i think you can do instant sleeve if you want.. the majority of the time you end up wasting a lot of good space though.. so it's better if you can think everything though...

this reminds me of a time i drunkingly almost got into a fight with my roommate.. he was talking nonsense as usual and i was pretty wasted and wasn't having it.. so i threatened to beat him as if he were a man.. he responded with "what.. you think all those tattoos make you tough?" i jokingly replied.. "no.. my dad beating me as a child is what made me tough"

so anyway.. you really aren't a badass just cause you have tattoos.. people who first meet me are usually in for a huge shock when they see the tattoos for the first time.. i normally wear sweaters and sweatshirts.. but it's generally thought that i dress like a grown up 5 year old.. i wear swatch watches with little cartoon drawings on them and really bright coloured clothes.. and i have a babyface and i'm always clean shaven.. you'd think i was in middle school. so basically i look like a pussy who happens to have a load of tattoos.

im all for thinking it through,slowly but surely.
too many life experiences at such a young age,gotta
sift through the muck and see which story to draw out.
basically im set on getting my back "sleeved up".
does that make sense? i want to connect the current tattoo
on my lower left side and have it go up my back to other side
of my ribs. so as you can see im definitely taking my time.

on one of the episodes of la ink a girl comes in and gets an entire sleeve that comes out perfect.. it was a memorial to her best friend who had passed away.. the girl ended up gettign her friend as a mermaid and all kinds of background stuff that really applied to her.. she got some seagulls at the top of her arm and some fish swimming around the mermaid.. all kinds of sun and water and stuff.. it ended up really nice.. it took up her entire arm and everything had a nice flow to it.. i think that's a fine way to get a full sleeve.. and if you just want some random japanese stuff like john mayer.. then go ahead and do that.. but keep in mind you only get to tattoo your arms once.. coverups are only possible sometimes.

oh.. and hey.. matthew, do you have a website.. i'm wanting to check out your tattoos.. how many do you have? do you keep track?

no i dont have pics or a website, sorry! ill try to put some pics up on my myspace or somethin, i only have one pic of myself on it now but of course, all u can see is the top of my 'clean' arm lol! my wife has a pic or 2 up on her page, but they're mostly over 2 years old, so nothing up to date. oops. not sure how many i have, one sleeve (dont count em as separate ones, all joined together anyway) 2 on my shoulders and one on my leg (the one i previously ranted about being completely regretful of)

well.. hook it up with the myspace.. mine is www.myspace.com/vmt .. i have a few photos up.. nut not a few of my tattoos that i don't really care to show anyone.. is you leg tattoo coverable? cause that's always an option.. i myself have decided i don't want any on my legs.. just cause i like my legs the way they are and cause they are super hairy anyway.. but who knows.. i may just run out of space one day and start drifting south.

o its coverable. and going to get covered. i wanna do my stomach rocker and chest first though, then ill get to my leg

i think it should be a lower process. situation dictates i guess. ie a certain branch of the military outlawed sleeves after a certain date, well in order to get grandfathered in i know of several people who walked into tattoo shops, threw down a couple g's and said go to town. what im getting at is these people always wanted them but didnt have the time so seeing as they were being made illegal, the timeline for getting the sleeve was significantly crunched. i really hope this makes a tad bit of sense cause im exahusted and lack of sleep makes me talk all nonsensical like.

Ha!Funny someone should bring this up, I'am constantly wandering what happend to the "soulful" meaning of tattoos, like people that get tattooed just cause their in a band, or these little 18 yr. olds that go and get a full sleeve just cause its "cool". I actually know a girl whos 15, and shes already got a 1/2 a sleeve! Ok, people that tattoo underage kids...hmm...another story anyway to me its just dumb. I think they ruin the true meaning of getting tattooed, especially for people that take the time to get meaningful art on them. Now we all just blend in with these kids that i'm sure probably won't be into the same thing when there 30! Yeah i got my 1st tattoo when i was 17 and guess what? Its covered up!..Haha.,anyway, i agree with the old fashion way ;)
Thx for reading, Teq!

dude.. i just met a girl today with two full sleeves and a neck tattoo.. and guess what.. she's 18.. fucking gnarly.. i was noticing that most of her stuff was just random flash type of stuff.. she did however have a pretty dope virgin mary on her neck though.

i wonder what goes through someone like thats mind, do they wake up and say " i think i am going to get my arms covered in tattoos today, right after brunch." then they go home to mummsies and dad and say " hey guys would ya like to see how productive my day was" ill tell ya what it is, that damn miami and la ink. son-of-a-b!&@h!!! thank god for the bible belt. i can still go there and get wonderfully nasty looks from good ol country folk.

i should have asked her if she had got them all done at once.. i doubt it.. i would think you would go and get one every couple weeks or something. kinda a pain in the ass to heal all that. wouldn't you think?

yeah man i understand, if i see one more emo kid whos half my age but has twice as many tattoos as me im just gonna knock em out for being stupid. dont get me wrong, im not sayin tattoos shouldnt be mainstream, i dont care if they are or not, im not gonna b one of those tattoo snobs who doesnt want people to get tattooed except the 'chosen few' who i deem cool enough. and sure, the 'INK' shows are annoying, but hey i watch em. i like em. and i like to complain about em! i dont think theyve changed who's getting tattooed, but rather how people perceive those getting tattooed. im gonna say there are, of course, people who will run out and get a tramp stamp after seeing something on tee-vee, but most are not. they still sum up the whole world of tattooing into those 3 shows. im a hairstylist. i cant tell u how many clients ive had in my chair who sit down, look at me, and get all excited and wanna tell me all about the tattoo they wanna get, but they ONLY want Kat Von D to do it! or ONLY Ami James to do it! its pretty much the funniest part of my day. (of course, these culprits are almost always busted-ass, ugly-ass, desparate housewives/career moms who will never even see the inside of a tattoo shop) this shit makes me laugh so hard, cause for most of the people those shows are going to effect are completely in a box about the tattoo world still. they only think those 3 shops exist in the non-scary tattoo world, and wouldn't DREAM of going to a local shop! i love it, stupidity is awesome. moral of this rant- stupid people do stupid things.

yeah dude.. i used to work with a dude who didn't have any tattoos but said that mine looked badass so he was gonna get one.. but only a half sleeve.. he said he wanted his entire upper left arm to be all japanese.. he wanted a bigass dragon or koi or something.. he wasn't sure.. but he was sure that he wouldn't only let kat von d do it.

correction.. he said he would only let kat von d do it and no one else.. he wanted it done by the best.. i didn't explain to him that japanese work probably isn't her specialty

point proven. people are stupid!
(dont get me wrong, Kat von D is a GREAT tattooer, so are all those guys on tv, but no better than your other great tattooers. theres guys in my town that im pretty sure could blow those tv guys out of the water. [well, except Garver, that dudes somethin else.] point being, they're good on tv, but so are REAL people in REAL cities in REAL shops all over the country. o well. stupidity rules.

exactly.. i have a portrait tattoo done by a real dude from a real shop and it looks amazing.. kat von d never came near it.. but everyone tells me it is the best portrait tattoo they have ever seen.. and you know what.. it only ran me 350 bones.. plus snacks, scotch, and tip.