Leather Jackets, Tattoos and Psychic Armor

[Jon Crow]

Amen to that Danny

I'm the same only I grew up working class, Irish born North, raised North of England, if it was there you vould have it if it wasn't, tough, when I left school I did ok much later better, affording the things I wanted, that included good tattoos, good ink aint cheap on any side of the great pond, and I never even considered back bedroom done cheap tats, now I live in Madrid, nice apartment, leisure usable spare income as we go to a lot of good concerts and some festivals, the vintage clothing is included in that, and I live in a area where its pretty bohemian, mixed cultures, music, lots of sun so my ink gets seen, lots of history here also, bit of a history buff myself, life could be worse eh

 

[Bfd70]

I probably have 40 or so. Collected over the past 30 years. I like them. If i woke up today without any i wouldn’t get one. I like to switch things up. I have an appt March 8 to do some work on my stomach. I’ve been procrastinating because it hurt so much.

 

[Jon Crow]

I probably have 40 or so. Collected over the past 30 years. I like them. If i woke up today without any i wouldn’t get one. I like to switch things up. I have an appt March 8 to do some work on my stomach. I’ve been procrastinating because it hurt so much.

I've heard the stomach hurts also,

 

[Will Zach]

I love how a nice sleeve looks. But not my cup of tea. I also like neck tats; they look aggressive but cool. I could have a tuna ink on my neck (tuna fishing is my hobby), but my wife would get a heart attack, lol.

 

[Tom71]

from illustrator point of view, tattoo is 2D art placed on ever deforming 3D lump , and on a media that is not hi definition and not in archival quality, every line will blur, every color will change or fade, the shape will change along with the growing or shrinking of the lump of flesh, and worst part, we can change clothes, we can take off accessories and wear another, we can grow or shave our beard or hair, but tattoos are there permanently and yet degrading in their clarity.

I can't see the future me, I'm not sure my taste would be eternal, so I can't commit to something I would wear until the day I die or spending lots of money to erase it. I'm too much of ctrl+Z freak to have something that can't be undone, I'm afraid I would think gee what if this part is a little bit bigger, or damn that nose looks crooked if I twist my arm like this and I'm powerless to do anything about it.

and I have my younger brother who's adding seemingly pretty "random" tattoos started with a cross, and then a yinyang, and then viking symbolism he misunderstood as trinity, and some thing else, and some koi fishes, so I don't have to ink myself to vaguely see how it would look on someone that roughly resembles myself

if the tattoo has something to do with some order or brotherhood I'm loyal to then I would accept it, maybe I can wear a cross because I'm loyal to it and it is less likely that any tattoo artist would f' ked up just a simple protestant cross, but I can just wear a cross pendant

There you go! You listed all the reasons for getting a tattoo or two!

Your taste changes, you make mistakes, you regret it - isn´t that what life is about?

My first tat has an absolutely silly motive as I was trying to "find something I will like forever". The result was something I didn´t really like from day one.
I even have a piece with initials of an ex-gf. Sillyness to the max!

I can absolutely assure you, I love every single one of my tattos. Some represent failures, some I wouldn´t have done again, and yet they all stand for a m oment or phase in my life. My own life with all its ups and downs.

The orther thing; being 53 now, I don´t feel that my body improves much visually for some time now. Some ink certainly doesn´t make the decay worse...

 

[JasonY]

Couple of favorites. One on the left is pretty recent.

 

[Monitor]

Couple of favorites. One on the left is pretty recent. View attachment 681811

I love these!! Why whales? I mean, why not whales because whales are the best thing in the universe but why whales?

 

[Jon Crow]

Couple of favorites. One on the left is pretty recent. View attachment 681811

A blue whale and humpback I believe

 

[JasonY]

A blue whale and humpback I believe

North Atlantic right whale and humpback

 

[Jon Crow]

North Atlantic right whale and humpback

Course, right whale, almost hunted to extinction

 

[dannyk]

As a funny aside and tattoo story.

I am a big fan of rockabilly, punkabilly, horror punk rock.

On my left upper leg I have a tattoo of a rockabilly stylized vampire girl sitting on a grave headstone. My wife got a tattoo based on the myth of Lilith and she’s carrying a man’s head on a silver platter. Ok all that to say when we hug one another or go in for a kiss I always make jokes that our legs are in a lesbian love affair as they are in the same exact position, with almost identical size and shape, and hers is on the right leg. We’re the same height. So it couldn’t have actually worked out any more perfectly. I had mine for years before I knew her too. This wasn’t planned or on purpose. It’s so silly and stupid but it always makes me laugh when I notice it.

