guiniveretoo

Zombies.

Second hit on my back. Lined the butt and hamstring, put scales on the snake. All outlines on now so should see some good progress after the next couple sessions. Stoked on how this is turning out. Sorry for the full moon shots its the only way to show this off!!

tonight's post is featuring all back pieces/body suits by the absurdly talented Filip Leu. I'm actually a little surprised no one's posted any pics of his yet in this thread...

Really great Robin. I think the idea you're getting at extends beyond tattooing and photography though... I think what you're really getting at is the nature of the art of creation. I've been thinking about this a lot anyways and here's how I look at it...
There are people who have immense fantasy world's (CREATIVE VISION) in their head but cannot articulate/illustrate/convey/EXECUTE what they have seen in their head.
Similarly, there are people with a photographic memory of sorts- they can see/hear/taste something in the outside world (no CREATIVE VISION) and recreate/EXECUTE it beautifully.
And then there's a range of people in between (the greys) who are skilled in various amounts of both Creative Vision and Execution. For most art forms, the perfect melding of creative vision and execution is where we see greatness. There are forms however like still life painting where execution is revered. Similarly there are forms like stream of consciousness writing where creative vision is revered.
But what we're concerned about in the realm of tattooing is definitely the combination of creative vision and execution. Most of us want to see original, well thought art in a professionally done manner. Technique/execution can be learned with practice/work. Creative vision on the other hand is much less teachable and is therefore much more mystical/less tangible (I.E. what you're referencing with Christenberry, Robin.)
By the way, what I'm discussing is not limited to art forms either. It can be applied to any human pursuit that requires ingenuity and performance.

That is BA! Thanks for the treat. Can't help but love a tattoo you can see from across the room and know what it is but that can be seen from across the street, very cool.
All said and done, it's the skill, pigment and the care of the artist's that tattoo "for the long run" e.g. those whom, with the foresight and forethought, that tattoo with longevity in mind and not a pic for the portfolio. This is to say that, when someone enters into your establishment and a tattoo you did 21 plus years ago is still holding well in pigment and they are there for another tattoo and not a "renewal" then you have validation that you have been doing "true tattooing in it's intended form" for those 21 plus years.
Dye lotts and maintaining proper pigments is a major key in the answer to the question posed here as longevity is the goal. I think we all can admit to ourselves that if you do a color portrait with a dozen shades of this and another dozen of that and still another dozen shades of another color until you have forty caps of ink from varying suppliers then you can expect a somewhat tye dye effect in the long run of the life of the tattoo and the smile on the customer, ha!
Mixing down the individual color and creating multiple shades from the same "tried and true" color lott's should yield the best results for longevity sake. I started maintaining my "dye lotts" in the early 80's and still have pigments I stocked from back when and what started me on that road was when I had read George Burchetts memoirs where he spoke of the difficulty he had in searching and collecting "ink" in a day and age where most if not all of what you could obtain was of quill pen "ink" variety, it almost begs the question of "what" he used when he tattooed the Queen out of her Doctors"surgery" as he called it.
A fine example of obtaining good pigment in more recent times would be when "tribal" came to be so popular in the USA, simple bold black.....it was like everybody was stumped for finding something so simple and I was one of those spending loads on what some claimed was the best, I threw out several tubbs of stuff I had good money in and reworked for free what boomeranged back while experimenting, ha! Truth had it that pitch black was always around all along, it just took some mixing to create something you would never use for detail work as it needs to be at that "stain" value.
Anyhow, I always bear in mind the longevity of what I do whether portrait or Pegasus, makes for good rep return business and ultimately is what should be considered "proper" in tattooing for the sake of the trade.

So you got family friendly tattoos but want a non-family friendly tattoo that says you don't like how tattoos are now family friendly? Just get what you like dude and don't worry about hipsters or hippies or whoever. Stick with something you identify with and you can't lose, everyone else be damned. (Apologies if this came off extra cranky, long day yesterday.)

Having magazines with somewhat tasteful nudes is not a problem. Having gaping holes and chicks being sprayed with cum out in public is low class. Those mags are made for private viewing. Yeah I judge people. So what. Anyway, I have nothing against porn. But a smart business man/woman wouldn't have such red flags out in the open for "just anybody" to see. My 2 cents. I mean if you have hustler in your lobby, chances are some creep is gonna jagoff in your bathroom. You think they won't? Think again. You wanna clean that up? Most shops get playboy delivered free these days. We keep them in the office. They would just get stolen anyway.

