Hospitelli

I had visited family I had not seen in about 7 years or so and around that time I did not have any tattoos. It was a bit of a shock to say the least for them and to which my Uncle belted out this gem " You do know that you are not japanese, right?"

just about done
 

Done at Mondial du Tatouage (Paris) by Valerie Vargas.

Got an appointment with Erik Rieth when he's here in late March at War Horse Tattoo in Berkeley. Thinking something panther-related.

Started my back with Marius Meyer yesterday. 

I'm not great with photos but here are a few progress pictures from this last month with Lehi.

Here's a little party shark I got from Scott Sylvia recently. I meant to post healed pictures but it's a difficult area of my arm to photograph. Thanks for looking! starting the left sleeve next. 

It was great seing you again Gareth! Although I have to admit I felt like a sadist at times too, haha. You're tougher than most!
 

Made another Oslo trip last week to start a cover up on my lower stomach. While i was there i picked up a namakubi from Nicholas at Blue Arms.

The cover up is ongoing and i don't mind admitting i'm very apprehensive about the next session! This was not a fun tattoo to get although Marius did his best to keep my spirits up and a visit from LST's own Mr @Iwar definitely kept me distracted from the significant pain!
 

Working out! Prior to getting my half sleeves I had a complex about my arms being too skinny/flabby to get tattooed and that it just wouldn't look good. I was extremely motivated and started going to a gym 3-4 times a week trying to lose weight and add some muscle to my flimsy arms. I wound up getting started on them anyways because I finally realized that rationale of thinking was entirely stupid and in no way shape or form should have prevented me from getting what I wanted. Once I got into a routine though I managed to stick with it ever since and lost about 50lbs. I'm healthier then I've ever been and no longer have to worry about my blood pressure.

@scottyg Looks rad man! Lining is pretty awful, feels a bit like being cut in half haha. But as said before earlier in this thread, the stoke will pull you through! How far down are you taking it? To the ass or to the knees?
On Saturday, I just tipped over 20 hours in on my back and very satisfyingly started colour. The black is completely done and it now looks like a proper backpiece. Three and half hours to finish up blocking out the thighs, and a quick sit on some red before calling it quits. Going from the last couple of sessions on soft, squishy areas back to over spine and shoulder blades was quite a shock. Definitely not looking forward to the massive block of colour over the middle of my back.
 

3.5 hours put in today by Tim and I. We covered a  lot of ground, outlining my entire arm. the ditch of my arm wasn't awesome. Unfortunately for me theres an oni head right there so its going to seeing a lot more abuse.
The atmosphere at atlas is rad, theres absolutely zero ego floating around. Everyones interested in what their peers are doing. Stoked to head back next week.

Holy poop. Just booked travel to Denmark for a tattoo in May.

So on Friday I went down to Denver to see my man Walter McDonald at Lifetime tattoo, got a pretty good start on my back.  We left some details out of the initial outline (tiger stripes, radiating beams of light..) and plan to add some background and extend downward in future sessions.  Super excited to finally start this and see where we go from here, also my back feels like I've been utilizing less than proper lifting techniques.

I have one last session to go on my back,I already had tattoos on my chest/stomach, two sleeves, legs, feet, hands, fingers and neck so ok with the pain. Ive been waiting ages to get my back done as i couldn't decide what to get or who to do it but anyway i found a guy and an idea and away i went.
First session was just outline and it was tough, i realised that the back was comparable to my stomach/chest/feet
Second session was black and some color on shoulder blades....this session was a bit easier as i knew what to expect, sat for 6 hours felt crap after
Third session blasted it for 6 hours with not much left to do...I found the top of my back the absolute worse.
here it is so far roughy 15 hours of actual tattoo time. its worth it but it does hurt and itches loads but looks badass and makes you look fully sick and the disco.
 

The only time I have ever felt like tapping out was the first shading session on my ribs. After having it lined out for the first session and being complimented on how well I was sitting by the artist and the shop manager I think my ego got inflated a tad bit. My next session was scheduled for three hours and it was time for shading! Going in I didn't have a good night sleep and due to traffic I wasn't able to get a solid meal in beforehand but still fetl pretty confident I'd be okay. The majority of the work was along the bottom part of the ribs and lower part of the stomach/oblique. The first 2.5 hours sucked but I was able to get thru it and then I hit that proverbial wall. Once that I happened it didn't feel like I was getting tattooed anymore but rather carved with a knife very slowly. I was so close to saying "fuck it" and cutting the session short but I was able to pull through and finish. Somehow hearing that I had only "ten minutes left" when I had about three times that had helped me out greatly. 

Got this happy head hunter on my inner lower leg. Done by Peter Lagergren. 

Latest work:
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Can't figure out how to get the pic off of instagram. It's a tiger, part of my ongoing quest for full coverage.
EDIT - figured it out!

Tigress, Phase I completed by Chris O'Donnell. We're going to add more soon...

Ok, I'm in with a Hooper edition - 

I haven't updated this in a minute. These pictures aren't the best, but you get the idea. It's not easy to take pictures of your own legs.
Right leg
Spider Murphy's flash anchor - Keith Reed
Death's head moth - Oliver Peck
Tiger rose morph - Grez
Hannya spider - Keith Reed
Out of Step dagger rose - Scott Sylvia
Blue crab - Todd Noble
Smoke wolf - Ron Wells
Lehi flash winged claw - Keith Reed 
Cats - Grez
Pineapple - Drew Rash
Left leg 
Torch moth/butterfly - Keith Reed
Mandala/rose/eye/wings - Grez
Cobra and roses - Scott Sylvia
Phillie Phanatic Virgin Mary - Grez
 
 

Wowzers! Awesome legs everybody. Here are mine,

I was definitely unable to contain myself the last two months. 
-Dan Sinnes scribbled on this locust yokai at Temple. I'm so pumped on how it came together. He posted a photo of the draw on for hilarity.  
-Valerie Vargas did the Oni/Gorilla fight on my arm at the Bay convention. I liked the idea of the eastern/western imagery clashing. My right arm is all american traditional patchwork and my left is semi-american traditional style patchwork with Japanese imagery. This has already healed ridiculously well.
Henning did the namakubi at the Bay convention. I had been waiting a few years to catch Henning at the convention when he had space from his larger works and this was the year. This is absolutely one of my favorite tattoo's. My girlfriend is definitely not as pumped. I'm blown away by his skill and kindness. 
 

Third session on this demon samurai by Nikko at the Bay Area Tattoo Convention 

These are both a year or more old at this point, but I never actually put them in this thread.
The death's head moth was done by Oliver Peck when he guested at Kadillac Tattoo Mt. Airy (Philadelphia) last summer. Not the best picture, but he ended up slipping a lot of hot pink in there that wasn't at all what I'd expect from him. In the end, I loved it and was happy with how it came out. Getting tattooed by Oliver is as great as you'd expect. I had just gotten my shin done by Scott the week before and mentioned in our emails; Oliver came barging in yelling, "Lemme see that Scott tat!" right off the bat. After we were done, he actually took his shirt off and showed me a ton of his tattoos from Scott, Trevino, Rassier, Stell, etc. So fucking awesome.
The torch moth was done by Keith Reed at X-Treme in West Chester, PA shortly after they moved to their new location. This was a "thank you" tattoo for helping them move. Keith is the best. Just an every day, no-bullshit, hard-working tattooer. Without him, I wouldn't know shit about tattoos.
Not the best pic in the world, but @Dan and I were chatting back and forth and I realized I should probably upload em. Once that Grez knee you can see half done gets finished, I'll hit up the squidpants thread.