bongsau

are you talking about inverting the image contrast? like the outline is skin (negative) and the background is shading? sorry i don't follow

you mean grey shade like this? it's my tattoo based off the mc escher dragon...without the shading my dragon would definately loose the 3-d optical illusion shading could give some depth but also risk making the image/tattoo look muddy i would guess that many just leave these woodcut/illustrative style tattoos as simple lines to make the style more readable on skin. shading out the negative will change the 'look' of the tattoo examples you posted. btw Saint Sebastiano tattoo would be really cool...

hey that's great, lots to see and do here, weather is looking great this month. Lots of tattoo shops for you to check out. I'll probably be at the tattoo show one of the days, I'll drop by and say hello :cool:

just notice this Margarita...The Saskatoon, Vancouver and Edmonton tattoo conventions are in April. I think the Montreal and Calgary conventions are in October. Summer/Fall is the best time to see Canada. Don't come in the winter! The major Canadian cities are really spaced out, so while the scenery is beautiful the drives are really long. My $0.02 check out the west coast - Vancouver and take the ferry to Vancouver Island. Ocean, mountains. just go see the sights and visit a few cool shops along the way. good luck

+1 I recommend the same. Jesse Strong. or perhaps Miles Kanne (I've been tattooed by him several times over the years). Someone at the Steveston Tattoo Co shop can polish your turd and turn it into gold; something that before made you feel anxious but after will make you feel proud. They know their game so go talk to someone -in person- in that shop and be open to their suggestion. Don't be hesitant of going beyond what you think are your limits. i.e. bigger bolder colour etc. Let the tattoo challenge what you think is possible. Most importantly be patient. That is what tattooing has taught me. welcome and good luck :) http://websta.me/n/stevestontattoocompany http://websta.me/n/mrjessestrong http://websta.me/n/mileskanne

tattooing isn't a race (despite how the internetz can make us feel) if you aren't sure what to get...DO NOT get the tattoo, you aren't ready. be sure of what you want...whether you've been manifesting the idea for years or just picking the flash off the wall with like 'yeah that's the one'...be sure of what you want. myself...i get a rough idea of what the tattoo is to be of and where i want it to go (at this point in my journey, placement comes first). my inspiration is life, art, music, culture, being and breathing. air, water, fire. blackness and emptiness, technicolour and psychedelia. simple ideas. complex ideas. concept ideas. stupid ideas. the ideas just happen when i am ready to accept them. my first one was 6 years in the making. my last one was 4 months and the one before that was 5 minutes. you just know. it feels right. i can look at myself in the mirror and see the new tattoo THERE on the empty skin. like looking into the future. that's when i know i'm ready for the next. tattoo is not a trivial thing as the internet and pedestrian people have fooled the mainstream into believing. there is more to it than what can come across on a 2"x2" smartsphone screen, an algorithm and app. tattoo, you gotta be it and do it. good luck to you Chris1 :cool:

these photos are detail close-ups of a 10 year old tattoo. if the tattooing is of a strong design and applied well than you shouldn't have to worry about details holding up over time. for the record, the little bugs inside the old tattoo are each about the size of a $0.25 piece.

Managing $5M worth of construction and just wrapping up another $1M design. High voltage electrical projects. And to counterbalance that I just got the go ahead on a small contract to do engineered drawings for a new commercial space...for cosmetic tattooing. This is really amusing that I am overlapping my professional life and deviant lifestyle. Make dat green lol

lol, zing !Tattoos are not for everyone.

WARM-UP: Get a good sleep the night before. Eat a good meal before. Drink lots of water before. Water during (or hot water/tea) STRETCH - it's not just about stretching the part getting tattooed, but stretch out your whole body to get through the weird positions and strain you may find yourself in...people underestimate this. DURING: Bring a meal for the mid-point break. Not junk food, like an actual meal. Or healthy snacks like nuts, fruits, veggies. RELAX - get your head in the right space. Worrying will make it worse. Relax the feet, the body will follow. And don't forget to breathe. Hold your breath and you will pass out. and when you finally hear "ok i think we're done"...just chill and enjoy the moment before you get up slowly. Jump off the table to quickly, guaranteed you will get a blood rush and possibly pass out. Don't be a pussy - it's just a tattoo, you can do it ;) POST-TATTOO.. Drink a couple beers and smoke a joint, Guaranteed to make you pass out ! Relax. The pain is over...for a few hours until you have to peel that damn tape off the bandage and the shower water hits the fresh tattoo a-o !

It is all gnarly !!

Had an hour and change of retouches yesterday with my heavy-handed-homeboy Ollie...reminded of the gnarly memories of all my fave spots...retouched pieces on both thighs/side-butt, background shading up down around the outside knee joint, relined the eyes across my stomach. And I love/hated every second of it. Sometimes I wonder if I like tattooing as much as I do is because it feels like stabbing yourself with a fork only the end result is a little cleaner. It is a good thing tattoos hurt. If they didn't hurt I probably wouldn't get them.

@rufio i suppose, although i put a dragon on R hand a few months ago. There's already a dragonfly on my L wrist that creeps onto the hand so i'm adding the snake to make the tattoo cuts symmetrical and fill in the underside of my wrist so my sleeve drops down to the crease. I guess not that bold since i've got wings creeping my collar and a butterfly on the back of my head! cheers

well, booked in next month for a hand/wrist snake with Scott Rusknak. A bit anxious now that it's in the book but I know it is going to turn out aces !

