SerenityViolet

I'm debating asking telling my fiance to buy my next tattoo as my birthday or Christmas present, but I'm also not sure if I want to start on my right arm until after the (over a year away) wedding. If I don't get it now, it'll be my first Christmas gift as a married woman. I want a snake basically draped over my right shoulder and winding down my arm. 

True Love Always (TLA) Tattoo Studio - DAVID BELL

That would be his portfolio. I haven't looked at it yet myself.

It irritated me they kept saying he was from Fredericksburg as if he works in Fredericksburg. His shop is in Occoquan. That's 40 minutes from Fredericksburg. He is closer to DC than he is to Fredericksburg. And I wouldn't believe he lives in Fredericksburg if he works in Occoquan.

I think when they interview and screen test them they pick out everyone with the wankiest attitude ever to go on the show . I don't care about the canvases they get the tattoos the deserve. Go to a real shop and pay for your tattoo for fucks sake.

You don't know a person's motivation for getting a tattoo on the show. Maybe some of them see it as they've always wanted one but have never been able to afford it so they got an opportunity and took it. Maybe some really want a memorial piece but can't afford it. Maybe some people just want to be on television and are willing to do anything for the chance. Any way you slice it, NOBODY deserves a bad tattoo. Nobody deserves to have something on their skin that is ugly. It does a disservice to the art to have people walk around with bad tattoos. Part of the stigma against tattoos is people laughing at the bad ones.

Honestly theres no such thing as a free tattoo people need to learn that . Its part of the drama though , people love to see someone getting violated like that person that got the swirly horrible churned up thing from that guy with the sore back.

"There's no such thing as a free lunch." It's a core principle in economics. But it doesn't exactly mean what you think it does. These people aren't paying in money to the artist, but they are paying in their time, their possible lost wage, and the cost of transportation just like if they went to a normal shop and also with their likeness being used on television, their privacy, and their perception. The cost of getting these tattoos is likely higher than that of the average four-to-six-hour tattoo. You just don't see it.

Also, I don't know a person sadistic enough to laugh at that swirl. All the people I know would feel bad for both the artist and his "canvas".

Agreed 100%, it is tv after all right? Same goes for any reality tv, there is no such thing.

Ever seen those repo shows? I used to repo cars here in NC, right down the road from lizard lick towing(TV show guys), I personally know a few ppl that have been paid to participate. Those show literally piss me off because they are so fake and half the stuff they do will get you sued, so I know kinda how a tattooer might feel, I don't watch these shows, even though I liked repossessing cars. I feel like anyone who has pride in their work would/should hate these types of shows.

I'm not sure how much they should hate them. I mean, it makes a lot more sense to develop a love-hate relationship with them. It opens the people who watch them up to the concept that not all tattoos are the same. Maybe they aren't getting exposure to the greatest tattoo examples by watching the show, but when they hear the critiques, when they hear the challenges, when they hear about the different elements of a tattoo, they're being taught what goes into truly great tattoos. And if y'all want public education about what makes a good tattoo so people stop letting scratchers work on them, then why not bloody let shows educate people on what to look for. And I'm sorry, but it's better people go to some of the tattooers on Ink Master than let their brother's girlfriend's sister's best friend's cousin who got a "tat gun" for his birthday tattoo them. Look at the latest episode's theme. Placement. I will bet you at least a few people learned from that episode that you can't just put any tattoo anywhere on the body and have it look good.

On the show, you aren't even seeing their normal work. How many of you have gone and looked at these people's portfolios? Take Tatu Baby from seasons 2 and 3. If you look at her Tumblr, you see some solid work in the things people go to her to do. Her Day of the Dead girls, her feminine designs, they're rather beautiful. Joey Hamilton does some solid work when it comes to the style people go to him for. Maybe he's not the very best at pin-ups (I saw one with some messed up fingers looking at his portfolio) but he can do a kick-ass photorealistic tiger. Not every tattoo an artist is going to do is going to be great. And tattoo artists have to tattoo in order to get better. People need practice.

