Tattoos - Suck or Rock?

mine were a couple hundo each. no touchups needed as yet but it's only been 5 & 7 years

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u120/kingkonggodzilla/Mobile%20Uploads/20140608_131533_zpsfhwqudrw.jpg

This is my tattoo. I got it about 8 years ago. Cost about $150 (plus a 20% tip). Mostly happy with it although one of the lines on the lower blade is a little shaky. I thought about going back and getting it touched up, but moved out of town soon thereafter. The lines have only started getting a little fuzzy recently. The Slayer design has an lot more line work, so would probably take longer/cost more.

Oooh I like it!

$180+ p/hr for a really respected tattoo artist ime. how many hours it will take depends on the size/detail/color/how fast your artist works (my first big one took about 9 hours and had a lot of detail; my second one was slightly bigger but less detail and took about 15 hours)

i have four (3 big ones, one small one) now and getting a fifth next week. this is what has worked for me, after trying a couple different things from different artists:
- keep the covering on for a few hours afterwards.
- remove then CAREFULLY rinse with lukewarm water and a little UNSCENTED anti-bac soap
- let it dry out overnight
- following morning, rinse and lightly wash with the lukewarm water and anti bac soap and apply a v v v thin layer of aquaphor, same again that night; repeat for 2 more days
- keep up the cleaning routine for a total of 7 days, but replace aquaphor with a small amount of lubriderm moisturizer
- keep moisturizing twice daily till fully healed
- DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT pick at it, not even if it looks like that little bit of skin is ready to peel off. IT'S NOT READY and you will put a hole in your tattoo.

don't use neosporin or anything like that, unless it actually gets infected. just keep it clean and dry. don't wear any tight clothing over it while it's healing and don't bandage it. don't swim, don't soak it in water (eg baths), keep it out of the sun completely.

welp I did it. altho I opted for a diff design (the regular Slayer logo w/ pentagram in color on my right shoulder). It cost about #350 but the dude did a great job - saw a few others on the net that others have done and his was better.

bandaged atm, will start the cleanin process once I remove it.

Awesome!

apologies for barechestedness, snapped this right after I cleaned off the blood and plasma:

http://i61.tinypic.com/ff7j12.jpg

that fucking rules

thx! I was nervous going in because I saw some pics on the net where the logo was done almost criminally bad. this guy was really precise on the placement and shadowing tho. almost went black and grey and so glad I opted for color now

So far the upkeep has gone fine. question tho - should one be careful not to overwash or should i clean everytime i see ooze? I have been but wasnt sure if thats overkill.

Been letting it air out...feels good, not stiff.

Just clean it twice a day - it needs to dry out.

Cool thx!

upkeep has been pretty smooth. no infections, no scabbing, just the expected flaking, peeling, and massive itching. parts of it are feeling like real skin again!

part of me is already thinking about getting a Lord Baphomet on the other shoulder but the other half is saying 'are you nuts let one heal first'.

that looks so badass i can understand the temptation to get another right away.

i have the ever-increasing desire to get a tattoo of some variation on http://hyperallergic.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Cage_433_3-1200.jpg, but i haven't quite convinced myself that it wouldn't be comically pretentious (though i don't know why i'd care about that) or just look really dumb.

i've seen someone with just the "tacet I tacet II" etc on their arm

I've got a lot and am slowly getting the bits on my arms and left leg incorporated into sleeves of varying degrees. I've also got my eventual hilarious joke of a chest piece planned but that probably won't happen until I'm 50.

I also had a ridiculous tribal tramp stamp since 1996 that I've been getting covered up and made into a pretty huge Moby Dick / Pequod / Ahab-in-a-boat piece over most of my lower back. I go in every couple of months I ask my dude (who is young and always just laughs at me for having a gotten a big 90s tribal back tattoo) for about $200 worth and he'll work for like two hours or so.

i just got this done yesterday:

https://scontent-b-pao.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10444558_10152130568527050_6953733447337607897_n.jpg

i think most ppl get family portraits done when they have old photos of their really beautiful/handsome grandparents or whatever - but my nana is from stout farmer stock. she's 91 and i can't wait for her to see this in august when i go back to visit.

this was only supposed to be the size of my hand, but when i got there the artist had made it pretty huge and it doesn't take much to convince me to go bigger, so now it takes up my entire thigh.

the nose looks a bit weird bc it was still bleeding.

Nice.

fucking awesome, love the color

great shading on that one too. how long did it take?

2 hours

surface is healed and it still looks vibrant and dope as hell. actually has been for almost two weeks now (much easier than I expected). the feeling of new hair growing in is....weird.

so I hear that like the 'overall' healing still takes a few months (ie, there's a layer of skin still forming)? do I still need to avoid the pool or am I good?

when the scab part is done u are good to go in my exp

got a new one at idle hand in sf last month, recommend the hell out of that place, great work from chill people

that's who did my nana tattoo!

ha oh I see that! Holly! me too, she is great

I got a little geometric elephant today on the inside of my right leg. I am totally in love with it. Going to start planning with the same woman who did it for a similarly styled edelweiss/mountain scene on my shoulder.

http://i59.tinypic.com/nfo3ut.jpg

that is awesome!

Yeah that's pretty cool!

Thanks guys! I gave her some pictures of similar ones and she did the drawing herself and I love the way it came out. I can't stop staring at it. :)

Ooooh, I love that. Did the idea just come straight from yr brain or is there a reference there?

I guess it was my idea but i got inspiration online and let the artist run with it. I really love geometric designs and I wanted an elephant because 1) they're amazing 2) they're good luck and 3) my mom used to collect them so it's sort of a tribute to her. I found a couple geometric designs online and sent them to the artist who used them for inspiration to draw this one. I also really really love watercolor tattoos but they have to be done right or the colors will bleed and eventually get muddled so I showed her some in the style I like and she did the shading and splatters in a way that won't do that but still looked very close.

Cool!

am i insane? i think i am

http://i.imgur.com/LVvAdCT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tMnCIGR.jpg

right now the dharmacakra's looking less impressive in comparison but the color/shade will change that

what is the thing that's not a dharmacakra? it has a kind of jim woodring vibe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajra

nice work, clouds, your tattoo artist did a fantastic job. and it DOES look very woodring-ian!

thanks! and yes my dude is amazing. after finishing the vajra he said "that looks like the beginning of a sleeve" which is totally true. i can see this becoming an addiction :o

Getting a lord baphomet right now.

http://oi59.tinypic.com/e028oh.jpg

That's a well done Satan!

now to conceal it from my mother for the remainder of my life!

Most people spend their whole lives hiding things from their mother, right? All you need is sleeves!

yarp. hence the location :)

my left arm at this point is a de-facto whole sleeve in progress. I have an idea that's cute whereas the rest of the arm is more wicked-lookin' and I'm not sure whether to just have a part that's more cute than wicked or find another spot for the cute thing

Rock.

I've wanted to get started on my right arm (other than the Black Label skateboard logo I've had for 13 years) for ages and had no real plans to do so until I visited my Seattle and a friend of my brother-in-law was in town tattooing and one thing led to another and I ended up spending five hours getting this:

http://i.imgur.com/MQU0MO9.jpg

Nice! Is the design something you brought in?

sick

i'm getting the jones for a third