Wake up Tattoos

Thursday, September 15, 2011

A Beacon for Marci on Buddy's Arm

I met Buddy a while back while riding the subway. He had 13 or 14 tattoos and shared this piece, from his left forearm:

Buddy explained that this old gas-lit street light serves a memorial piece for Marci, his French bulldog, who passed away at the age of 14. Marci was his "light in the dark" for a dozen years,

The tattoo was inked at The End is Near in Brooklyn. He couldn't remember the artist's name, but based on his description (and my rudimentary knowledge of the artists there), I believe the tattooist was Joey Wilson, who has moved on to Asylum Studios in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Thanks to Buddy for sharing this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Ashley's Scarabs

I met Ashley a couple months ago, over the summer, on a Friday afternoon at the Broadway-Lafayette subway station.

She had two tattoos on her upper left arm that jumped out at me:

These two scarabs were tattooed by Jason June, from Three Kings Tattoo, in Brooklyn. Why scarabs? Ashley explained that they have "a family significance from the scarab bracelet that I have." She showed me the bracelet and two of the stones matched the colors in the tattoos. Pretty neat.

Check out posts tagged Three Kings here to see the work we've featured from the shop on Tattoosday.

Thanks to Ashley for sharing these scarabs with us here on Tattoosday!

Fantasy Tattoo Pictures: Popular Design Style Ideas

Fantasy worlds are big business today. There are elaborate video and computer games created around fantasy worlds and some of the most popular movies now involve complex worlds created out of pure imagination. It only seems natural that fantasy tattoos would be massively popular as well.

The only limit on this type of tattoo is the creative mind of the artist. Some fantasy tattoos are created with images representative of the environments found in video games or movies, but many others are created purely from the imagination of the individual artist. Many of the designs found in these tattoos hold sentimental meaning for the recipient of the artwork.

Fantasy tattoos can be purely custom drawn by tattoo artists and offered to clients, but they are often brought in with the client and handed over to the tattoo artist. Some may be the unique creations of the client while others are taken from various sources.

Fantasy Tattoo Pictures:

One thing that many fantasy tattoos have in common is the representation of mythical or fantastical creatures. Some of the most popular fantasy designs include: beautiful unicorns, powerful dragons, and cute whimsical fairies. Plus men and women that are half animal and half human are pretty common as well.

Powerful women with special powers and futuristic clothing are also very common in the world of fantasy. The human depicted in many fantasy tattoos look much like the avatars being created through online role playing games. In many cases these fantasy humans are representations of the person wearing the tattoo. They create a different version of themselves which reflects the person they believe they really are inside.

Fantasy tattoos are exciting to look at because they are all so different. If you took twenty different images that fall into the fantasy category, you would get twenty very different worlds with few to no similarities between them. That is what makes fantasy so popular around the world today. Creativity is allowed to run free and wild imaginations are encouraged.

Picture of lady riding white unicorn with beautiful backdrop of lightning and clouds.

Picture of youthful butterfly girl dancing alongside a large flower centerpiece with falling peddles.

Photo of gothic looking artwork of winged woman with long curled black tail, located on lower back.

Picture of enchanting red fairy posing in matching red dress with long flowing medusa-like hair.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Good Time Sam and the Mad Hatter

Last month I ran into a young lady who called herself "Good Time Sam" in Penn Station. She was very enthusiastic about sharing one of her tattoos. She has "at least twenty". She offered up this memorable character:

That is, of course, the Mad Hatter, from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Sam credited this piece to her friend Justin from Pigment Custom Tattoo and Piercing in New Orleans.

She chose this for a tattoo because she likes the character, Hatter, from the book, and she always wears a hat.

The image is based on the original John Tenniel illustration

although it seems that the tattoo artist added some additional detail, along with the phrase "live the madness"

Thanks to "Good Time Sam" for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Holy Ship! Isaac's Vessel and a Biblical Quote

There are a few tattoo artists whose work is so good that, when I'm lucky enough to stumble upon one of their clients, I consider it a great day.

Such was the case on a Monday in August on the Upper West Side, when I stopped Isaac in Trader Joe's as he walked past me. I knew, even before he told me who the artist was, that this piece was special:

Isaac explained that this ship was inked by the amazing Amanda Wachob of Dare Devil Tattoo in Manhattan. Amanda was featured in a small post in the New York Times earlier this year here. I have been fortunate enough to stumble across her work personally once before, as documented in this post from last October.

Isaac explained that this ship was inspired by The Flying Dutchman, a painting by Albert Pinkham Ryder.

One of the amazing things about Amanda Wachob's work is how her tattoos look like they are painted onto the skin. Check out the front of Isaac's ship:

"I used to write 'I'm a Son' on my arm all the time," Isaac told me, "as in a son of God," so he refers to this as his sonship.

He also shared this piece on his left biceps:

This is a Biblical reference, from 1 Corinthians 13, Verses 4-8. The passage is

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away."

Isaac and his wife have the same piece, with hers being on her right arm. I love the font that the artist used. He attributed it to Kelly at East Side Ink. Kelly is absent from the shop website, so must have been a former or visiting artist.

Thanks so much to Isaac for sharing these wonderful tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Tattoos On Collar Bone For Girls

Tattoos On Collar Bone For Girls
the tattoo is for my baby...my golden retriever. she got hit by a car last november and since then she has gone thruogh alot of hard times, and even though she is going through all this she still has the same attitude as she did before...happy-go-lucky, and free spirited.

...................... Tattoos On Collar Bone For Girls ............................

Tattoos On Ring Finger

Tattoos On Ring Finger
Tattoo would be like a ring around my finger. The reason is because I wear this ring my grandmother gave me from Portugal on my ring finger where an engagement ring would be, and since I never really want to take off this ring, I want it tattooed on my finger.

........................ Tattoos On Ring Finger ..........................