And even the best artist will slip up when put under time constraints and forced to tattoo a way or design they may not be comfortable with. I mean, you get Tim Hendricks and tell him he has to do a new-school phoenix in six hours with minimal detail with a nit-picky client. Do you think that's going to be the best tattoo he's ever done or is it going to be lacking somewhere? *cue people who stupidly believe it would look as good as something from Tim Hendricks's normal portfolio*

Part of the real issue with the show is the sense that the producers don't care about having good tattoos produced and neither do the contestants. When it's their turn to hand out skulls, they don't think about the fact the "canvases" have to live with these tattoos. They think about what is going to trip up everyone else.

Worst, the one the girl who sat beside me in my 8th grade art class had on her finger. It looked like somebody drew a circle on her finger and then drew an X through it. I think she said her older brother did it. She told her dad it was Sharpie when he saw it.

Second worst would be the tiny upside down cupcake my former roommate did on her thigh when she was like 17 and some friend bought her a tattoo machine.

I needed more shops to look at because I was having issues finding them. I figured it might be better to ask people who might know rather than trust Google to find my options. Sorry, I never asked for your opinion on the tattoo design itself. I asked what artists in my area to check out for a rose and butterfly tattoo. But because people decided to comment on the design itself instead when all I did was answer the questions I was being asked, I had to defend the meaning of the tattoo. And apparently none of you have any sense to realize "Maybe we should just direct the girl to good artists and let them work out a design everyone will be happy with." It's basic psychology. Most people will go "You're the professional," and let the artist do what they know will work. Instead, you try as random people to tell me my idea will never work.

All I needed was a couple good shops to go look at when I get the chance in a few weeks when I'm home from college then when I go see my boyfriend. Because, you know, sometimes it's hard to find good stuff via Google and sometimes you can't judge a place based on it's website and Facebook.

Also....I saw something about you getting this tattoo for a specific reason!

Please don't take anyone here wrong......most people never really got "meaningful" tattoos.....ones with long drawn out stories behind them why they had to have specific things in them to represent meanings to them until these TV shows sensationalized it all to give the impression that every tattoo has to have some sacred meaning to it's owner!

The people here are more concerned with the actual tattoo.....the fact that you are 18 years old means that when you are 48 years old this will be a 30 year old tattoo! Have you seen a 30 year old tattoo? If so then you know that tattoos age with us and don't look the same as time goes on and while when we are young we say we won't care about it then......well the truth is we will! Great tattoos age well.....good ones not so well....and bad ones age really fast!

I may have the reason behind it, but the meaning came after the idea that I wanted a butterfly tattoo. I intertwined the desire to get a tattoo with the fact that I needed some reminder to myself that I am beautiful. That's what the tattoo is. Just a reminder that I can be beautiful. A beautiful thing on my body because I'm beautiful enough to have it there. It's this big meaning but it's also "I want the butterfly and I want something behind the butterfly."

That's an apples to oranges comparison. But I still will say yes. You want a tattoo that looks incredible and makes you feel incredible, therefore you need to go to someone capable. An ugly tattoo will not help any situation. All of this is in reference to the advice myself and others have been trying to give you. When we mention certain artists that you might need to travel for, you set limitations, and therefore that sets limitations on the quality of the tattoo you could receive. That said, I think there are capable people where you are located. Myself, and others, are only interested in you getting a great tattoo.

