joakim urma

I don't know if this is tmi, but I went on a semi-blind date last night.
It went really well, and I had a blast, but since neither of us were looking for anything serious, we just kept it casual.
We ended up making out, which is terrible I know on the first date, but after it was all said and done, he told me I was more beautiful than I realized.
Which just about melted my heart, since some of you may know I've had serious problems with dudes in the past and my self image.
So, even though I won't end up dating him, I finally feel like I can go out and start seriously dating, without worrying and doubting my looks and self image.
I realized that I can be more than I think I am, and that I can be liked for just being myself.
/end emotional speech

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I think when you're super broke someone being able to pay for a "treat" is very much appreciated!

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.

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)

I have significantly less money now that I have begun getting tattooed.

I'd planned to start working on ideas to connect my arms across my back and then be done for a while and now after looking at pics in the gallery and shop websites I'm trying to think of something to go around my ankles, around the other stuff I have there.
Bad influences, the lot 'a'ya.

Nice one! I am super excited to watch Alex Snelgrove grow as a tattooer because while she's putting on great tattoos right now, I think as she tattoos more and gets more experience she is going to be really amazing. She is such an incredible artist and her handpokes are completely ridiculous. There's a handpoked portrait on her instagram that is better than what I've seen a lot of people do with a machine.
- - - Updated - - -
Here you go, handpoked portait by Alex Snelgrove (this tattoo isn't on me):

http://instagram.com/snelgrove

Got a little walk in action today, at The OkeyDoke
Tattoo by Alex Snelgrove
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I think for me tattoos are part of a larger thing that changed my life...not caring what people think.
I was a really nerdy kid -- like cartoonishly so. To a great extent I still am it's just less evident at a glance. You have to wait til I open my mouth. I was a bullied, targeted kid with more heavy problems than I care to share. I did not fit in...anywhere...but something happened when I was young. Punk rock. Changed everything. I was never going to be a part of the group. I was never going to be accepted or acceptable and more than that, I didn't care to be. If you're going to keep me on the outside, fine. Now I have no reason not to just go about the business of being true to myself. There's something liberating about removing yourself from the struggle to be accepted...outwardly sending the message: I don't need you to be ok with who I am.
Flash forward to today and my tattoos are just one way that same mindset shows through. I know tattoos are going to keep me out of certain social circles...and they're the ones I don't want any part of. It's less about defiance and more about a disregard for convention. That's not why I get tattooed really. I get tattoos for their own reasons or none at all...but there is a reason I have "Outsider" tattooed across my chest and "Stay True" on my knuckles.

Wouldn't it be me more accurate to refer to yourself as "their skin canvas" since (in this case) you only go to 1 artist, but they clearly tattoo more than 1 person? So, honestly, they have ownership over you.

My wife's dad hates my tattoo's because instead of 1 big "nice" sleeve he'd feel is "cool" or even "classy" (pardon my quotes) I have a bunch of random ass kinda trashy tattoos patched all over. She digs it that way though, me too.
I'll always like that trashy kinda punk-tattoos-all-over look. I'm glad she finally started getting some. It make me think the person is more of a fun spontaneous thinker vs. an over-thinking planner, which I actually am so I guess my way of venting some spontaneity is via tattoos.

I definitely put myself in the 'collector' category, in as much as there's a bunch of people I definitely want pieces by, but I'm the only one who cares out of my friends and I don't really talk about it outside of this community, I just get them done when the opportunities arise.
I'm also planning to/have got a bunch of pieces by my favourite couple of artists and shops and that's unlikely to change unless I move somewhere else in which case I'll likely do the same wherever that is...

i prefer the term anti-plainskin. for almost everything. woop woop!

I don't really have a problem with the title! Just a way of differentiating between someone who maybe gets work from a few people rather than one artist?
'Tattoo Aficionado' anyone? Haha

My poutine usually involves sitting on the toilet after drinking two cups of coffee.

Meaning is 100% a construct though... my knee tiger could represent "courage", or it could be about "my relationship with my mother", or whatever... it might be just that it's pretty frkn awesome to have a big ol' tiger on my knee... the meaning in it is what I want the meaning to be. I could get a tattoo of a hairy ballsack on my thigh and decide that it represents my love of music...

I get tattooed in Williamsburg and from what I've seen on the people around there there's a lot of hipsters with a bunch of text on them, but there are also plenty of hipsters with some pretty damned amazing tattoos too. Bartenders with Hooper sleeves? Fuck yes. I know we all love to vilify hipsters but I'm not going to blame them for bad tattoos.