pearls before swine; collected commentary
collected commentary from other sites.
quarantine paintings: set one
A series of works in watercolor and oil. This is the first section in this series, addressing the current pandemic and its effects worldwide.
Each painting was complete before being named for an affected place and dedicated to a person.
no. 1 – Milan
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for Dr. Marcelo Natali
1963-3/25/20
“We certainly weren’t prepared to face such a situation. Especially those of our generation, that of the post-antibiotic era, who grew up thinking that a pill against the disease was enough.”
no. 2 – Northwestern United States
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for Dr. Stephen M. Schwartz
(January 1, 1942 – March 17, 2020)
“There is no way to summarize a person as complex as Steve, but I’ll say this: I have never met a person with a finer mind, a greater passion for ideas, or who had a greater love for science,” Dr. Chuck Murry
“This beer virus I call it — they call it a coronavirus, I call it a beer virus — how do you like that?” Rep. Don Young
no. 3 – Iran
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for Dr. Shirin Rouhani
(unknown- 3/19/20)
“She treated patients at Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran while receiving IV therapy, because there were not enough doctors. Hospitals are faced with a lack of protective gear including medical gowns, N95 masks, gloves, and disinfectants.” -Javad Tavakoli
” Tell medècin sans frontiers that we do not need hospitals established by foreigners”. -Health Minister, Alireza Vahhabzadeh.
no. 4 – Rikers Island, New York
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated to Michael Tyson, 53
“Incredible anxiety and fear. You cannot implement effective social distancing in a room that sleeps forty men. You cannot implement effective social distancing when those forty men are using two or three sinks and one of them may be broken. You cannot implement effective social distancing when the staff interacts with all of them and has to touch all of them in the course of a day.
They know that better than I know that. So when I was talking to them, I was sort of feebly saying, “We want to try to encourage people to be even more diligent about hand-washing, etc., etc.” They were, like, “O.K., we don’t have our own cleaning supplies.” They can’t wipe down their own surfaces. They have to wait for someone to come in and do that for them.”
“The largest category of people in city jails are those awaiting trial — people who have not been charged but not convicted. In the ordinary course of events, getting someone in this position out of jail requires an application made in court before a judge.”
-Dr. Bedard
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday that the state had found a way to counteract price gouging on hand sanitizer amid the COVID-19 outbreak: by deploying cheap prison labor. Incarcerated people will be producing the disinfectant… “This is a superior product to products now on the market,” Cuomo said in a briefing, adding that the state’s sanitizer has a “very nice floral bouquet” that includes hints of lilac, tulip, and hydrangea.
no. 5 – Los Angeles, Mercy
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for Francisco Garcia
“There’s a very limited supply, it’s a scary situation. Just going to work, driving to work, you’re worried you’re going to get something. It’s changing by the hour and by the day.” S. Beltran, ER nurse .
“This week the State Department has facilitated the transportation of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials.” -Mike Pompeo, Feb 7 2020
no. 6 – Wuhan
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for
Dr. Li Wenliang
(1986-2/7/2020)
“I think there should be more than one voice in a healthy society, and I don’t approve of using public power for excessive interference.” -Dr. Li Wenliang
“Now, the Democrats are politicising the coronavirus… this is their new hoax.” -Donald Trump
“Trump has botched the response to coronavirus pandemic…classifying deliberations makes it harder for health experts in government without security clearances to be in key meetings. This is unprecedented, unnecessary, and damages our ability to respond to the pandemic.”
-Gregg Gonsalves, a Yale epidemiologist
“You, Dr. Li Wenliang, have been making false comments on the Internet, and will sign a letter of admonishment.”
-Police from the Wuhan Public Security Bureau, Jan 3 2020
no. 7 – Madrid
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for Dr. Isabel Munoz
( 1961 -3/24/2020)
“Her only obsession was not to infect anybody.” -Jesus Munoz
“Even if we all get sick, I’d rather die than kill the country.” -Glenn Beck
no. 8 – Johannesburg
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for Simon
(unknown)
“They put us here and now we are close to one another. This is why we will be vulnerable to catching Corona. Our government has failed us,” Simon, homeless man moved by police to stadium from the street.
“The lockdown has caused problems, but it is a necessary thing that South Africa had to do,” -Maider Mavi, Mozambique Health Ministry. “Anyone showing symptoms who goes to a state hospital will have their COVID-19 test for free.”