It's really not because while I don't have marks on my skin, that's because I was obsessed with not leaving any so that nobody would know. So instead of a blade, I used my nails, I used a key. Or I would grab a serrated knife with the palm of my hand right along the line that runs across it so even if it left a mark for a day, nobody would know. So while I don't have the scar physically, in my mind I do. And I'm sorry if I can't give y'all a fantasy that I'll be able to go anywhere to get the tattoo I want. I came here because I needed to find somewhere in about an hour radius of me or in one of the two other areas I could go. Sorry, it's an opportunity cost situation. I need to give up getting the absolutely best tattoo in the gawddamn world so I can get one at a shop close enough to where I live to be practical and cost-effective. I'm a rational human being and I understand that while it may be the best experience in the world to get a tattoo from the absolute best artist working in my state or the surrounding states, practically, it is not feasible for me as a college student at a not-so-cheap school who cannot drive. I shouldn't have to explain to adults that there are trade-offs to everything you do. It's not like I'm going to some sleazy guy who'll do it for $50 or just doing it myself like my idiot former roommate. I'm trying to find a good artist in my area. I know of at least 5 shops in Fredericksburg. There are at the very least a dozen shops in Richmond. Factoring in just 2 artists per shop, that's 34 artists. Most of the shops have at least 3 so that's more than 50. At least one of those must be good enough to give me what I'm looking for. And that's not taking into account I also said Virginia Beach which, let's see, "the 757" has ODU, NSU, CNU, HU, W&M, and VWC. With 6 colleges plus tourism, I'd say, conservatively, that they have more than a dozen shops. I think I have more than enough artists to choose from. Far too many for me to sort through. Hence why I wanted help. Which I'm obviously not getting here.

It all just depends on how good of a tattoo you want to get and finding the most capable hands. I personally am not going to jump up and down about the meaning behind your tattoo, but will be way stoked if you come out with something solid that holds up for the rest of your life.

I'm sorry, but would you tell that to a girl who said she was getting her tattoo to cover up cutting scars?

I love how your parents will actually drive you to get tattooed, but wouldn't consider letting you stay in a hotel! In terms of big deals, it seems the wrong way round. I guess they are into tattoos, it's nice to have your parents on side (there are a couple of threads on this, a lot of people aren't so lucky).

Anyhoo, are there any conventions in the areas that you can make it to?

My parents are odd and paranoid, but they have quite a few friends with arms full of tattoos and my mom has been wanting one for years yet has not gotten it yet. And while my parents are not exactly excited about me wanting tattoos, if I pay for it, I get what I want. Though, my parents are not up for me getting piercings. They have told me me, "18 for tattoos, 21 for piercings." They're actually concerned more with a scar from an old piercing than a tattoo.

And, unfortunately, of the conventions I know about in the state, one just passed and the other is in November right around the end of the semester like a week before exams. Not exactly the best idea to get a tattoo then considering exam week is a hectic mess of "Eat, cram, test, eat, study, sleep, repeat."

Whose artist interview had the quote about people wanting to get tigers that don't look mean? Anyone? I'm drawing a blank but it's all I can think of here!

Sorry @SerenityViolet, I know snakes are different from tigers :) and your non-mean snake will be great. I wish you the best in finding the right artist! My only advice: Don't compromise on artist quality just to get your tattoo sooner. You've got a whole lifetime to live with that art on you.

Kay, so can I explain that the snake is because I have a snake ring I wear constantly and that's the inspiration for it. I want something like that ring where it's a snake looking beautiful, not like a monster that's going to bite you any second.

Ok, so clearly LST needs some kind of tattoo-taxi service associated with us. Volunteers to drive people to get tattooed - good shops only! - in exchange for gas money, lunch, and being allowed to hang out in the shop all day.

For a two hour drive you should get just get a noon appointment. With a 3-4 hour tattoo you can be home by 6pm. Maybe it's just being me being older, male, or Canadian, but I don't start thinking something requires an overnight stay until it's at least a 3.5hr drive away.

Yeah, it's called my parents would insist on one of them taking me and both of them cannot stand driving long distances at night nor would they get out of the house early enough to make a noon appointment two hours away. It's hard to get them out of the house before noon on days they don't work.

