A Spot of Hawaiian Ink on the New York City Subway

Earlier this week, I posted about my experience on Ink Master, getting a tribal tattoo that was inspired by my upbringing in Hawai'i. Do note that I have not referred to this as a Hawaiian tribal piece, which is a whole different thing altogether.

Just to illustrate, one of my "leftover" posts from 2011 is this tattoo:

This was a real treat for me, spotting an authentic Hawaiian tattoo, in New York City of all places.

Looking back to last June, I had just attended a networking event at Bowlmor Lanes in Times Square and was headed home to Brooklyn. On the 8th Avenue subway platform at 42nd Street, I spotted a bunch of folks with t-shirts bearing Hawaiian names. I got to chatting with them. Turns out they were affiliated with Na Keiki O Ka Mo'i, an outrigger canoe club from Wai'anae, Hawai'i, and they were in town to compete in the 2011 Liberty World Outrigger Competition. 

I was shocked. Outrigger canoes in the East River? I've lived in New York for almost 15 years and never knew that this existed in the Big Apple!

There was a whole lot of local folks from Hawai'i on the platform, and when an express and local train pulled in simultaneously, chaos erupted as the visitors scattered into both downtown trains.

I sat down on an "A" train next to a handful of the group and struck up a conversation with a few people. I spoke with one guy, in particular, named Sam "Kamu" Kapoi. Go figure, the talk turned to tattoos and Sam stretched out his left leg to show me his ink.

Sam and I have kept in touch, so I was able to get some additional information on this piece.

Sam is a filmmaker and was accompanying the group as they competed in New York.

The art of Hawaiian tattoo has deep roots in the culture of the islands, and every aspect of a tattoo has personal meaning that is often held very privately by the tattooed individual. You just don't go up to someone with a Hawaiian tattoo and ask, "So what does it mean?" 

 

Sam said it himself in a message to me, "the tattoo itself ... is my family design, very sacred." He credited his artist as Keone Nunes, who specializes in traditional Hawaiian tattoos and uses the tapping method.

Here's a nice clip on YouTube with Mr. Nunes discussing the art of kakau:

The juxtaposition of this illustration compared to my own experience getting a tribal piece on a tattoo reality show is stark. Whereas I love my new tattoo, I in no way hold it in the same high regard as the traditional art of kakau in Hawai'i. I feel honored to have been lucky to come across an example, by chance, in New York.

A big mahalo nui loa to Sam for sharing his traditional Hawaiian ink with us here on best-tatto-design.

This entry is ©2012 best-tatto-design.

If you are reading this on another web site other than best-tatto-design, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://best-tatto-design.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

best-tatto-design Goes Tribal on Ink Master

What’s the hardest thing about being an ink-blogger and getting a tattoo on a televised competition show? Keeping my mouth shut for almost six months about the experience.

This is the tattoo that  I received back in August in the course of my stint as a "human canvas" on  the set of Spike TV's Ink Master.

What you didn't see on the show (if you watched last night) was the consulting session in which I sat down with the artist and hashed out the ideas and concepts that I wanted represented in this tribal piece that ultimately ended up on my left thigh.

The two main elements are the honu, or Hawaiian sea turtle, and the hibiscus, which is the state flower of Hawai'i. Having grown up in the Aloha State, I wanted something that represented my childhood home.

  
The end result far exceeded my expectations. I want to again thank Heather Sinn, my artist, for giving me an exceptional tattoo under less than ideal conditions. 

I also want to share a little bit more about how I lucked into being tattooed by such a wonderfully talented artist.

The episode that aired last night was dubbed “Botched Head Tattoo” by the network. Fortunately, mine was not the botched head tattoo, although I have stayed in touch with the human canvas who chose to have his scalp inked and can say, with 100% confidence, the only thing botched about it was that it wasn’t completed in the five-hour time limit. The artist, Bili Vëgas, ultimately finished the piece at his shop in New York, and Ryan, who shared one of his other tattoos with us here on best-tatto-design back in August, is very happy with the end result.

Photo Courtesy of

Bili Vëgas @ www.bilivegas.com

Back in July, I wrote here about Ink Master’s call for candidates looking for a cover-up. Shortly after posting the piece, I sent in my own idea for a tattoo for the show, thinking it was a long shot.

Within the hour, I got a response asking if I could come in and discuss the idea in person. Fortunately, I was off that day, and I went into Manhattan and met with production staff, discussing what I wanted in terms of a memorial piece for my step-father, who passed away in April 2010. This discussion also included a mention of my almost having been tattooed with a Hawaiian tribal memorial band.

Things moved quickly from there and after a series of phone calls, my original idea was scrapped and I was confirmed to be a human canvas on an episode dedicated to tribal tattoos. I am not generally a fan of tribal ink, but I thought that if I could get something with a Hawaiian influence, I would be cool with that. Having grown up in Honolulu, and with family still in the islands, it made sense to get something along those lines. I was concerned, however, whether whoever was tattooing me would approach the challenge with an understanding and respect for the culture of Hawai’i.

On the designated day, I met at the rendez-vous point with three other human canvases near Times Square to be transported to the set by shuttle. The studio was set up at an old church building in Newark. We were shown to a holding room with five other canvases and, as is typical in television production, we waited.

We didn’t know who the judges were until moments before being led to the set, which was quite impressive, as is evident on the show. I was initially happy to pick the skull with artist Heather Sinn’s name on it and, after our consult, during which I threw idea after idea at her about what would be ideal in the tattoo, I was excited to see what she would come up with overnight.

