sighthound

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?

Same way you do research on anything else. Time and exposure. 
Knowledge is experience. Best way to learn is to get tattooed. You'd be surprised what you can pick up from just talking to your artist (and the artists working next to you) for hours on end. But I get that that may be too far for a lot of people at first. 
No one starts out knowing it all. This forum is as central a repository of tattoo knowledge as you can get, (apart from actual artists) so peruse the topics here. Pick up some magazines, use instagram, check out yelp reviews, look at pictures. Lots of pictures. What Graeme said is true, a picture doesn't really give you in depth understanding of a tattoo or an artist's capabilities, but it does increase your exposure. And something is better than nothing. In time you'll start to develop a sense for what you like, and also what a good drawing/design looks like vs. a bad one. What good shading, color, linework looks like and all that. 

Hell, I have a dragon tattoo on my ankle... (or just above it anyway). 

there are no rules,and I have both my ankles done.
 

Lemme throw in Mr. Hot Stuff himself, Danny Reed:
And @mmikaoj, I love that Judas piece you have - it really stands out from the other pieces on your legs.



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I wouldn't get a Kali tattoo, either lol. And I feel the same people who get Kali would probably not have a big issue getting the devil also. Most people raised in the western world just don't make the same associations to an eastern goddess as they would to old familiar Satan.
Personally, I like the imagery, but I'm just not willing to put stuff of that type of energy on my body. Hope that makes sense. I could do a hot stuff devil though, which might not be a bad idea for the next one...

Whenever I think of devil/demon tattoos, the first person that comes to mind is Derek Noble. Don't think it gets much better when it comes to the demonic stuff.
And like a couple people have already said, as badass as they look, I don't think I could properly rock something like that. But they do make for some badass tattoos.

A good attitude and make sure you smell nice and shower beforehand

http://sailorjerry.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/SetWidth1200-Dragons.jpg
It is that one. 

@DJDeepFried and @sighthound: I was half joking when I said I was embarrassed that my attraction to Japanese tattooing was aesthetic. However articles and TV have sort of conditioned us to think that every tattoo has a beautiful and deeply personal story, and really hasn’t left room for those of us who just like tattoos and their aesthetics. In a way, they have made it seem shallow to get tattooed simply because you think that tattoos are beautiful.
Don’t get me wrong, I have been sincerely and deeply touched by the stories and meanings behind some tattoos, Memorializing a departed loved one, covering scars of surgery, celebrating a victory over disease — wow! Those are powerful reasons to get a tattoo, and that is part of the power of tattooing, that it is perhaps the ultimate way to mark these kinds of experiences. I sometimes wish that my planned tattoo had some meaning, but it doesn’t. But I’m not really embarrassed about it. Tattooing serves a lot of purposes. It is enough meaning for me to say that I want a beautiful piece of art to be a part of my body forever. For me, that is pretty powerful.

Same way you do research on anything else. Time and exposure. 
Knowledge is experience. Best way to learn is to get tattooed. You'd be surprised what you can pick up from just talking to your artist (and the artists working next to you) for hours on end. But I get that that may be too far for a lot of people at first. 
No one starts out knowing it all. This forum is as central a repository of tattoo knowledge as you can get, (apart from actual artists) so peruse the topics here. Pick up some magazines, use instagram, check out yelp reviews, look at pictures. Lots of pictures. What Graeme said is true, a picture doesn't really give you in depth understanding of a tattoo or an artist's capabilities, but it does increase your exposure. And something is better than nothing. In time you'll start to develop a sense for what you like, and also what a good drawing/design looks like vs. a bad one. What good shading, color, linework looks like and all that. 

Yep, aesthetics is the name of the game. I don't think any other reason is needed when it comes to getting tattoos. 
As for the old Japanese traditions, I think they exist for the purpose of aesthetics as well. That's why they've worked for so long and why people are so drawn to them. Rules for keeping clean images, not overcrowding, black backgrounds for longevity and contrast, etc. These body suits were designed for the long haul, maximum impact and readability. 

@Intomyskin Nice, Cindy is a great choice - really big fan of her work. 
I also believe, as far as Japanese traditions go, that, yes, it is best to plan and outline the whole thing out all at once. However, IF you were so inclined to piece-meal it, then it usually starts with the back piece first. Then it is easier to connect sleeves later, which are bascially extensions of the background and not necessarily separate or distinct imagines, as the back is supposed to be the main focal image and everything else just accompanies it. 
At least that's one school of thought. There are many more that I'm ignorant of. 

Thanks, Devious6, I've enjoyed reading your posts .
And thanks for the welcome, sighthound.  Below is my new hawk (pic taken right after it was done; three weeks healed now). It's a tribute to my Dad who died in 1990 and loved red-tailed hawks.  Kind of nice to have him "with" me permanently.

Welcome aboard - got any pics to share? 

Hey, @a_beukeveld! First of all, great pictures, especially of the vintage Japanese pieces!
Interesting perspective! I get your point, and on some days I would agree! I am very aware of two conflicting ideas in my head. One is the aesthetics of the tattoo, and I love the Japanese aesthetics. In that regard, I might agree with your preference for the "modest" body suit. But I am also very fascinated with the the "idea" of tattooing — of changing the skin, changing the body. That part of me is attracted to the idea of near-total coverage - front and back, full sleeves to the wrists, legs covered to the ankles. The "idea" of changing as much skin as possible is just really attractive to me, hence the attraction to full sleeves. I do like the sharp cutoffs, and for myself, would not go onto hands, feet, neck or head. 
Having said that, I just realistically could never, never, NEV-ER go that far in my world for professional reasons, and because I do have some discomfort about displaying my tattoos in public. So the modest route is more realistic for me if I decide to go further.
I love the Japanese style. I started out accumulating a handful of one-point style pieces scattered around, but by chance I selected an artist who worked in a Japanese style, so when I decided that I wanted to get Japanese half sleeves, I was able to make it work pretty well. I'd like to get a back piece, but that may be a long way off. As much as I like the total coverage, realistically the absolute farthest I would ever go would be 3/4 sleeves, back piece, and coverage on the front of my torso in the Munewari style (the style with the "river" down the center that you referred to). So I guess in the end we are are on the same page!

Go for it. The way I see it, if the way your tattoo looks is your biggest problem once you get to that age, then you'll have lived a good life.

Go for it. The way I see it, if the way your tattoo looks is your biggest problem once you get to that age, then you'll have lived a good life.

Alix Ge added this awesome Hannya on my forearm
 
 

Got this collab from Timmy B and Andres Acosta at the stacked Lake Tahoe convention. Took about 7 hours 
 
 

He's been really great - building this sleeve over the last 3 years has been an excellent experience all around.

by Chris Smith - Neptune Tattoo in Neptune NJ

Just got my first tebori from Bunshin Horitoshi. Tosi is a great guy! Highly recommended.
I went with something classic and simple for my first japanese tattoo

@polliwog All hobbies are expensive haha.
 
Just understand what you like and what makes a good tattoo good. I believe that a tattoo is defined as much by the experience as the technical/artistic outcome - and for some, more so. Like you said, who cares what others think, let them have their opinions. In the end, if you like what you have and had a good time, that's it.

@polliwog All hobbies are expensive haha.
 
Just understand what you like and what makes a good tattoo good. I believe that a tattoo is defined as much by the experience as the technical/artistic outcome - and for some, more so. Like you said, who cares what others think, let them have their opinions. In the end, if you like what you have and had a good time, that's it.