“The goal here is to keep Covid out of this community,” says Sasha Lalla, a leader at COSUP, a city-supported substance abuse program.
“I think then we will be seeing a situation where people with compromised immune systems are not just at risk of Covid-19, they are at risk of death. We have a responsibility to keep our most vulnerable safe,” he said. “One case here, it would be like wildfire.”
no. 9 – New York City
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for Father Antonio Checo
May 6, 1952-April 1, 2020
“Words cannot describe the sadness and hurt as well as the frustrations that this pandemic has brought about to our daily lives here and across the city…Effective today, all Episcopal churches have been ordered closed until May 17, 2020…we as your clergy are still accessible via phone as your pastors in these times. And since we cannot gather as a community until May, we want to begin to periodically send you the weekly bible readings as that you can use for private prayer worship.
…take an hour each day to pray these prayers remembering those who have died because of this pandemic, as well as those who are sick and those “essential” workers on the frontlines who ensure we as citizens have access to life sustaining resources for day to day living. We ask for the blessing of peace and hope to you all, and that all are safe in this time of uncertainty and anxiety.”
Rev. Antonio Checo and Rev. Jason Moskal, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
“We brought in 13 machines that basically kill every virus in the place, and uh, if somebody walks through the door it’s like, it kills everything on them. If they sneeze, it shoots it down at like 100 mph. It’ll neutralize it in split seconds. We have the most sterile building in, I don’t know, all of America.”
-Rodney Howard-Browne, River Tampa Bay Megachurch
no. 10 – Tokyo
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for Ken Shimura
(20 February 1950 – 29 March 2020)
“I never feared getting an infection myself,” he said, because he knows “how infection control should be done.” But aboard the Diamond Princess, “I was so scared of getting COVID-19.”
“The cruise ship was completely inadequate in terms of the infection control.”
-Kentaro Iwata, who has dealt with infectious outbreaks, including Ebola, cholera and SARS, for more than 20 years.
“I’m choosing not to do it.” -donald trump, on masks
no. 11 – The Bronx
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for
Rakkhon Kim, a member of Branch 36 in New York City
1970-March 25,2020
“It is not an exaggeration to say that our men and women in the Postal Service, who were already performing one of the most important jobs in America, are now literally putting their own lives on the line to deliver the food, medicine, and essential supplies that hundreds of millions of Americans depend on every single day during this pandemic.”
-Senator Bernard Sanders
“It’s been losing billions of dollars a year for many, many years… this is the new one, I’m now the demise of the Postal Service. I’ll tell you who’s the demise of the Postal Service, are these internet companies that give their stuff to the Postal Service…They drop everything in the post office and they say, ‘You deliver it.’ “
-president Donald Trump
no. 12 – Washington, DC
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for
Rabbi Romi Cohn
Holocaust survivor
March 10, 1929-March 24, 2020
“The crisis caused by the coronavirus may be the time to consider a universal basic wage.”
-Pope Francis
“God will shield us from all harm and sickness. We are not afraid. We are called by God to stand against the Antichrist creeping into America’s borders.”
-Tony Spell3
no. 13 – Atlanta
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for
Rushia Johnson Stephens
music teacher
1954-2020
“Given our population density, high rate of asthma, and various underlying health conditions found within our city’s populations, I am issuing a Stay at Home Order for Atlantans.”
-Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
“adding a public option to Obamacare is the best way to lower costs and cover everyone. 160 million people like their private insurance.”
-Joe Biden
no. 14 – Lansing
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for
Lisa Ewald
nurse
1966-2020
“COVID-19 has impacted the lives of so many citizens throughout the state of Michigan, and even more pronounced in the city of Detroit, as we are the fastest growing city nationally with casualties related to this deadly disease.”
-Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo
“LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”
-Donald Trump
no. 15 – Paris
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for
Dr. John F. Murray
pulmonologist
June 8, 1927 – March 24, 2020
“In all his dealings in the ICU, John treated every person with respect and held them to high standards, whether it was the intern just starting in the ICU or the fellow who was a much more senior trainee, or the nurses or the therapists. Everybody had something to offer and was treated as a member of this team.”
-Courtney Broaddus
“You have to do what’s best for your business.”
-Wayne Hoffman
no. 17 (final, butcher’s bill)- New Orleans, LA, USA
(quarantine paintings, 2020)
watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″
dedicated for Ronald Lewis
7/17/1951-3/20/2020
“Right here in the Ninth Ward was where our people chased the American dream.”
