joakim urma

Getting a tiger claw coming out from circus fire ring in the ditch of my right arm, this saturday, from the recent Circus Tattoo flash sheet. To be put in by Bueno

Two days later I'm getting the side of my knee done with Andreas Ramstedt. Some positive Indian god-figure in profile angle. (Going to get a negative god on the other side later by someone else)

All in black n gray traditional style, of course.

My aunts man once asked me how much I paid for my elbow/lower arm tattoo. I told him and he was speechless for a while. Then he informed me that I could have gotten a moped for that price. I was 26 years old at the time.

I'm just going to add my own narcissistic ramblings on here too..

As for being a "tattooed person", I don't think I want to be one all the time. In order to be a normal "respectable" person I think I will save neck up and hands (even though I really enjoy seeing good hand tattoos). I like do be able to go undercover and not always be percieved as tattooed. Over the past two years I've gotten 15+ tattoos all in all and just a few weeks ago I visited a public outdoor swiming pool, a rare event for me. I swear it felt like everybody was scrutinizing me (or I am just self centered..) and it was both enjoyable and not, at the same time.

Some of you might know that I plan to only get black n gray work, and that I'm not into single needle stuff. So I think my tattoos will harmonize with eachother in a pleasant way (and that I will look awesome in the end, naturally). It has been mentioned that women of this thread tend to care more about balance and harmony when it comes to tattoo placement and shapes. If I would consider not covering my body I am sure I would be HUGE on harmony and balance. But now, since everything will get it's share of ink I just think of the time of imbalance as being a wrong that will be corrected. This autumn I'm getting the first tattoo on my left lower arm and also the back of my left knee, and I know I will feel a little better, in balance. I have both (man) breasts tattooed but I'm finding it hard to start something on the ribs, it will look so empty on the other side! I also think I will have to do both feet in a short time frame.

Negative space is very important to me. I really don't like how some people get a bunch of (a bit too small) traditional designs on their arms and then proceed to fill all the empty space between them with tiny fillers, stars, dots and what not. It just looks cluttered. When I first set out to get my arms tattooed I got a pretty dense and detailed tattoo on my outer left upper arm, and then put in another tattoo on the inside which ties together. I think it looks too busy now and I learned my lesson. Some space in between is the way to go.

While I do, more and more, begin to enjoy really large tattoos on other people, on me the only big ones will be my front piece (solar plexus down to pubic area) and back (neck to lower ass). Even if big scale japaneese stuff can look amazing it is more important for me to be able to get MANY tattoos. I want to be able to fit as many artists, styles, subjects and concepts as possible on my body. I like the whole story board feel, where each tattoo holds some kind of meaning/association/emotion that can change and vary both for me and whoever else sees my tattoos.

Down in the basement, alone with the hip bones - an introduction to Elliot Smith for the severely handicapped

Hey! Me and my brother are traveling over to London for the convention as well as some touristy stuff. I've got appointments with El Carlo, Deno and Jaclyn Réhe. I've been working far too much this summer, got to put the money some place ;)

Would be nice with a LST meet up!

Funny story about this...

I told this girl I know (not girlfriend) that I was thinking of getting a traditional Jesus head tattooed on my chest. She then goes on to tell me that it would be super awkward for any girl that I end having sex with, because when they look up they would see Jesus.

True story.

And here I was.. thinking I'd get a Jesus portrait at the top of my inner thigh. It's a perfect spot!

I think this one by Josh Stephens is the bomb!

This has been my favorite episode so far. Some of those back pieces were just to much to take in! Slowly I think I am starting to get and appreciate japanese style. I've seen that Vice part about Horiyoshi III earlier and it was interesting to get more words and insight from this fascinating man. As I was watching I was trying to grasp that this was the same person who liked (on instagram) one of the tattoos I have on me, just a month or so back. This modern world sure is strange.

For someone who only get black and gray work: I have had quite a few nightmares about artists by accident or miscommunication applying a super colorful piece on me. Last time this happened I found my left outer thigh to have a big and multicolored octopus on it, even though it's already covered with tattoos.

For the past two days I have had my friend J visiting me in Stockholm for the first time. I got to know him 10 years ago when we both started to skate. We spent some 8 hours skating this time and I learned and relearned a whole bunch of things. I don't know anything that I did back when I was 15 years old and still enjoy as much, maybe more. Good times!

