Just Alex

I have all but booked 2 tattoos in Melbourne next January (maddeningly excited, screw Christmas, I have two 'tattoosdays' to look forward to)

I am from England so had no idea about Aus rates, much less the specific artists I hope to book with. As it happens, one of them sent me their pricing structure when my 'application' was potentially accepted and the other was fine with telling me when I asked... I needed to know as spending two days being poked is always an expensive prospect and that is after spending thousands getting there.

Incidentally, the artists I have spoken with in Melbourne and Sydney all seem to have the same rates. Perhaps this is a guild thing?

This is an interesting thread. I am planning to get a neotraditional lady head heavily influenced by "hollywood voodoo"... I say Hollywood because as far as I know, real voodoo is quite subtle by comparison... I'm talking about having skulls and bones and magic involved. Is this cultural appropriation or simple fantasy?

Blue tiger/dragon by Danny Rossiter of Rain City, Manchester, UK. Fell in love with the painting when he posted it on Instagram so had to snaffle it up :) pleased and sore.

I have a fairly large piece with thick black outlines like this... upside - I think it looks cool and is a bit different, downside - it effectively doubled the lining time as the tattooist basically double outlined the piece and then filled it in. It's a kind of new school trad piece based on Fontinha flash.

Who: Jamie Greaves

What: Awesome snakiness

When: Today - 12.13.13

Where: Real Art Tattoo, Leicester, UK.

Why: I love snakes...and this is my third snake tattoo. I wanted something traditional and this is my most traditional piece yet. Gotta say though...It hurt like a bitch and I felt like a real pussy for a lot of the time, really struggled to get through it! Hope you guys like!

P.S. Photo courtesy of Jamie as well, taken from his instagram.

I think everybody associates impulsive with "right then and there", so mine may not be as impulsive. A friend of mine says, "you should get something that says i'm from florida, like the gators logo". i say, "that would be mad cheesy, but id get a sick gator tat!".......a month later i have a giant gator on half of my body by Seth Wood

That sounds mint, any pics?

I would love to be able to do this.

However, living in a town with no even half decent studios kinda stops that from happening :(

I kinda have the same issue as this, I live in West Yorkshire... close to good studios in and near Leeds and Manchester - but I spend the working week in London. Not many places would have time for walk-ins at the weekends, and the places in London I would consider are just too highly priced for a spur of the moment job!

The closest I have come to being impulsive about a tattoo is knowing for a while I wanted a cat head, but not a tiger, panther or lion.....and deciding to book a consultation on the spur of the moment. 1 month wait for the consult, followed by another several months on a wait list. Oh yes, very impulsive. haha!

He's just one of those type of celebrities whose presence is so pervasive that somehow he is unavoidable (here, at least). I don't understand how it happens...osmosis I guess is as good an explanation as any.

Who the fuck is Harry Styles?

Do you really not know? Oh, to live in Virginia...*drifts off wistfully*

Obviously anybody bringing awareness to the perils of "home tattooing" is a good thing, but citing Harry Styles as a tattoo collector when he has a bunch of scratcher/prison grade work is a bit wide of the mark and doesn't help any kind of cause.

And who is Kevin Paul? I've been following tattooers obsessively for some time now and never heard of him...

I would never do my face, I'm sorry to anyone who has facial work and I mean no offence, but I have yet to see a facial tattoo I like. Then there are the social and economic limitations it could impose!

I'd also never do my hands simply because my fiance doesn't even want me to get fully sleeved, and I think hand tattoos when you have blank spaces on your arms look odd (again, no offence meant, just opinion.

If ever my career was 100% safe and not going to be affected by it I would consider my neck though, I have seen a lot of neck pieces I like the look of. I would also consider my head, as I wear my head shaved now and have done for years, but I could easily grow my hair if needed and I don't think I am genetically disposed to baldness.

Anywhere else (except genitals) is fair game though, and I have so much blank space I am happy to not even think about the more "extreme"(?) spots yet!

My order so far has been right upper arm, back, right thigh, left upper arm. Next piece will hopefully be my stomach, between just underneath my 'pecks' (or skinny moobs might be more apt) to just above my navel. Then left chest plate. Completely unstructured progress, but I am just getting what I like, as and when it appeals. No grand plan, but getting more focus on getting high quality work as I get older and learn more!