Mike Moses, Thicker Than Water NYC:

Not as long as she gets to bite his head off when it's over. :p

Not as long as she gets to bite his head off when it's over. :p

Gots to disagree on that, but hey-a lack of uniformity is a good thing.
Loud music, cussing, locker-room convo in general, all of that is different from real-live hardcore porn. Again, I'm not talking Playboy, all of that genre, but Hustler type stuff.
To me it's pretty simple.
Tattooing, as a whole, has moved out of the shadows and arcades of the world and into the supposedly "legit" business world. If you run an "underground" shop, one that caters to those who by choice are outside of societal norms, i.e.; hardcore scooter tramps, tattoo aficionados, and others who are part of one "scene" or another, then you can put out anything you want and you probably won't lose too many customers.
All depends on what your definition of "too many" is! If you want to have a guy walk out who is willing to spend thousands on some serious coverage, well, I wish I had your money!
IF you run a shop that is "professional", and caters to a diverse crowd, then it's probably better for you to have a professional atmosphere, at least in your waiting area. This is where people come in and form an impression of your shop, of you, and of your work. This is where they whup out that long green and hand it to the person at the counter. Not the place for crotch-shots and fuck-you's.
Here's the thing. I'm what many describe as a "biker", am fairly heavily tattooed, engage in all sorts of behaviors that others may view as a bit sketchy, and I've even been know to look at porn now and then. All that said, I run a business, and when I'm working at my business, even if my tattoing is visible, which it usually is, I don't use profanity, and no way in hell would I ever allow a porno mag to come out of the shop area and into the offices.
It's all what you want. You want a big, fancy, wide-open shop, then you had best to be at least a tad professional about it. You want a more underground vibe, then hey, do what you will!
As a last note, I guess I never realized I'm an "uptight pain in the ass", thanks for setting me straight on that.

I'm more interested in the art & artists that a shop has to offer. If they need to distract people so badly from their bad art that they leave porn lying around, it's probably not worth being there. Sorry, fuckhead, but if they are that awesome, they don't need to supplement their bad-assery with poor "art."
As a woman, porn in a public area is pretty off-putting; if I wanted to hang out in a bachelor pad I'd go down to the frat house. I want to work with a professional artist, not some sleazeball who'll jack off in the bathroom after my session.

I'm more interested in the art & artists that a shop has to offer. If they need to distract people so badly from their bad art that they leave porn lying around, it's probably not worth being there. Sorry, fuckhead, but if they are that awesome, they don't need to supplement their bad-assery with poor "art."
As a woman, porn in a public area is pretty off-putting; if I wanted to hang out in a bachelor pad I'd go down to the frat house. I want to work with a professional artist, not some sleazeball who'll jack off in the bathroom after my session.

I think Bunny hit the nail on the head for me here.
Tattoo magazines are just slutty looking chicks with little to no clothing on and shitty tattoos, so not any different than a 'real' porno mag other than the tattoo mags don't show an actual vagina hole. I mean obviously a porn mag is way further than just a slutty dressed chick as far as what's being shown but as far as a (and I hate to use this word but) feminist point of view, the chick in the tatt mags are worse cause they aren't even getting paid for it.
But yeah, as far as this topic goes in relation to porn being in shops, I think it comes down to most shops are all men, men tend not to realize what the middle aged soccer mom they tattoo might be offended by.
Personally, I don't understand why anyone would need or want to view pornography in any situation other than while masturbating or with the person you're about to fuck. Why do you need to look at a spread asshole while you wait to get tattooed? Can't you just look at a magazine about music or art or literature or whatever. Fly fishing maybe.
Do shops have these laying about just to prove how bad ass they are?

I wouldn't be "upset" about the presence of any mag, but I'd question the shop-owners professionalism. Here ya go-I'm taking my 14 y.o. daughter with me this Friday when I go in to get some work done. Do I want her to have to look at a Hustler laying out in the open? No. do I want some skeezix reading Hustler and looking at my daughter? No-I'd rather not spend the night in Cook County Jail after I break his sticks.
Porn doesn't upset me in any way, and I couldn't care less if the private areas of a shop are covered in it, but it has no place out in the open in a business. ANY business. Another poster talked about his barber. Hell, my barber had mags in the backroom too-Esquire was about the hottest thing going then, but even in a business that caters primarily to men, you don't leave porn laying around out in the open.
That said, different strokes for different folks. Literally. If I went into a shop to get some work done, and saw hardcore laying on the table, I'd walk out. But that's just me. I want my work to be done in a clean, professional shop, not someplace where the vibe is "let's burn one off and dig the latest "Big up Front" while we wait for some sucker to come get scratched." Might be harsh, but that's how I'd see it.