ironchef

This O'Donnell back piece is still mind blowing in my eyes

This O'Donnell back piece is still mind blowing in my eyes

This O'Donnell back piece is still mind blowing in my eyes

I'll add some personal experience to the conversation here which I'm thoroughly enjoying. Seriously, LST has some really smart and savvy members that don't come off as know it all douche-bags.
Without naming any names, I spoke with one older more establish tattoo artist about Instagram as well as one younger tattoo artist. The older one said while Instagram is nice and great for seeing what other artist's are doing, it lends itself to be a medium where people can rip off your work. The younger artist loves Instagram and stated that they get most of their work request via their Instagram postings (about 90%).
Separately names are names, some established and worth the hype, others maybe not so much. I personally just get what I like and what is appealing to my eye. In the end I'm the one who has to live with the tattoo and if I'm not happy with it even if it was a "big name artist" why did I bother to get it in the first place. I completely agree in that seeing an artist's work on the Internet or on Instagram is not the same as seeing examples in real life. Again the Internet and Instagram is great for researching out ideas and seeing what artists are out there but it is only a component in the many facets of deciding on what tattoo to get and what artist to go with. There is still value in visiting a shop and going to conventions or even holding meet-ups like some LST'ers do from time to time.

Steve byrne Rock of Ages austin tx

Fresh one...

Got this wicked draw-on zen spider from Jonny Murdoch from Government Street Tattoo (Victoria) who is in Edmonton for the week.
Also this smug lil bumble bee too:

the idea of which came to me in a dream 3 nights in a row...then i googled "angry bumble bee" and bam! clipart reference on the first hit.
These toonie sized tatts are so much fun. Hooray for "recreational tattooing" lol.
Jonny's hanging at Champion Tattoo, Shawn Hedley's new shop in town. Super dope shop, nice hospitality, guess they got a bunch of ringers guest spotting in the future...better leave some space ;) Great tattoo talk yesterday and I got to see a backpiece Filip Leu and Kurt Wiscombe tag teamed up close. Amazzzzzzzing

This is what I was able to sit for today with Dave Cummings at PSC tattoo. About 3 hours, and not nearly as intense as my 1 1/2 with Chad on my other side, thank goodness! We stopped there because the next step was colour for the tiger, and I didn't have it in me. Next session next week, healing permitting.
So stoked on this!

Had to cancel our trip to the montreal convention pretty last minute due to a number of reasons and was pretty bummed to miss out this year. I didn't have any appts lined up but was hoping to score a quick walk up. To make sure the weekend wasn't a total bust, my wife and I spent Friday night in portsmouth, nh (one of my favorite places in new england). I was able to get a walk in with Billy Rocha, at one of Jason Scott's fabulous shops, Hobo's. I was hoping to get either a cross or dagger in the weird spot between my snake and dragon on my left arm. We found a cool piece of higgs flash that was both. Billy added a bit to it and made it really cool. Had a great time getting a nice little small tattoo and Billy is an excellent tattooer and a great dude. I hope to get another from him. First time being tattooed at hobo's which is pretty funny since I've been tattooed at their sister shop, Congress St Tattoo, soooooooooo many times now. They are literally 3 blocks away from each other on the same street.
this tattoo covers a really nasty scar, so if the skin looks a bit weird in certain areas in the pic, that is why.

Hey guys, long time no post. I just realized I never posted my two latest because I wanted to wait until they were both healed. Not the best pics, but you get the idea.
Cobra by Scott Sylvia done at Pagoda City Convention. Drawn on in 15 minutes, outlined in about an hour. Scott is the absolute best. We had originally talked about him doing all of the black in Reading then the color in the fall, but he had the time so we just powered through. It was another great experience being tattooed by him, and I can't say enough great things.
Death's head moth by Oliver Peck while guesting in Philadelphia at Kadillac Mt. Airy. Another pleasure. Oliver was so down to earth and easy to talk to, just like you'd expect. He only did three or four tattoos that day, and I was lucky it happened to be the last week before school started and I could squeeze in after cross country practice (the only heavily tattooed coach in the world, I think). He checked out a ton of my tattoos and even took his shirt off to show me his stomach from Scott, his side from Rassier, and his back from Trevino. So awesome.
Not the best photos, but it's what I have.
Also, I was not expecting to have nearly this much pink on my legs, particularly from Scott and Oliver, but here we are.

Decided to post here instead of my intro thread. My first trip to Japan for 10 days. The arm was a coverup and was all done by tebori. Also started on the chest piece. And boy does it hurt! I thought I had a pretty good pain threshold. But the middle of the pecs is a different level altogether! Back to my country and I am already missing the pain though.

little sum sum from Sheila Marcello @ Electric Tattoo in Asbury Park NJ

One more session on this Martin Hildebrandt tribute, by Rich Hardy. Damn did that lower torso session suck.

Session 5, just another 3.5 hours, more detail and colour into the octopus...sitting @ 17.5 hours now so far..
Cheers all !

Second session with Kelly:

I saw you but I was physically and mentally incapable of saying hi or waving while Henning was tattooing my ribs.

Went to the Montreal convention looking to get a walk-up. Jebb Riley was available, and he put this candle in a long space on my right bicep.

From Saturday... Bottom of shin/top of foot

Jeff Zuck @ Name Brand
Saturday night, went to see Motorhead for probably the last time. Fun and sad at the same time as Lem seems every bit of his hard lived 69 years of age. I've seen them almost 20 times and this was kind of a teary goodbye for me.......

Tomo's new studio, Silk Needle, continues the Yellow Blaze tradition of being somewhat hard to find without GPS / phone map.
The sign is 'blink and you'll miss it'.
Nagaoka is a morning shinkansen's ride from Tokyo... 1.5 hours. The new studio is super comfy and Tomo seems to be planning a lot of conventions in Europe and Canada soon, he's energised.
We did 5 hours, which finished off my front after (I think) 4 years and about six sessions? All in Japan bar one. My bank account is glad that's done.
Drank some awesome Echigo beer on the way home and zoned out till I ate a restorative giant ramen. I lived on ramen this trip: All kinds! Soya base, extra fatty pork base, fish base... Cheap, tasty and hydrating.
Flying home tomorrow but this morning I had a consult with Shige and, all going well, getting a small piece from him at a convention in Europe in next while.

Sunday Funday ! It started out as a planned group skydiving adventure. The weather, unfortunately, did not permit. BOO ! So my friend and I decided a quick, unplanned and for no particular reason, trip to Toronto was in order and we ended up at The Pearl Harbor Gift Shop. YAY ! I spent my skydiving money. Maybe next year lol
Unlike my friend, I had no real intentions of getting tattooed today but it was kinda like 'when in Rome...' . Glad I went with it. I have wanted a panther head for a while and now I have one. Stoked ! And it's from Bill Baker flash which is really fucking cool to me.
Done by Franklin Reeves. Franklin is a super nice dude. Lots of positive energy and laughs. Good times.
And getting tattooed is way less dangerous than jumping out of a fucking plane ;)

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

Here's my Tim Beck iris. He's super tall, so this is a little wonky angle maybe, but he filled that weird spot just perfectly.
Freedom Ink is a super cool shop, very chill, very neat, and we listened to Bowie all day.
Oh, modesty napkin ;)

i continued a tattoo on hip. it was hard :/ I waited this session two year and very happy now )
It will be one tattoo in next time we connect these birds =)

I went in last night to fill in the last building on spidey, and the small empty gap on top of my shoulder was getting to him so we decided to put Wasp, Antman's wife, in the gap.
Sorry for the redness.

Freshly done by Matt Kerley - Hot Stuff Tattoo