Romance & Worship

thanks. I've had one 2 hr sitting since. i havent been counting the hours but i think its hover somewhere around 10 give or take. its going very quickly. here it is now.

I just found on Chris Garver's blog this awesome close up of Freddy Corbin's crucifix tattoo on his head Chris did. This tattoo is so bad ass!

happy to know he's getting the recognition he deserves.
here in Milan he's very well known in the "community"

matt howse, at spider murphy's in san rafael, did this eagle and snake for me. i also really like this eagle and all seeing eye done by grez, which is not on me.
valerie vargas, stizzo, chad koeplinger, theo mindell, matt howse, owen jensen, and norman keith collins do and did some of my faves!

Or you could talk Bob or Richard into doing it, it's a mix of each one of their panthers... It was funny to watch them actually, they were kinda grabbing the red sharpie from one another like siblings... But it ended up cool, I saw Richard half the two correction lines, and meet in the middle and make something a bit different so it wasn't one or the others panther...
Blackheart is prolly a better option though, both Bob and Ricardo are working on a new set of flash together with Aaron Coleman... So it's crunch time. Okay, non sequitor. I need to be packing boxes or something.

those lehi pieces are crazy. derrick's eagle/skull came out rad too.
i like thomas hooper and theo mindell on this one as well. i sit and stare at this hooper peice all the time!

matt howse, at spider murphy's in san rafael, did this eagle and snake for me. i also really like this eagle and all seeing eye done by grez, which is not on me.
valerie vargas, stizzo, chad koeplinger, theo mindell, matt howse, owen jensen, and norman keith collins do and did some of my faves!

good points, i'm just too lazy and post all my pics from my iphone these days, as my camera gathers dust. on a side note, i see a lot of hacks making laughable tattoos watermarking their photos, as if anyone would want to steal them! these are the same guys who write on their websites "DO NOT STEAL OR COPY!" hahaha...and they suck!

i have a feeling i am really behind the ball on this one, but i'm still schooling myself on european tattooers and i just discovered Stizzo, an italian artist. it looks as though he owns and works out of his own shop called Best of Times, in milan. i'm sure anyone who works the milan convention is probably familiar with him. i really enjoy his use of black, it's beautiful and it really gets me. you can check his stuff out on facebook under Stizzo Tattoo. seeing that he has over 4,000 friends on facebook, i assume his work is no secret. but i had never heard his name or seen his work in books, magazines or on the web before. here some samples...

Might as well laugh.

Here are some back piece pictures that caught my eye recently:
-Mike Wilson of Inksmith and Rogers Tattoo
-Wish I knew who did this as I love it! Anyone?
-Jason Macafee of Temple Tattoo
-Freddy Corbin of Temple Tattoo and Tattoo 13
-Derrick Snodgrass of Temple Tattoo

To me nothing is more impressive and speaks volumes about a person if they could easily "shout the odds " about themselves but are laid back and quiet .These are the real cool dudes ,it never ceases to amaze me that people fail to recognise this or even worse adopt a "cool guy attitude " It seems to me these types have real confidence in themselves and their abilities .

thank you guys. I own just about every "how yo draw the head" book there is and im always looking for more . i'm always studying them and real faces when i can trying to grasp and understand as best i can. so thanks for letting me feel like it's paying off even a little bit.

those lehi pieces are crazy. derrick's eagle/skull came out rad too.
i like thomas hooper and theo mindell on this one as well. i sit and stare at this hooper peice all the time!

those lehi pieces are crazy. derrick's eagle/skull came out rad too.
i like thomas hooper and theo mindell on this one as well. i sit and stare at this hooper peice all the time!

i too like a lady head to be real dark around the eyes with a good amount of color/make-up to contrast on the face and eyelids. i like 'em too look real old and even withered. more black in the hair the better. and if you want to through in some sort of exotic nose or something like that, i'm way down. with that being said, i also really like bailey hunter robinson's girls, especially when he puts a rose in there. cris cleen also does some very original girl heads that i think are very cool. i am a big fan of everybody at spider murphy's but i really like paul dobleman and stuart cripwell's lady heads, and i wear one by matt howse. grez and eric jones(goldrush) also do awesome lady heads! for something a lil' different i love bart bingham's girls.