~ Ronald Lewis
“The federal government rose to the challenge and this is a great success story and I think that that’s really what needs to be told.”
~Jared Kutchner
jalapeno burn
the pain started two hours after I chopped and scraped the seeds out of what tasted like VERY mild jalapenos. I figured they were so mild, they wouldn’t burn.
I took a huge bite, it was sweet like a bell pepper. BETRAYAL
NO. no no no no no no no no no no no no no.
I worked with 3lbs of them, and that was more than enough.
all of the suggestions you will find online, only work if you catch the capsaicin oil BEFORE it starts burning! if it’s in the surface, just starting to hurt. if you catch it quickly, you can try
rub oil into your hands, deeply, and let it sit
wash with blue dawn dish soap or other grease cutting soap, in the hottest water you can stand
repeat at least 3 times
Me though? I didn’t start to treat this until hours later and by then it was too late for the home remedies. For washing. That oil was absorbed- under the skin, not on it. You can’t wash it off.
I tried every single thing online that I could find. Vinegar soak. Olive oil/hot water washing. Mustard. Baking soda. Maalox. Bleach cleaner. Milk. Alcohol. Yogurt. Stainless steel. Salt. Milk soak. Aloe. Lemon juice. A lemon. An onion. Butter. Crisco. Sugar.
After several dozen ridiculous attempts, I realized that it was too late to do that shit.
Icepack, pain relief. that’s it. once it’s been a few hours, that’s all you can do.
1. wash your hands as well as you can, cold water feels nice. oil-reducing soap is good I guess.
2. apply blue gel, lidocaine, or anbesol/orajel to the entire affected area. allow it to absorb.
3. once it’s dried, apply a thin layer of any beeswax based/oily salve to hold the lidocaine to the skin surface. this will increase the time it lasts.
4. take a damn pain pill. I took ibuprofen. I might go on up to a codeine pill if it goes back to the pain I was at earlier- easily an 8/10! right now it’s just tenderness, and a Tylenol or Ibuprofen is enough.
5. take an antihistamine. Benadryl is best, Claritin works. this keeps inflammation down a little- your skin won’t be so red and irritated.
6. do not touch your eyes, genitals, mouth. don’t touch other people’s sensitive bits. you have to wait until your hands have used the capsaicin up- according to a paper I read that can take up to 24 hours. so be cautious during this time.
7.you can put on nitrile gloves if you like. I found they made the lidocaine wear off faster (maybe due to the warmth)
8. avoid touching ANYTHING warm/hot, and ANYTHING with capsaicin in it (even a sweet bell pepper!) for a few days. your nerve endings need to heal, your body needs to process that capsaicin. give it time.
I must have put a hundred condiments and unguents and cleaning supplies on my hands tonight. I spent hours trying.
just treat the pain, don’t reexpose your hands to heat or the chemical that hurt you. and don’t touch your eyes!!! OR YOUR JUNK. I MEAN IT.
livestrong is incorrect! PSA. PLEASE SHARE.
PSA: SHARE!!!
if you have read/are using that site as a source of info about tattoo inks please PLEASE be aware-
THE SOURCE THEY CITE IS COMPLETELY NOT CREDIBLE WITHIN THE TATTOO INDUSTRY.
THE SOURCE THEY USED IS INCORRECT.
THE INKS (BRANDS) THEY LIST ARE REALLY TERRIBLE FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS AND YOU WILL NOT FIND A TALENTED PROFESSIONAL USING THEM.
they used a fake, crappy online “tattoo school” scam website to get their info. the inks listed include two brands with recalls (!!!!!) and a brand that has really low pigmentation. those brands were listed as “good” only because they’re potentially available to non professional artists!!! Most amateur grade and publicly available inks are made with all sorts of contaminants, and some are dangerous.
The scam school website they used as a reference is NOT a reliable source for information.
THIS IS A BAD SOURCE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT TATTOO INKS.
professional grade tattoo inks are not available to the general public, contain nothing extraneous, and you won’t find out about them through “how-to tattoo dot com” or some crap like that.
tattoo inks available to professionals show no toxicity in ingredients, are not hazardous, and are usually vegan (some brands of black are the exception to that).
if you have questions about ink, ask your tattoo artist. we will always answer questions for you and we have msds sheets as well. (these images are an example, from a brand used by many professionals.)