Not to mention they'd throw a fit about me having to go two hours when there is probably a place a lot closer where I could get it considering I'm 45 minutes from Richmond, 20 from Fredericksburg, and 30 from Stafford all of which have multiple shops where I should be able to find at least one good artist.

However, if you do want a black and gray tattoo in Fredericksburg, you could do a lot worse than the fine folks at Jack Brown's Tattoo Revival.

That'd be the place I've most seriously considered. My parents have a few friends who swear by the place and its artists.

What a tattoo "means" is going to change over the course of your life. It becomes part of you and part of your experiences. Don't compromise the design of it for something that is meaningful to you now.

Okay, I'm going to make this really simple. This tattoo is a way of saying I'm done obsessing over what others think of my appearance. It's my way of saying the only people who need to like my appearance are myself and my boyfriend. So while I will take all the input anyone wants to give on the other tattoo I want, for this specific one, I will only take advice from the artist doing the tattoo, my boyfriend, and my best friend who knows me better than I know myself.

And if anyone wants to continue giving me advice, the other design I want is a snake, specifically an asp, in full color, on my right shoulder/upper arm area. This one I will take any advice you want to give because all I know is I want a snake, I want it in color, and I don't want it to look mean.

It's not an issue of it being two hours, it's an issue of it being two hours with nowhere to stay. It'd take me over two hours to go to Virginia Beach, but I can stay with my boyfriend. It'd take me two hours to go to Charlottesville, but I can stay with one of my best friends. Because, you know, I have this thing called an overly paranoid and controlling set of parents who would never let me stay in a hotel. They'll barely allow me to get the tattoos.

Also, I don't have the entire thing planned out in my head. I have a general idea and the general feeling I want from it. It's just that there are a few choices that I have to be absolutely solid in for the piece to mean what it is supposed to mean.

just some friendly advice. Tattoos without outlines is not a good idea. It looks good but after a couple of years it will start looking more like a blob. Sorry couldn't think of another word.. ha

Also that tattoo looks like it's been done recently. Usually black no matter how dark it is after healing becomes grey. For example those roses in the pic will be a couple shades lighter after it heals so .

I do like the black and red color combo and have a tattoo like that.. check out my pics I have a cobra black n red.

Usually people have in mind what they want but to get the best tattoo it's good to have an open mind and talk with some tattoo artist that you like.

I didn't say I want no outlines. And I know it heals lighter. And I have my mind completely open as long as it meets the fact that this piece is something I need. But I can tell you, I don't want red roses. I don't know how I can stress it enough that that would mess up the entirety of the tattoo's meaning.

2 hours is a very short drive for a tattoo that will last a lifetime.

also some brutal honesty that tattoo you posted is pretty terrible

Well, since I can't drive, it's kind of hard to say that 2 hours is a short drive. 2 hours is a 4 hour round trip that I have to convince someone else to take me on.

I don't think it's a particularly good tattoo. There are some spots where it's really really bad. But it's that sort of darkness that I want if it makes any sense. It's also the only rose tattoo I could find with the stems in any way I liked.

No, I haven't because Harrisonburg is more than two hours from both home and school for me and I don't have any friends who live there.

I live close to Fredericksburg so Fredericksburg, Spotsy, Stafford, and Richmond are all do-able. I go to school in Farmville. I have a good friend who lives in Charlottesville who I could stay with if I was going to get it there. My boyfriend lives in the Virginia Beach/Newport News area. These are the areas I am restricted to.

A dagger would be nice if you have a good spot for one. Or a scythe.

I was struggling to articulate what was bothering me about the hipster tattoos tumblr earlier, but I think I've figured it out. Of course you shouldn't always make assumptions about someone's motivation for getting tattooed from looking at a picture. Cumulatively, though, sites like the one linked above create or maybe just feed a perception that sex appeal should be paramount for young women who get tattooed, or that getting tattooed is chiefly a way to enhance it, above all else. It's like thigh tattoos, even the most beautiful ones, only exist in tumblr-land to set off the thigh's slimness and unblemished (white) skin. I'm trying to get over some sort of bullshit that's somehow lodged in my brain that says that women like me don't get certain kinds of tattoos in certain places - like our lumpy thighs - lest we draw even more attention to our bodies. I've spent my whole life trying avoid that kind of appraisal.