that's one of the coolest tattoos i've seen recently. i love your work and hope to visit you in NYC in september, for my first trip to the big city.

i too have had one or two less than perfect tattoo experiences in my day, and there may be another one to come someday. but point being, bottom line, it's the tattoo i'm after, not the respect of someone i have never met or don't really know that well, i believe that respect has to be earned. a good example would be; there's a really talented, popular tattooer in my local area and i have always really wanted a piece from him, i even have the ideas ready to go. but for one reason or another i find this person to be rather arrogant and pompous and that always kind of rubs me the wrong way, but dammit! his tattoos are so sweet, that i'm just going to have to bite the bullet one day and sit there quietly and get tattooed, because it's the tattoo i'm after! tattoos hold a great deal of meaning to me and when i look at mine, the first thing i think of is the reason i got that tattoo, not about the person who gave it to me. even if that person is a dick, if they did an awesome fuckin' job on my tattoo and gave me my moneys worth, i can't really complain or feel entitled to a certain kind of treatment because i walked into the shop with cash in my pocket. you chose a professional to get the job done and that's what happened, he/she is not obligated to give out smiles too, although it does help, no argument there! i would love to have good vibes and a positive experience while i am getting tattooed. you know, shit talking and joke cracking, talking about music and all that. but fact is, some people don't want to do all that shit, and i don't always blame them. they're at work, and some days you just don't want to be at work and you may be moving slow or whatever the case may be, we're all human. i'm a bartender man, i don't always want to hang out and entertain with all of my customers, like they expect me to. but i treat them all equally and try my best to greet each person with a smile.
what puzzles me is the fact that you said you really enjoyed the artist's attitude and the finished product and it sounds as if, even though you had to wait a bit longer than you initially thought, over all, you did have a positive experience, am i wrong? but, i also wonder, did the artists apologize for making you wait so long? as a professional i do believe someone who makes me wait that long for a scheduled service of any kind should at least compensate me with a sincere apology and recognize his or her fault in the matter, if that wasn't done then maybe this person doesn't understand the big picture of good customer service. but running late? c'mon, it happens to all of us. just be glad this isn't the 80's and you didn't get chased out of there by some coked up biker yielding a flat head screwdriver!

Paulywhore: You are correct, period. Not that it's a prerequisite for seeing simple insecure egomania for what it is, but I have a decent amount of experience from the collector's perspective. I've been lucky enough to have been tattooed by the following, among others: Lehi, Rassier, Malone, Sylvia, Grime, Don Nolan, Bert Krak, Stell, Adam Ciferri, Seth Ciferri, Whitehead, Brooks, Spanks, Roberts, Conn . . . and my best bud Kyle Franklin! You don't need a fancy bullshit worthless psychology degree from a "Little Ivy", which I happen to have, to deduce that most tattooers succomb to the temptations of warped adolescent egomania. There are exceptions, but those guys (and gals) tend to get so disillusioned with tattooing that they quit. Read Mike Malone's letters to Keith Underwood in recent issues of TAM. Spot-on. He rags on "cool guys" who are too self-absorbed to actually learn about the fucking artform. I've wondered if the absolute elite echelon isn't as likely to be possessed by this meek demon. Hell, if you spend all your time seeking empty accolades and proverbial fellatio, it might be hard to fully concentrate on something of substance. Then again, I don't know: Bullshit megalomania permeates tattooing from the bottom up, doesn't matter how well you paint or tattoo. Power corrupts, in every context. If you're used to having your ass kissed, you come to expect it. Fucking pathetic. I'm sorry these folks are really insecure and immature, but it'd be peachy if they wouldn't take it out on me while I put food in their mouths.
To be fair, at the same time, I can totally see why tattooers get sick of clients. I couldn't do their job. Hell, I can be annoying as fuck, myself. Give me a painkiller and I never shut up. That being said, some of the behavior I've personally experienced and witnessed is absolutely inexcusable. Straight disrespect. Funny thing is, most tattooers are sedentary lumps of shit that couldn't fight their way out of a colostomy bag. Tattoos don't make you tough.
Tattooing's an intimate and intense experience, and, too often, familiarity breeds contempt. Like I said, having spent a fair amount of time in tattoo shops, I can totally see why being a tattooer is the yellow brick road to misanthropy. I hate people, too, but I try to be humble, honest, and respectful. Ya know, all that "Golden Rule" bullshit. Speaking for myself, I'm glad my bodysuit's about done. I'm too old for this shit. It's too much work. God Bless!!

