3 and a half hours of designing (direct on skin and on paper), transferred to digital and paper flash copies, which myself and the artist both kept copies of, then 2 hours under an outlining needle...about 2/5 done with outlines (another 3 hours under the outline gun, and we start shading for the 3/4 sleeve that ends about 1/3 of the length between shoulder and elbow above elbow, and blend it into another style and heavier symbol use from there to shoulder)

 

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/1979/sleeveoutlines0tv.th.jpg

 

 

I'm loving it so far...he's working all the tarot symbols I want in the lower piece in as "manufacturer's marks" and "corporate logoes" on tech pieces on a biomech layout. Colors will be greyscale on all the "hardware" wiring and such, "copperscale" or "carbon fiber" on components, and purple/green/aquamarine on "wetware" ("biomass") so it has a kind of iridescent look...heavily Giger influenced style.

Psycho good shit, not necessarily something i'd get on myself, but that's what makes a tattoo a tattoo to someone.

 

I'll toss up some pictures of my ink a little later. And I should be going in for a 1/2 sleeve pretty soon if the money comes in and I can spare it.

 

Also, how much is your artists hourly rate and what's his name?

Hourly (for in-shop work, no less) is a benjamin an hour, and he's up here in Bellingham, WA.

 

His name's Steve, he's the owner of Old School Tattoo. From workjing with him, I've decided he's more artist than craftsman, which is unusual in inkslingers, so I'm going to have him complete this arm, and possibly do my chest/belly work, before starting to hunt another artist (I don't want to too much be one inkslinger's "canvas", or I lose too much of what being inked means to me to begin with)

Looking good so far.

PsychoBud']Hourly (for in-shop work, no less) is a benjamin an hour, and he's up here in Bellingham, WA.

 

His name's Steve, he's the owner of Old School Tattoo. From workjing with him, I've decided he's more artist than craftsman, which is unusual in inkslingers, so I'm going to have him complete this arm, and possibly do my chest/belly work, before starting to hunt another artist (I don't want to too much be one inkslinger's "canvas", or I lose too much of what being inked means to me to begin with)

 

 

Well if you're willing to travel down to Southern California I can HIGHLY reccomend Six Feet Under in Upland, CA and Por Vida (for black and white, and grey/shading work aka oldschool mexican style) in Upland/Montclair, CA. Really good work and have had friends from 4 to 5 hours away come down for the guys from SixFeetUnder.

 

And someone in IRC was telling me that $150 was an outrageous hourly cost for a visiting artist from Spain grabbing a spot in a local shop, which I had to differ, then made me wonder what costs are around the states for a nice peice.

Costs go up with cost of "renting a chair", which are all tied in with shop rent and utilities costs (and the owner's greediness).

 

 

We're in a moderately small city, fairly cheap to live in for Western Washington, the shop is downtown in "prime" space, but he has a pair of piercists, and four other inkers, plus two apprentices (real apprentices, they work for minimum wage, do scut work, and will do minor ink work under supervision for nothing but tips for 3 years, minimum), plus he's got the best credentials for his own background (apprenticed himself under one of the premier names for biomechanical style body art, then RE-apprenticed himself for a year to another internationally known guy [hint, he's known for his distinctive skulls])...so his parlor is the priciest per-hour in town, all considered, but well worth it

 

There are a couple shops that charge a higher hourly, but they're basically two or three man shops, so can't bring in the volume income to cover overhead the way Steve's shop can, nor do they have the business smarts or reputation (or backgrounds) to compete...so generally there are a couple higher priced shops that last six months to a year and a half competing, then collapse, around here.

 

 

From what I've seen, across the country, $125 seems to be about an "average" hourly price for decent quality inkwork in a decent shop, upwards to $500 an hour for work from guys like Gil Christ and John Shaw, who live in expensive places (L.A. and NYC, last I heard), and have such reputations attatched to their names that they're booked solid on 70+ hour weeks up to a year in advance.

 

 

 

As for your suggestion....for the chest/belly, I'm really looking for someone with a rep in photorealistic color work with wildlife, and heavy ties to Native American stylings, for the back, I want someone with the "soft tough" with colors for a concept I've got of MY take on what Buddha is/was/means from a Zen perspective that recognizes that, while action is futile, "being" occasionally forces action upon one...action of a violently defensive nature (something along the lines of the Shao Lin variation of Buddhism, but not quite), for the right arm, I'm actually considering having one of the apprentices at Old School work on me from self-designed stuff, since it's going to be wristbanded with a Viking pre-battle prayer done in elder futhark runic, a bunch of heralidic style art pieces representing Western European mythology (representations of the fae, dragons, unicorns, grimgashes, and other myths of medievil peasantry, done in heraldic artist style) all tied together with one flowing ribbon tied into celtic knotwork with the ends free instead of connected, flowing off to chest and back at the shoulder.

