MadeIndelible

I finally got the side of my head tattooed!
My Tibetan Snow Lion.....by Dave Kruseman or Olde Line Tattoo
I still have one more sitting to go (maybe an hour...to add a few things)
It was hard to get a good photo!

i always think that studies/surveys/polls/etc are usually skewed since the average person usually will avoid participating or answering questions from strangers about just about anything.

@dirbab - very, very nice!
I just got this from [MENTION=2486]lukemuller[/MENTION] at True Love Tattoo (Brisbane) maybe an hour or so ago. No idea how long it took, but it couldn't have been any longer than 2 hours? (no time limit etc so we just cruised) I got it for the most amazing, awesome and wonderful woman I know ;)

I apologise for the bad photo, but my camera just didn't want to do as it was asked lol. I'll get a better one from Luke asap

got this lady from brad stevens @ ny adorned tonight.

from bryan burk yesterday
3.5 hours

I think you were finishing up when I came in for my appointment with Stewart. If it was you it did indeed look absolutely lovely.
Got my leg piece finished up with Stewart Robson at Frith Street yesterday. It was my first tattoo and I'm ridiculously pleased. Already saving up for the next one! I'd echo the thanks as well, they made my first tattoo experience really as good as it could have been.

I go to tattooers for tattoos; their personal beliefs are their own.

Bryan Burk yesterday
Dark Horse, Los Angeles

he most definitely was not a banker... i know he moved furniture for a few different places, and built barns, worked in a lumber yard, and worked in his brother's cabinet shop after we moved out into the country. the details some of his arm tattoos have left is surprising based on all the years of outdoor construction work. on a side note, he was 23 when he started going to Charlie.
as for being awesome, both of my parents are pretty rad.
also had them dig out a frame with Charlie's old business card and care instructions. the blue card and "Keep the world artful" bits are from my mom's brother's time in California, and the card for "Sully's" was the aforementioned garden shed shop.

in early 1983, my dad walked into Charlie's shop, watched him tattoo for two days straight, then started dropping money on tattoos over 10 days. in that time, Charlie did his hands, added the dozen roses around the girl on his right arm and clouds around the eagle on his left arm, and tattooed almost his whole chest, except for the wizard/castle, dragon, and lettering on his stomach. in 1984, he went back and had the dragon outlined, the peace pipe on his forearm, and the text inside his forearm. around that time, he had met my mother, and converted her from house tattoos. her first was a Van Halen logo with a guitar string/casette motor machine. the unicorn on her forearm is hers. of the tattoos i've mentioned, none have been retouched since Charlie did them almost 30 years ago, except shading in the dragon and the clouds around the eagle. Nick Cartwright did a tattoo on my mom's other forearm which is currently being covered in a Koi/chrysanthemum sleeve by my boss, Josh Cruse.
the butterfly girl in the midst of the dozen roses was done by a guy named O'Sullivan, who apparently had a fully functional, immaculate shop set up in a garden shed. the castle/wizard and shading for the dragon were done later by a guy named Richard "Critter" Trukken, who also did all of my dad's legs, back, both sets of ribs, and finished out what's on his arms. he also redid the clouds Charlie did on his left arm (hence the lack of closer photos of it). at some point, if he feels like it, i'll get some photos of his other tattoos, and possibly some stories. having been fairly entrenched in the tattoo world of the late '80s and early '90s in Kansas, there's a fair few of them.
side note... excuse the scratches on his hands... new, fairly violent kitten in the house.

who: Ryan George @ Almost Famous Tattoos - Tattoo & Piercing - Miami, FL | Facebook
what: Oni Head
when: a few months back, maybe November 2011
why: I gave my friend Steven Vanni a ride to almost famous because he had an appointment with Greg Christian who was in town.
I walked into Ryan George getting tattooed by Greg Christian. I had some serious small talk with Ryan, Showed him the machine I bought from my mentor. So stoked on catching a glimpse of a great tattooer tattooing a bad ass design on another great tattooer. I asked Ryan if I could schedule an appointment.

My horse from Zach Nelligan and my boyfriend's bat lady from Civ. We got them at the Salt Lake convention this weekend!

Tom Waits's Blue Valentines also has a tattoo reference in it although it's not a song about tattoos.
"The ghost of your memory...
the tattoo broken promise I gotta hide beneath my sleeve"

I did get tattooed today, a sailor jerry sparrow.

I have a left-field contribution: "Johnsburg, Illinois" by Tom Waits. At about a minute and a half, t's one of the shortest songs around, but I've always loved it. I sing it to my daughter often.

http://youtu.be/azD2Q5FudBE
Here are the lyrics (with the tattoo reference in bold):
She's my only true love, she's all that I think of
Look here in my wallet, that's her
She grew up on a farm there, there's a place on my arm where
I've written her name next to mine
See I just can't live without her, and I'm her only boy
She grew up outside McHenry in Johnsburg, Illinois
Makes me wonder who did Tom's tattoos:

Dan Higgs and Robert Ryan

Dan Higgs and Robert Ryan

Great thread!
For my first tattoo I gave a vague idea of what I wanted, and let the tattooer pick the specific imagery. I feel like I was too into the story for this one. For my second and third tattoos I just picked some flash from the Amund Dietzel books and let the tattooer do the rest. For my fourth the tattooer had a stencil already made for someone who decided not to show up to the convention, so I agreed to have him put it on me. Out of the four, I like my snake and rose, the one that I had no hand in deciding on, the most. I think for my next one I am just going to give the tattooer a few pieces of imagery that I like, and let him take it from there.

Sorry @dcostello but I got this from Todd Noble yesterday whilst he was guesting at Frith Street. Didn't know what I was getting before I turned up, but he showed me the drawing and we got to it 5 minutes later.
Instagram
Awesome guy and a pleasure to get tattooed by him

I'll second Theo Mindell as one of the top lady-headers. I'll probably end up with one from him sometime soon.



Also, I didn't see Cris Cleen mentioned in here, but I love his ladies.


ALSO, that Dietzel flash on the last page is soooooo good.

Bob Wicks:

Here's my hand I got from bailey a few weeks ago

Got this little guy from a buddy of mine on Friday, filled a nice little awkward spot

Had this done today on the front of my thigh.
Sailor Jerry design. Tattooed by Stewart Robson, Frith Street, London.

Bob Wicks: