Pugilist

Actually, I don't think anyone has. You are shitting on a pretty important part of the tattoo world (and a tradition that yes, people on this board love, for good reason!) with little to no interest in understanding it, which does not bode well for your supposed future career as a tattooer. You have been doing this for weeks, including insulting people's actual tattoos on here. Your attitude is both misinformed and rude. It is not stimulating any kind of worthwhile critique. Please just try to add to the discussion like a civilized human being.
I am bummed that what was a positive and interesting thread turned into this shit show. I will say that when I first started getting tattooed, I didn't "get" traditional either. I didn't understand how beautiful its simplicity can be. Seeing the work of some amazing tattooers in person really opened my eyes (I had a real "a-ha!" moment the first time I saw Chad Koeplinger tattooing at the Montreal convention, when I still only had one tattoo). Now it's most of what I have. It is interesting how it takes a little bit of time and learning about tattoos to "get it", but I think the world of traditional is rich and diverse and like @cltattooing said, we are really lucky that there are some amazing folks out there right now doing cool things with this style.

A cheese grater takes much less space in the cabinet.

We bought a deep fryer last week. I'm generating new space by the day!

Speaking of deep fryers, I just went through the humiliation of trying on new bathing suits (even the most body-positive person could get bummed out when faced with women's swimwear) and am now feeling like, fuck it, tattoo over everything.

Like I said, do what you will do, but pain that you choose willingly, and that no matter how much we complain, we still GET THROUGH and then CHOOSE AGAIN, is not the same thing as pain that comes from something being wrong with our bodies. Like these conversations need a little goddamn perspective. If you want to dope yourself up, feel free, but don't pretend it's a necessity.

I mean, I know that tattoos hurt, sometimes a lot, but I had some medical shit happen to me in the past year that was among the worst pain I have ever experienced, like pain that makes you vomit uncontrollably (for which I was prescribed far LESS in terms of painkillers than what some people are describing in this thread), and it's made me have a low, low tolerance for otherwise healthy people (i.e. without chronic problems that exacerbate what it means to sit for a tattoo!) not being able to grin and bare it through a tattoo. It really sucks sometimes, I am not disputing that, but we all deal with it. And we are doing this voluntarily. We are feeling the pain because of something we want, not because our body is telling us that we are ill. The pain also stops as soon as the needle does. If folks want to use painkillers or muscle relaxants to make the process easier, that's up to them and their tattooers--I have never found it worth the side effects, and I really resist the notion that it is ever "necessary". Like do whatever you want, but let's remember that just because something is really painful, doesn't mean that we can't just... deal with it. We all like to complain about how much tattoos hurt as some kind of bonding exercise, but we wouldn't still be getting tattooed if it really required sedation to survive!

I could not disagree more with this. I was talking with one guy who tattooed me about this kind of thing and he said that he doesn't consider a fresh tattoo to even be a tattoo yet. It needs to heal and settle in before it is really a tattoo. I completely agree with him. I'd also say that a tattoo that doesn't look better settled in and with some life on it is a crappy tattoo.

Agreed! I am trying to stock up on the elbow sleeve thing while it is still trendy! It is so helpful.
Congratulations @Breakme !
I have a bunch of really lightweight, mid-sleeve type cargidans that I can throw over anything for the office in warm weather. If you poke around this kind of thing is pretty easy to find, and really comfortable in the summer. It is a bummer that getting work on my arms disqualified a bunch of my dresses/tops as work appropriate in and of themselves, but now I am just becoming a cardigan/blazer hound.

A busy tattoo week in my household. I got tattooed by Glennie at The Pearl, tomorrow @eldolmago and me are getting tattooed by Nikki Balls, and then on Sunday we head over to The Okey Doke to get tattoos by Franz Stefanik (me) and Alex Snelgrove (Erin). Hooray for weeks like this.