PsychoBud']Costs go up with cost of "renting a chair", which are all tied in with shop rent and utilities costs (and the owner's greediness).

 

 

We're in a moderately small city, fairly cheap to live in for Western Washington, the shop is downtown in "prime" space, but he has a pair of piercists, and four other inkers, plus two apprentices (real apprentices, they work for minimum wage, do scut work, and will do minor ink work under supervision for nothing but tips for 3 years, minimum), plus he's got the best credentials for his own background (apprenticed himself under one of the premier names for biomechanical style body art, then RE-apprenticed himself for a year to another internationally known guy [hint, he's known for his distinctive skulls])...so his parlor is the priciest per-hour in town, all considered, but well worth it

 

There are a couple shops that charge a higher hourly, but they're basically two or three man shops, so can't bring in the volume income to cover overhead the way Steve's shop can, nor do they have the business smarts or reputation (or backgrounds) to compete...so generally there are a couple higher priced shops that last six months to a year and a half competing, then collapse, around here.

 

 

From what I've seen, across the country, $125 seems to be about an "average" hourly price for decent quality inkwork in a decent shop, upwards to $500 an hour for work from guys like Gil Christ and John Shaw, who live in expensive places (L.A. and NYC, last I heard), and have such reputations attatched to their names that they're booked solid on 70+ hour weeks up to a year in advance.

 

 

Yeah the bigger the name, the pricier the work, and the longer you wait. Some of the bigger artists will get to know you before they're willing to touch you with a gun, which is strange, but adds depth to your tattoo.

 

I've had a friend that waited a few months for a specific artist (dont recall her name in Santa Monica, Ca) but it turned out to be the most amazing work i've seen as far as realism goes in animals.

 

Nice to hear someone on here is going to a nice shop and getting quality ink from a reputable artist.

Nice to hear someone on here is going to a nice shop and getting quality ink from a reputable artist.

 

*COUGH* zodiac *COUGH*

Negative...those scales also represent "Justice" from Tarot decks.

 

Other symbols from Tarot that will be worked into the lower 3/4 sleeve are Strength (Major Arcana 8, represented by a female and a docile lion), the Sun, the Moon, and the Star (all major arcana)

 

on the upper arm, above the sleeve will be more blatant symbols...I already have one for the ace of swords, will be adding ace of cups, pentacles, and clubs, queen of cups (represents my wife's "personal card"), the lovers, the tower and a modified representation of "The World" major arcana card as depicted in the Dragon Tarot version..and if I have room, the Fool and The Hermit.

Tattoos in general are pretty gay.

lookin cool pb

I'd have to agree with you, silQ, because "in general" you get wannabe counterculture assholes or frat boy/sorority whore/military types walkign in, picking a flash off the wall, and saying "put that on me", idiots getting imporpoerly translated Kanji placed on them, without knowing a thinhg about the culture they're stealing from, much less the literall meaning of that symbol in the native "language symbol map", just because it's trendy, or some airhead wanting a butterfly, faerie, or random star put on her ankle or foot or something because it's "cute".

 

There are really three types of people who get ink...those who get one without having fully thought it through, and eventually regret it, those who get one the same way, but wake up a month to six weeks later FEENING for ink because the one experience turned them into endorphine junkies, who spend the rest of their lives trying to get that fix, and to find a way to satisfactorally "repair" that first insufficiently thought through piece, and those who get that first one after thingking it through carefully, putting somethign on them they really DO believe they'll want for life, and wake up a month to six weeks later, feening for ink, and start a partial or full body murakl shortly thereafter. I was one of the middle category...my first two or three pieces weren't well considered, and the second and third resulted from me just craving the level and length of endorphine high that I hadn't found any other way to get besides tattooing yet...I'm still in the process of "repairing" a couple of those poor decisions (as you can see if you look at the wrist portion of those pics well enough...the tribal is insuyfficient coverup of "jailhouse" style work, and the sleeve I'm now putting on finishes the coverup, while retaining the integrity of the tribal, which was the last professional piece of a friend/tattooist who died 18 months ago), but at this point, I have every intention of doing a full body mural that has deep and multilayered signifigance in the symbols, and, in its way, is as symbolicly signifigant as a Maori or Tongan Elder's tribal scarification and inkwork is within his culture.

 

 

 

 

note: pardon all the mispellings and typoes, my afternoon dose of PTSD meds just kicked in, and until I adjust to the effects, I'm effectively "drunk" when it comes to coordination.

I prefer the tatoos that come in Cracker Jack boxes . not a big fan of needles . Musta been all those hypos and pneumatic innoculations from the army days .

You should get a tatoo of a big fat cock.