Sadly it ended when I fucked up my ankle so today I spent the whole day indoors. The most productive thing was to scan and upload a bunch of drawings from my notebooks. I put them here: Joakim RMA

I'm really happy that I started to draw a lot again since last autumn. It's an awesome thing.

That's one hell of an offer! Tack så mycket. :) If I'm ever out your way, I'll definitely hit you up. He was out here very briefly a while back (I didn't know until he'd left) and he got tattooed by Stuart Cripwell. He seems like a very cool guy.

Just let me know! Yeah I think he was at Spider Murphy's for a guest spot (?) If I recall he seldom travels nowadays, except for the scottish convention. He is very cool and the shop is great too!

@mmikaoj where is Iain from originally? He's not Swedish, is he? I'm a big fan of his work, and he seems to be super fast, too.

He's from Scotland, some town. He's got his family and all here in Stockholm so I think he will stay here for a while. You should travel over here and get something from him, I can house you, no problem. He's the only swedish tattooer I always recommend when friends ask me for a good tattooer, no matter what they want to do. And yeah, he is ridiculously fast!

I'd choose Iain Mullen. He's working @ Imperial Tattoo, in Stockholm where I live. He is super versatile and can pull off any style really, yet you can still see that it comes from his own hands and brain. Very funny and nice man to chat with and as far as I can tell we share some ideas about what makes a great tattoo. Also he cares about art in general, not just tattoo art. When I got my elbow done by him he first told me how happy and stoked he was about the sketch, then set up the machine and went out for a cigarette. Came back just 2 minutes later with the words "To excited, man, I can't smoke! Let's do this!". For someone who's has been tattooing for more then 12 years, this is the level of involvement I like too see still.

@mmikaoj Rudy Fritsch rules can't wait to see that .

I'm stoked for sure. Getting a factory/heart on the front of my thigh. I really like his old wonky houses but I hope he will do it more detailed, in his current style. Whatever subject, he does it wonderful!

Planning a (tattoo) trip for this fall. Starting at the London Tattoo convention I'll snatch some pieces from El Carlo, maybe Jaclyn Rehe, a friend in Serbia and near the end of the trip: Rudy Fritsch and Dane Mancini in Trieste.

Also booked in with Bueno of Circus Tattoo, Madrid, for Stockholm Inkbash.

And there I was.. thinking I'd slow down on getting tattoos during 2013. Well well..

Edit: The Jaclyn Rehe-piece is happening. And hopefully I'm getting an eel done by Deno too, in London. Beyond happy! (And my wallet is the opposite)

Haven't done it YET.. but. Departing on a big trip tomorrow: Iceland for 10 days, boat to the Faroes, two days there and then boat to Denmark, train to Berlin, 4 days there and last 4 days in Prague. Will be traveling with a friend from across seas. With the same friend I just spent 4 days in Paris with (came home yesterday).

Also booking London Tattoo Convention trip with my brother for this autumn, and then on to Amsterdam and then I travel alone to Serbia to meet some friends, train past Trieste (Rudy Fritsch, yeah!) and last to Florence to pick olives with my X.

Probably going to Chile this winter too.

2013: the year of traveling.

Last time I was getting tattooed one of the other artists in the shop referred to me as "oh, a collector body!"

I don't have a problem with the term collector really, but as someone said "nerd" is more descriptive. I care a lot about tattoos and my body has a finite area so I care about what I put on it and who does the work.

I was going to call it quits and postpone tattoos until after summer, but today James McKenna posted up on instagram that he is visiting Stockholm on the 8:th - 10:th of june. So now I am getting an androgynous african shaman with some kind of predator cowl, head only and perhaps a hand, on the inside/front of my thigh. So amazingly stoked that this is happening, one of my absolute favorite tattooers who usually works on the other side of the earth.

I was going through a really rough period of my life when I got my first tattoo. I don't think I would have it now if I was thinking straight back then, but everything was very confusing to me and it must have seemed like a good idea to get ink. After coming down from the chaos I felt "ashamed" of the tattoo and tried really hard to hide it, when changing clothes at the gym and so on. Maybe I would never have started getting into tattoo art and have tattoos if I didn't start like that? So in a way I am happy that I got started, despite the circumstances. It took me a year before I finally had the first tattoo fixed with new outlines and some leaves around it. A year after that I got my second tattoo and this week I got my 22:th. I remember thinking up until quite recently that the tattoos I got was partly to lessen the impact and "stigma" of the first tattoo.

