JasonTO

Finally lost my cherry today. A great experience and I love my new tattoo.
By Bradley Tompkins at Frith Street.

meh ok here is a pic :)
from the amazing Steve Boltz
totally good time talking mostly golf
turns out Steve is an avid golfer and pretty good
I'm neither but I love stogies and beer with friends
and lets face it - thats more important than a decent backswing ;)
anyway - funky fish on my bicep...

Most of the outlining done today. Next appt is Christmas Eve, so will outline the underarm and then do all the shading. I don't think there will be time for color so that will be later. There is a mum at the bottom that curves around to the front of my arm, to tie in w/the mum on the opposite side. Then wind/water meet and swirl in the middle.
Sadly, I am not bad assed enough to handle this becoming a full back piece. That very bottom bit of wind/water he added today was the clincher. Yikes.

Session two with Dave C. Got a lot done in about 2 1/2 hours. I was nervous going into this sitting as we had just done the outline last week. I was a little worried my psych wouldn't be there, but in the end it went pretty well. Glad not to have more ribs after this though.

This is what I was able to sit for today with Dave Cummings at PSC tattoo. About 3 hours, and not nearly as intense as my 1 1/2 with Chad on my other side, thank goodness! We stopped there because the next step was colour for the tiger, and I didn't have it in me. Next session next week, healing permitting.
So stoked on this!

Finally got to visit State of Grace and get my Molly Monmon Cat from Horitomo!
He did an amazing job. Just spectacular. I sent several pictures of her and some descriptions of her favorite things, her personality and her character. She *loved* shrimp sushi and got an entire order for her 16th birthday, right before we lost her to cancer. Horitomo created a picture of her in heaven with a halo and surrounded by her favorite things - including that she is surrounded by catnip! The face is perfect. I gave him a decent size square footage and told him he could expand beyond the cat and add other elements. Her face is perfect. When he showed me the sketch, my eyes just teared up.
It was neat to be tattooed on the platform in the shop. It is a little sanctuary with neat drawings, books and items on shelves. He is a quiet gentle soul.
I tried tebori for the whites and I probably would not do it again. For many areas, I didn't even feel the first 4-5 pokes. It just felt like a shoving pressure but there was *no* pain. Then the last several shoves were painful. But around my hip was bad all around. I'm glad I did it, though.
Crashing out now holed up in the hotel with mom. <3 <3 <3

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

Hey guys, long time no post. I just realized I never posted my two latest because I wanted to wait until they were both healed. Not the best pics, but you get the idea.
Cobra by Scott Sylvia done at Pagoda City Convention. Drawn on in 15 minutes, outlined in about an hour. Scott is the absolute best. We had originally talked about him doing all of the black in Reading then the color in the fall, but he had the time so we just powered through. It was another great experience being tattooed by him, and I can't say enough great things.
Death's head moth by Oliver Peck while guesting in Philadelphia at Kadillac Mt. Airy. Another pleasure. Oliver was so down to earth and easy to talk to, just like you'd expect. He only did three or four tattoos that day, and I was lucky it happened to be the last week before school started and I could squeeze in after cross country practice (the only heavily tattooed coach in the world, I think). He checked out a ton of my tattoos and even took his shirt off to show me his stomach from Scott, his side from Rassier, and his back from Trevino. So awesome.
Not the best photos, but it's what I have.
Also, I was not expecting to have nearly this much pink on my legs, particularly from Scott and Oliver, but here we are.

Many years ago I think I may have been particular, but in the end...man, it was just all about the coverage. Power lines, bold, slam the fucker in. A crocodile over the ribs you say? Sounds good to me. A pipe smokin' wizard smacked on the side of the neck? Fuck yeah. But in saying that, after years of being tattooed by the one person, he just knew what suited me as much as I did.

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

One half of my haul at the Montreal convention. By Tim Pausinger.

Got a new one yesterday, done by Valerie Vargas at Modern Classic from some Ed Hardy flash.

Some of you have already seen this, but we finished my back yesterday. Some of it is still fresh and angry, so I'll get better pictures when it's healed and settled in. Dave Cummings at PSC Tattoo in Montreal did this. Dave is the man, get tattooed by him.

The last few have been "hey I've got this weird space to fill and I liked seeing [example of previous work] from you, what do you think will fit?"
I try to give a little direction since I have a good idea of what I like from my favorite tattooers, but sometimes the shape of the space is enough to prompt cool ideas that I couldn't come up with on my own, sketchbooks and flash are of course also good ways to get something unique.

Something big on my leg, ankle to waist. Snake vs. dragon? Snake vs eagle? Snake vs. two eagles?
So many possibilities. Tattoos are hard.
Also need a tiger in my life. Big fuck off one. Blue and white bengal would do.
A black cat would be nice, too. I already have one. But, like, another one.
Really looking to break the mould in so far as designs are concerned. Really push the medium forward into uncharted territory, you know?
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Whoa. Who did that panther?

By Franz Stefanik, Okey Doke Tattoo, Toronto.

By Franz Stefanik, Okey Doke Tattoo, Toronto.