RScott

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome.

This is super good, @RScott.

Wow. Very well done. Thanks a million for sharing this. Will be spreading this to some friends!

I'll echo the others: really cool video! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks very much guys. I appreciate you taking a look.

Hey all,

The Few and Far is a project myself and my friend Travis Meisky first embarked on about one year ago. The goal was to create short documentary films about passionate and interesting people. The people that put their hearts into their work and make those around them better while they do it. We wanted to meet, engage with and befriend these people that we found inspiring. Creating for the sake of creation

As the introduction to the series, tattooer, artist, business owner, husband and father of four children DJ Rose is an exemplary subject for what we aimed to accomplish.

I thought this would be appealing to the folks here at LST. If you like it, I'd love if you shared it.

Thanks for looking.

The Few and Far - DJ Rose on Vimeo

-Ryan

Ryan Scott - Photographer

Finished up this piece with Martin Lacasse at Olde City Tattoo in Philly. Based off of a Yoshitoshi print from 28 Famous Murders With Verse. Couldn't be happier.

Update on my 3/4 and chest panel by Martin Lacasse. It seemed like SO much black but now that we're into the color it seems much brighter. Marty only does two hour sessions, which is fine for the wallet and the sessions are a breeze(except collar bone, that was awful). Probably two more sessions of color to go. Crappy pic, kind of difficult to take yourself.

Yeah, I feel like Martin's work is super-underrated. He did my wife's arm, and she gets people stopping her in the street constantly to say how beautiful it is. When I finally take the plunge on getting my back done, I'd love him to do it.

Agreed, but he doesn't seem to mind either way. Definitely a tattooers' tattooer. Super humble but incredibly talented and he stays plenty busy from the people that actually know how good he is. It makes me even happier getting work from him.

Some progress photos on the piece Martin Lacasse is doing for me at Olde City Tattoo. Just started color at the end of the last session. Excited to start seeing it come together.

@RScott He says he is good at pushing people and he's right. He was going to double up on a lot of my lines during the butt session but I couldn't take anymore. It's no fun when you make the decision that you can't handle anymore, but then you hold for just a little longer, and it turns in to way more time.

Your leg sure is a beaut.

Thanks man. I believe that - we has a couple of 5-6 hour sessions. I'll be looking for updates on your back on IG. When's the next sitting?

I saw this a while ago and certainly appreciate a reminder to watch it again. When I first saw this, I was researching getting my first tattoo and it made me think differently about the whole experience. A lot of my friends are tattoo snobs(and I say that in the most complimentary way) so I had a lot of good influences leading up to it.

I thought that was a really interesting part of his philosophy as well. I'd agree that it's kind of a bummer how tattoos are becoming so demystified, but I also think that that mysticism can never really die as it's a very intrinsic part of tattooing. What I see happening now is more of a divide between the people who "get tatted" and people go "get tattooed." The former category is generally composed of people who like the idea of getting tattooed and do so to embody the counter-cultural status quo/because it's cool/because wiz khalifa has tattoos. I think that the latter category falls more into people who do their research on good tattooing and solid artists, those who follow a path toward the right tattoo. The people who have a certain reverence for the process and go about it almost ritualistically, and I believe that's what Horiyoshi III-sama was talking about. I don't know if that will ever really die...

I agree with this whole-heartedly, both with tattoos and most everything I devote my time, energy and money to. Music always comes to mind. I believe, like H3 touched on in the video, that there is an essence and soul in great art. Music that is written with some kind of genuine, intentional thought to it is always evident over, say, Rihanna or Kid Rock's newest radio hit. The same goes for people who build classic cars by welding and fabricating something from nothing vs. someone bolting on shiny wheels and parts to try make their car look the part. And so on.

The average person that likes shiny, easily attainable things will never know the difference. The people that know, really know and I think it's important to have enough respect for any given craft to be one of those people.

I was thinking the same thing. Just to see a tattoo "breathe" as opposed to a still photo gives you a totally different perspective. Wonder if tattoo artists will start using Vine as well as IG. It's the perfect app for it.

Since IG introduced video last week I've already seen some artists start to utilize it to show their work. Especially with larger pieces, it's a great way to really show how the piece looks and not have to make diptychs and triptychs in a single photo.

I figured I'd post a couple of in progress pics of my arm/chest. Martin Lacasse at Olde City. All the linework in about 3.5 hours. Sorry for the lousy phone pics.

It's based on the Yoshitoshi print attached. The lower samurai is pretty closely referenced, but the severed head on his waist in the print is on the chest panel and he went nuts with the ghost/shadow samurai on the top half of my arm. One session of shading done so far, another in 3 weeks.

-Update-

Little better photo of the top w/ shading.

Ah ok so the fine line is also called single needle. I didn't know the lingo.

It might not have been as bad if it weren't the last thing he did on me after already laying there for 5.5 hours' date=' ha.

And here is a cool pic of the face that I (my wife) took so you can see it more clearly.[/quote']

So good! That hair is awesome. Dana's such a nice dude.

On the last color session of my leg with Dana, when he finished the color he said he was going to go back and do some "quick touch ups" on some of the lines. I was mentally prepared to be done in 15min. Then I sat for another 50 minutes while it felt like he went over every single line again. I very much appreciated his effort, but about 40min in I almost said "It looks great man, I'm good right there". :). I think it was because in my head I was almost finished so it kept going forever. That was rough.