 

[Eagledog]

I don't understand the tattoo purpose.
Almost nothing that was cool when I was in my 20's is still my favorite style. (I'm almost 70)
Art, furniture, hair, clothes, trucks, motorcycles, airplanes,tools everything has changed for the better.
It would end up being a historical display of things that are no longer cool in my eyes. A "what was I thinking " reminder of scratchy choices.

 

[dannyk]

I don't understand the tattoo purpose.
Almost nothing that was cool when I was in my 20's is still my favorite style. (I'm almost 70)
Art, furniture, hair, clothes, trucks, motorcycles, airplanes,tools everything has changed for the better.
It would end up being a historical display of things that are no longer cool in my eyes. A "what was I thinking " reminder of scratchy choices.

People have plenty of reasons. A remembrance to a fallen friend, parents, pets, grandparents, their favorite artist, music, movies, politics, things that changed their life. Even if time moves on it can remind you of that time in your life. It can bring back nostalgia, love, it can be art for arts sake. It can be something you want to give you strength in times of weakness.

I am not saying anyone has to like them don’t get me wrong. They can be trashy or done in regret. They can be silly and things that mean nothing. They can be ugly, or a passing fad. But they can also be so much more. So while not for you there’s definitely more to them than fads, bands, art or culture that you’ll quickly forget or move on from. Some people go crazy with that. They have so many just absurd, “funny” “cringey” “meme” type tattoos. And hey their body and their choice and I respect that; but not for me at all. For example some of mine are both my grandfathers names on a cross surrounded by roses and poppies. They both died before I was born and both were WW2 vets. Hence roses and poppies associated with war veterans. The sacrifice they gave means something to me. I got an anchor to remind myself to stay grounded and weather all storms. I have XO the name of an album from an artist that for 10 years meant so much to me, and gave me comfort through the hardest times of my life. I have an American traditional dagger and that one is just because I love American traditional style and know an amazing artist in the area that does them. So some examples of what I have and why.

To each their own though. Someone who can’t decide or doesn’t really see the point should never get one because then they will just always regret it.

 

[Will Zach]

Course, right whale, almost hunted to extinction

I watched a version of Moby Dick recently and got really upset. How could they? Killing these magnificent, thinking, feeling animals for what? Oil and blubber. Not a good look for sure.

 

[Bkcmart]

I don't understand the tattoo purpose.
Almost nothing that was cool when I was in my 20's is still my favorite style. (I'm almost 70)
Art, furniture, hair, clothes, trucks, motorcycles, airplanes,tools everything has changed for the better.
It would end up being a historical display of things that are no longer cool in my eyes. A "what was I thinking " reminder of scratchy choices.

Avoid trends. Traditional tattooing is timeless.

 

[Jon Crow]

I watched a version of Moby Dick recently and got really upset. How could they? Killing these magnificent, thinking, feeling animals for what? Oil and blubber. Not a good look for sure.

And still doing if you know a couple of certain countries, sad

 

[Monitor]

from illustrator point of view...

I think that's your biggest problem with it, too. It's tough to allow someone who you know is a considerably worse artist, permanently draw on your skin.

 

[Jon Crow]

I think that's your biggest problem with it, too. It's tough to allow someone who you know is a considerably worse artist, permanently draw on your skin.

Aye research somebody's work first

 

[Randomuser]

The market is completely saturated by amazing artists right now. It no longer holds true that tattoo artists are second rate artists.

In the past few years realism tattooing has become absolutely incredible. Not my style, but it’s very impressive to see.

Anyway, here are some of my favourite tattoos (not mine, I wish!).

 

[Herrvallmo]

I love tattoos and I'll probably be covered head to toe before I die(I did my first one as soon as I turned 18 and I've just kept going, just been a bit lazy/cheap the last few years so it's been a while since my last one)

Never been that fuzzy about mine to be perfect or have some special meaning or so(I do have some really nice ones made by amazing artists, and some by random friends/people I've met during my youth that owned a ink-gun ), sometimes I just put something I find funny on my body because why not?

This is a personal favorite of mine(a good friend did it for me during a after party, not the only one I've done under the influence, but I don't regret any of them!).