Graeme

I realized a while ago at work that members of the general public are more likely to talk to me (I work a job that a lot of people think is interesting and that they are curious about) when I have my tattoos covered up than when I'm in short sleeves. If your tattoos don't deter foes then you're doing it all wrong. Time to toughen up, pals.

Welcome!  I don't have either of the Lost Love books but I've heard nothing but excellent things about them, and from what I've seen of Yellow Beak's other publications it's all first rate stuff.  Your friend will be extremely psyched on getting that as a gift.  I'd also recommend the Tattootime set published by Hardy Marks if your friend doesn't have it, because it's one of the best things ever published about tattoos, but you won't go wrong with Lost Love either.

Welcome!  I don't have either of the Lost Love books but I've heard nothing but excellent things about them, and from what I've seen of Yellow Beak's other publications it's all first rate stuff.  Your friend will be extremely psyched on getting that as a gift.  I'd also recommend the Tattootime set published by Hardy Marks if your friend doesn't have it, because it's one of the best things ever published about tattoos, but you won't go wrong with Lost Love either.

Welcome!  I don't have either of the Lost Love books but I've heard nothing but excellent things about them, and from what I've seen of Yellow Beak's other publications it's all first rate stuff.  Your friend will be extremely psyched on getting that as a gift.  I'd also recommend the Tattootime set published by Hardy Marks if your friend doesn't have it, because it's one of the best things ever published about tattoos, but you won't go wrong with Lost Love either.

Welcome Alex!
 
Let me recommend Art Tattoo Quebec which is happening next month from 12-14 May.  There are good local, national, and international artists there and it's a fun convention.  At the very least it will give you a chance to look at portfolios and talk to people and see tattoos in person and get a good sense of what's out there.
 
http://instagram.com/arttattooquebec

You don't say?

I'm getting tattooed next weekend.  If I post an infinity symbol with "Love, Laugh, Live" in it or some hokey inspirational shit like that in the Lowdown you'll know for sure.

The things I have to look forward to. Full backs are stupid tattoos to get. Stupid, stupid tattoos. What is wrong with us.

Welcome and good luck on beginning your journey!

This is a really cool thread and I've really enjoyed reading people's responses.
I haven't been getting tattooed that long, but it's been long enough and heavily enough that I find it difficult to make a clear distinction between myself and my tattoos anymore because they're such a huge part of my life and my experience. With that said, here's some cool stuff:
Travel. I think one of the greatest things about getting tattooed, and especially by getting tattooed by a lot of people who don't work in my city, is how much traveling I've done to get tattooed, and how it's made travel to seem like a much easier and much more doable thing than it did prior to traveling to get tattooed. Going to New York City seemed like a somewhat daunting trip before; now I realize that it's an easy 7-8 hour drive down a pleasant stretch of the I-87 and can be a weekend trip. While I was working on my sleeve and @Pugilist was working on her back, I think we made five or six trips between Montreal and NYC in a year, and that was unthinkable before tattoos became a priority. If it wasn't for Electric Tattoo in Bradley Beach (now Asbury Park) I never would have considered visiting that part of the Jersey Shore, or probably the Jersey Shore at all, but it was great and I'd love to go back. Barcelona is a great place no matter what, but getting a little tattoo from El Monga when I was there this summer made that wonderful city that little bit better. One of my first thoughts when hearing about a place I haven't been before is figuring out who tattoos there, because tattoos make the best souvenirs.
Art. I've always been interested in art, always drawn to some extent or another, always made a point of visiting museums to look at art, I read about it, and so on, but tattooing has really helped me to broaden my perspectives on art. I would guess that I'm not that different than many of you in that it was really punk rock and skateboarding that exposed me to the first art that really blew my mind. That Corey O'Brien reaper deck Jim Phillips drew is my favorite thing ever and has been since I saw it in ads in Thrasher magazine in I guess the late 80s and early 90s. Those Pushead graphics on those Zorlac decks in that same era; the cover art for the Noise Forest skate rock tape, that stuff all still rules. I'm probably not the only person here who was first exposed to Scott Sylvia not through anything tattoo related, but through the H2O album cover he did. My first encounter with Dan Higgs had nothing to do with tattoos, but was through Lungfish. And somehow despite all that, I guess I still thought that art was something that hung in galleries and museums and spaces like that, and that the illustrations on record covers, skateboards, t-shirts, comics, and so on, were something different entirely. It sounds really lame typing this out, but tattooing has really helped me to see all of this stuff as legitimate forms of artistic expression, and that it's totally as acceptable to be in awe of a Greg Irons illustration as it is to be in awe of a Rembrandt painting. I have plenty of time for both of those. I really love that interview Ed Hardy did of Mike Malone in Bulls Eyes and Black Eyes where Rollo talks about coming from the New York art scene, doing projections and shit like that, and then eventually coming around to imagery that really blew his mind from his childhood, like biker patches and stuff like that. I get where he's coming from there.
Tattoos have also made me really appreciate technique and craft. Lately, and this is in a roundabout way coming from seeing Shawn Barber's paintings, I've come to really like realism in art, especially as it contrasts with super conceptual stuff that isn't about skill or technique at all. I have absolutely zero interest in realistic tattoos though.
Body image. Now the thing that I like least about my body is the amount of open skin I have left. Not that I'm in a rush to cover it all right away, because I want to get tattooed for a long time to come.
Spirituality. We've talked a lot about meditation on here, but I think beyond that there's something spiritual (maybe you'd choose a different word, but I'm using spiritual) about tattoos. I don't mean in a direct way, like tattoos of crosses and Jesus heads or Buddhist iconography or whatever, but more about the way that tattooing seems to be a fundamental human drive. When I was getting my arm worked on there was a moment in a lengthy and brutal session where I was laying on the table, I could smell my own blood from the work that had been done on my shoulder, and there was this sudden understanding of how weird the whole thing was: I was there bleeding and in pain, totally voluntarily, and paying somebody a lot of money that I had worked hard for to do this to me. It isn't behavior that is entirely rational; that's part of the appeal of it. Before having experiences like this I was a lot more of a rational and logical person and getting tattooed has opened me up to the possibility that we don't always do things for easily explainable and comprehensible reasons. I think that's a positive thing, personally.

