CaptainMidnight

I emailed pictures that depicted the population density of the planet for my artist to reference. She did a stencil of the outline, then after inking it she used a printout of one of the pictures to fill in the population representation. I'm very pleased with the outcome.
For my first tattoo of my dolphins and patrol pin, I mounted them on black velvet and took a nice closeup for the artist to draw a stencil from.
For my next, I want a figure 8 faked hemp line. I will probably buy some and take a photo of it to guide whoever does the art. I'd like it close to realistic.

I haven't posted this on here yet. Session four on my back, we shaded my butt and thigh.

Hey everyone. It's been a while so here are a couple new things.
Got the "born lost" skull from Ross K. Jones at Idle Hand's get what you want. The flash was redrawn by Austin Maples.
Also got this shishi head from Koji Ichimaru while he's at SOG.

I had a fantastic experience at Diamond Club last night with one of my favorite tattooers, Brian Kaneko (truenaturetattoo on Instagram). I got this peony:

Shad, Junii, and Dr. Claw were there, too, which made it even more fun. But the best part is that @Iwar wanted to get something from Brian, but couldn't get an appointment. He asked if he could show up during mine, and I said, "Of course!" He walked in right after I got there, so I introduced him to Brian and Shad. They all started laughing, then Brian said, "By the way, I tattooed him earlier today. I had a cancellation." So now Iwar and I are not only banhammer bros, but we're botan brothers, too.

I thought the spot directly above the nipple, between 1100 and 0100 was the worst of my chest/pec. Avoided the nipple itself because I'm a wimp.

Here is my submission for this months contest.
My whole backpiece has been done in a 6-month period (just 31 hours in total) by Bonel from Corazon Santo, Arnhem, The Netherlands.

I also have a full size picture available HERE

Nekomata Monmon Cat - By Horitomo, State Of Grace.
Done at the London tattoo convention 2014!

Got more of my chest worked a week ago -- it's healing nicely. Having two halves of that done on consecutive Mondays has made healing "fun' to say the least.
Attached is what it looked like a week ago. Because of some upcoming travel I doubt we will get to the color until September (ugh).

Bumping my intro thread because I thought I'd post a progress pic of my current work.
Quick 2 hour shading sesh. Had a rough time with it tonight because I was -exhausted- from lack of sleep and a lot of emotional crap going on lately, but was glad I got some chair time with my artist. Wanted to do more but I could feel my body fading on me.
edit: finally convinced the SOB to add to the post

Hi LST! I've been lurking for a while now and figured I'd join because this forum is full of good stuff.
Anyway, I'm 31, have two small (palm-sized) tattoos from when I was younger and am just about to get started on a larger piece (fukai-hikae size -- upper arm, shoulder & pec) that I'm really excited about.

Got more of my chest worked a week ago -- it's healing nicely. Having two halves of that done on consecutive Mondays has made healing "fun' to say the least.
Attached is what it looked like a week ago. Because of some upcoming travel I doubt we will get to the color until September (ugh).

Welcome! @LadyGabe gave some solid advice there, but I'd also recommend looking at ways you can make the ideas you have a little more visually interesting. I'd suggest looking at traditional flash because a lot of those designs incorporate flags in interesting ways. There are hundreds of examples and variations on this, but here's one nice example that I found through Google. This is from Becca Genne-Bacon at Hand of Glory in Brooklyn:

Or you could look at other ideas entirely of how to represent the idea...can I suggest kangaroo fighting a beaver fighting a bowl of spaghetti?