I don't know.. I feel narcissistic whenever I talk about my tattoos, but I really like my tattoos now. Looking at them in mirrors whenever I get the chance and looking at my legs in the shower and so on. I follow a great number of tattoo blogs and instagram-accounts, it's a part of my day to day-life to look at great work and think about what I like to get, find new artists and refine my taste. I also have a new way of relating to my body now, I like it much better and some days I even like the attention I get from other people.

Show me some good ones! New interpretations and old school flash are both welcome.

Big Rock of Ages with upside-down cross, tomorrow with Peter Lagergren. Super stoked!

Well I'm a snob about anything and everything that I care about and consider myself somewhat knowledgeable in. Tattoos are included. I however try to keep an open mind and not be too judgmental. In the end the one thing that is important is if the owner of the tattoo is happy with it, that should be everybody's main concern.

I think, as someone pointed out earlier, that we "snobs" should try to be helpful and informative (without being besserwizzers and The Style Police) when people ask us about (their) tattoos.

If one of my friends shows interest in tattoos I'd be happy to send him/her links and names and just hope that it will educational and further their taste. I have a younger brother who likes some of the things I enjoy and it has always been a struggle for me to not be too much of a teacher, at the same time I do think I am "right" in the things I like. Luckily he is turning more and more towards the kind of traditional tattoo style that I love. I don't have to push it as much haha..

I post a lot of tattoos on my tumblr-blog (uglyfreedom.tumblr.com) and that's just the very best of the things I see on a daily basis on blogs and instagram. Even from this selection I would only consider maybe 5% of the posted tattoos as something I could have on my own body. That's how much of a snob I am when it comes to tattoos.

I sometimes play the "shoe game" with myself. If I find myself waiting for someone/something in a public space I look at the shoes of people passing by and count how many shoes I would want to wear. I usually see less then one pair of shoes per minute that I would even consider wearing. I'm just particular like that with most things, tattoos, shoes, clothes, music. If it's worth wasting your time/money/concern with it has to be really good. Otherwise, why bother?

Back of the knee was pretty hard for me. I had trouble walking stairs and it would itch badly. I eventually had to have the whole thing redone because it healed so uneven. I think it was partially due to my new jeans being to stiff and full of nasty chemicals, but also just from the spot being really difficult to heal.

I decided early on that I would only get black and gray work. I am a pale native swede so I am sure colors would fit my skin but I just think black and gray looks good. I am pretty anal about matching clothes, for a long time I would wear mostly black and I think if I would have colors in my tattoos they would have to match each other and I would have to match my clothing with the colors in my tattoos.

That's just impossible to me! (I might come off as a bit weird here)

I don't know, I'm just a black and white kind of guy, I'm a photographer and I shoot mostly monochrome film too. I can drool over the subtle gradients or the harsh contrast in black and white photos for a looong time. And with tattoos, it's just beautiful with the skin and the shades.

Don't get me wrong though, I love a lot of the color tattoos I see every day and some of my favorite tattooers are very distinctly color artists. It's just not for me.

Having said that, whatever I put on my body is going to match a bit easier than for those of you who get different colors too. When I first started getting tattoos I had no clue about it really but soon I settled into a more traditional taste.

(The next sentenced I have tried to write 5 times all ready, struggling to not sound pretentious)

Nowadays I try to find artists with a style of their own, something that will shine through even without the help of colors. I'm pretty sure that to people who aren't as nerdy about tattoos as me and you, LST:ers, most of my tattoos probably look like they could have been made by the same 2-3 artists. But they aren't and I for one appreciate the fact that I can look at my tattoos and see each artists own vision and way of doing things.

So even if my scope is pretty narrow, disregarding any colors, I am letting different styles meet. For example I'd love to have something made by Hooper, I'm getting my second Deno-tattoo later this year, I have several ideas for tattoos to be made by Guy Le Tatooer and my next piece is going to be more neo-traditonal than anything I currently have.

</black n gray nerd rant)

Next one two weeks from now. Rock of ages, with the cross up side down on the side of my thigh. By Peter Lagergren at Malmö Classic.

Going to be a fun one and the last before summer.

Hey, do you guys get tattoos in the summer time too?

Being from sweden I can't really afford to miss out on the few months of sun bathing, swimming and outdoors skateboarding so I choose not to get anything new between late May and late August