Actually, I don't think anyone has. You are shitting on a pretty important part of the tattoo world (and a tradition that yes, people on this board love, for good reason!) with little to no interest in understanding it, which does not bode well for your supposed future career as a tattooer. You have been doing this for weeks, including insulting people's actual tattoos on here. Your attitude is both misinformed and rude. It is not stimulating any kind of worthwhile critique. Please just try to add to the discussion like a civilized human being.
I am bummed that what was a positive and interesting thread turned into this shit show. I will say that when I first started getting tattooed, I didn't "get" traditional either. I didn't understand how beautiful its simplicity can be. Seeing the work of some amazing tattooers in person really opened my eyes (I had a real "a-ha!" moment the first time I saw Chad Koeplinger tattooing at the Montreal convention, when I still only had one tattoo). Now it's most of what I have. It is interesting how it takes a little bit of time and learning about tattoos to "get it", but I think the world of traditional is rich and diverse and like @cltattooing said, we are really lucky that there are some amazing folks out there right now doing cool things with this style.

Actually, I don't think anyone has. You are shitting on a pretty important part of the tattoo world (and a tradition that yes, people on this board love, for good reason!) with little to no interest in understanding it, which does not bode well for your supposed future career as a tattooer. You have been doing this for weeks, including insulting people's actual tattoos on here. Your attitude is both misinformed and rude. It is not stimulating any kind of worthwhile critique. Please just try to add to the discussion like a civilized human being.
I am bummed that what was a positive and interesting thread turned into this shit show. I will say that when I first started getting tattooed, I didn't "get" traditional either. I didn't understand how beautiful its simplicity can be. Seeing the work of some amazing tattooers in person really opened my eyes (I had a real "a-ha!" moment the first time I saw Chad Koeplinger tattooing at the Montreal convention, when I still only had one tattoo). Now it's most of what I have. It is interesting how it takes a little bit of time and learning about tattoos to "get it", but I think the world of traditional is rich and diverse and like @cltattooing said, we are really lucky that there are some amazing folks out there right now doing cool things with this style.

-raises hand- ooh me please! Haven't had a reading in years and I could totally use some direction right now. That's awesome that you're working with the deck, always something I've been interested in but never taken to.
As for a general response to the thread, I got another lizard a few weeks ago, a gravid female. She laid 3 eggs!! Two of em last night. Usually they come in pairs but she had 3! I think she's still cranky that I took them away.

It's not so bad! I can't really drink anymore at all. Never really liked hard liquor anyway, so it wasn't hard to give up, but getting older sucks. Alcohol makes my heart pound these days. Gross.
I guess I should contribute something thread-relevant. Been doing tarot readings for friends for funsies. Haven't done this in years. (I'm not really into any of the mystical stuff that goes along with it, I just think it's a really neat tool for introspection, and the my deck is pretty, so I want to touch it. Haha.) If I can get through the queue I have, I should offer to do some for people here. Practice is always nice.

Actually, I don't think anyone has. You are shitting on a pretty important part of the tattoo world (and a tradition that yes, people on this board love, for good reason!) with little to no interest in understanding it, which does not bode well for your supposed future career as a tattooer. You have been doing this for weeks, including insulting people's actual tattoos on here. Your attitude is both misinformed and rude. It is not stimulating any kind of worthwhile critique. Please just try to add to the discussion like a civilized human being.
I am bummed that what was a positive and interesting thread turned into this shit show. I will say that when I first started getting tattooed, I didn't "get" traditional either. I didn't understand how beautiful its simplicity can be. Seeing the work of some amazing tattooers in person really opened my eyes (I had a real "a-ha!" moment the first time I saw Chad Koeplinger tattooing at the Montreal convention, when I still only had one tattoo). Now it's most of what I have. It is interesting how it takes a little bit of time and learning about tattoos to "get it", but I think the world of traditional is rich and diverse and like @cltattooing said, we are really lucky that there are some amazing folks out there right now doing cool things with this style.

