Dan Martin

It's taken me forever to acquire a halfway decent machine collection ( still growing) but want to shift my attention to other equipment vital to my job. First being tubes. I've been using cam for about 4 or 5 years. The cost is ok and the quality is pretty good but not great. I'm looking to upgrade to better stuff. Does anyone anyone have a set of tubes they're fond of? And what makes them better. Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated

What are you asking for the Cain? You can email me if you'd like. Thanks Danatscorpion@me.com

Thanks BigJo and Slayer

I couldn't find a conventions page on here. Any know about a Montpellier France show June 2nd? Also any insight to other " over seas " conventions would be awesome. Thanks all

I believe the nerve endings on the torso are more sensitive as to protect your organs from being damaged or at least to let you realize the severity of an injury in that area. Boney areas feel more like road rash ( think skinned knee ), muscle areas aren't too bad but fatty areas can feel like they're being cut. Areas of your body that get banged up semi often (outside of you arms) are going to generally hurt less than the back of your knees or inside of your arms. And... A skilled artist will hurt less than an amateur.

I got my first 1/2 sleeve when I was 24 and 180lbs. I've gotten a lot fatter since then with 225 being my biggest. Happy to say down to 200 or so now and it looks about the same big or small. It's not my torso but then again not all that weight was just on my torso. I'd say if it's under a 50lb difference you'll probably be alright. I've also seen tattooed bellies pre and post pregnant and they were ok too

Thanks everyone for the great advice! I'll be getting both knocked out with in three weeks of each other! Wish me luck.

This is for tattooers that have hand tattoos. I'm getting my hand tattooed soon and was curious how the healing and swelling will affect my tattooing. I'm getting tattooed the first day of a show and thought I might try and put it off until after so I could work but wasn't sure. Will wearing gloves and sweating in them fuck it up pretty good? I'm assuming it would. Any answers would be much appreciated.

Keith, that's true. There is a fine line between bold and refined. I've had a few great tattoos drawn up on the spot too and they look amazing. I have noticed that I have over worked stuff before and it became rigid and stale so maybe I'm being hyper critical and it really doesn't matter. It's just hard to see the big picture when my Heros and influences range from clunky old school to fine art illustrations.

Months back I started a thread about tattoo time vs drawing time. The original post read : ...I was just curious as to how much time other tattooers spend drawing for tattoos outside the shop. On average for me, I can spend an hour or two doing research and/ or looking at reference before I actually start drawing. And an additional 2 to 4 hours ( depending on subject matter ) on drawing something about the size of a foot ball or say half sleeve... I'm Reopening this because I'm curious as to how much is two much. First because my time estimate was way too low (spending upward of 8 hrs many times) and then realizing just how often I struggle to get a piece to where I am happy with it. It seems i've set a certain standard for myself and although I'm always trying to push higher and above that standard, I try my damnedest not to drop below it. I realize as with everything the more you do the better you get but my question is, where do you draw the line. For me it's difficult because I'm not where I want to be, but I truly don't have the time to push harder (longer) Is this just a case of excepting my limitations? I'm pretty sure lots of other tattooers have experienced this so... What's your thoughts? how do you get better? How do you not kill yourself in the process?

All very good suggestions. It could be use and not them but i really don't believe that's the case. We are going to bump up their pay and see if that makes a difference.

Hey man, I know you spent hours drawing my tattoo up and it's stenciled and ready to go... But.... Could you sneak in my five kids initials? And maybe change the roses to Lillie's and the panther into a portrait of my pug?

I started a sleeve on a kid, all the outline and shading and started color. Later he got someone else to color more... Said he wanted to get worked on but couldn't wait. He then asked to book more appointments with me. I told him to get his "new" artist to finish it... And never looked back.

Forgot to mention, we were only allowed a 15 min break every 8 hours. Richard Stell also did my back in 13 hours. 9the first day and went back for 4 more hours the following day.

I tattooed 27 hours 27 mins. I was trying for Guinness, and actually made it but was beaten by some one else before it was confirmed. This was in 2000.