Thanks for that JT, was looking for you to post on this one.

The thing is, I know I want the tattoo. I know I sounded apprehensive and uncertain in the first post, but I know I want the tattoo. And I know where I want my first (going up the side, which I hear is ideal for portraits), it's all a matter of it being drawn up really because I want something behind it, maybe a ring and a skyline is what I'm thinking right now. Or Brown Bomber lettering. I have a year to figure out.

I have a year to go, my 17th birthday just passed on the 13 of June, so I have plenty of waiting to do especially considering I pretty much know what I want. And it would mean a lot to me, considering boxing and horse racing has always kind of been the bond between me and my grandpa, and most of the stuff I know about the old time boxing stems directly from him and the tapes/newspapers/stories he kept specifically to pass down to a son/grandchild. It just happened to be me, so I really can't think of a much better tattoo to symbolize that. Family isn't as high on my priority list as it probably should be sometimes, so this would be a big deal to me anyways. Would never get it covered up.

Right now the big deal is how it is going to come out. I want my tattoo to be awesome, and just browsing BMEink.com, there are so many portraits there that are way below my standards. Probably about 75% I would absolutely hate for me to come out not 100% satisfied with my tattoo. So right now I'm trying to figure out who would be the best to do the tattoo on the west coast, price isn't really an issue. After High School I'm probably going to a JC for the first 2 years instead of straight to a 4 year, so my only real costs are going to be my apartment and food. My mom said she'll cover any tattoo I wanted so long as it could be covered up (I would never get one that couldn't be anyways, I don't even like leg tattoos), but if I have to pay for quality then I wouldn't mind paying for a chunk of it myself.

I would like to know though, how long in advance do you usually have to schedule something like this? Especially if it's from a well known, reputable artist. That could be a hitch. I don't think price is an issue, and if I'm getting someone who is fairly well known, then I don't think I'll have to worry about sanitary stuff and price isn't an issue. But if I had to schedule something crazy like a half a year in advance, then that could be a problem.