I'm just gonna toss this out there and then fuck off to eat crap hotel food and ogle my new Gilsdorf tattoo:
I've seen plenty of people who don't like traditional best come here and express their opinions without getting everybody's hackles up. Nobody cares what other people like.
People get riled up when someone starts making condescending remarks about how the thing they love is in some way inferior - especially since that's a completely subjective opinion that has zero to do with fact. Everybody gets that you think trad is 'inferior' and 'for posers' (the latter of which is weird to me, because wtf, American tattooing was born on one-shot military pieces, but okay). They just don't want to constantly hear about it.
And it's kinda pass-agg to say things like 'true masters of tattooing,' insulting all of the other bitchin artists who are, yes, doing traditional work.
Tl;dr: nobody cares that you don't hold traditional in the same esteem as other styles. Just stop being a dick about it! Then we can all go back to just appreciating the stuff we DO like.

Actually, I don't think anyone has. You are shitting on a pretty important part of the tattoo world (and a tradition that yes, people on this board love, for good reason!) with little to no interest in understanding it, which does not bode well for your supposed future career as a tattooer. You have been doing this for weeks, including insulting people's actual tattoos on here. Your attitude is both misinformed and rude. It is not stimulating any kind of worthwhile critique. Please just try to add to the discussion like a civilized human being.
I am bummed that what was a positive and interesting thread turned into this shit show. I will say that when I first started getting tattooed, I didn't "get" traditional either. I didn't understand how beautiful its simplicity can be. Seeing the work of some amazing tattooers in person really opened my eyes (I had a real "a-ha!" moment the first time I saw Chad Koeplinger tattooing at the Montreal convention, when I still only had one tattoo). Now it's most of what I have. It is interesting how it takes a little bit of time and learning about tattoos to "get it", but I think the world of traditional is rich and diverse and like @cltattooing said, we are really lucky that there are some amazing folks out there right now doing cool things with this style.

@polliwog - I agree with you that "A lot of the most fervent defining seems to be done by people looking at the tattoos, rather than the actual tattooed person." The article is a thoughtful read, but it also needs to be understood in the context of what the vast majority of tattoos are, i.e. those tiny infinity symbols and whatever. The kind of work folks on this board get is not the norm, and so our reasons and attachment to tattoos is probably not going to conform to that data super well either.
I do often get tattooed to mark particular moments in my life or transitions. I have many tattoos that to me did feel like alternative rites of passage where there were no "mainstream" ones (getting a tattoo to mark finishing my PhD, for example), so I can relate to some of what the article is saying. But I have two principal issues with it nonetheless. First of all, I hate these strange studies of "identity" because they make it seem like this rigid, easily defined concept. I mean, I feel like I have a strong sense of who I am and am searching for who I am at the very same time, and I imagine that is true for most people. I find their discussion of that stuff very over-simplified. Second, I am fucking sick of all these millenials articles, and I am not even a millenial! But like seriously, the desire to cast each new generation as a bunch of iconoclasts with no connection to the past is insane. Millenials are not a fundamentally different kind of person than the rest of us, and writing like they are some kind of alien culture that must be studied makes me crazy.
Like we live in a weird world where we are increasingly less and less attached to communities that traditionally defined us. So yeah, we're all searching, and maybe tattoos help us with some of that searching and maybe they don't. We invest a huge amount of time and money (and blood!) into them, so obviously they mean a lot to us and impact our identities. DUH; I would have a hard time disputing any of that. But trying to turn it into some kind of "definition of a generation" psychobabble is a bit much.

Actually, I don't think anyone has. You are shitting on a pretty important part of the tattoo world (and a tradition that yes, people on this board love, for good reason!) with little to no interest in understanding it, which does not bode well for your supposed future career as a tattooer. You have been doing this for weeks, including insulting people's actual tattoos on here. Your attitude is both misinformed and rude. It is not stimulating any kind of worthwhile critique. Please just try to add to the discussion like a civilized human being.
I am bummed that what was a positive and interesting thread turned into this shit show. I will say that when I first started getting tattooed, I didn't "get" traditional either. I didn't understand how beautiful its simplicity can be. Seeing the work of some amazing tattooers in person really opened my eyes (I had a real "a-ha!" moment the first time I saw Chad Koeplinger tattooing at the Montreal convention, when I still only had one tattoo). Now it's most of what I have. It is interesting how it takes a little bit of time and learning about tattoos to "get it", but I think the world of traditional is rich and diverse and like @cltattooing said, we are really lucky that there are some amazing folks out there right now doing cool things with this style.