Anyway. We're all going to have faded thigh tattoos surrounded by veins in 50 years anyway, whether we started out as tumblr-worthy sylphs or not, so fuck it.

Can I just like this specific part a googol times? I mean, I've always loved the look of tattoos, but being a fat girl used to think they'd be a waste on me. It was like, putting art on an ugly canvas was disrespect to the art. But that kind of self-loathing that I've gotten past is now turning into a tattoo design.

This is a similar feeling to what I want. Of course, my tattoo is going on my forearm and this doesn't fit in size or shape for that. But the darkness of this is what I really want.

Doesn't sound very random - not that there's anything wrong with that! :)

Oh, this tattoo isn't random. It is a long thought out design. It took me months to finally get what I want solid in my mind. I mean, the entire tattoo planning is a form of therapy for me. The other tattoo I want seems a bit random, even to me, but I know, vaguely, a few of the reasons I want it.

Black and grey with just one color isn't too uncommon, depending on which style of black and grey... and especially if red is that one color.

I think you're in a pretty good location to find a great artist, you just need to be more specific in the style you're looking for. A good artist will be able to make a rose look harsher and thornier if you want, even if you don't see one like that in their portfolio...

Can you describe better the style you're looking for? Thick outlines, thin outlines, no outlines? Heavy black shading or soft subtle gradients? Heavily stylized or more realistic?

I want thick outlines on the stems and the butterfly but I want the flowers to be a bit softer. Mostly realistic, heavier shading.

I'm not looking for similar things to what I want in an artist's portfolio, I'm generally looking for good flowers and butterflies and good black and grey in separate pieces.

you want a traditional tattoo in black n grey with some color? I personally would either go all black n grey or all color. Well roses are a classic tattoo design and I don't see it as girly..

Conventions could maybe be a better choice if you cannot find anyone local.

Single needle is cool but not what I think of when it comes to traditional .

I don't want it all color, though. I want black and grey roses with a red butterfly because it has meaning to it. It took me weeks going back and forth between wanting it all black and grey and wanting that red before realizing the red is something I need in the tattoo.

And by girly, I mean the soft roses I kept finding looking for references. Because when you look for rose and butterfly tattoos, they are typically on women and they are typically very feminine. Which is not what I want.

For the first, I want the majority of the piece to be traditional black and grey. It's thorned roses with a single butterfly that I'm pretty sure I want to be red-orange. I want a kind of harsher feeling to it like I don't want girly, pretty, feminine roses so much as ones that you feel like you'd prick yourself if you touched them.

Basically, I'm restricted to the Charlottesville, Richmond, Fredericksburg/Stafford, and Virginia Beach/Newport News areas of Virginia. I go to school in a small college town and we do have one relatively good tattoo shop but I don't really wish to deal with the care while I deal with classes because I'm likely to do something wrong.

I have checked them out online and they had few fully black and grey pieces and nothing near the style I want so I didn't look further.

So I am a crazy person.

Maybe I shouldn't have let that cat out of the bag but it's true.

I'm insane.

Okay, maybe not, but I am random and weird and not-exactly-fully-sane.

I am an 18 year old female college student from Virginia.

I do not have any tattoos currently, basically because I haven't found an artist.

I do have purple hair though. Best decision I ever made.

I've been fond of body mods in general for years but since trying to find references for the first tattoo I want, I've developed a bit of a tattoo obsession.

Anyway, hi there!

At 7, maybe she can help design basic tattoos for someone else to execute. But she shouldn't be handed a tattoo machine and be allowed to use it on actual skin.

wtf was in his eye?

An eyelid piercing.