You're certainly right about the blue collar aspect so no argument there. I once waited 2 hrs for a tattoo from a pretty well-known guy up here because he hadn't drawn anything up and told me flat out he stopped drawing things beforehand b/c so many people had shot him the ghost lately. He apologized a lot but I still had to wait.. It was definitely worth it and the next two times I went back he was all set up and ready to go so I don't hold a grudge but it was definitely a bit of an eye-opener, since it made me feel like an idiot kid just setting foot in a shop for the first time. Don't let it get you down.
I think it was just your phrasing that sort of "got" some folks on here. Kind of like if some random person on the street started going off about tattoos I'd feel the need to defend it you know. Next time you get tattooed, I'd say bring some snacks and clear the day. I always try to swing it where I can have the whole day to myself and let it just be about the tattoo.

i too have had one or two less than perfect tattoo experiences in my day, and there may be another one to come someday. but point being, bottom line, it's the tattoo i'm after, not the respect of someone i have never met or don't really know that well, i believe that respect has to be earned. a good example would be; there's a really talented, popular tattooer in my local area and i have always really wanted a piece from him, i even have the ideas ready to go. but for one reason or another i find this person to be rather arrogant and pompous and that always kind of rubs me the wrong way, but dammit! his tattoos are so sweet, that i'm just going to have to bite the bullet one day and sit there quietly and get tattooed, because it's the tattoo i'm after! tattoos hold a great deal of meaning to me and when i look at mine, the first thing i think of is the reason i got that tattoo, not about the person who gave it to me. even if that person is a dick, if they did an awesome fuckin' job on my tattoo and gave me my moneys worth, i can't really complain or feel entitled to a certain kind of treatment because i walked into the shop with cash in my pocket. you chose a professional to get the job done and that's what happened, he/she is not obligated to give out smiles too, although it does help, no argument there! i would love to have good vibes and a positive experience while i am getting tattooed. you know, shit talking and joke cracking, talking about music and all that. but fact is, some people don't want to do all that shit, and i don't always blame them. they're at work, and some days you just don't want to be at work and you may be moving slow or whatever the case may be, we're all human. i'm a bartender man, i don't always want to hang out and entertain with all of my customers, like they expect me to. but i treat them all equally and try my best to greet each person with a smile.
what puzzles me is the fact that you said you really enjoyed the artist's attitude and the finished product and it sounds as if, even though you had to wait a bit longer than you initially thought, over all, you did have a positive experience, am i wrong? but, i also wonder, did the artists apologize for making you wait so long? as a professional i do believe someone who makes me wait that long for a scheduled service of any kind should at least compensate me with a sincere apology and recognize his or her fault in the matter, if that wasn't done then maybe this person doesn't understand the big picture of good customer service. but running late? c'mon, it happens to all of us. just be glad this isn't the 80's and you didn't get chased out of there by some coked up biker yielding a flat head screwdriver!

I've been watching this thread since it popped up and have enjoyed seeing the respectful post from multiple perspectives of LSTers, thanks. I think some valuable feedback and ideas have been put out there. This sounds like a frustrating experience though to go in to any business from an entitled perspective as a customer we are bound to hit friction, sometimes aversion in our interactions, and overall unhappy outcomes. I do think some good feedback has been given and don't think verbal retaliations need to exist on this site. If that is what any LSTers are looking for I strongly encourage you to go elsewhere as this is one of the reasons we started LST as the other tattoo forums have too much of this negativity. We designed this forum in hopes of positive interactions from tattoo conversations to tattoo pictures to what-have-yous for both tattooers and tattoo customers. This thread is heading in a manner that I don't think it needs to go and honestly hope it doesn't as we don't need that here. This topic is a good one so if it is going to continue lets continue to go for overall ways to support/facilitate better interactions with the tattooers and customers who respect tattooing humbly.

