KVipers

Wow thanks for the list guys. I actually lived in aurora for a year when I was younger. Definitely gonna check it out. Also, nice to see a fellow maritimer on here haha Cheers Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Finally someone else who knows not only about Hub City but where NB is haha grats on the piece. Would have liked to make the con this year but couldn't. On that note, I'm travelling with my gf to Toronto in a couple days. Any recommendations for shops to check out while there? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gonna update this after almost a year from starting. Moving a couple times has strained funds but here are some progress shots. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I decided to go with a hanya. I let the artist do what he wanted. My only input was having snake head come into my chest. He added a couple cool things like the skull ropes for the mask. This is after the first sit. Next sit will be some more details and lines and maybe background and then for some color. Have to decide on a color palette. I'm open to suggestions! Ps sorry for the sideways pics. Doing this on mobile and will fix it when i get a chance.

It's funny because while it seems a lot of people worry about looking balanced, I've always been more attracted to an asymmetrical look. For example, maybe having a 3/4 sleeve on one arm and a full or half on the other, with the opposite side ribs done on the short sleeve side, etc etc. I'm still early on in my tattoo experience but the more time goes by and the more I take in the culture, the less and less I care about uniformity and the more it's just fun to get tattooed.

Tapatalk wouldn't let me add the image to my last post but here is said Rubendall back piece that he posted on his Instagram awhile ago.

This was the first thing that came to my mind. It is an awesome piece!

Looks awesome @rozone!! We'll compare notes in a few weeks haha I really like that Tibetan skull.

Well i can't argue with that @Graeme haha I am confident in my artist and this is his jam and at the end of the day I will listen to whatever he suggests. Just the anticipation of knowing you have a date set and wanting to see the final product. It sucks waiting. @rozone any pictures?

I will chat with my artist as we nail down a design as well, but I wanted to ask here, too: The more research I do on snake/skull pairings the more I am seeing them on flatter panels (ribs, thighs, backs). Do people do this so as to not distort the skull? Will a skull on an upper arm look funny because of the round shape of the arm? I am not a small person, but I'm not huge either.. What are people's experience with this?

@BrianH the artist is Mike Young. He's a local guy here on the East Coast of Canada. @Cork doing some poking around and thinking a Tibetan skull with the right flowers and color pallette could look awesome. Will update once I hit the library.

Heading to the library tonight to see what to can dig up. Tibetan skulls were really the only other idea I had. I'll see what the library turns up!

I'd be lying if I said I remembered that you could go to a library. I'll check it out this week. Thanks for the heads up haha

So I have an appointment booked for two weeks from now to have my 3/4 sleeve lined with my artist and I'm looking for some suggestions on the details. It is going to be a skull and snake as the focal point with some peonies or cherry blossoms and finger waves etc. What I'm curious about is the type of skull and also if there were any other cool headdress things that could be added to the skull such as a samurai helmet. I have seen lots of hanya skulls and snakes (specifically O'Donnell's) but was wondering if anybody has ever seen a cool oni skull for example. I had trouble finding any good examples just using the Google machine. Lastly, I'd like to dress the skull with something but am open to ideas for specifically what that would be. My first idea was a samurai helmet, but I'd like to see what other unique options are out there that I haven't thought of. Anybody have any cool ideas? Any tips or ideas are greatly appreciated [emoji4]

Fresh one my girlfriend picked up this afternoon. Its a Nick Oaks design tattooed by a local artist, Mike Young.

That was a good read. Thanks for the link! Also @robz that is some killer work. Love masks.

This was another thing I was wondering about. Because there are so many cultural aspects to Japanese tattoos I was wondering if this would even be acceptable. Like you mentioned, 'Japanese inspired' vs 'real' Japanese tattoos can both exist, but I wouldn't want to offend the culture in any way.

What about negative space with smaller one-off Japanese pieces instead of the traditional backgrounds of iso bars, clouds, and waves? For example arm sleeves that are not one large consistent piece but rather single Japanese tattoos with no background separated by negative space. Does anyone have any examples of this or has seen an example of this that could weigh in?

Hello all, just wondering if if anybody is going to the Hub City convention in Moncton, NB the first week of October? I've been lurking around the forums for a little while now but haven't come across too many other Maritimers out there. How many of us are there?

The finale for last season hinted at this. WTF - my thoughts exactly. I guess to get the good stuff you've got to dig a little deeper than mainstream TV.

I hadn't thought about it like that before but that's a fair point. I wish there were more Tattoo Age.. *sigh*

That looks awesome - thanks for the heads up on that I'm going to look into it more tomorrow on my down time. I kind of thought that nobody would find it offensive but I'm still new to tattoos and wanted to be sure because I would consider a sort of fusion like that ^ for myself at some point in time.

Like many others I've been struggling with this as well. The aesthetic of mixing styles is growing on me, and a good artist can certainly make it work. I am, however, wondering if there are any cultural issues here. For example, is it incorrect or offensive to butt traditional Americana images next to traditional Japanese backgrounds? Or to totally mix the two styles, but in one cohesive piece? Here is a piece done by Lucas Ford that is a good example of what I'm talking about: Japanese / Americana fusion

I have been struggling with this a lot lately, too. I can appreciate both the piecemeal and the cohesive look but I can't decide what I want to wear myself. My first (and only) tattoo I got two years ago is a black and grey piece that I don't necessarilly want to cover, but I'm heavily into Japanese and it doesn't go with that at all. I'm thinking one cohesive arm, and one piecemeal 'collection' arm. I'm in the same boat as some others here; no hands, face, neck, or feet and it feels like a big deal to go below the elbow even though I'm pretty sure nobody would care. After all, tattooing is for me and those others who appreciate it!

If anyone has seen Stewart Robson's latest post on instagram it tags the account Shitsluts....it physically hurts me to look at some of them..