(this is from one of several brands often used by professionals)
I’ve seen reference to this website several times now, so I decided it was time to let people know this is NOT CORRECT INFORMATION.
Please, please. If you have concerns about the inks, ASK YOUR TATTOO ARTIST. If you do not trust your artist, FIND ONE YOU TRUST. Get tattooed by professionals only!
why some shops are cut rate, who drew the lion?
- In art, artwork, clients, complaints, dos and donts, drawing, ethics, female tattoo artist, female tattoo artist olympia, female tattoo artist pacific northwest, female tattoo artist spokane, health and safety, how-to, love, money, nomad tattoo artist, old school, oregon tattoo artists, original art, original drawings, questions, tat zap wizard, Tattoo, Tattoo Advice, tattooing, traveling tattooer, you,
the reason some tattoos/piercing shops have really low minimums or hourly costs:
- little experience or inconsistent abilities,
substandard, imported inks (could be risky to you), - don’t provide follow up
like good aftercare and personal answers to questions (this should always be available!), - don’t care about touchups or fixing a piercing that healed improperly,
- substandard materials in jewelry, (dangerous!)
- inconsistent machinery or other actual tattooing gear,
- not paying for licensing or training (legally required but people will cut corners),
- not paying taxes, insurance, or other necessities
- they have known you for twenty years and actually are your real life friend.
my minimum/hourly ensures that I cover the shop’s commission, my equipment (good stuff), and a living wage for a professional in a trade. it also covers any and all time you need to ask me questions afterward via text or email, touchups if needed, aftercare info and good bandaging, continued contact with me in case you have questions, and twenty years of experience.
it’s my hope that everyone I tattoo, even when they get tattooed by other artists besides me, ONLY ever gets AMAZING tattoos after they get work by me. I want all you guys to get worked on by great artists that treat you well and value your patronage. I know the piercers I work with are the same, they use the best, modern, safe, high quality things and will always help you after.
If you’ve been tattooed by me you can always contact me with questions about anything tattoo related. I’m always here. even if I only did a dot on you. You guys are my people. I want you all to look and feel good.
This is what my hourly and minimum cover, and they’re cheap at the price.
(also, I have PUMPKIN SPICE)
Below, the first kind lion with cherry blossoms and lotuses, was drawn by Guen Douglas. It’s a really good drawing.
She drew it as a custom tattoo for one of her clients. Since then, tons of people have fallen in love with it. That’s fine. A lot of people have copied it exactly though, and that’s not fine!
If you want an amazing lion tattoo it’s OK to say “look, like this, amazing” and bring it as reference or an idea that appeals to you… then have your artist draw you your OWN lion and flowers. Pick your favorite flowers. Make the lion have the kind of look on its face that you want to feel. Hell, pick an animal you identify with instead of a lion! All these things are possible.
The second picture is a fierce lioness with acacia and freesia that I drew for someone. If you pick a good artist they will make you something amazing that is YOURS, not a copy of someone else’s. If you don’t have a good artist… GO GET ONE. If you’re completely fixated on that lion that Guen drew… may I humbly suggest that you contact her and GET TATTOOED BY HER. She drew it! She’s really good!
Of course if you find a tattoo online that you love, I’ll use it as the basis for your idea. YES. I won’t copy someone else’s tattoo exactly, line for line. that’s THEIR tattoo. We will come up with changes so that it fits YOU .
xox
by Guen Douglas
by me, anji marth
you just found the perfect tattoo idea online.
listen to me.
if you see tattoos and artwork online that you really like and would like to have tattooed on you, that’s totally a good thing. the next step is not to copy that thing exactly, but to find a tattoo artist whose work you like, bring them that thing, and say “I want something like this, and I like this piece because (reason you really like that idea)”
the tattoo artist will tell you they can’t copy it, and will draw you your very own tattoo using your taste and that idea as a starting point. that’s what good tattoo artists do.
it’s OK if you printed it out, traced it, or saved it to your phone for us to look at. don’t panic. it’s OK. just tell us that you found it online and want something like it because (reasons you like it so much). seriously, it’s OK, bring it along and tell us why you like it.
it’s good when you find things you’d love to wear. showing us that stuff helps us figure out what your taste is, what qualities you want in the finished piece. it’s totally fine to want similar ideas to other people’s tattoos. it’s just not OK to try to copy exactly.