That would own

Actually, trying to talk my wife into getting electrolysis (permenant hair removal) on her pubes, leaving her with a "rsacing stripe", then getting a little tattoo of a mexiucan with a hand-push lawnmower off to one side....no luck so far....wonder why.

PsychoBud']Actually' date=' trying to talk my wife into getting electrolysis (permenant hair removal) on her pubes, leaving her with a "rsacing stripe", then getting a little tattoo of a mexiucan with a hand-push lawnmower off to one side....no luck so far....wonder why.[/quote']

 

lol

PsychoBud']Actually' date=' trying to talk my wife into getting electrolysis (permenant hair removal) on her pubes, leaving her with a "rsacing stripe", then getting a little tattoo of a mexiucan with a hand-push lawnmower off to one side....no luck so far....wonder why.[/quote']

 

 

Substitute the push lawnmower for a Weedwacker . She might go for that

Thoughts on tattoos.

If any of you watch prison break, you would know the main character's ink is pretty sweet.

Although it would take a lot of time and money, you should get a full suit like this.

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5294/tatoo8ux.jpg

When I'm done, it will be a "full suit", if you'd read above.

 

I've already got the concept basics for both sleeves, both legs, back, chest, and stomach, and the specifics on how to blend the "themes" so I'm not stuck with one theme/subject matter to work with.

 

The left arm, when finished, will have close to 50 hours minimum on it (making it $5K-$7500 worth of inkwork, since I don't live near, or travel to any of the $200+/hr big name artists, just find the best talent in driving distance for the style I'm looking for at the time), Right arm will actually have more hours in it, with what I'm planning to do, but the work itself will mostly be self-designed for the "frontpieces", and the background is going one of two ways...either I'll have to find one hell of a blackwork/greyscale artist within 2 hours' drive of me to do the background as a collage piece from pics of gargoyles of medieval churches and castles, or it will be biotechnical style again for the main background, but almost purely biological material in nature, in skin tone, with "holes" in the "grafted/cultured biomass" through which you can see full color and realistic muyscle mass, ligaments, and such (in which case I'll have the same artist who's doing this 3/4 sleeve do that background "tie-in" work). Each leg is looking like 40-50 hours of needle time, and with what I want done on chest/belly and back, I can't even start to guess until I've talked to the artist I end up picking to do the pieces how many hours each will be.

 

At any rate, by the time I'm done, assuming I live long enough to finish, there will be somewhere between $30K and $80K in ink laid into my skin.

 

As a result of this fact, my wife and I are already in contact with the artist's (former coroner) who uses donated human bodies and animal carcasses that he patented a unique embalming process to permenantly embalm bodies and body parts agency in discussion about "donating" my skin after all useable organs are harvested, and changing my will to reflect this...if firstly, he's interested, and secondly, we can come to agreeable contractual terms with him, he'll get my skin as an "artistic material" when I die...or, at least whatever part of it is inked, or that he desires to work with.

The people in County would cut your tattoos off. Reguardless, that shit's badass. Can't wait to see how the coloring in looks.

Depends on where you mean by "County"...if you mean county lockup, been there a number of times with no damage to any of the ink I'd collected BEFORE starting this piece (17 individual pieces), and only 2 fights (both of which ended up with ME being the one spending the rest of the week, or longer, in ISO unit).

 

Generally, in jail, people don't fuck with people's ink..it's actually respected, unless you're sporting the "fratboy" type crap like a Tazmanian devil, or some kanji you can't even remember what it's SUPPOSED to mean. Granted, SOME ink means more than other pieces, in jails, like the stuff the Brotherhood tends to sport, or the La Raza hispanic stylings, or the like...and if I had anythign anything LIKE that stuff, and went to lockup, you're right, it'd get carved off if I couldn't prove my bona-fides, or beat the shit out of the first guy to say something to me about it so badly as to cause me to be charged with serious charges while IN...which DOES happen, from time to time, but hasn't happened to me, because all my time's been soft time in county lockups, and I don't have anything along those lines on me (nor will I ever).

 

 

Aside from that, thanks, I'm looking forward to it myself...all hardware will be greyscale, with solid black or white for logos, some "components" may be done to look like carbon fiber, and all the biological stuff is goign to be done in tones of purple with green and aquamarine highlights, to make it looks kind of glisteny and iridescent.

Thats pretty neat looking and pretty unique, I can't say I have seen such a design. Can't wait to see the finished job.

Edit: Question, what is a good place on your body to get a tat that jobs won't care about? But that could also be easily visible?

You gotta read MP, lol.

 

PsychoBud']all hardware will be greyscale' date=' with solid black or white for logos, some "components" may be done to look like carbon fiber, and all the biological stuff is goign to be done in tones of purple with green and aquamarine highlights, to make it looks kind of glisteny and iridescent.[/quote']