Graeme

Pierre and Val who run Tattoomania in Montreal and who are the excellent folks behind the annual Montreal tattoo convention, have partnered with Jay Marceau and D-Markation in Quebec City to hold the first annual Quebec City tattoo convention. Anybody who has been to the Montreal convention knows how good it is: there are plenty of world-class tattooers there working in pretty much every style, and it's just a really fun convention with a really good atmosphere. Quebec City is also a gorgeous city to visit. The lineup so far is looking to be great. I'll have to see where I'm at with my back and how much money I'll have available to get tattooed but I'd really love to get something from Deno. Here's the website, facebook, and instagram for the convention with information about attending artists: arttattooquebec | Art Tattoo Quebec https://www.facebook.com/arttattooquebec Instagram Is anybody thinking of going to this? Me and @Pugilist will be there for sure, and it would be cool to have a little LST meetup if anybody else will be there. - - - Updated - - - I should also mention that you can get proper poutine in Quebec. I know that everybody who comes from out of province to the Montreal convention wants to eat poutine, but Montreal poutine is pretty crappy compared to the stuff you can get off-island.

When I think of "So it goes" the first thing I think of is Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and how he uses that short phrase to mark somebody dying throughout the book. So I'd say get a reaper.

@bongsau That looks like a heavy session! Those blacks and greys are so smooth, they're going to look really nice when the red fades out of them and they settle in a bit. You're in for a real delight with the lower back and ass cheeks though, really glad that we're done with the black in there on mine. I'm taking January off working on my back and I find that I actually miss getting tattooed. I got a little one on my leg in the meantime and that was super fun, but nothing quite compares to the feeling you get after a heavy back session. There's something deeply satisfying about enduring the session even when your body is all FUCK NO for those first few minutes. The back is such a trip, it's a whole different world of tattooing compared to everything I'd had done before.

I'm glad to hear that you had a great experience because that is an excellent tattoo.

Welcome Alessandra! I really like the idea of a phoenix tattoo as it has potent symbolism and is a strong, beautiful image. That said, three to six inches tall is too small to do much justice to the idea: when I think of the phoenix tattoos I've seen that I've really loved, what makes them really work is both the way that the shape of the phoenix, especially the tail feathers, flows with the body; I also love the different contrasting patterns in the body, wings, tail, and head. You need space to make that work. I'd also advise against incorporating initials into the tattoo, for the simple reason that I've never seen a tattoo improved by adding initials or anything like that. Tattoos are by themselves meaningful without needing to shoehorn in any additional meaning. Another new poster here is planning on getting tattooed at Carter's Tattoo Company in Bowling Green, KY and it looks like they do really nice tattoos there.

Before @Pugilist got tattooed at Adorned we ate at the Blue Ribbon fast food chicken sandwich place and it was really good and from what I can recall not far from Kings Ave NYC either.

Welcome Scott! I believe that we've met before in passing. I was sitting with Ron and Kate at the Fire Grill after last year's Montreal convention. I was the beardy long haired guy. A guy I used to work with a couple of years back had a tattoo from you. He must have got it at the convention something like four years ago. I don't totally remember the tattoo, bat wings seems familiar though, but I remember it being really nice and bright and solid. Anyway, super happy to see you here!

One thread discussing things that happen on Ink Master is more than enough, thanks.

Your best bet is always your tattoo artist. They draw and tattoo things for a living.

@peaceridge Look into Tick in Las Cruces NM. She does really good Japanese. Really good everything, really.

Thanks for sharing that. I met and talked briefly with Filip about a year and a half ago at the Montreal convention when he was doing one-session, four to five hour backpieces with Kurt Wiscombe. He was very friendly, down to earth, and despite having spent pretty much literally his entire life around tattoos, clearly absolutely loves tattoos and tattooing and still sees all the magic there. He's a real inspiration. - - - Updated - - - Here's a short video of the backpiece him and Kurt did on the second day. One shot.

It was @jade1955 no?

Not at all! That tattoo rules so much though.

Welcome Luke! If this is really how you feel, tattoos may not be for you. Workplaces and workplace cultures will vary, and while I'd expect that tattoos would be accepted in most so-called creative environments, things always change, and what's acceptable now may not be so acceptable ten years down the line. If you want to get tattooed, you have to be okay with that and be willing to deal with the potential consequences of being tattooed, and if career advancement is more important to you than tattoos, wait on it, think about it, and don't get tattooed until you're ready for it.

Oh you should totally go to the Maine Diner in Wells and eat yourselves sick on lobster rolls and lobster mac n cheese.

The best tiger flash is by Pinky Yun.

According to Google, Portsmouth NH is less than a hour's drive from Portland and you have Jason Scott and Hobo's and Congress Street. Jason Scott rules, Jeb Riley tattoos there and he rules, and Chad Koeplinger guests there regularly. Portsmouth is a really nice town too.

Welcome! I'm going to suggest that you get your arms done before you even think about hands and fingers because there are few things in life more ridiculous than people with hand tattoos and nothing on their arms.

@SeeSea that's amazing!!! Congratulations!!

Maybe you mean Ishmael Johnson? He's in Fort Collins now. I got tattooed by him in September, he's a really great guy and I got an excellent tattoo from him. I totally recommend the experience.

If it was on me, I'd cover it. Don't want a tattoo with bad vibes on me.

Thomas has a small piece from her on his neck and it looks rad.

@Ebolarama If you think that tribal tattoos look ridiculously awesome, you should go for it! Yes, there is a bit of a stigma attached to tribal (but there's a stigma attached to tattoos generally, so...), and some of it carries over to here, but tribal when it's done well is really awesome. It's strong, it's bold, when it's done properly it flows with and accentuates the body amazingly, and all that solid black means that it's going to hold for the rest of your life. "Tribal" is also a really broad category of tattooing and is really diverse. Usually when people say "tribal" the first thing that comes to mind is that Leo Zulueta or Zulueta-inspired spiky stuff, and maybe that's what you're talking about, but that's only one small facet of tribal tattooing: you could go in a Polynesian or Micronesian-influenced direction; guys like Colin Dale in Denmark are doing essentially Nordic tribal influenced by Viking designs; in Austin you have Thomas Hooper who takes tribal as a starting point and is pushing tattooing into exciting new frontiers from there. There's so much more than this out there too. Explore, explore, explore, and find what excites you the most and makes you feel that you need a tattoo like that.

Nice! I got tattooed by Chris a little over a year ago. Seriously nice dude and the tattoo he gave me was one of the easiest heals I've ever had, which is a really nice bonus.

Agreed with @Hands On here. If you were to think of, say, Japanese sleeves I'd imagine that you would have a lot of options for a coverup. Chrysanthemums and wind bars, for example, could be really nice, and the coverup would be part of a much larger tattoo, it wouldn't draw attention to the coverup in the same way that stand alone roses would.