sighthound

My son is Gianluca. I am his Father. Darth Vader is bad ass. Sooooo I got this last night.

Done by "El Hoper" at Black Snake tattoo in Leon Guanajuato, Mexico.

frog got his color on
just a few days old with regard to the color
crappy pic but you get the idea
by Sheila Marcello @ Electric in Asbury NJ
awesome shop - and Sheila does amazing stuff
going back in Sept for more :)

I like the idea. Koi are always getting a free pass in the tattoo world so I think it is great that someone is willing to put them in their place by putting an arrow through one :)
One thing you might want to think about is placement. By putting a medium/large sized piece on each shoulder you are limiting your options for a potential future cohesive full back piece. Maybe think about getting this koi as a rib piece or half sleeve. Or go huge with it and have a koi back piece surrounded by animal skulls.

Round 1 by Chris Garver Invisible NYC

"So you just up and made a major life decision without any second thought about it?!"
- my dad after seeing my chest plate
LOL
he was pissed... poor guy. too conservative to think rationally or openly at times..
i'd love to respond to that with "...pray hard"
i'm torn between being a pacifist by nature and my desire to wear art of which holds a negative connotation to those who believe in such things..

hahahaha that reminds me of my cousin, his first tattoo when he was 14 (also done in some guy's kitchen) and his mom took him b/c he wanted one sooo badly. My brother looked at it and said "jeez, how many Doritos did you have to give the guy for *that*?"

Nice when the tattoo comes in under budget. I think the artists want you to come back and don't want all of your $$ at once. I'm sure they lay jedi-mind-tricks on customers all the time.

I would say it depends on the tattooist and the tattooed.
We never had an issue. I've always felt I was treated more than fair.
Doing our first wedding tattoos with Dan, I think we asked just to get a clue.
There was nothing weird asking. It is a matter of comfort.
If you don't feel comfortable asking, you should probably leave.
Getting the 25th anniversary tattoos, I didn't ask at all. I assumed it was going to be pricey.
It was less than I thought, and it was less than the time spent by the hour.
We were there 7 to 8 hours total and got charged for 4.
Though as Freddy said "he had fun". I want to go back to just hang out.
We were honored he took the job and I think he was honored to keep the continuity.
Back to this: It depends on the tattooist and the tattooed.

(mods if this is somehow not allowed, I apologize, no harm intended).
So, as I said in my intro thread, I have zero creativity. Like, I'm about as clever as a brick. And I have general ideas that I give my artists free reign on, or, you know, traditional flash. But I've had this idea for awhile, and, figured, what the hell, I'll try to sketch it out to show a future artist clearly what I'm thinking. Even though I know I'll probably catch hell for trying to sketch out my own idea, my skin is thick. Freehand except for straightedge use. Let me know if you think this will translate at all in the hands of a good tattooer...

Thanks!
Will follow this!

No, not plastic wrap. I don't ever use that. The first couple of days when it's weeping more I use the large gauze pads with the plastic backing that are kind of like doggie pee pads except for humans. LOL! Not sure exactly what they're called. After that I just use regular gauze pads and I wrap over that with coban self adhesive wrap. I change it twice a day and wash with soap and water between changes. Plastic wrap I think would make me insane, holding in the heat and all that I had to look up Saniderm but it seems like it's the same principal as Tatu Derm. I have heard of people healing the tattoo using it for more than just the first day. I am allergic to Tatu Derm and the adhesive rips my skin off so I can't use products like it. You are VERY lucky you don't get swelling and pain!! OMG I have been through some of the WORST with my calf pieces.

From a couple weekends ago in beautiful Ashtabula Ohio-

Jr Tubbs is the man!
PS: arm shot was taken the day after saniderm was taken off (5 days total, no scab/peeling)

Not sure how realistic you like your realistic tattoos. Myself, the hyper-realism, and even most of the photo-realistic stuff is not my cup of tea. They look really cool, but not my style. My personal preference is toward the realism built upon a traditional "framework", for lack of a better term.
Darcy Nutt is really good at tattooing what I described above - because pictures are worth way more than my crappy descriptions. One of my personal favorite artists, and a super chill lady - I hope to get more work from her one day.
I think a black and grey realistic owl would be cool. Have any idea what kind of owl you want?

Yesterday, I finally got tattooed by my teacher. I told him I wanted a tree on my leg and that was it. This is just the first session, all shading, drawn on with marker. The canopy on the thigh will come later. Afterwards, I got bandaged up and tattooed one of his clients, into a piece he had started last year. It was such an honor for my teacher to take a day out of his (booked out 6 months) schedule to tattoo me. Also, to have him allow me to incorporate my tattoo into his was amazing. I did this little mockingbird and drew the branch on, so it was also my first time freehanding something for a tattoo. I'm still buzzing from it all... or maybe that's just my leg healing? Haha thanks for looking.

Finished my minogame, Gemma Pariente - Full Circle Tattoo.

I put both my sleeves on my arms! My artist said that was the best place for them. :-)

Something a tattooer told me that I wish I'd known from the start: get the big pieces first.

got my neck done by chris conn
- - - Updated - - -

also started my back with bryan burk

D'aww. Come on over and get some tattoos! :)
Edit: Oh hey, @cltattooing put up a picture of what we got up to today.

By Mike Moses:

Not on me I might add; just snagged from his Instagram because I thought it was cool.

Since you're using saniderm, you should also consider some kind of gauze tape/wrap. I used it to heal one foot and healed the other without anything. Made a big difference in keeping swelling down.
I had saniderm over the tattoo, and then wrapped the gauze around the foot and ankle (almost like an athletic wrap), just tight enough to provide a little support but still fairly loose. Washed the tattoo several times a day and reapplied fresh saniderm and gauze wrap. Healed very well, no pain or swelling.

Just got home with this one. Still swollen...

Got this done by Steve Byrne at Rock of Ages the other night.

Welp, I booked my first appointment (July 14) to start a full back piece with Kelly Edwards today ( https://instagram.com/kellyedwardstattoo ). I'm 56% so excited I probably won't sleep until the appointment, 44% scared shitless. I have a lot of general ideas for potential incorporation, but I feel like I'm going to annoy the poor man to death.
Most painful place I've been tattooed so far is collarbone and near the nipple... so this should be a riot.