some are too much i think ... !?

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myspace - add me! dart flicr lastfm

great article, point well made some incredible works in there too, particularly the back pieces....

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Urgh. Fucking Jagermeister.

Cheers for that, it's very insightful and inspiring! Arrr can't wait to get my next tattoo...

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Wait...what the hell did I just do?!

Simin Pegg has stars

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Digging up bones with a plastic spade.........digging up ruins from a bygone age .......I'm archaeology boy........I'm archaeology girl.........

like i said it's all personal opinion, what's too much for one is too small for another. but it's to show what can be done, you can use thes on a smaler scale to get an idea of how nicely a tattoo can be done, and that's the point of the artical.

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yeah and jordan has a bow on her lower back and people still come in and say "i wanted something original so i thought i'd like a bow like jordan" and they get offended when you tell them it's not original. that's more my point here, people thinking it's original, when what is now?

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lol, cool. my other half is getting work done by a mate called alex who works at sacred rites in copenhagen in denmark, it's expensive and it's a long way but look him up just to see his work because it's stunning....

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i tried to vary it a bit but i was running out of space

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You are my hero. Thank you for posting this article.
Even half a world away here I am asked to do stars often, and I am happy to see that the kanji craze has died eve if just a little bit.

But those that are "trend-wearers" should be exposed to those elements that are common and find a way to deflashify them (yay! I made up another word! Hey, I am allowed to, it's my birthday today, hehe) meaning that even though they may have their heart set on, say, a butterfly (naming something common and overdone) that if you put out a few extra bucks and give the artist a little more freedom that it can be turned into a serious work of art like the butterfly by Dan Hazelton you posted above. Then you are virtually guaranteed to not have a tattoo that hundreds if not thousands have also picked from flash books around the world.

The worts I see is when a group walks in the door, only ONE of them is getting tattooed, and that persons voice shrilly fills the lobby with "Guys! What should I get? What do you think? Do you think this is cute? What colors do you guys like?" It makes me want to scream at them to get what THEY want, not what their friends want.

Tattoo's are forever, not all friends are.

I do my best to stay calm and cheery and try to steer them away from the flash books unless only to get a concept they can direct me to if they are not so good at forming their ideas into words that I can understand.

Not all humans speak the language of true art.

Doodlemonkie's personal list of tats that got old real quick -

- chinese symbols
- 5 point stars
- Taz

The worst I ever saw was a Taz on some guys arm - Taz was hovering above a fart cloud. Whoe the hell wants that? Does he still find it funny every morning when he wakes up and looks at it?

Great article and some really insightful images, I had no idea that your trade had made so many advances with pigments, etc.

I wish I could be a tattooist, I think my pen and ink stuff would translate fairly well - I just hate the idea of sticking pins in people.

I would make a terrible junkie.