Diehardonvhs

Not looking forward to that particular session when the time comes for me! I love that piece dude, I would kill to get something from Dana someday.

Thanks a lot man, just trying to take reference from some of our favourite artists without copying their designs or styles outright. Hopefully keep a good balance between doing something a bit different but not straying away from what makes a tattoo good in the first place!

Cheers :-) Alright then, there is still loads to go, even just planning certain bits out we haven't finished yet, need to get the fingers finished, bloody loads to go on the lantern, try to fit the background into the Jess Yen work on the left thigh, then put lots of sweeping hair across the face - but here's our start! Will be full colour in the face/hand/lantern, and loads more black in the background. Will take quite awhile, trust me! I will update as we go if people are interested, cheers :-)

@Diehardonvhs We'll go down to the back of my thighs. Right now, starting in July, I have monthly appointments booked until the end of 2014, but it will go into 2015 for sure. Yours looks fucking amazing from the little I've seen of it on IG. Who's doing it?

Thanks man, I'm getting it done by an artist called Mark Armstrong, he's obviously not a household name like some of the artists here, I mean, it's a bit intimidating when people are posting full back pieces from Rubendall, Henning, Filip Leu and Dana Helmuth!! I've known him a long time though, he's a good friend and a brilliant artist, it's coming on slowly, but I'm really happy with it so I could never complain!

I can't wait to join the backpiece club. Still months to go until I start.

I started last July, and I guarantee you will be finished before I am finished! :-) Cant wait to see yours.

How far down are you going?

@Diehardonvhs Always loved Chris Dettmer's skulls. Very nice tattoo.

Cheers! Yeah I have been looking at his work for years, was a great experience to finally get something from the man, he is the nicest, most polite tattoo artist I have ever met too!

Healed from the London Tattoo Convention - by Chriss Dettmer

Healing a whole load of bum-work, and back of thigh work. Not happy. Sitting, bending over, crouching, walking, all less fun than usual. All in all a right pain in the arse (sigh).

I was massively unimpressed with everything the new generation of consoles has to offer so I built a very nice gaming PC instead....couldn't be happier! Been playing Metro - last light, which is excellent, and Assassins creed 4, which has its faults, apart from sailing the high seas with shanties, which is ace. Also playing through Papers, Please, and Spelunky, both of which are fantastic.

I picked up the Witcher 2 as well on the steam sale - not got around to playing it yet, cant wait though!

I have seen some large Japanese bodysuits that incorporate the mark of the artist who made them - Usually a Hori, I have seen work by Horiyoshi III, Horikitsune, Horimatsu all with their "printed" artist name, usually on the upper shoulder on the back. I believe I even saw Stewart Robson do it once at a clients request. I havent ever seen an artist "sign" a small piece, although I don't doubt it has happened before!

First off, you asked the same questions, twice, on another forum, and didn't like the answers you got (laser it first). The answer hasn't changed. You DO NOT like what you have now, so laser it as much as you are willing to, then get a REALLY GOOD artist to cover the whole thing with something you really want. Really good artists are not necessarily close or cheap, so bear that in mind. Adding work from an artist you do like near a tattoo you do not like will just make it that much harder to ever change or cover the tattoo you do not like.

Yeah I tried it out Saniderm healing for the first time two months ago - I have nothing but good things to say about it, it was used on me by Jess Yen - he says he uses it on all his clients nowadays, I was a bit worried about leaving it on for 48 hours, but it was actually really convenient and ended up healing really well, after I took it off I washed it down as normal, got all the gunk off, used bacitracin as normal after that, didnt re-wrap it, and it healed quickly and with no problems! I am debating getting some to use on tattoos by other artists in the future.

Another by Jess Yen! Still needs one more small session(finishing toad detail), but we are mostly there! Done at the London Tattoo Convention over a couple of sessions.

@Diehardonvhs Ah! I didn't realise either so not too smart myself! haha Very cool! Love that piece! Dan blasted out some awesome stuff whilst I was sitting there in my own little painful world!

Trust me, I would have been hard pressed to remember my own name if Claudia was going to town on the inside of my thigh. Big respect for getting through the whole thing!!

Thanks man! You can also spot Jack Rudy tattooing @Jade1959 in the end, and Garver and Rubendall tattooing me somewhere in there

Yeah I saw them too - It's awesome that so many LST people got involved!

Awesome video buddy!! Me and Eilin getting tattooed at 1:02 :D

Or just Claudia and Dan sitting around chatting...

Words tattoos 25 to the power of. Damn good deal.

Looks great - thanks for the link, I hadnt heard about this!

This weekend I learnt that 3 sessions in 2 days is a bit too much for me, I was absolutely wiped out. Regret nothing though, I got (surprise) tattooed by one of my absolute favourite artists, Dan Sinnes. I was sitting next to Eilin too - didnt realise till afterwards though, I'm not smart.

Also got a piece from Chriss Dettmer, which is swollen beyond picture capabilities right now, and Jess Yen, which is wrapped in Saniderm and looks mental right now. Pictures later, I promise. Great to see Youthcrewalex too, hope you had a great weekend buddy!

Stewart Robson has his hair in pigtails for the convention. He looks magnificent.

I'm no into having sleeves so even though i have coverage on most of my arms i'll leave space between. I don't plan I generally get an idea that becomes an obsession , and then it gets done.

I want to know though - full back piece versus lots of different work from various artists on your back , what do you think ?

I would absolutely, 100 times out of 100, go for one coherent backpiece. Arms and legs look great (to me) with small pieces all over, and also look great with one well thought out, flowing sleeve. When it comes to the back though, it just looks so wrong (to me) with small pieces here and there, or even filled up with different pieces. I guess it's because it becomes very cluttered and unreadable, the back is a canvas that you can use for one big striking image, it seems like a waste not to use it for its full potential!

well since i'm a skinny dude the shin felt like drilling into bone for me. good times!

Exact same for me. Skin and bone, and the needle on the shin bone is just fire. I wish I was more padded, more area to tattoo as well!

Hi there! I love Joao Boscos work, great piece you've got there!

I work with a guy with almost a full sleeve from Tofi, and that shit is going NOWHERE. You may lose some details, and it will flatten down a lot obviously when it is fully healed, but as you say - he is pretty heavy handed, and that ink is really in there!

I started my back last month, neck to knees, a large Oni/Hannya faced lady holding a lantern - taking reference from the scale of Shige and Calle style backpieces, but painted by the artist. I was incredibly nervous going into it, I had built it up in my mind to be the worst thing ever, and I was stressing out about not even being able to get through the first full outlining session...I have had a lot of work done before, and this kinda added to the worry, because I know how bad it can hurt, and how much I do not enjoy getting tattooed! The first session went really well though, I think the fact I had been waiting and wanting this for so long really helped - I wouldn't have ever let myself quit halfway through. The back is NOT an easy area, there are some really bad spots, for me it was behind the kidneys, thin lines on the spine as well as the whole coccyx area...it all sucked, those areas just stood out as being particularly bad! I have had two big shading sessions since then, healing is tricky, thank christ for my girlfriend helping with the bacitracin, also it has been hands down the itchiest tattoo I have ever had! Maybe because it covers such a large area, and everything is itching at the same time! it has been an eye-opening experience so far - It feels like a long, daunting task to get the whole thing finished, once session at a time I guess!