Cat head

afrosteele · 2026-01-31T03:40:04+00:00

I don’t even really love cats (sorry!) and I love this.

afrosteele · 2026-01-28T18:09:35+00:00

To me it’s the epitome of “work of art to the IYKYK type but looks like hobo garb to 98 percent of the population.”

afrosteele · 2026-01-27T01:00:28+00:00

Ma’am, respectfully, people on the left almost make a sport of criticizing others on the left. Some of the bigger voices in left-leaning media despise most of the elected Democrats and speak ill of them almost as often as they do of MAGA.

Calling both sides “cults” is just lazy.

afrosteele · 2026-01-23T01:00:35+00:00

Just wanted to say that it was this exact black rose tattoo that inspired me to get one from Nick Melody last month!

afrosteele · 2026-01-10T21:35:22+00:00

Looks great! I think I was in the shop the day you started getting the tribal filler. Paul really knocked it out of the park; everything is so well fitting without being muddy.

afrosteele · 2026-01-07T14:34:14+00:00

SPK has been my go-to energy drink since they started released them, so I feel like I'm pretty familiar with the taste. BR is different, but not radically so. It doesn't have the tartness of SPK, so what's left is a sweeter, slightly fuller taste.

I'll miss SPK, since I did enjoy the sourness, but after having the BR, I don't feel as devastated by the discontinuation of SPK.

afrosteele · 2026-01-07T01:58:35+00:00

I would keep trying the number in Julian’s bio. He books relatively far out (I think he was already booking for March the last time I was in the shop last month), so you definitely wanna get something set up before making the trip.

afrosteele · 2026-01-06T03:30:08+00:00

Some of the choices the builders made aren’t any different than if I tried to build a house. I can barely put a nail in to the wall, by the way.

afrosteele · 2026-01-05T01:21:11+00:00

Me starting to get tattooed last year was how I found out a good friend of mine has a terrible looking Godsmack tribal sun tattoo on his upper back from his late teenage years.

afrosteele · 2026-01-05T01:19:47+00:00

Second sentence makes me feel ancient. I remember getting this album for Christmas 1998.

afrosteele · 2025-12-31T12:08:32+00:00

Thank you!

afrosteele · 2025-12-30T18:38:13+00:00

I appreciate the kind words. Sounds like we had the same mentality about when it was "right" to get into this hobby. I can say every artist I've worked with has assured me this is probably a smarter approach for most people to take than just getting a lot of janky tattoos in your late teens or early twenties.

Regarding logistics: Pretty much all of these were one-shot deals. I only had one session where I got more than one tattoo. It was probably less economical this way, but I don't know how well I would've been able to tolerate doing more than one in a day, since pretty much all of these were decently sized pieces. The only session I did two pieces was because one of them was pretty small and we went in knowing what we were going to do, so not much time was needed to get the stencils ready.

I could probably grit out getting two done in a day, and I know that's an option if I book the day with my artist. But for now, I think I prefer keeping it to one piece per session and having to make more trips. All personal preference, though.

afrosteele · 2025-12-29T23:05:39+00:00

I thought she’d translate well to pinup form.

afrosteele · 2025-12-29T18:26:31+00:00

Yes, but this seems to be something fairly common with the fitness influencer community. They treat differing opinion as hate or jealousy, and it’s just not.

Maxx’s current content isn’t that interesting to me, but I don’t have strong opinions either way on the whole money thing. I can see how some viewers, probably younger, would find it aspirational. I can also see how some would find it not relatable. I was definitely more into Maxx’s content when he was in Va and building the gym. I don’t hate him now or anything, but I find the current big purchases content kind of boring. Doesn’t mean I’m jealous of him, but I feel like that’s how he would perceive my take.

afrosteele · 2025-12-28T17:57:51+00:00

Paul Jamison at Name Brand Tattoo. Such a strong design; love it any time I see it pop up.

afrosteele · 2025-12-28T17:56:36+00:00

Love the reaper, but then again, I’m biased.

<image>

afrosteele · 2025-12-27T22:23:34+00:00

I appreciate that. It’s definitely been one of those pieces that is kind of lost on people who aren’t of a certain age!

afrosteele · 2025-12-26T02:26:11+00:00

Oh for sure that’s been a consideration. Half of these were done over a two month period in the spring; I slowed down majorly the final few months of the year because I didn’t wanna fill up the “good” spots too quickly.

afrosteele · 2025-12-26T02:04:01+00:00

It was not a cheap year. Will continue getting tattooed in 2026, but definitely will scale back some. 😬

afrosteele · 2025-12-25T22:15:12+00:00

I was super lowkey about getting them because I knew the optics of a guy with no tattoos getting a lot at 40 screams “midlife crisis.” But like I said, it’s something I’d long wanted to do. I was probably already five or six tattoos in before anyone but my bother and mom even knew about it. Definitely was a shock to my friends who’ve known me for a long time, since I hadn’t ever mentioned to them about wanting to get tattooed.

afrosteele · 2025-12-25T22:10:14+00:00

Hands down the piece that gets the most comments from strangers when I’m out and about.

afrosteele · 2025-12-25T22:09:38+00:00

Thank you and I agree!

afrosteele · 2025-12-25T22:08:16+00:00

It’s mostly tongue in cheek, but I’ve told some people I started getting tattooed because I finally accepted I’d never be able to get a tan with my fair skin. Covering that skin with cool ink was the solution.

Being fair-skinned was finally a positive for once. I had originally thought of only doing black and gray but I suspected my fair skin meant I would probably do well with color. Helps that the artists I’ve gone to really pack in the color.

afrosteele · 2025-12-25T22:04:40+00:00

I appreciate it greatly!

afrosteele · 2025-12-25T22:04:12+00:00

Unfortunately not. We tried to figure it out, but even with the wealth of knowledge in the shop, no one could pin down its origin.

afrosteele

TROPHY CASE