motsimus

Last Sunday I had an appointment with Deno. Got this on the back of my left leg. Sorry if the pic is too big.
@CultExciter - Gave him the SOIA dragon and asked him to do his version of it.

Got this German Kaiser wolf today by Murray Sell at Flying Tiger Tattoo in CT. I love it and it's definitely unique.

Love the rare heart eyes..
NexuzNine

Just managed to sit through my first tattoo, finally, yay! Done by Anthony Cole at Silver Needles in Southend. Very happy with my choice. Thanks so much to everyone on this forum for helping to create such a great resource, I learnt a lot here.

Getting tattooed this afternoon by Murray Sell in CT, see other post in upcoming tattoos. Should be cool and unique, hope to post pictures later.

I hate posting the same pic over and over again, but i want a LST shirt! Done by Shige. Pics do this piece no justice.

Well, seeing as how tattoos involve permanently injecting ink into the skin, "dealing with it" is indeed one of the only ways to handle imperfections in one's tattoos.
Stop being so fucking rude to people taking time out of their day to explain shit to you.

I picked up both of these this week at Seven Seas Tattoo in San Diego. The girl head is by Thor and the panther head/rose is by Dan Pryor.

Was lucky to get this dragon head from Horinao (IG: @horinao1) at the Bay Area Convention. Not sure if I want to add background to it later or leave it in that American piecewise style as I really like the negative space.

Got started on my right arm yesterday with Clare Hampshire

Had my elbow blasted today by Juan Arreguin "El Super" at Superfly tattoo here in Leon Mexico. No pain, no gain.

Done by Horimitsu at the Bay Area Tattoo Convention.

I've heard so many different things about tebori, but it was an awesome experience. So much that I'll ask Horitomo to shade my back by hand when we get that going.

The people who said they didn't think the elbow was too bad are all insane. Or they have magical elbows.

More fun stuff on the arm with Greg. Took the photo from his instagram. Feels weird to include something this little this week when there's so much crazy stuff on my instagram from the Bay Area convention, but oh well!
The trend of 'never actually doing what we previously planned on' continues. At this point I kinda hope it always does. And now I am done until the end of November!

What a great topic.
So what has tattooing taught me... Where do I start with that one. I have really gotten into tattooing over a period in my life where I have transitioned from education into the working world and both things have taught me a lot about myself and tattooing has definitely been a big part of what I have learned.
The first thing that I think it has taught me is a great appreciation for anything that is made with a bit of heart and soul to it. This for me has revolved around things that are hand made and require time and effort. So everything from a good books, decent music, art and any sort of traditional craft. Art particularly has been something that my parents are quite interested in and I have never found an aspect of it that I really connected with. Tattooing has however taught me a huge amount about different types of visual imagery and as a result I have learned to read the images I see a lot more. It's gone deeper than the simple aesthetic though as I now know a huge amount about the history of where certain images come from and the cultural history that they stem from. This has then been something that I have been able to give back to my friends and family even in a small way. I have also started collecting original paintings and prints myself which just brings me a lot of joy to see them every day.
Tattooing has also inspired me to start drawing and painting more myself. Now I would never claim that what I produce is great art, or even particularly worth spending a lot of time examining, however it gives me an opportunity to focus on something outside of myself and it inspires and frustrates me in equal measure. It has also given me the opportunity to give something back to my friends and family in a very honest and simple way. Especially over the last three years as I have steadily drawn more and more for other people.
As other people have mentioned it has also given me the opportunity to meet some very interesting people. I have had some great conversations with friends and strangers alike and learned a huge amount as a result. There was one tattoo artist particularly who introduced me to sacred geometry and the patterns of nature which is another form of visual imagery that I now see everywhere. The variety of music that tattoo artists particularly have introduced me to as well is great. For example who knew that the verses in Lateralus by Tool follow a Fibonacci sequence. Youtube it... I found it fascinating.
As a general statement to summarise tattooing has changed the way I live my life from the things that I am interested in, to the conversations I have with people and what I choose to do with my spare time. And I couldn't be happier about it. Here's to continued adventures within this world we call tattoo...

bad photos but i got the dragon yesterday from Andre Cleary and the girls head a month ago from Adrian Hing ,
both are really nice humble guys.
also sorry for the sideways pics ive tryed everything cant figure it out.

Fresh one my girlfriend picked up this afternoon. Its a Nick Oaks design tattooed by a local artist, Mike Young.

I finished teaching my course on beer tasting and appreciation last night and it went well! People seemed to have fun and enjoy themselves, they learned a little bit about beer, had their horizons broadened a bit, and drank some good beers. Getting up in front of people and talking for three hours is tough though and I don't know how the teachers and professors here do it, especially since feeding people alcohol isn't generally part of the lesson.
I'm going to be doing the same course in the new year, as well as a couple of one-off courses, one about stouts in the lead up to St Patrick's day, and another in May about summer beer, so those should be fun as well.

Been kinda forgetful/lazy to post in this thread. If you follow me on IG, then these are not new. I've gotten these since the Rassier baby heads.
Tuesday flash from Candi Kinyobi at Tuesday Tattoo in San Francisco, CA. Under the tutelage of Jesse Tuesday (who's a badass tattooer that's totally under the radar).
Ultimate sad girl with sad heart from happy tattooer and fellow LST'er Carolyn LeBourgeois @cltattooing at FTW Tattoo in Oakland, CA.
Tengu from Stewart Robson at Black Heart Tattoo in San Francisco, CA. Was able to nab a cancellation thanks to Ross "INSIDE SCOOP" Hogg. I unfollowed a bunch of tattooers on IG, so I totally wouldn't have known about this. Thanks again @hogg!

Fun times in New York with my newly immigrated fiancée. Bug is on her by Bert Krak, torch and rose are on me by Eli Quinters and Beau Brady, respectively.

Well, we (finally) started - after almost 2 years waiting for him to move and cut down his list a bit.
Start of a full half squidpant. I wasn't going to post it yet - but he did, so I stole this image off of Thomas' instagram:

I haven't posted this on here yet. Session four on my back, we shaded my butt and thigh.

I had a fantastic experience at Diamond Club last night with one of my favorite tattooers, Brian Kaneko (truenaturetattoo on Instagram). I got this peony:

Shad, Junii, and Dr. Claw were there, too, which made it even more fun. But the best part is that @Iwar wanted to get something from Brian, but couldn't get an appointment. He asked if he could show up during mine, and I said, "Of course!" He walked in right after I got there, so I introduced him to Brian and Shad. They all started laughing, then Brian said, "By the way, I tattooed him earlier today. I had a cancellation." So now Iwar and I are not only banhammer bros, but we're botan brothers, too.

Done by Curt Baer while he was guesting at Dark Age Tattoo in Seattle. He is a big man with a sexy beard.
Sorry for the shiny pic!

A grave stone with your initials,and the date you were born with a question mark after that...And a reaper floating behind it with flames surrounding everything.