bugxjuice

Yet another tattoo from @cltattooing next Wednesday. Snake on the back of my thigh. Third snake tattoo for me. Probably last snake tattoo as well. She's going to get really tired of my tagging her in these posts all the time.

Scuba skull by Dan Trocchio. Have to take a picture with better lighting and color. For you scuba divers, I know it's not accurate. A rebreather doesn't create bubbles, but for my tattoo, looking cool took priority over accuracy.

I could only get through two paragraphs of that article. Definite douche chills.

Got my shin and knee done by Marie Sena in Dallas at Saints and Sinners. Can't say enough nice stuff about Marie and my experience with her. She's doing some 2nd layer/blast over stuff on one of my arms next and then she's doing the side and back of that thigh. Can't get a good picture of my leg...its either too dark in the house, too weird outside, or has to be too far away to get it all in the shot. You get the idea though.

9 tailed fox by Horimitsu at NYC tattoo convention.

Just finished my first session on this piece this afternoon. Finishing up in May. Work done by Chris Chisholm at Halo Tattoo in Syracuse, NY

Battered and bruised! Had my first session on my back with Chris over at Kings Ave this past Thursday. I managed to get through 4 hours to complete the basic outline with the exception of the hair on the severed heads. Saving that for the next session along with the remaining background. I'm super excited to continue to work on this and see it progress over time as this is what I've been busting my hump at work for the past year now and it's absolutely completely worth it.

Healed whispering devil and fresh heel tattoos (and dirty feet). All by my pal Iain Mullen, Imperial Tattoo Stockholm. I am happy I finally decided to get this devil done, had been looking at the sketch in Iains box for a year all ready. It's actually facing inwards, against common tattoo-logic. If you follow around the leg you can see that it's point towards another tattoo of a sleeping lady head, by Jaclyn Réhe.
edit: about the heels, the mouth with yin yang was my idea but made to fit by Iain. The other thing, whatever, was drawn on by him. We think it might be a satellite and/or one of those things alchemist brew their stuff in. Either way I think it's just right.

I finished this painting this morning. A friend commissioned it for her two year old daughter who loves Snoopy. It was super fun to do and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The skeleton is for size comparison, and because skeletons make everything better.

Has anyone else seen that Science Tattoos book? Tons of geeky tattoos in there, nearly all of them are bad though. Some are good ideas executed poorly, some are just straight up bad ideas.
I have a black and grey trilobite tattoo, I suppose that qualifies.

Oh I've got a few, some laughable some not, but I'm definitely not ashamed of this one

First tattoo I ever did, at Tux's studio in '99. I was so nervous telling him & his wife the night before; I asked them to meet me for coffee and got it off my chest that I was ready to do this. He tried to talk me out of it by mentioning no heath benefits, no retirement pay, high-risk occupation, "why don't you be a vet or something, much easier. That's what Alex Herman did after quitting the biz". I could not be swayed. So he said"OK, show up at the shop tmrw and you can tattoo yourself". That really surprised me, I was not expecting that. I was prepared for "what the fuck, you shouldn't be doing this get the hell outta my sight". He had a legit rep for being rather brash and didn't pull punches. Chased a few people out of the shop looking for apprenticeships.
When I got there I realized I had no idea what to put on myself. That part had not even crossed my mind, just "Holy shit Tux is gonna let me tattoo myself". So I said, "what should I pick?"
He handed me this one and said "That's the first one I did on myself" which may or may not be true (once upon a long time ago he did the borneo scorpion on Higgs and told him he drew it himself hahaha what a classic fibber) but I didn't ask twice. He set up 2 Percy Waters, loud as hell, told me they were worth more than my life, showed me some basic info and turned me loose. That was one of the most exciting moments ever up to that point in my tattoo experiences.
Best design ever? no. Best job ever? No. Some good blowouts? Yup. Something I'm proud of? Most definitely.