Touchups and party rap with OllieXXX next week. Trying to line up a tatt-party at Liberty Tattoo for when we hit up Seattle in July. May also try to squeeze in another banger before then, lots of space and lots of dumb ideas!

all good. it was fast to write. i have the writeup saved because i often get asked what's up in E-town. cheers

i think it's a nice old mom rose keep it and patch a bunch of traditional style tattoos around it

cheers thx GraemeHi Becky @Clementine People ask me hey Budd where did ya get your tattoos done. I just say "Edmonton" haha. We have a lot of tattoo shops per capita which is a good and bad thing. In the sense that we have a lot of accessible good tattooers and saturated with what I consider just-average tattooers; it can be tricky to navigate as a newcomer. Your first tattoo...the shop itself should as an important qualifier as the tattooers portfolio because we want you to have an awesome and memorable first experience. Champion Tattoo * This is Shawn Hedley's shop. He has been tattooing for a long time and is a 'tattooers tattooer'. He is superfriendly, has some great war stories and has a reputation for customer satisfaction. I'd like to get something from Shawn one of these days. Teddy Kardos* has a few years of experience and is pretty good. Solid dude. He has been tattooed by a lot of wicked tattooers so he knows his stuff. I have the 2nd worst tattoo he's done lol. Champion looks and feels like a tattoo shop should in my eyes. Walkins always available in all styles. I've been pointing people here lately cause I had such awesome experiences at the shop last year. Showdown Tattoo & Skateboards Dope shop in Chinatown. Casper* works out of here that's who first came to mind for what you've described in your post. I've got some early colour work on my legs from Casper which is funny cause he runs the Blackworkers page and tattoos in black ink exclusively. This is your guy if you want that illustrative/black style. Ryan Buttar does some dope colour traditional and also seen some nice geometric/mandala/fillagree black tattoos. Andrew is a rad dude and does it all. Get Taz or Hot Stuff from him. Doing Tattoo This is Severino's shop. He does some incredible grafitti neo-japanese in a very unique big style. OllieXXX* is my homie he's done about 25% of my tattoos. He does it all but really if you want the brightest god damn colours around and black that's blacker than blackity black. His tattoos are fast and furious but damn do they hold up. Kat may be also be a good choice if you want illustrative or portrait black n grey tattoo. * I've been tattooed at the shop or by the person Other decent shops: Lucky Strike Tattoo* Fountainhead Tattoo Easy Tiger Tattoo - Spencer Evans new shop. Bunch of pals have small trad bangers from him and they like em. Shades of Grey Tattoo* - cool spot on whyte, esp if you like geek stuff like star wars. Danny Gordey just started doing walkins on weekends here which is amazing opportunity to get a piece from one of the OG-best tattooists in town. Kirk Shandro - i think he's at atomic dragon or something. nice young dude with a sick tattoo and flash collection. actually his simple black illustrative tattoos may be up your alley. I know you've said black n grey...that's what i wanted and got for my first...and ended up with a big colourful background. and 10 years later a royGbiv bodysuit life is much fuller in colour. And don't be afraid to go much bigger than you planned ;) tattoos look better that way eh It really depends what YOU want, I mean that's what tattooing is all about. But here's a starting point. The rest of the work is you. Good luck ! and let us know how it turns out.

a reminder of the risks of tattooing in haste. measure twice cut once cover up or accept 13-14 as your new mantra

hi lanelle relax there's nothing you can do now but wait and not worry about it until it is full healed. don't let the post tattoo anxiety get the best of ya there is a high probability the tattoo will be...just fine !

I've only been to NYC once and that was 12 years ago...but I remember stompin' from Brooklyn to Williamsburgh to find Flyrite Tattoo on the advice of a tattooed NY friend. It was a super cool joint just to walkin, look around and get a wall-flash-overload !

@jikkyo very nice progress. not an easy spot either. kudos on starting out at a good pace, keep the momentum going. - - - Updated - - - @jikkyo very nice progress. not an easy spot either. kudos on starting out at a good pace, keep the momentum going.

perhaps my reply was a bit brash...but brutal honesty is what was asked. Open a hair salon or barber shop.

My $0.02 A G-rated tattoo shop...jesus haven't tattoos been watered down enough? A play area for kids...its a TATTOO shop not a dermatologist office...lots of swearing, war stories, casual nudity, dirty and taboo humour, mystery, intimidation and no bullshit. That to me is what belongs in a tattoo shop. Not a friggin ball room to keep the kids occupied for a couple hours. Its a tattoo shop not a McDonalds or Ikea. Get a babysitter. Sit down, shut up and don't move...that's what a tattoo shop is to me. And I don't think that sounds very fun for a kid. I got tattooed in shop and a tattoo enthusiast popped in with her kids to visit and say hello. It ended with mom spinning her brat around in one of the empty chairs and the kid bumping into the table while I was getting tattooed. I don't want to see your kids when I get tattooed. It's distracting. Tattoo time is my time. And you probably don't want your kids to see my balls hanging out on the table when I get my belt line tattooed. Get your ass-crack tattooed and then reevaluate your business venture. Keep tattoo shops R-Rated and 18+ (fake IDs accepted).

i think it is unnecessary, but in the spirit of tattooing it is up to the individual/tattooer team. my chestpiece goes right up and completly around the nips, very close and uses pink peach and red tones to blend them in. you can maybe see what i'm talking about in my galleria. i guess it really depends on the look you're going for.