Sure, here's a big project I finished with Scott Sylvia earlier this year

Well this has been a great experience! When I contacted SOG in March, I emailed some ideas/elements I wanted to incorporate along with a photo of my black cat and my leg. I referenced a couple of elements from his book like the cat's expression on one page, the skinny snake from another page, and peonies. When I got there today I finally saw his drawing and it was just perfect immediately! Love at first sight. He used machines only which was fine by me. I love the way the cat and snake seem to be eyeing each other suspiciously with narrowed eyes... And here I am on the hotel bed with my feet kicked up watching ET. Stella is beside me wearing her new monmon cat (t-shirt) nightgown.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here you go guys! Sorry for the wait :P haha

Hi all
Thought I'd give you a little update on the phoenix tattoo that is slowly (but surely!) taking shape on my back. It is very much a personal celebration of triumph over adversity (when you lose everything that is familiar to you, you almost experience a rebirth of sorts, I find). We have all gone through tough times and these experiences usually give us a chance to learn lessons about ourselves and our reactions, re-awakening our ability to grow. The phoenix to me is a symbol of strength, resurrection and survival, and now a permanent reminder that I am stronger than I think :-) It is my first tattoo so please be gentle :-p
Tattooed by Danny Rossiter of the Rain City Tattoo Collective (Rain City Tattoo Collective | Rain City Tattoo Collective, Manchester)
xccx

Not for me - I wouldn't ask someone else to get one, and I've never been asked. At least in my relationships that would seem odd.

Not for me - I wouldn't ask someone else to get one, and I've never been asked. At least in my relationships that would seem odd.

Not for me - I wouldn't ask someone else to get one, and I've never been asked. At least in my relationships that would seem odd.

All I can say about that is get the tattoo you love, not the tattoo you can afford. Do research on style and figure, then rock out and enjoy the experience and art. You'll love the result.

I'm definitely not heavily tattooed, but I have more work than average, and am in the process of getting quite a bit more. My girlfriend has no tattoos, nor does she plan on getting one - and is both supportive and excited about my tattoos - she encourages me to get more and is really into the art aspect. From her perspective she thinks they're hot and that I need more. From my perspective I don't care so much about whether or not she gets any done - if she gets work, great and I'll support it. If she doesn't it changes nothing.

I'm definitely not heavily tattooed, but I have more work than average, and am in the process of getting quite a bit more. My girlfriend has no tattoos, nor does she plan on getting one - and is both supportive and excited about my tattoos - she encourages me to get more and is really into the art aspect. From her perspective she thinks they're hot and that I need more. From my perspective I don't care so much about whether or not she gets any done - if she gets work, great and I'll support it. If she doesn't it changes nothing.

Oh my goodness, how do you people take such nice photos of yourselves?! I've contorted myself into the most ridiculous poses and these are the best I can do. So apologies for TERRIBLE photos in advance. I tried, I really did.
Anyway, so here are some healed pics of my arm. I've got myself another appointment with the same artist next week. I'm thinking that I would like him to add more flowers, probably pink peonies. He does amazing flowers, and I am more than happy to let him just draw them on as he thinks best. I was thinking that I'd like him to go up onto my shoulder a bit more at the back, and then underneath my arm and maybe a bit lower down but not too far (down to the elbow). But now I'm excited and want to talk about it and started thinking that maybe I should ask you, oh wise LSTers, if you had any other ideas that I might want to consider? Is this a good idea? Something else? Different layout?
I want to make sure that I've considered all options, as I never intended on getting this tattoo on my arm at all, so haven't really had much time to think it all through! I have an accidental cohesive arm tattoo :D

A bunch of people on here have probably seen this all ready but here is what Rudy Fritsch and Iain Mullen did to my back today, took approximatively 2 hours all in all

I have a new found respect for people with back tattoos as of this session. Shit is brutal!
Only a small portion of it felt all right. I had to struggle really hard at times. I was trying to surf the balance between consciously being there with the agony and discomfort and zoning out and into my head as much as possible. Divine moments of pain, that's what I kept thinking, while also trying to breath slow and stable.
Getting tattooed by two tattooers working simultaneously is a good idea though. It's only about 1,568 as painful as getting hit with only one machine but it's about twice as quick! Most of the time the machine working at the most tender spot would be my focus and the other one was mostly irritating. You do get some crazy synergies and some combination of spots gives you new concepts of what pain can feel like. Recommended! Also very happy with the result so far, of course, hardly any need to say that right? Very rememberable afternoon at Imperial Tattoo in Stockholm

In all seriousness, what about a rokurokubi? Their necks can stretch and bend all kind of crazy ways and could definitely work around a scar. And theyre cool.