Graeme

He's well-known in these parts, but I haven't seen much mention of Dave Cummings from PSC Tattoo, Montreal on LST:



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Another local guy who I feel deserves some recognition (again, pretty well-known locally) is Pol from Pol Tattoo, Montreal.

He's well-known in these parts, but I haven't seen much mention of Dave Cummings from PSC Tattoo, Montreal on LST:



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Another local guy who I feel deserves some recognition (again, pretty well-known locally) is Pol from Pol Tattoo, Montreal.

This is the alien that lived inside the Ultimate Warriors skull in the 1980s- courtesy of Matt Bivetto

He's well-known in these parts, but I haven't seen much mention of Dave Cummings from PSC Tattoo, Montreal on LST:



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Another local guy who I feel deserves some recognition (again, pretty well-known locally) is Pol from Pol Tattoo, Montreal.

He's well-known in these parts, but I haven't seen much mention of Dave Cummings from PSC Tattoo, Montreal on LST:



- - - Updated - - -
Another local guy who I feel deserves some recognition (again, pretty well-known locally) is Pol from Pol Tattoo, Montreal.

Thank you to everybody for making this site such an excellent resource and community.

He's well-known in these parts, but I haven't seen much mention of Dave Cummings from PSC Tattoo, Montreal on LST:



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Another local guy who I feel deserves some recognition (again, pretty well-known locally) is Pol from Pol Tattoo, Montreal.

Before I say anything, I know this isn't a history lesson but I think any modern tribal discussion should start with Leo Zulueta- http://www.myspace.com/spiraltattoo
Mundurucu Books does a few great but small books on tribal tattoos. http://www.mundurucu.com/books
I don't have photos of 'good' tribal but places to look (in my opinion) are:
Thomas Hooper - I love his heavy black Micronesian/Marquesan tattoos. - http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashooper/sets/72157623072881930/show/
Curly from oxford, UK - http://www.tattoocurly.com/tattoos.htm
Jondix, Mike from Athens, Tomas Tomas and Xed le Head have added different influences and taken tribal style tattoos somewhere new and often exciting.
Rory Keating does great stuff - RoryTattoo.com
Jun Matsui - http://www.lost.art.br/juntattoo.htm
There are a few Japanese guys doing amazing tribal style tattoos but I can't remember their names right now.
I see tribal tattoos as much the same as any other style, in that of you see it executed badly enough, often enough, you'll learn to dislike it.
Unlike other styles of tattooing, I think it's very difficult to find good reference for tribal tattoos as most of the history is verbal. If you need reference for Japanese tattoos, American Naval tattoos, Californian or Russian prison/gang tattoos etc, it's relatively easy to find helpful reference these days. Most of the visual tribal reference we have is recorded by western explorers.
In the next couple of months I'm due to start some Marquesan style shorts on a customer of mine. I'm really looking forward to it because a) I don't do that style every day so it's a refreshing change of pace and b) His reference wasn't the same gym flyer every else brings (the one with a muscular guy stroking his abs with swirly spikes across his chest and arm).

He's well-known in these parts, but I haven't seen much mention of Dave Cummings from PSC Tattoo, Montreal on LST:



- - - Updated - - -
Another local guy who I feel deserves some recognition (again, pretty well-known locally) is Pol from Pol Tattoo, Montreal.

He's well-known in these parts, but I haven't seen much mention of Dave Cummings from PSC Tattoo, Montreal on LST:



- - - Updated - - -
Another local guy who I feel deserves some recognition (again, pretty well-known locally) is Pol from Pol Tattoo, Montreal.

Josh Stephens- Hold It Down, Richmond VA

He's well-known in these parts, but I haven't seen much mention of Dave Cummings from PSC Tattoo, Montreal on LST:



- - - Updated - - -
Another local guy who I feel deserves some recognition (again, pretty well-known locally) is Pol from Pol Tattoo, Montreal.

Skull & snake on me by Valerie Vargas.

Mine, by Maxime Buechi

My first one done when I was 15 years old

Not bad for a 40 year old tattoo
My latest two weeks ago

I was at my local tattoo shop last night getting some work done on my backpiece and got to witness an 82 year old lady accompanied by her grown children get her first and probably only tattoo. She got "DNR" in small fancy script over her heart. Turned out she has a bad ticker and wanted a Do Not Resuscitate tattoo. She took it like a champ.
It was awesome!