find a good tattoo artist, then talk to them. show them things you like. show them that perfect tattoo and tell them why it’s perfect. they can make it fit YOU.
we get into tattooing because we like to draw. part of our job is to figure out how to draw a thing that fits you and nobody else.
the other part of our job is to be able to reproduce a thing exactly. so if you find tattoo flash, (it’ll be labeled “tattoo flash” and have the artist’s name attached) let us know!
because usually you, or we, can buy the rights to do that. cheaply. plenty of artists draw works that are designed to be sold as tattoos. if we know the source, we can often get permission. you can also ask us what we have drawn- most of us have flash, prepared art, ideas and sketches of things we’d like to do.
keep in mind you don’t HAVE to find exactly what you want. find your tattoo artist first, then show them the things related to the tattoo you want. we can work from stick figures and bad explanations! it’s part of the job. яндекс
(also, if you lie and say you drew it, we know you’re lying. although the internet is big, the tattoo industry is small and we all know each other.)
electric eye candy tattoo convention, seminar info
ONLINE AVAILABILITY OF WRITTEN MATERIALS HERE
On Sunday, September 11, I’ll be teaching my seminar on the use of social media and the internet for passive income, for tattooers. This seminar includes a huge packet of resources and information as well as access to a private group on which you can ask follow up questions, get recent information on changes, and talk and network with anyone else who’s taken the course. Location: Electric Eye Candy Tattoo Extravaganza
you do not have to be working at the convention to come to this seminar.
It’s a two-hour seminar- usually runs a bit longer for questions. I cover “branding”, username and site selection, basics of building a site, consolidating media, passive income streams, how to leverage your client base and word-of-mouth to reach further online, how to protect your copyright, and go over free or cheap tools you can use to share your work.
Even though we all make our daily bread tattooing, we all are also human beings, living inside bodies that can get broken or worn. When you’ve got slow times or an injury or illness, passive income is a good backup, and if done properly it will complement and improve your work on skin.
If you’re using social media at all- to share your tattoo work – or if you would like to start selling your other artwork online to reach a wider audience- this class is for you.
the course does count as continuing education credit for two hours. (I know a lot of you may not need that accreditation, but in some states your license requires this and yes, this seminar counts)
at this convention the seminar will cost $100 per person. tattoo artists at any level AND apprentices, are welcome. if you are an artist in another medium you may attend as well, although a lot of the information may be things you cannot utilize the same way.
to pre-register, email me at re*********@gm***.com. I accept paypal and Square. you can also show up on Sunday and pay at the door with cash or credit.
Bring pen or pencil, a piece of art you’ve made (or an image of one) and your smartphone, tablet, or laptop. there will be a wifi hotspot in the room for everyone to use as you follow along with the class.
If you’d like to speak to people who have taken this seminar to find out more, you can ask Curby Dickens, Bonnie Gillson, or Joanne Martian. All three have put a lot of the information to good use.
I can’t wait to meet you guys, I hope we have a good turnout, and good questions asked at the end! xox
Using the internet to find your next tattoo? Read this.
The internet has so much imagery in it, it’s understandable why you’d want to use it to find good ideas for your next tattoo. But there are a few things to watch out for, and a few things you definitely shouldn’t do.
an artist using antique, copyright-free woodcuts as reference
When you have no idea what you might want, it’s really tempting to just start googling “tattoos” or “tattoos for girls” or something, and look around at what other people have. There’s nothing wrong with this; this is a great way to get ideas, seeds of ideas. You have to be careful though, because these tattoos belong to other people. Either they belong to the tattoo artist or the wearer, one or the other, no exceptions.
They own them.
buy a print and you can get it tattooed on you. seriously. no seriously, buy a print anyway.
So, yes, use the images online of other people’s work to get ideas for subject matter or placement- but not as an exact thing to get tattooed. There are reasons for this; ethically, it’s theft for the tattooer who ends up doing your tattoo. They don’t get to really do their best work, because you’ve instead asked them to steal art from someone else. Legally, it’s also theft. The original artist who drew and tattooed it owns the no-shit actual copyright to that tattoo. It’s plagiarism and is considered theft.
You can bring in these images as ideas, as things you like the style or subject of- but you shouldn’t try to get someone else’s tattoo exactly copied onto your own body. I think everyone is entitled to their very own tattoo, and I think artists are entitled to be paid for their work in drawing and designing the tattoos.
