Graeme

Get tattooed, talk to tattooers, talk to tattoo collectors, and you might be surprised at what people know. For example, I know this local tattooer named Simon because I used to live behind the shop he works at and I'd stop and talk with him and the other people at the shop when I was walking my dog and they were taking smoke breaks outside. I've since been tattooed at the shop and sometimes I'll have a beer with him at the bar next to the shop when he's done for the day. He's a good tattooer, but he's a real street shop tattooer who doesn't have a preferred style but will do whatever comes in through the door and will do a good job of it. He has no internet presence, I'm not even sure he has a cell phone. Anyway, I was talking with him once, and he mentioned, just in passing, about when he lived and tattooed in the Marquesas. So here's this guy working in a really low-key street shop, mostly tattooing names and bird silhouettes and stuff found on pinterest and what not, and he has this pretty deep first-hand knowledge of Polynesian tattooing because he actually lived and tattooed there. I don't mention this because I think it's anything particularly special, though I think it is a kind of neat story, but rather because the more I get tattooed, the more time I spend in shops and with tattooed people, artists or otherwise, the more I understand and appreciate the immense amount of knowledge and understanding that there is in your average tattoo shop. Tattooers, at least the good ones--and it isn't worth getting tattooed by the ones who aren't good--love tattooing, they love the history and the stories and the lore of tattooing, and they collect this stuff just as much as they collect tattoos. They know far more about tattoos and tattooing than any academic ever will.

Fundamentally, I believe that learning about tattoos and tattooing is something that should primarily be done through the experience of getting tattooed, hanging out in tattoo shops, talking with tattooers and tattooed people. I think there's something really important--maybe even integral--about the way that knowledge and history in tattooing is primarily transmitted orally, that things are passed on person to person and that everybody is going to have his or her own idiosyncratic views of tattooing rooted in his or her own direct experience. I loathe the idea that this wonderful, messy thing called tattoo could be broken down into a curriculum with learning outcomes or whatever bullshit that university administrators want out of courses these days so that undergraduates could take it for three easy credits. I am skeptical that tattooing has anything to gain from it being offered as a course to college or university or art students; it seems like it has far more to lose than it can possibly gain. I'm not saying that academics can't contribute anything to tattoos (I think most of them do a pretty poor job, but my objections aren't just that we need somebody to do it better), but it's something that should mostly stay in the shop and with the people who actually have something invested in tattoos. That's my opinion, anyway, and opinions are like assholes.

I really hope that they don't go far past the early stages. College courses about tattoos and tattooing are a terrible idea.

Bowling pin eagle.

Cool, man. We'll have to arrange an LST meetup closer to the date.

Dang @Mark Bee filling all the spaces! You must be running out of space.

For your sake I hope winter is over by then.

@Flo Ania KILLER

@rufio I would suggest turning off your computer and looking at real tattoos instead. You said you're willing to travel, so I'd recommend going to a good convention and looking at tattoos there. Paris is this weekend, so it's probably too late for you to hop on a train and go to that one, but London is coming up in the fall, I believe in September or October. These are both world-class conventions and if you go you'll be able to see some of the best tattooing in the world in person. I know that when I started getting tattooed, seeing tattoos in person was really critical in helping me to understand what works about tattoos, what gives them, like @bongsau said, the WHOA factor. There were things that I thought were really impressive in pictures on the internet that were far less so when I saw them in person, never mind how they'll look with some years on them. There were other tattoos that I wasn't crazy about when I saw pictures of them, and I'm thinking of Chad Koeplinger's tattoos here specifically, but when I saw them in person they were so strong and bold and powerful and vibrant, and I immediately understood what I'd been missing in just seeing the pictures. The point is that tattoo isn't something you can meaningfully understand without leaving your desk chair. Good luck and I hope you find what you're looking for.

@sophistre What would you recommend as a good starting point with Ramsey Campbell? I know there are people who love him, but I read his The Darkest Part of the Woods and really didn't like it. Maybe he just isn't my thing, but I really love Thomas Ligotti and Laird Barron and classics like Lovecraft and MR James (hell, my first tattoo, before I learned that tattoos don't have to be full of obvious and overt meaning, is of the Necronomicon) so I figure that Campbell is in my general field of interest.

Not at all. A lot of the pictures you see here are of fresh tattoos, so post away!

Can I suggest finding a tattooer who does really nice script and just getting their names done simply and beautifully? I don't really understand all the posts above suggesting the necessity of finding a representative image here: it's your child's name, it has way more potent symbolism on its own than any design you could think of.

I am not sure if this is the sort of thing you're looking for but I'm currently reading Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne. I came across him because he was the scientific consultant for the movie Interstellar (which I loved) and this book, published in 1994, gets into the science we see in that movie. It's basically about the really weird shit that arises from Einstein's theory of general relativity, and about scientific discovery and intellectual curiosity generally. It's well-written and fairly readable--some of it is pretty difficult, but I feel that Thorne does a good job of explaining some really challenging concepts--and he grounds it in the human experience of science. For me, reading about space stuff is super enjoyable. It's not always easy--it's usually the opposite--but it's so rewarding and mind-expanding.

They keep on announcing good artists and today they posted that Mike Wilson and Angelo Miller from Inksmith and Rogers are going to be attending. I hope my back is in a place where I can put some money aside to get tattooed because I don't want to miss this opportunity.

Great intro and welcome!

@silentspring Everybody here sympathises with you, but if you're going to turn this into a crusade about the ingredients in tattoo inks--and your name would imply that's exactly what you mean to do--then just come out and say it.

@bongsau Looking so good. That background is great, I love how heavy it is. I also really love how you have water on both arms carrying across onto your back. I have the same thing going on with mine with the water on my arm working with the water on my back. I still have an empty forearm but that will end up having water on it too for the sake of continuity.

You will be great! The best thing about the back is that unlike arms and legs, you only have one.

The picture is too poor quality to make anything out, but it looks like it could be a sak yant tattoo. If that's the case, and you want one, don't go to a shop and ask for one, do it properly and go to Thailand and get it done. Ask for a design that will protect you from contracting AIDS from shared dirty tattoo needles.

@Andy TBS That is so good. Dave crushes it so hard.

I try to if I'm going to be out in short sleeves for any length of time. If I'm going to or from work, taking the dog out for a short walk, running to the store, or anything like that I don't always use sunscreen, but generally I make an effort to. It helps that I'm not much of a sun person and have never been one, which used to bother me because I have that kind of skin that is either pale or burned, never tanned, and turns out to be really nice for tattoos.

I have a lot of stippling on my forearm from Thomas and my answer is ask me again in twenty years and I'll let you know. My feeling is that, like all tattoos, how well it's going to age is a combination of how I'm going to age and how well the tattoo was made in the first place. I think that Thomas' tattoos will stand up because he's a really good tattooer and puts a lot of thought and care into his tattoos. Ultimately a tattoo will last as long as it lasts, and while I try to take care of my tattoos and myself, I don't dwell too much on the question and I try to get the tattoos that excite me.

Good advice from @SeeSea above to which I'll add that lining on the back just sucks. It is physically and mentally crushing. Shading is a lot easier. Which isn't to say that it doesn't also hurt, because it does, but it's a lot less intense than lining. In any case, it looks great and congratulations on living to tell the tale!

Welcome. There's a lot of great stuff here, but if you want to get inspired by real tattoo artists, turn off your computer, go in to a tattoo shop and get tattooed.

Welcome! You've found the right place if you want to learn about good tattoos, and I'd expecially recommend watching the artist interview videos because they'll give you an insight that you can't really find elsewhere on the Internet. Glad to have you aboard!