@RScott' date=' I wasnt trying to give you a hard time or anything, I was referring to an old poster on here who lost his shit when he had a pimple on a tattoo and kept thinking it was infected. My bad![/quote']

Ha, no worries. I think I read that same post so wanted to be sure I wasn't confused with that person. lol

Yea like I said before try switching products (I've personally never used A&D) and use less and less. The most important thing is cleaning it with hot water and soap well. Pimples = clogged pores, you just gotta figure out what is the cause. Also, if you sweat alot in those areas, it probably doesn't help

I'll give Aquaphor a try. I'm pretty anal about cleaning things twice a day. I do sweat like a mess though, so that could add to it. Thanks.

I finished this a couple of months ago and someone mentioned adding it to a contest. I forgot then, so throwing my hat(or leg) in the ring here.

Dana Helmuth at Read Street Tattoo in Baltimore.

the first question you must ask yourself when seeing pimples is... " Is this an infection?" Followed by my recommendation of immeadiate amputation.

Lol jk, it happens to me too. Problably just an ointment issue causing it

Yea, I wasn't saying I was scared of anything like that and know pimples are common, I just was wondering if anyone else was prone to a lot of pimples on tattooed areas in the weeks following getting tattooed and may have tried alternative ways that they'd have to share. I've gone less and less with ointment each sitting I've had but it doesn't seem to help. I've always used A&D; maybe Aquafor or others breath better.

Again, I know it's no big deal but often those pimples swell, dry out and cause the skin to break, which adds a little bit of time to healing for me. And an arm full of pus filled pimples is something I generally try to avoid regardless. ;)

I found that A&D was horrible.. I also think that 3 to 5 days is overdoing it. I used that product for my first tattoo and I got a minor breakout as well. Since then I've been using aquaphor and haven't had a problem.

Thanks. I'll give Aquaphor a shot after my next sitting. That's the answer I was hoping someone would say.

Happens to me and I think it is caused by "razor burn" from getting the area shaved.

I think that's part of it, but also only happens right after I get tattooed. Thanks for the reply.

I don't know if my skin just gets clogged easily but a few days after getting tattooed I always break out with a bunch of pimples all over the area. I use A&D for about 3-5 days then switch to lotion after. I've tried several different lotions. This happened on my lower leg(about 10-12 at a time) and is now doing it again on my arm. It's not the end of the world, but if anyone else has had it happen a lot and found a way to prevent it I'd love to hear it.

@RScott - couldn't quite go for the full 3/4 sleeve? ;)

Same same. :)

I started a 7/10 sleeve and chest panel with Martin Lacasse about three weeks ago at Olde City. It's a samurai piece based on the Yoshitoshi print below and what he drew up floored me. He did all the line work(a lot) in about 3.5 hours for the first sitting and we just did the first shading session Friday. If I had the money I'd go every couple of days because I'm fiending to see what this looks like completed.

You know' date=' if that tattoo was on me I'd also post it to the May tattoo of the month competition because that's a great one.[/quote']

Hmm, I didn't know there was a tattoo of the month. Thanks!

Nice one! I love how you displayed the entire wrap around. I've seen only a handful of tattooers do the same. Way better than picstitch.

Thanks. I'm a photographer by trade so I told him I'd shoot this when it healed up. I think I'd make a small fortune having tattoo shops hire me to set up mini easy to use photo studios in the corner of their shop. I see so much great work online that doesn't look nearly as good as it actually is because of bad photos in crappy lighting. They don't need to photoshop it together like I did, but good light makes all the difference.

I put this in my newbie thread, but figured I'd post it here in case folks were interested. Dana Helmuth at Read St in Baltimore.

update: smaller photo

Well I used to run every day in Central Park. Little did I know' date=' so did my bosses. Well I ran into them one morning and later that day, some disrespectful comments were circulating through the office. And the show I was working on only had around 10 people on staff, so it got pretty uncomfortable. It was just your typical bullshit, but it got old fast.

As far as tattooers in LA I'm planning on visiting, I have Bryan Burk and Jim Sylvia high up on my list. I'm also going to the SF convention in October and plan on getting another piece from Grez.[/quote']

Welcome! I'm going out from Philly with a friend to the SF convention too.

I guess the "typical bullshit" at your job involved them saying something about you being a dirtball or something? Were they saying this stuff to your face? You'd think people in such a culturally rich city would be more open minded. I hope the folks you work with now are more accepting.

Now that's a nice calf piece! But I have to ask' date=' what's the pain like? I decided to keep my ink above the knees but seeing pieces like this really making me think about getting something in the future.[/quote']

There were some spots worse than others(lower, back of the calf mostly because it kept making my leg twitch uncontrollably) but overall I don't think it that bad at all. Not like Im Johnny Badass, but I have a pretty high pain tolerance too so it may be different for others. Unfortunately, this was my first so I can't compare to other spots. I'm going to keep going up the rest of my leg and Im way more worried about the pain there than below the knee. The inner thigh seems like a huge hunk of meat that would be painful to get tattooed.

Finished up the piece with Dana Helmuth a few weeks ago and I got around to shooting some decent photos of it all healed up. I'm really happy with it and can't wait for whatever is next.

I'm a newb, but when I was on Dana Helmuth's site I saw this and it kills.

I thought this seemed relevant to the conversation. Here's a photo I noticed on Mr. Robson's Instagram from a few weeks ago of extending a half sleeve into a full. From the looks of the half sleeve, thoughts of extending it might have been brought up at the time because it looks like it ended in a way that made it easy to extend seamlessly.