The best way to use the internet for tattoo ideas is to follow the advice here, and use the internet to find the artist that did an awesome tattoo. That way you can go to them and tell them “I liked this piece you did and want something like it” and you will get exactly that, without any ethical problems. You find the artist you want first, then figure out the art with them, this is the very best way to get a very good tattoo done. (this applies to big or small, extensive or simple tattoos.)
big or small!
If you bring in someone else’s tattoo and the artist is willing to steal it, they probably are not very skilled to begin with. Good artists won’t steal. Copying someone else’s tattoo is really, really a dick move. It makes you a thief, really and truly it does. I promise that if you find a tattoo artist whose work you love, they will do a MUCH better version of the idea for you, that will suit YOU and not some other random person you’ve never met. Find the tattoo artist you trust, whose work you love, and you won’t have to copy someone else’s tattoo to get something awesome.
Note that while this applies to other people’s tattoos online, it doesn’t work the same way for art in general. If you see a painting you love, and want tattooed, contact the artist who made it and tell them you want to get it tattooed on you. A large majority of artists will just say yes, go for it, or at most they will say “buy a print first please then go right ahead!”
There are very few artists in this world who object to people getting tattoos of their work- but you should always ASK first anyway, because the artist owns that art. They own it. They own the rights to it, and using without permission is stealing. This applies to paintings, photographs of flowers or wild animals, every image has an owner. There are exceptions (copyright-free websites, tattoo flash that your tattooer has paid for, etc) but things that you find on google are NOT NOT not free for the taking. Those images all belong to somebody. If you can’t figure out who the original artist is, ask your tattooer to help you out. A lot of the time we can find out for you.
If your tattoo artist has flash on the walls of their shop, or books of images for tattooing, it’s because they paid for the rights to tattoo those images. This means they’re not stolen, they’re totally fine to choose from.
For tattooers, take your photographs so that the tattoo is seen at an angle or so part of it is obscured. Use a strong watermark across the image to make theft more difficult. And rest assured that only assholes steal; your work being stolen is not any detriment to your reputation, but to theirs.
A real asshole can and will use your tattoo image to make a stencil of sorts:
But if the image is at an angle, their finished piece will never look quite right. Symmetry and details will look skewed and wrong. This helps a lot. Try it.
Further advice for tattooers on retaining copyright is available in my seminar.
The easiest, best place to get a tattoo.
I know that the real wise advice I could give you would be; “Get it where you want to see it.” Because after all, the pain is temporary, right? The tattoo is what lasts. But I get asked this question a lot, so I’ll give you my honest, true answer.
actually, inner forearms are cool too. For all the same reasons. They’re just harder to hide when you visit grandma.
Get it on your outside calf, shin, or on the front or outside of the thigh.
These are the easiest areas to get tattooed. They hurt the least, look the best, and last the longest with clarity to the original. Even if you gain and lose weight, these areas won’t change much. Even when you get ancient, the wrinkles on the rest of you won’t really effect these areas so much.
If you have to hide tattoos for work, high socks or knee-length skirts will cover one or the other of these. The areas are capable of being used in either a very soft, flowing and feminine way, or a blocked, solid masculine manner- so either way, the space can be used how YOU want it to turn out. It can emphasize the curves or obscure them. It can accent muscle or smooth it.
A design with a strong s-curve looks great in either place.
The skin structure is good and will be more solid and consistent than ANYWHERE AT ALL ON THE TORSO. Your torso twists, bends, and the skin changes all over it with every pound gained or lost, every gym day or potato chip, every pregnancy, every time you reach for a thing your torso skin gets stretched a tiny bit. Every wrinkle and sag is concentrated on your ribs, waist, and chest. It’s the worst possible area for a tattoo really.
Going back to the start of this whole thing- calves and thighs hurt less than any torso tattoo as well. AND they will last longer. It’s win-win.
So, if you want my real advice, and not just the thing I am supposed to say, then listen to me and get your calf or thigh tattooed. It’ll look amazing there. Promise. Big or small, get it there.
Small tattoos look great just above the ankle bone, or just below the hipbone on the thigh. Big tattoos look great all over the leg.
The only “bad” leg areas are the knee, the foot, and the groin. All of these areas have odd skin and won’t last as long or hurt as little as the calf and thigh. Plus the nice, flat areas of the calf and thigh make the design less likely to get distorted with movement, making them a good place for geometric work, or images with faces or human figures in them.
Get your legs tattooed. It’s awesome.
