Tesseracts

Andrew Loomis books: Save Loomis!
Various old drawing books: Drawing Books - Open books for Creative Minds!

I just wanted to make the observation that it is almost exclusively women that have concerns about spacing/placement/symmetry in this thread. I find that interesting...

i like the outline if it works with the design. i think stewart robson at frith st. tattoo did a fine job on this one...
i totally think mario is right too, cut out everything that doesn't need to be there. i always find that the tattoos that make a big impact, are simpler and less involved. filler can definitely look cool, when done right. but i prefer the negative space between tattoos, i also think it gives each piece a stronger impact and it adds more of a storyboard effect to the body, which i think reads better. stuart cripwell at spider murphy's executed this perfectly...

@Hogrider I'm by no means an authority on this stuff, but I'm travelling along the same road you've just started...
Part of the reason you can't find what you're looking for is because you're looking for literal or binary meanings.
Most of the images you've seen tattooed are taken from Japanese and Chinese folk tales or religious stories.
Imagine of you asked someone regarding western cultural art or tattoos:
1) "What does it mean when there's a guy hanging on cross with his arms outstretched?"
2) "What does it mean when there's a woman in blue holding a naked baby"
3) "What does it mean when the muscle-bound guy in the black mask overpowers the brightly dressed skinny man in the clown makeup.
The answers depend on your level of interest/sympathy and how abstract or literal you want to be:
1a) It's Jesus. His father, God, sacrificed him to atone for the sins of the world.
1b) The wearer has faith in a religious power higher than himself and possibly feel kinship with or sympathy for the figure and character of Jesus Christ.
1c) The wearer wants to be forgiven for past wrongdoings.
2a) It's Mary, Jesus' mother. The baby is Jesus.
2b) She's a figure of worship because some people believe she should be revered because God chose her as the vessel for his earthly offspring. Her cloak is blue because traditionally goddesses were associated with the moon and night sky. Sometimes it has stars on it. Christianity adopted this symbol to make it easier for people who held older religious beliefs to adopt the new faith.
2c) The wearer may have sympathy or empathy with the concept of being the vessel for divine power or lineage. Also this symbol can have an added element of sadness because we know the eventual sadness and loss of a mother witnessing her only son be sacrificed for the good of mankind - possibly a greater sacrifice than Jesus, some might say.
3a) It's Batman, he's fighting the Joker.
3b) Batman is a symbol of vigilante justice. He works outside of recognised laws to bring justice to a world crippled by wrongdoing.
3c) This scene is a metaphor for the darkness of repressed homosexuality and it's power to overcome the sinister flamboyance of non-hetro feelings.
etc, etc.
In short, think about what you want your tattoo to 'mean' or 'say' - tell that to a tattooer who knows his stuff and let them find a story or theme that fits your idea.
Or just pick one you like from a woodblock print.
I try to tell people all the time that western traditional tattooing has just as much symbolism and poetry but nobody will listen. It's all sex, death and the struggles of humankind.
Good luck.

Tigers n Panthers n Lions...oh my.



All three by Den Yakovlev.

As requested here are a couple of photos of my Chris Garver tiger.

yep-it was the chop shop scene. No lines, just a background guy

Different perspective, I may have mentioned before(?), but I won't get lots of black and gray/fine line work because of the Hispanic gang thing. My first tattoo was black and gray, but after that, I went with as much color as I could get with all my other tattoos. When I was in "Machete", I was cast because of my tattoos; it's another thing to look "the role" everyday ;)

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?

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.

Welcome to LST! So my apprenticeship experience was not too different from what it sounds like you're about to get yourself into. Solid advice: jump ship now, get like 10-20 more tattoos, paint your ass off, and try a better shop. Ideally, a street shop with walk-ins, tons of flash, and artists versed in several styles who do large and small work on a regular basis. I understand that this is rough advice to hear, but I can guarantee that you will have a much easier and much more fun time in your tattoo journey if you take that advice. I fully get what it's like to be young and hungry for it(still am), but you will benefit tenfold throughout the rest of your life if you start out the right way with the right information at your foundations.
Or you can do what I did, which is apprentice at the first shop that will take you, start tattooing right away, fuck a lot of people up, not learn shit about your craft, leave half way through your apprenticeship, and then get another job at whatever shop will take you as you figure out how you're going to get good information and further yourself on your own.
In the end, whatever you choose to do, it is all going to be difficult. What it mostly comes down to is are you willing to spend the time right now to learn the right way, or do you want to spend the next 5-10 years unlearning what you've been taught and figuring out what's what. Having someone tell you that they will teach you how to tattoo is the most exciting thing in the world! The fact remains that the time spent in a shop for 2 tattoos is not enough time to let you know if it's really something you're ready to be a part of for the rest of your life.
Anyway.. sorry for being so preachy. You will decide what's best for you and your life. I wish you the best of luck on this incredible journey that is tattooing and getting tattooed.

here is a better example:

I had to join the site to thank you for this thread. I have been trying to decide for some time where & what size to get my first tattoo. I'm old, fat, & not especially attractive. I've been wanting a tattoo for a long time, and have known for a while what it is I want. But, the size and placement has held me back. I have been thinking of getting it small, worrying about what people would think. Which is really ridiculous. I don't worry about what people think of me, as Popeye would say, "I am what I am". Thanks for helping reinforce the decision that was in the back of my head the whole time.

