cltattooing

There was quite a few people that asked me if the needles go through seven layers of skin......

and another is my own family claiming the ink enters your blood stream. :/

A certain amount of it does get into your blood stream, but it's not harmful or anything. I think there's a thread on here mentioning pigment showing up in your lymph nodes in MRI's or some scan of that nature.

I don't have a pic of the original....

no worries, found it on instagram :)

I was not saying anything meant to be taken in a demeaning manner. I was making an observation that, in the short while I have seen you post here, that you always seem to actually make sense and take the time to form a complete and whole thought. Even when speaking to people who obviously don't deserve it, you make a solid response. I was trying to compliment you man.

@Graeme Our barbarian horde can be covered in tattoos and metal as fuck, right?

Ah for sure, my bad! Well shoot, thanks for clarifying. I hate having dumb beef with people, especially in a setting as chill as LST. I dunno if you guys have read TCM #2 yet, but when Hooper was talking about primitive tattoos and how warriors would see their opponents charge out of the jungle with these large black pieces and go "oh fuck!"

Well that's our hoard, no doubt B)

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I'm not a troll. I can finish 3 or 4 sheets when I'm not working, or in the summer. When I'm in school I'm lucky to be able to get one page done. If you want to come to the shop, I welcome you. Maybe you could clarify everything for the both of you and give me some solid advice. I really feel like this place is legit. My contract was at least five pages long and the apprentice curriculum was twice as long. But I also feel like I should maybe shut my young mouth because you guys might just know better than me. Like I said before I will be staying at the shop for a year as I signed a contract, but I will definitely be taking your guys advice on getting tattoos. And the three months is on pig skin not human skin. Three months is also not a guarantee if my boss doesn't think that I'm ready yet then it will be a few more months. I'm not sure if I even will be tattooing this year, definitely thinking about your guys other advice. All that aside...I got a question. In your guys opinion do you think tattooing pigskin is helpful?

Can I see some of your art unrelated to tattoo art? pig skin is very different from people skin, but it does help you get used to having a machine in your hand.

And now for something completely different.

I had this piece done on Saturday. It's a tribute to my pet Sun Conure. Done by Papa Joe Dawson. His lines can be a little quirky sometimes, but that's partly why I like his work.

I think what stands out most for me in terms of this being a really rad tattoo, is that there is no negative space left within the lines, all of the color is packed right to the edge. Most people can't pull that look off for shit, and I don't really care for the aesthetic. This one has a lot of continuity within the bird and within the anchor, so they really stand out from each other and you don't lose sight of the design amongst everything going on in the tattoo. I like it a lot.

Gee, I wish I saw this question three days ago.

I heardd Put either A&D ointment or neosporin on it and cover it for a day or st. You can buy both at the store. Some color might come out and I have always had some bleeding. Don't rub it - tab it.

neosporin is a big no no, it will pull the ink right out of your skin.

I was wondering why clipping my toenails was so painful. ACK!

HA!!!! :P

Dunno why anyone would agree to tattoo a butthole, I mean shit is the last thing that should be present on a healing tattoo...

If this forum as a whole was facing certain annihilation from the barbarian horde and the only two options were to fight and surely die, or back down and live another day. I feel like you would be the dude whos like "Uh, guys, lets just let this one go". Meanwhile, every other member of the forum charges straight to instant death.

That's interesting, why?

edit:

Actually, no.. don't have to justify this. People come here to learn, I'm not a mod, and I don't feel the need to display any sense of importance by telling people off who don't know their dick from their toe when it comes to tattoos.

Been a fan of these guys for a really long time and I finally get to see them!! SO excited.

I believe it. I've seen this situation before, there are a few shops out here just like that. I've been trying really hard to not be an asshole in this thread. Luckily, shops like that usually end up closing within 3 years. People just get really hungry for the money or the recognition or the power that comes with tattooing, and they let their egos/greed/integrity get out of line.

I know of a shop in Hayward where one of the "artists" took on an apprentice after he had been tattooing for 3 years, and that apprentice was one of 3. Everything that comes out of that place is garbage. I know... nobody that loves tattooing wants to believe that this stuff actually happens, but it does. I guess that's why it's so direly important that sites like this one exist.

Kay, done with this thread, steppin off the soap box.

