Not trying to be an asshole,
But what the hell is up with all the shitty tattoos lately? Is it that people just don't care anymore? Or is it that there's too many people tattooing out of their houses on people who don't care about the quality of stuff they are going to be wearing for the rest of their lives? I just took a quick browse through some of the new stuff people are posting here on DA and jesus people! I'll tell you that the good art definitely stands out but it is pretty thinned out over the out pour of crap people are posting. This makes what serious artists do for a living look like a joke.
Also what doesn't help is Dick Blick art supply stores were going to start selling Skin Candy tattoo ink now too! Thankfully tattoo artists squazhed that shit pretty fast. article can be found here - [link]
But that doesn't help the situation of SEARS ONLINE selling tattoo equpiment, which in my opinion is complete bullshit. Now all you idiots can buy your garbage tattoo equipment here! - [link] - Good deal on 'Guns'.... $17.50!! Jesus for the price we buy one, you could buy 40!!
It just goes to show that people don't care. Tattooing is a respected passed down trade that people used to have to earn. Now thanks to all your stupid tv shows and Ed Hardy lighters and beach balls and Sailor Jerry Rum that isn't even sailor jerry rum, it's just a generic thing that any idiot thinks they can pick up and start doing out of the shed in the back yard cuz it's awesome and hell, everyone is a tattoo artist right? Might as well be.
I still have respect for the 'old school' part of tattooing, but with how sold out people let it get and how people seemed to sit back and let it happened, my respect didn't go away, but it changed. There's some hard ass working artists these days changing tattooing and creating the new past of tattooing and hopefully they do a better job protecting it and not letting it get so generic and stupid. I know those are some pretty strong words, but like I said, I still respect the roots, but my respect is just different. People that are dead and being sold out by these so called pioneers that they were lucky enough to have things passed on to them like Ed Hardy for example are just making alot of old timers roll in their graves watching everything they worked so hard to basically invent being tossed around for the sake of disrespect and fast money. And Ed Hardy has the nerve to put "Death Before Dishonor" on practically everything. Yeah right buddy, think again, more like dishonor after dead.
Bottom line, I think tattooing is slowly becoming gross thanks to losers out for a quick buck. 1.Whether it's the suppliers not giving a shit and selling their crap made in china to whoever has 17 bucks in their pocket. 2. The shitty ass artists that don't give a damn about anything but the fast 20 bucks they'll make doing shit on people. 3. the stupid customer that doesn't know the difference between a good tattoo or some shit done for 20 bucks by some shitty ass artist.  4. The people in the industry that should have a little goddamn respect for something they helped create just to turn around and sell out huge cuz they're old and on their way out and want to destroy it so they aren't leaving anything behind for us. I could go on for days.
The more people turn away and pretend it's not going on the worse it'll get. I guess now that things are being passed down to us and soon we'll be the old asses doing what we do, it's kind of our responsibility to educate people and raise hell once and a while to let people know how we feel. Sure we're a more quiet generation, the days of hands smashed with hammers and molotov cocktails are behind us, but we should still be able to voice ourselves to atleast protect a little bit of what we do from becoming any worse than others have let it get to. Otherwise what the hell's the point.
I'm not trying to act like I'm king shit and all that because I know i'm not, but jesus people, look around and see that tattoos can be more than poorly done scratch marks on some poor souls skin that will be there for a lifetime.
And don't forget to point and laugh.