What??? I have seen plenty of fat folks with both done and I am a fat person getting my back done!

Seth Wood did this, scroll down.
http://sethwoodtattoo.com/page/13

I'm a fat woman covered in tattoos. I think if you want to get tattooed do it. Who cares what other people think anyway? My friend, and tattoo artist Kristel Oreto and I have started a page dedicated to fat women with tattoos. We are just as awesome as any other woman with tattoos.
Not to mention, I think my tattoos make me so much more comfortable with my body. Or at least I feel better about myself. :)

Alright, I don't know how many of you have met my husband but he's a big guy. I'm not going to post his weight because I don't think he'd want me to. I also was at a shop this weekend with a tattooer who's even bigger than my guy, and we were all showing each other out tattoos, so lots of shirts offness.
Both of them have amazing tattoos by some of the best tattooers around. Both of them get to have these huge tattoos that I could never because they literally would not fit on my body at that size. And man, I sure am jealous! I don't know how many times I've said the phrase "Sometimes I wish I was fat so I could get more/bigger tattoos".
Like some of the other commenters, I also feel like tattooing can help you love the 'ugly' parts of your body. I may not be fat but we've all got parts we don't like on us. Remember even super models are photoshopped.
As far as actually putting a tattoo on a bigger person, it seems like it can be in places more difficult and in other places pretty easy. Stretch marks are harder to tattoo, but if you go to someone who's comfortable doing it and has done it before, you should have no issues once the tattoo is healed. They tend to puff up worse than normal skin and the needle can get snagged on the edge of a stretch mark while being tattooed, but like I said, if they know what they're doing, that won't happen and your tattoo will be as nice and on any other person.
I know a chick who weighed over 300 lbs at her heaviest. She is very heavily tattooed, I'm talking full solid jap style sleeves, legs pretty much covered and a few things on her torso. Over the course of about a year she lost at least 150 lbs. Her tattoos still look good, you can't really tell that they've shrunk unless you knew her before.

I have recently become obsessed with this sheet of E.C. Kidd flash (from 1912! 100 years old!!!) which I believe is from the Hardy book Flash from the Past, and am very seriously considering getting one of the beautiful dragons off of it. Love love love everything about them.

Quick Tumblr search:

And yet no one hates on the companies that took advantage of a guy that is bipolar, and trying to survive in a shit economy.

As I see things, your body is going to undergo a lot of changes over the course of your life. You'll gain and lose weight, you may get pregnant and your body will undergo changes then, as you get old your skin and your muscles are going to slacken and sag, and your tattoos along with it all. That's just bodies, and it isn't a reason to not get tattooed. So what I'm saying is that you should get the tattoos you want to get regardless of how you feel about your weight. A well-designed, well-executed tattoo is going to fit your body and age gracefully with it, so make sure you get a good one. The list @BrianH gave above is a great start, I'd add Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn to it (Seth Wood works there and he rules), and if you're going to move to LA there are plenty of great shops there too. That tiger you posted is by Bryan Burk in LA, some people here have gotten incredible work at Memoir Tattoo, and I'm sure somebody who knows LA better could recommend plenty of other great shops there.

Mike Shea Mike Shea Mike Shea!

Welcome to LST!
If you are interested in Japanese style dragons and pheonix's I recommend checking out these Boston area artists:
Erick Lynch at Redemption in Cambridge, MA
Mike Shea at Redemption in Cambridge, MA
Forrest Cavaco at Cobra Custom in Plymouth, MA
Jason Loui at Iron Works in Portsmouth, NH
also don't be afraid to expand your search to New York, its a short trip that I've done numerous times. Places to check out in NY for Japanese work include:
http://www.kingsavenuetattoo.com/
http://invisiblenyc.com/
http://www.nyadorned.com/

If you really want to get something big like a dragon or a phoenix, I'd say to wait, do your research and save your money, and go for that instead of getting something smaller just for the sake of getting a tattoo. Take a look around here at the Latest Tattoo Lowdown thread, the Tattoo of the Month contests, and because you're thinking of going big, the Full Back Piece thread to see the tattoos people here are getting and who they're getting them from. That tiger you posted is on a poster here, and it's amazing.

I wouldn't be "upset" about the presence of any mag, but I'd question the shop-owners professionalism. Here ya go-I'm taking my 14 y.o. daughter with me this Friday when I go in to get some work done. Do I want her to have to look at a Hustler laying out in the open? No. do I want some skeezix reading Hustler and looking at my daughter? No-I'd rather not spend the night in Cook County Jail after I break his sticks.
Porn doesn't upset me in any way, and I couldn't care less if the private areas of a shop are covered in it, but it has no place out in the open in a business. ANY business. Another poster talked about his barber. Hell, my barber had mags in the backroom too-Esquire was about the hottest thing going then, but even in a business that caters primarily to men, you don't leave porn laying around out in the open.
That said, different strokes for different folks. Literally. If I went into a shop to get some work done, and saw hardcore laying on the table, I'd walk out. But that's just me. I want my work to be done in a clean, professional shop, not someplace where the vibe is "let's burn one off and dig the latest "Big up Front" while we wait for some sucker to come get scratched." Might be harsh, but that's how I'd see it.