8.1 Thou shalt not google "Hatchet Man flash" hoping to get a glimpse of the aforementioned Smith Street sheet because you know very well that shit is not on the Internet and you are going to be upset with what you do find.

I'll say when it's booked, no point in talking in public about tatfantasies.

Credit should go where credit is due, this idea actually came from @BrianH
Anyway, here's my legs, or the start of them anyway.

You can't actually see most of what I have on them. The panther rose was done by Chad Koeplinger, the ship is by Ron Henry Wells, you can see a bit of a swallow done by Bert (I don't know his last name but he goes as "Bert Monster") who worked at Tattoomania in Montreal when I got that tattoo, but now works out of a private studio, I believe. You can also see tiny bits of a rose and a snake done by Tony D'Annessa, and a tiger-faced hannya done by Danny at Tatouage Artistique. More towards the back of my right leg, and totally out of view is a piece of Doc Forbes flash done by Chris Hold who tattoos at Sacred Heart in Vancouver. Not everything on them goes together, but I like my legs because it's been a lot of fun getting those tattoos. I'm waiting to hear on some time off I requested from work to go to Barcelona, so hopefully I'll manage to add something else to my legs from El Monga or another one of those Aloha guys in July.

A big ol' eagle always makes for a great chess piece.

I think it should come back when this place is a tattoo forum again and not a tattoo advice forum.

A big ol' eagle always makes for a great chess piece.

Here's a panther bursting free from a rose.  This was done a little over three years ago by Chad Koeplinger and is a bit beat up like a tattoo should be.

Here's a panther bursting free from a rose.  This was done a little over three years ago by Chad Koeplinger and is a bit beat up like a tattoo should be.

Here's a panther bursting free from a rose.  This was done a little over three years ago by Chad Koeplinger and is a bit beat up like a tattoo should be.

Here's a panther bursting free from a rose.  This was done a little over three years ago by Chad Koeplinger and is a bit beat up like a tattoo should be.

I got this little one shot eagle yesterday at the Quebec City convention from Trevor McStay.

It wraps a lot because it takes up most of my thigh so here are a couple of pictures.

Here's a panther bursting free from a rose.  This was done a little over three years ago by Chad Koeplinger and is a bit beat up like a tattoo should be.

Here's a panther bursting free from a rose.  This was done a little over three years ago by Chad Koeplinger and is a bit beat up like a tattoo should be.

I think you should take a few hours and watch some LST interview videos before posting again.  Nobody wants to hear every new idea you have every single day, especially when you seem to have no actual interest in educating yourself about good tattoos.

A big ol' eagle always makes for a great chess piece.