Y'all, I have not been getting tattooed for that long. I have learned a TREMENDOUS amount over the past few years that I have been getting tattooed consistently, which has been almost entirely thanks to the super kind and open tattooers I have been lucky enough to spend time with. I know very little about tattoos, but what I do know, is thanks to them, and I am so grateful for that. And since I went from one tattoo to three to "there's no point in counting anymore", what I have learned is that there is a lot that I thought I knew when I first started getting into this, and I had so, so much enthusiasm about it! I had a lot of pretty innocent assumptions that I've had to unpack or add nuance to as I've moved forward. As I keep going, I realize I am just scratching the surface. Tattoos are about process, which is part of what I love about them. We are always learning, and like in any good pursuit in life, the more we learn, the more we realize how little we know. So when people say that a tattooer knows more than an experienced collector who knows more than someone new to tattooing, that's not the "forum police" (seriously this is so juvenile) or people being snobs; people BEND OVER BACKWARDS on this forum to give good advice to novices. What it is is having some goddamn humility, and realizing that you know some stuff, but you don't know much more stuff. And you have that humility because you love and respect this thing that you are into, and the people who have thus far guided you into it.
I hate that I keep making sincere posts on this godforsaken thread, but seriously; stop feeling persecuted people, and have a shred of humility. We all have a lot to learn. Literally every other tattoo forum on the internet, as far as I can tell, is a free-for-all where people can spread misinformation and feel like kings of the virtual tattoo castle. All people try to do here is respect the tradition and promote responsible and beautiful tattooing. That does require taking a step back every once in a while to ask if a conversation is productive, and it also means that sometime people are going to get told they're wrong. In my experience, people try really hard to be nice when doing stuff like that, and only get snippy when someone has been purposefully obtuse or offensive or arrogant repeatedly, because we all lose patience eventually.

The results of yesterday's visit to Greg Christian.
I've been walking around Cleveland eating ridiculous, inexplicable food today and goddamn, does healing this thing suck. I can recommend eating a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with meatloaf after getting tattooed, though...

I would say this is the worst advice ever posted on this board, but then there was your advice re: sexual harassment the other day, so...
(No seriously, to any lurkers stumbling upon this thread: hand tattoos are not socially acceptable and reputable tattooers don't just hand them out like candy.)

Also, why do you know what piss tastes like?...

Also, why do you know what piss tastes like?...

Should have headbutted him

if it looks like piss, smells like piss and tastes like piss it probably is indeed piss.

Why would you taste it if it smelled like it?! 2 out of 3 is good enough.

Got these crammed in Thursday by Josh Damnit at Classic Tattoo Upland, CA and finished my right leg :D

@Tuchaka I'm sorry man, but that "rating" system posted above you is bullocks. It seems we have had a great deal of bullocks on this board lately. You can't deduce a tattoo's quality down to those elements. Mostly you just need to look at clean lines and solid application. Trying to scientifically deduce it to separate elements based on "ratings" isn't going to get you anywhere. Use your judgement, read a book on art, etc etc. Tattoos are supposed to have a little bit of soul in them. They are not mechanical and they cannot be reduced to a 0-10 rating.
This was the first book I had to purchase when I was in university, I'm not saying it's bulletproof, but it'll be more advisable than the above:
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Basics-Multimedia-Edition-ArtExperience/dp/0495128457/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1395351100&sr=8-4&keywords=design+basics

Although I did not actually see the image you posted, SeeSea and CultExciter gave intelligent and mature responses. It seems like a shame that you chose to focus on what may or may not have even been a rude response by one poster, which in my opinion wasn't. If you're gonna ask for opinions and critique, you have to take the good with the bad and laugh at yourself a little. Life isn't so serious, and honestly man, it's kind of silly to delete your work just off of that. Take pride in your work, even if it's not the best job. Learn from your mistakes and take feedback gracefully or don't put it out there cause nobody wants to hear "poor me" when you ask for critique, naw mean?

@cltattooing You're a good egg.

What is this, the high school guidance counsellor method of getting tattooed?

yikes