And on my cover, the artist made a decision that I hadn’t thought of, and I let him run with it.

As others have said, the key is to do your research and find the right artist – a good one.

Metalman is a true success story. Yeah he got bashed a little bit in the beginning but he also listened, stuck around and now he gets it.

Thanks. I have come a long way. I’m glad I was “bashed” here and on the other forum. It taught me a lot about the industry forcing me to research and do my homework, and I saw far…[Read more]

They are also very well done tattoos.
For future reference it is black and grey not black and white.
I’m really not trying to bust your balls I just think there is way to much talent out there for people to walk around with mediocre tattoos. If you stick around we can help make your next tattoo a kick ass tattoo.

Trust me…[Read more]

To the O.P. I chuckled at the back and forths regarding your reluctance to give out an artists name. I side with Wardy on this one. Any respectable tattoo artist wants his/her name spread. That gives others a chance to browse that persons portfolio,…[Read more]

What is it?

Boston Bruins logo (NHL team from Boston). The black dripping is not part of the logo – that I’m curious as to it’s meaning. If it’s “I bleed Black & Gold”, then I would think the dripping would be red. BTW, I’m from Boston.

And a few “older” tunes:
Emerson Lake & Palmer – Karn Evil 9
Deep Purple – Rat Bat Blue

I have way too many songs I consider excellent, so this is truly a very short list.

From what I’ve learned about the tattoo industry, I give the same response to every singly “I need help on an idea” question regarding getting a tattoo.

Step 1: Come up with a “concept”, not necessarily exactly what you think you want, but just the idea behind it.
Step 2:…[Read more]

I like how he subtly removed some of the sharp lines in the eagle. The wings extensions and white neck transition also look good. The smoother muted colors look much better. I also like the color contrast between the blue sky and golden desert.

I recall my experience with him, and was actually surprised that you did not…

[Read more]

Wow the eagle looks like a totally different eagle!

That’s what surprised me the most. He really fixed it up, giving it wings and a more proper body. And as I said, I went in thinking the eagle itself would come out looking the same. I’m happily wrong.

Fast forward the next 1.5 years. After going through the wringer with the feedback I got with me spewing…[Read more]

I’m sorry metalman, but I don’t think the parenting bit is the issue here. Anyone caught tattooing an under-age person SHOULD be ousted, regardless of the reasons behind that ousting.
Kids at that age are almost always idiots that believe they know everything best (we’ve all been there), and will almost always regret their…

[Read more]

Let me ask you something now (rear view mirror look). What did closing the shop etc. teach your daughter. What point was made? Who was taught a lesson? You think your daughter cares that a tattoo shop was closed? Was she reprimanded?

Again, as you…[Read more]

I never understood why people needed to draw something and take to a tattoo ARTIST. The tattoo ARTIST should be the one drawing your tattoo. Research the artists style and portfolio and tell them the concept of your idea and have them draw it.

X2, and then some

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuEOIajTYxc“]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuEOIajTYxc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOSYcM4AJ8k“]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOSYcM4AJ8k

A tattoo is art regardless of it’s…[Read more]

Talk to a tattoo artist. That’s what they do.

Welcome to the forum!

I agree with this

See reply on other forum

Saw reply – start patting your back 🙂

LOL! That’s honestly the only “I told you so!” line we LIKE telling people 😀

I’m lucky though. Seeing as I’m flat silly broke and tattoos here cost bazillions, I am automatically saved from being stuck in that infinite loop 🙂

Took Step #1. Emailed Russ Abbott who will be guesting next July at Off The Map only 2 hours from me.

Well, you can’t have it both ways. Either you get it all fixed up (which would be a cover-up, and would require an extremely good artist) or you stick with the old one 😀

I guess that journey is beginning then to see where this goes. You get one, then two, then want to play with the first one. All of those “once you get…[Read more]

Well, anything you get from the original artist is going to look just as weak with regards to color depth, detail, etc. You can make it bigger, for sure, but the rest won’t change.

So my initial thought of new artist is seeming like the way to go, and one of the reasons being just what you mentioned.

Well, when the non-tattoo loving wife brought this up, in her eyes Gunnar’s piece pretty much crushes the eagle. And what she…[Read more]

Not my style, but totally sick!

+1 Although not my style, that is ridiculous work and there’s no denying the quality. And only 4 hours? That’s nuts.

Metalman,
Thats the way to do it. I really want to see pictures.

Thanks, and I think you saw it already in my New Gunnar piece post.

The why is easy – because I planned it properly, it was spawned from my own drawings of 30 years ago, I gave Gunnar full artistic freedom so it’s really his work from my concept witthout my artistic intervention, and I think it came out awesome.

If you like your tattoo (which it seems that you do), do you really care what others think? I loved my 1st WAY more than it may have deserved, but it was mine and meant sometyhing to me. I think I was reminded about that lots of times, and since then I have learned a lot more about tattoos, tattoo…[Read more]

In short, my eagle gets “nice tattoo” comments with undertones of “like thousand of others I see”. Last night I got “I’ve never seen anything like that before” and lots…[Read more]

I bet you can’t 😀

you seem to be fighting something you cannot change, I would suggest you dont bother, but plan your ink around your activities, I prefer to set all my appointments for cold…[Read more]

As far…[Read more]

However if anyone else chooses to do it different, cool, your as unique as I am and that is your choice, but I think too many people rely on someone elses opinion…………that where…[Read more]