Tuchaka

It just sounds like this dudes hot girlfriend went and got tattooed with out him.

The difference between Bill Brasky and Mike Roper is that Mike actually does drive an ice cream truck covered in human skulls.

Mike Roper is one of the most low key tattooers out there, so you won't find much of his work online. Maybe a few pictures if you search #mikeroper on istagram, but that's about it. His tattoos, the few I've seen, are beyond incredible though.

What @9Years and @hogg said. I fully agree with checking out the local shops too. There's amazing artists in the city, but I'm a good example where it's not that the artist's in LA didn't do it for me, rather I just saw tattoos by someone in SJ who's work was exactly what I was interested in. 5 years ago I just wanted a tattoo on my arm and thought I'd move to someone else more local for other work. 2 sleeves, a piece on my leg, and a backpiece later, I still find it absolutely worth it to fly up to the same shop because it's exactly what I want. I'd just rather spend more for traveling and getting what syncs with my sense of aesthetics. Bonus points if your chosen tattooer and Shop Crew are cool.
Check out shops around LA. Not every shop tries to advertise and post their work or their latest work on the Internet. If you are in absolute awe of the shop in SF, go there. It's just money. Skip drinking out a couple nights or brown bag lunch for a bit. That travel fund will accumulate little by little.

My name is Kevin (first name) and I disagree with both of you. Just in principal because you are both Kevins and I turned my back on the club.

You're in New York? Why go for "a lot of potential" when there people in NYC who do unbelievable Japanese work? Just off the top of my head, look into Chris O'Donnell, Mike Rubendall, Troy Denning, Shinji, Kiku, Chris Garver.

Yes, definitely waaay too many tattoos. Living beings should never be marked by the ravages of time, their environment, circumstance or human intervention!
Won't somebody PLEASE think of The Children!

Mike Rubendall: Dragon and Spartans
also try searching for "western dragon tattoos"

hgiles knows what is up. Another good one below. The reds on it are really vibrant even in person.

This is sweet too! Same Artist different dragon!

Fuck pain. I don't need to be reminded that I'm being punctured-I've got probably over 30 hours of tattooing on me, I've been shot 3 times, stabbed, cut, beat, stomped, whomped, eye took out, and just generally abused. I can tell you about pain. And I can tell you that if you feel you need pain to make your tattoo a "real" experience, god bless you, you've probably never had any real-live pain, and I hope you never do.

bongsau is the hunter s thompson of tattoo clients haha

I've tried a bunch of different painkiller methods:
Advil - helps you relax but not much help. Didn't affect tattoo pain, just the muscle pain from holding an awkward position.
Tylenol 3 - did not work, made things worse on a ditch session
Smoking pot - kinda helped me relax but could put you in the 'ugh don't touch me' mood, cue husband/wife jokes
Pot cookies - now this worked great, it kicked in halfway through a chest session and made it hilarious and enjoyable
Percocet - I tried this 30 minutes into a knee shading session where I was getting grossed out. Didn't feel a thing, didn't flinch at all and buddy finished the tattoo in record time!
Nyquil - i drank half a bottle of nyquil. it doesn't erase the pain but certainly helps your mind fade away from what is actually going on. the side affect is a stomach ache post-tattoo. gross.
Alcohol - i drank a mickey of rum, that worked great for a long sesh behind the knee. Except post-tattoo in the evening felt pretty sick. I also have Crohns so drinking hard alcohol was a pretty retarded idea in the first place and fucked me up for like 4 days.
Beer - having a beer did the trick. But that could also have been the general good vibes at the end of the day at the shop's new shop.
Bactine and magic bandaid soap do help but only to get you through that last push of a good sitting.
And after all this...the conclusion of my science experiment is good rest and a strong clear mind is the best painkiller. Don't take anything. You'll sit fine if you are mentally prepared. Add some hot water into the mix to keep you warm and you are golden for a session.

Painkillers make it worse, but that's no reason not to use drugs.
Here's my recipe:
before the tattoo starts, I pop a muscle relaxer. You're going to be getting your ribs worked on and that's going to hurt. A lot. Evolution isn't a dummy, and we've evolved to protect our vital organs. The ribs protect your lungs. Your lungs are important. Therefor, your body has a nice network of nerve endings all around the area to alert you that you're getting into dangerous territory. Which means that you're going to be hating life.
As such, you'll tense up. Probably a lot. You'll be sore from the tattooing the next day, sure... but you're also going to be sore from tensing yourself up. Because ribs hurt.
That muscle relaxer (metaxalone for the win) will make you tense up less and the next day, you'll feel better for it.
The next step is to take an anti-histamine. Tattooing is basically a large scale scratch test. If you take a nondrowsy anti-histamine, you'll swell less. The artist won't be bogged down with puffy, swollen skin.
The last step for me is a xanax. Because I hate getting tattooed and the xanax just makes me happy.
Caveats:
I'm not prescribing any medicinal treatment since I'm not a doctor. Don't use drugs unless you know their side effects.
Respect: Ask your tattooer if he/she minds you taking pills. Some do. You don't want to be the loopy customer they hate dealing with.

Check out Bill Canales at Full Circle Tattoo in San Diego.
Also that website looks worthless so I would ignore it.