Thomas Hooper a few weeks after that! Super pumped!

Kore's studio is mind blowing and he works with really awesome people. Hoopers work is amazing too. Great energy, have fun.

Goddamn you're good at life.

Next session with Kore Flatmo is 2 weeks away! Then I start stomach/rib pieces with Thomas Hooper a few weeks after that! Super pumped!