Actually, I don't think anyone has. You are shitting on a pretty important part of the tattoo world (and a tradition that yes, people on this board love, for good reason!) with little to no interest in understanding it, which does not bode well for your supposed future career as a tattooer. You have been doing this for weeks, including insulting people's actual tattoos on here. Your attitude is both misinformed and rude. It is not stimulating any kind of worthwhile critique. Please just try to add to the discussion like a civilized human being.
I am bummed that what was a positive and interesting thread turned into this shit show. I will say that when I first started getting tattooed, I didn't "get" traditional either. I didn't understand how beautiful its simplicity can be. Seeing the work of some amazing tattooers in person really opened my eyes (I had a real "a-ha!" moment the first time I saw Chad Koeplinger tattooing at the Montreal convention, when I still only had one tattoo). Now it's most of what I have. It is interesting how it takes a little bit of time and learning about tattoos to "get it", but I think the world of traditional is rich and diverse and like @cltattooing said, we are really lucky that there are some amazing folks out there right now doing cool things with this style.

Agreed! I am trying to stock up on the elbow sleeve thing while it is still trendy! It is so helpful.
Congratulations @Breakme !
I have a bunch of really lightweight, mid-sleeve type cargidans that I can throw over anything for the office in warm weather. If you poke around this kind of thing is pretty easy to find, and really comfortable in the summer. It is a bummer that getting work on my arms disqualified a bunch of my dresses/tops as work appropriate in and of themselves, but now I am just becoming a cardigan/blazer hound.

Actually, I don't think anyone has. You are shitting on a pretty important part of the tattoo world (and a tradition that yes, people on this board love, for good reason!) with little to no interest in understanding it, which does not bode well for your supposed future career as a tattooer. You have been doing this for weeks, including insulting people's actual tattoos on here. Your attitude is both misinformed and rude. It is not stimulating any kind of worthwhile critique. Please just try to add to the discussion like a civilized human being.
I am bummed that what was a positive and interesting thread turned into this shit show. I will say that when I first started getting tattooed, I didn't "get" traditional either. I didn't understand how beautiful its simplicity can be. Seeing the work of some amazing tattooers in person really opened my eyes (I had a real "a-ha!" moment the first time I saw Chad Koeplinger tattooing at the Montreal convention, when I still only had one tattoo). Now it's most of what I have. It is interesting how it takes a little bit of time and learning about tattoos to "get it", but I think the world of traditional is rich and diverse and like @cltattooing said, we are really lucky that there are some amazing folks out there right now doing cool things with this style.

@SeeSea What about a cotton/linen shawl to cover the edges of the tattoo? Linen seems to be everywhere at the moment.
Also liking how elbow-length sleeves seem to be a thing right now. Whatever corporate entity decides on clothing trends for women has come up with a lot of work-friendly tattoo covering solutions this year. (The bookstore where I work is surrounded by clothing stores for women.)

Another Jeff Zuck piece from the Roc City Tattoo Expo. Rad guy, Great tattooer.

Already posted these on the gram but here are some larger views, hopefully you can get more of the soul of these paintings in this format

Actually, I don't think anyone has. You are shitting on a pretty important part of the tattoo world (and a tradition that yes, people on this board love, for good reason!) with little to no interest in understanding it, which does not bode well for your supposed future career as a tattooer. You have been doing this for weeks, including insulting people's actual tattoos on here. Your attitude is both misinformed and rude. It is not stimulating any kind of worthwhile critique. Please just try to add to the discussion like a civilized human being.
I am bummed that what was a positive and interesting thread turned into this shit show. I will say that when I first started getting tattooed, I didn't "get" traditional either. I didn't understand how beautiful its simplicity can be. Seeing the work of some amazing tattooers in person really opened my eyes (I had a real "a-ha!" moment the first time I saw Chad Koeplinger tattooing at the Montreal convention, when I still only had one tattoo). Now it's most of what I have. It is interesting how it takes a little bit of time and learning about tattoos to "get it", but I think the world of traditional is rich and diverse and like @cltattooing said, we are really lucky that there are some amazing folks out there right now doing cool things with this style.