My missus isn't tattooed, but I was when we met and I have had two fairly large pieces since. I am also planning my third and she has offered to buy my fourth (since we met) on our honeymoon (just so happens an artist I LOVE now works in a city SHE loves!). I don't think she will ever get tattooed, and as attractive as I find it I could never push her to make that decision either. We like what we like and part of what makes our relationship work as smoothly as it does is that we accept everything about each other. Happiness reigns! haha..

Would Rain City have anyone good at/interested in that?

There's loads of posts in this thread about "tough guy attitude"... Do people really go in like this? I go in exactly the way I am - a massive pussy! ha! I know it might hurt, although not to what degree (after all, I probably won't have been tattooed in the same spot before), so I couldn't possibly go in with attitude or I would feel like a complete nob when I started crying after ten minutes....

I'm hoping to have Oddboy continue with my half sleeve if I can get an appointment with him, and just booked a consultation with Tutti Serra :) for my most traditional tattoo yet! That one could be anywhere between June and August so I am told...

Dragging a bit of an old thread back from the dead.... but I like a mix and match of styles. I am also a symmetry freak! I'm intending to go for colour realism on my chest and upper arms with neo-traditional work on my forearms. Maybe some japanese style work on my ribs. There are too many beautiful styles and amazing artists to stick with just one - as much as the cohesion of a body suit appeals to me I don't think I would value it as the mixed experience of getting work from a multitude of different people doing different stuff!

I loooooove Sneaky Mitch's work man, every single tattoo he does is one I would happily have. I'm in the midst of a full day sesh/months long wait cycle for the next couple of years with another artist at the moment which I think may drag on for years and can't afford to start any other large scale work at the same time.

I have been thinking about getting moths in my ditches though, do folks think they would work well in that spot?

Yeah thats the one I was referring to @peterpoose, but I also love that vulture @Gregor!

What I dont like however, is skin rips , has to be the shittiest of all tattooes, esp when combined with realism.

A gimmick that should have been left behind along with big spiky black Dusk Till Dawn tribal! But meh, each to their own. Even if I wanted that kind of work my missus is suitably squeamish that a skin rip would just make her uncomfortable forever so not gonna happen haha.

I agree with you re:Bez too, he has posted pics of a mental front piece lately which has to be one of the most impressive tattoos I have ever seen, regardless of the style... Will try to find it when I am not posting from my phone!

I did ask Dmitriy while I was in Odessa about my concerns and the fine details, so he sent for a friend he did 5 years previously with an intricate piece of this new type of art that people are saying wont last (no outlines etc) to show me how it aged. I have to say it was like it was done yesterday and exactly the same as what I saw on the internet years before. So I live in hope lol

Some folks on here said because I have alot of black it should hold up better, either way I don't care, at the time I got it, its a beautiful piece of art whether it lasts or not:)

Hi Peter...

I am the owner of the gecko tattoo on BTP and I feel pretty much in the same boat as yourself - only my piece has a lot less black! That said, Oddboy has also posted older examples of his work (although only going back 4-5 years) which still look great. We shall see if I have a blue green smudge later on in life or not - but I am not losing sleep over it!

I don't know if he has been mentioned on this thread yet, but I am loving Curt Baer's snakes!

Also this through the neck snake by Rodrigo Souto Bueno is ace too!

I'd just like to say something about taking on strangers as apprentices as well. By teaching someone your craft you are creating competition for yourself. In my cyber investigations into tattooland i have read of a couple of cases over here in the UK where an artist has apprenticed an aspiring tattooer, only to have them open up their own shop in the same town and take their client list with them.

A lot of tattooers seem to be fed up with apprentices with shite attitudes and if they are also running the risk of losing business a few years down the line I have absolutely no qualms with them being cranky about the idea of putting the effort into teaching people.

I have zero artistic talent whatsoever so tattooing isn't something I would ever want to do. However I am fascinated by the process and ask all manner of questions of the artists working on my scrawny ass self :) mostly they seem pretty happy to chat about it although I'm guessing they have the exact same conversations all week. That said I reckon I have learnt more about it from going through it than I have reading forums or magazines... Bit of a tangent but I fancied a ramble!

I can say this, from personal experience. Keep your tattoos out of direct sunlight. Back when I was a kid, we could play outside all day in the sunshine and not get 1/3 of the UV damage that you can get today. I suppose the Ozone is really getting trashed like they say it is. Just walking from inside the house out in the sun feels different than it used to. Its almost an instant little sting thing goin on. Anyone else notice that?

Not where I live! We just consider ourselves lucky if it isn't raining :) I don't doubt your point though.