summer of '93. i was 12 or 13 years old, my buddy darren and i used to aimlessly ride our skateboards up and down pch all day long in laguna beach, only to stop by the local punk record store underdog, candy stealing missions at circle k, and we would occasionally try to sneak in the door at laguna tattoo and hide behind all the adults until someone noticed we were snooping around and kicked us out.
the second time i ever stopped by, i actually walked in, instead of standing outside with my curious head noodled into the shop. laguna tattoo always got really busy in the summer, it probably still does, so there was a lot of interesting folks and plenty of cool stuff for me to look at. this particular time, darren and i stood in the back of the tiny lil' shop trying not to be noticed and totally dumb-founded by what we were seeing. there was a huge shirtless biker dude in the chair getting his head tattooed and reading a magazine. he didn't move or make a sound. we were completely awestruck! i think this was by far the coolest, toughest, scarriest thing i had ever seen in my life up to that point. it was then that a rather large, ringed hand appeared on my shoulder, as if to say; "you're in trouble kiddo." i looked up to see another shirtless biker-looking dude guiding me out the door. "stay outta here kid." he muttered. he grabbed darren, who at this point was boldly standing up front, hit him over the head with a rolled up magazine and sent him on his way out the door.
it wasn't until a couple years later that i found out by hanging out at the record store that the tattooed man was gg allin who was getting the murder junkies logo tattooed on his head! i'm not quite old enough to have any more biker/tattoo stories. but that experience and other stories i heard growing up single handedly changed the way i saw tattoo shops, and it may be the reason still get that sinking feeling in my gut sometimes when i walk into a shop, an unexplained feeling of fear, like someones going to pull out a knife any second and kick me out. i guess i caught the tail end for that age of tattoo shops.
i later returned to laguna tattoo 3 days after my eighteenth birthday for my first tattoo done by lindsey carmicheal. 5 years after gg allin, the shop seemed so different to me. it was so obvious, even to me as a youngster who didn't know anything about tattoo culture yet, that there was a huge shift in the demand for tattoos by popular culture. after some looking i discovered this....

enjoy!

summer of '93. i was 12 or 13 years old, my buddy darren and i used to aimlessly ride our skateboards up and down pch all day long in laguna beach, only to stop by the local punk record store underdog, candy stealing missions at circle k, and we would occasionally try to sneak in the door at laguna tattoo and hide behind all the adults until someone noticed we were snooping around and kicked us out.
the second time i ever stopped by, i actually walked in, instead of standing outside with my curious head noodled into the shop. laguna tattoo always got really busy in the summer, it probably still does, so there was a lot of interesting folks and plenty of cool stuff for me to look at. this particular time, darren and i stood in the back of the tiny lil' shop trying not to be noticed and totally dumb-founded by what we were seeing. there was a huge shirtless biker dude in the chair getting his head tattooed and reading a magazine. he didn't move or make a sound. we were completely awestruck! i think this was by far the coolest, toughest, scarriest thing i had ever seen in my life up to that point. it was then that a rather large, ringed hand appeared on my shoulder, as if to say; "you're in trouble kiddo." i looked up to see another shirtless biker-looking dude guiding me out the door. "stay outta here kid." he muttered. he grabbed darren, who at this point was boldly standing up front, hit him over the head with a rolled up magazine and sent him on his way out the door.
it wasn't until a couple years later that i found out by hanging out at the record store that the tattooed man was gg allin who was getting the murder junkies logo tattooed on his head! i'm not quite old enough to have any more biker/tattoo stories. but that experience and other stories i heard growing up single handedly changed the way i saw tattoo shops, and it may be the reason still get that sinking feeling in my gut sometimes when i walk into a shop, an unexplained feeling of fear, like someones going to pull out a knife any second and kick me out. i guess i caught the tail end for that age of tattoo shops.
i later returned to laguna tattoo 3 days after my eighteenth birthday for my first tattoo done by lindsey carmicheal. 5 years after gg allin, the shop seemed so different to me. it was so obvious, even to me as a youngster who didn't know anything about tattoo culture yet, that there was a huge shift in the demand for tattoos by popular culture. after some looking i discovered this....

enjoy!