Cool thread! I never know how much is too much or too little to share when talking about myself, I guess I'll stick to the basics. Um.. I'm 22, born and raised in the SF bay area. I lived in Marin county during my childhood/teenage years, which essentially means that I grew up in the woods, completely surrounded by wildlife. It was pretty awesome as a kid, I mean how cool is it to see a family of foxes trot through your patio? Getting into being a teen, living out there was pretty fucking boring. At the ages of about 13-14, I was enrolled at a private Catholic school (I am not even remotely religious), royally hating all of it, and just discovering punk rock and the local music scene out in the east bay where my dad lived. I think at that point I was identifying more with countercultural aesthetic, knew that I would eventually get tattoos, but didn't know jack about them or what was possible as far as good tattooing. Skip to my junior year of high school, I got the hell out of Catholic school and transferred to an arts magnet program at a local public school. There is where I met my friend Jen, who had an avid interest in tattoos and took me with her to Spider Murphy's when Stuart did her first. I was pretty mesmerized at that point and knew that I was going to start getting tattooed pretty soon after I would turn 18. I can't even tell you how it blew my mind to learn that tattoos turned into scabs, hahaha. That summer, I took a few courses at the San Francisco Art Institute, learned a lot, and was pretty certain that I'd go to art school for illustration and painting when I was done with high school. I did pretty horrible during my senior year, probably on account of not showing up for most of it. Skipped graduation, got my CHSPE, and got my first job the following fall. That winter, I had just turned 18, decided that it was time to start getting some piercings, parents be damned. My mom got a job in the same town as the shop I was pierced at, so we moved there. I didn't know anyone in town, so guess where I hung out? Fast forward a year, my piercer had become my best friend and I was spending all of my time at the shop. I've been artistically inclined for my whole life and have always wanted to make a living through drawing and illustrations. One particularly nice spring day, it just sorta hit me like a ton of bricks that I ought to learn how to tattoo. I asked the shop owner if he'd teach me, showed him my stuff, and he agreed. My apprenticeship itself has enough stories to write a book, so suffice it to say that I moved to Oakland in September 2011 and it was probably the best decision I've made for myself second to learning how to tattoo. I took a 6 month break from tattooing to get settled into the town, and found the job at the shop I'm at now in March 2012. So.. yeah, that's pretty much it, I suppose! Apart from tattooing, I am somewhat of a nerd. I'm married to my PlayStation 2, I like to be in the woods, I like to make food, I like to go to shows, and read. I really want a pet snake again, I want to learn how to shoot, I'd like to get into martial arts, and I want to learn how to play piano again so I can play prog metal and do crazy arpeggios. :)

it is, she had her sign in pink.... this much better!!!!

Very impressive! Do you have a before picture perhaps?

Whoaaaaooohhh so many amazing tattoos being posted!! Love love love the white tiger and the dragon lamp. I don't know why great tattoos are so romantic, I swear I actually swoon when I see them.

Very hard to follow up on these awesome pieces, but I just wanna post this one from yesterday. One session, 3 hours, lots of fun! Dunno what I'd do without such cool clients, they're always the ones with the crazy ideas, I'm just lucky enough to get to draw them :)

Congrats!! This place is really really cool. I hope it continues to blaze in its full glory for a long time to come!

Welcome!

Matt started this tattoo last weekend. Pretty much every other tattoo that you can half see in the photo is by Matt as well. Sorry it is showing up sideways, but I am absolute shit with a computer.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the lotus crown and the pearl!! fucking brilliant!!

Thanks, really appreciate encouragement and the advise.

Usually I spend time trying to get the drawing to the point where I am happy on with it on paper, then I trace it onto the watercolour paper with the help of a light box. Usually I do one design at a time with an idea of what I want on the sheet then try to draw things to fill spaces.

Definitely will take on your advise, really enjoy doing these paintings keeps me off the computer and away fro the TV.

I think I phrased my question wrong, but you still answered it, haha. When composing whole sheets of flash, I like to have every design I want to use ready as a line drawing. It really helps them fit on the page well when you can move around the drawings on the back so that they're spaced evenly and aren't distracting from each other.

Heck yeah! Keep it up. I'm finding myself painting more and it really is nice.. very relaxing, and I can't agree more about wanting to spend more time away from the computer and tv. Can't wait to see more stuff!

Figure & Gesture Drawing Practice ToolFigure & Gesture Drawing

Drawspace.com - Lessons

great resources!

@CultExciter thanks heaps!! I know of a great supply store. Death to Michael's, haha

Another panther attempt.

You asked for constructive crits, I have a couple of tips/questions. When you compose your sheets, do you have line drawings that you trace onto the painting page or do you draw them right on? The snake looks pretty good, actually. The only thing I'd suggest is keeping a bit more negative space within, so those lovely rich colors can really pop out.

Panthers.. oh panthers, how I love you. Such a beautifully simplistic and yet difficult design. One of the things I'm noticing in those panthers are the shoulders. One shoulder is right out there on the inside arm, and the outer shoulder is hardly visible. The most important thing to take into consideration when drawing panthers is the surrounding space created by the shapes of the animal. I think that the tails on the panthers and snake could create more interesting negative spaces if you played around with them a bit more. Consider how the eye moves through your design. Where is the focal point? What part of the image is my eye drawn to first? Where do my eyes end up when I've finished looking at it? Are there any unnecessary details present in the design that prevent my eyes from moving through the image smoothly? Tracing old designs, line for line, is super educational as an exercise. Always give credit to the original artist if you do an exact reproduction, of course, but it really has helped me learn a lot about composition and the impacting nature of traditional tattoos. It's apparent that you have a keen eye for design, and I think that if you work out some of those kinks, your work will really shine. Cheers!

If I come to CA, I may never leave. Haha. I made the bad mistake of discovering LST at the same time as buying a house. Stupid money.

Haha! Houses are great things to have, definitely more practical than tattoos :) No reason you can't do both, eh?

I saw that on instagram, sooooo good

Or you could come to the dark side...

what

I mean California

I looooooooooove Herb Auerbach's work!!! He kills it, pardon my blasphemy for saying that I prefer his stuff over Stefan's. I believe I'll be having him tattoo my feet some day :P