He's well-known in these parts, but I haven't seen much mention of Dave Cummings from PSC Tattoo, Montreal on LST:



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Another local guy who I feel deserves some recognition (again, pretty well-known locally) is Pol from Pol Tattoo, Montreal.

This one isn't on me, it's on my Dad. However, I started an apprenticeship near the end of the summer, and this was the 50th tattoo i've done. Obviously, there are things that could be better with it, but I was honored he let me do it (and basically let me do whatever i wanted). Jay Cavna design...

some bert grimm flash from dan santoro

This is one of the most beautiful tattoo photos ever IMO , the tattoo is by Horitoshi I and the photo from Takagi Akimitsu's Tattooed Ladies but also features in other Japanese tattoo photo books .

There's an Ed Hardy documentary on netflix. Maybe the best line from the whole thing is what he says about what hurts the most. His answer, "the tattoo you're getting right now".

@RoryQ There is literally a point of "diminishing returns" because only so many BUs are soluble in boiling wort...anything beyond that is wasted. I think it's something like a maximum of about 100 BUs in a standard gravity wort, more BUs in a higher density one. Granted I can't think of many commercial examples that are overhopped like that...BrewDog's "Nanny State" comes to mind, though that seemed more like a marketing gimmick than an actual beer, which is my problem with that brewery. Didn't actually try it though.
@David Flores There are plenty of really hoppy beers that are well-balanced and I don't want to come across as anti-hops because given a choice of styles I would drink IPA more often than not (trying to get out of that habit though). I do think, though, that a beer that is overly focused on packing in the BU and aroma can sometimes be a little bit one-dimensional for my tastes. I really like the Six Points Bengali Tiger IPA because it has a really solid malty backbone underneath the hops.

i just saw this and the mention of berit from tatau obscur and felt like i had to say something. while i don't think i would get tattooed from her, she needs to be respected partly because of her history in berlin. she was one of the first tattooers in berlin to actually know how to draw and helped break the hell's angels control of tattooing by simply refusing to pay their protection fee. jan and fide from fuer immer both worked at tatau obscur before opening their own studio. she is one of the older tattooers in berlin and everyone respects her, including lars uwe who some would think is one of the greater tattooers in this country. she might not be well known, and her style might not be everyone's cup of tea but tattooing in berlin wouldn't be what it is without her.

I know this is slightly off topic but I thought MsRad's question was interesting and it's not worthy of a brand new thread.
I'm not a historian, so I won't attempt to give dates and I don't know how long everyone has been tattooing but knowing where those guys worked makes it clear that they all influenced each other. That makes it all even cooler to me. I didn't work with all these guys so maybe I'll miss some important detail but I know a few of them and the people they worked with.
Hooper used to work at IntoYou, when Xed LeHead worked there. Jondix used to visit and do guest spots. So did Mike the Athens and his 'student' Tas. Then, Tas' work had much more Thai/Tibetan and Borneo/Micronesian influence than it does now, so did Hooper's. Tomas Tomas moved from a different shop in London to work at IntoYou. So at one shop, including guests/friends you had:
Alex Binnie, Xed, Thomas Hooper, Jondix, Mike the Athens, Tas, Tomas Tomas and Duncan X.
There were of course other awesome tattooers working there who specialised in different styles but these 8 people are very influential in the dotwork/blackwork (non-tribal) styles.
Hooper and Jondix are close friends and have done series of paintings together and a few collaborative tattoos. I see Mike's and Alex's influence a lot in the work of Jondix, Thomas and Tas' (non Japanese) work. A lot of the dot shading comes from Xed and Tomas Tomas, I think Tomas in particular took it further than anyone, to great success.
It's been awesome over the last 8 years or so, watching this amazing work grow out of existing tattoo styles and have other influences slowly added to each person's work and seeing them push themselves and tattooing in general. To me, that's perfect way for new styles to develop, rather than someone deciding that they have invented a 'new thing'.
If these guys weren't awesome enough most of them can do great tattoos in many other styles too. I have learned a lot seeing their work, particularly Hoopers healed work in the flesh and nervously tattooing next to it.

Thanks to all LSTers (new & old) and the tattooers who have taken the time to do an interview with us and give your time and knowledge to try and make a good tattoo site/forum for customers and tattooers!!!!
Also to the moderators @hogg @gougetheeyes & @slayer9019 who have taken on a thankless job of managing the daily playpen!!!!
Lastly, I would like to thank the Wrights and Sylvias for their time and energy that they put forth on this venture of ours!!!
To many more years and continuing to work to try to help people get better tattoos supporting the good tattooers and shops.......