On the shuttle from Manhattan to the set the next day, we all chatted about our artists and talked about how we thought it would go. Ryan, who was about to have his head inked, was chowing down on a big bowl of red jell-o, a trick some tattoo artists recommend to minimize bleeding (the gelatin aids with blood coagulation). We were also still abuzz about the one canvas who was dismissed because of his psoriasis. The guy had been a veritable comedian in the holding room, and his absence was surprising.

After getting miked up and led to the set, we met with the artists in their work rooms and saw our designs for the first time. I was blown away by what Heather came up with, especially having looked at her online portfolio the night before, and noticed that she wasn’t an artist that did a lot of tribal work.

There was one glaring concern that I did have, however. Heather was not a happy camper. This was episode 2, so they had just started production, and one show was already in the tank. Mind you, they don’t wait a week between episodes, they are often shot in succession, and the hours are long and grueling, even to artists who spend hours on delicately maneuvering a vibrating machine doing meticulous work on a canvas that moves.

Heather did not hide this sentiment from me, the client, and I was concerned, especially since the challenge was rigorously timed, and had dropped from 6 hours to 5 hours after the initial cover-up challenge of episode 1.

She assured me that she was going to do her best under the not-so-ideal circumstances. I would direct readers to this interview that recently ran with Heather in the LA Weekly. She wears her emotions on her sleeve and does not back down from her feelings.

Heather told me she would not be very talkative when she was doing the initial line work as she was not accustomed to this type of tattoo. Fine by me. The cameras were around us constantly and Heather was very concerned that she would not have the time to finish the piece. She also expressed to me that she was not very fond of any of the judges. After seeing the flash challenge that preceded our meeting, I can see why.

When all was said and done, however, she powered through it and knocked it out with time to spare. The result left me with an awesome tattoo, and I have nothing but praise for her craftsmanship.

As for the show itself, so much footage went unused, including scenes in which the human canvases saw their tattoos for the first time in a full-length mirror, met with the judges, and did candid interviews with the producers.

I can say that, despite all the tattoo flaws picked out by the judges in the show, none of the canvases on my episode were disappointed with the final result of their sessions with the Ink Master artists. And, as much as I would like to bemoan the massive amount of "canvas" footage on the cutting room floor, ultimately the artists were being judged on the quality of their work, not on the stories behind their clients' tattoos, or their feelings about the final product.

I think that this is one of the compelling aspects about Ink Master that makes the show so interesting from a technical standpoint. Sure, there's the reality show drama involving the artists' personalities, but the show seems committed, more than most of the other "reality" shows out there, to celebrating the tattoos for art's sake.

I'm not on any more episodes, but I'll keep watching. 

This entry is ©2012 best-tatto-design.

If you are reading this on another web site other than best-tatto-design, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://best-tatto-design.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Samoan shoulder tattoo design tattooed

Hi!

Recently I designed a few new shoulder tattoos in Samoan style with some Maori koru shapes:

  

The designs are inspired on the Samoan tatoos like the Sonny Bill Williams shoulder tatoo. The drawings have really detailed patterns and repetitive shapes, mostly in a symmetrical design. 

These designs are covering the shoulder part and part of the upper arm, to just above the elbow.

Yesterday I received a photo from a tattoo artist (Nate Gamble, Australia) who had done the right design shown above on one of his clients. He was really pleased with the result and just bought a new design, this time the second tattoo above.

Here's the photo of the tattooed design:

Shoulder tattoo 141 tattooed by Nate Gamble, Australia

I have seen a lot of my tattoos done by different tattoo artists, but this one is a really nice and clean piece I must say.

Any questions? Just let me know!

Kind regards, Mark Storm

info@best-tatto-design.com

Wesley Shares Two Significant Blossoms

I met Wesley in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, earlier this month, and she shared these two tattoos from her forearms:

These two flowers are (pictured from left to right) a Cherokee Rose, which is the state flower of Georgia, and a Nile, or Egyptian Lotus.

Wesley explained that the Cherokee Rose is generally white in color, but white flowers don't generally translate well to white skin. Fortunately, they can occasionally grow pink, so that's the shade she chose for the tattoo.


Wesley explained the whole process of these tattoos in detail:

"I was born in Macon, Georgia and my dad's from Georgia and the whole myth is that when the Cherokees were driven out ... by the white people, they cried ... The Trail of Tears ...and the flowers that sprang up where their tears [fell] were the Cherokee Rose. And [the flower on the left arm] is a Nile Lotus ... an Egyptian lotus, you see it a a lot on the sarcophagi ... Egyptian tombs, and it's about death and rebirth.... I got them ... in 2005 ...in Seattle by a guy ... Ian at Lucky Devil Tattoo in Capitol Hill, Seattle ... it was a year almost since I had been diagnosed and treated for cancer and it was sort of my celebration of 'I'm okay'  and I had some whole elaborate - I was going to have insects on the inside of my wrist and flowers on the outside, and there was a possibility of a snake, there was a whole big thing and ... the great thing about this artist was that he was like, 'here, let me do a temporary version of what that would look like,' and I was like, 'that would look really cluttered and ridiculous' ... and I realized that I really wanted them to be something I could see and I was more attuned to the flowers ... I wanted something that was close to home from my past and then something that was from another culture from farther away - there's the birth thing and the death thing. Yeah."

Thanks to Wesley for sharing her beautiful tattoos with us here on best-tatto-design!

This entry is ©2012 best-tatto-design.

If you are reading this on another web site other than best-tatto-design, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://best-tatto-design.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Will Is Well-Armed for the Opera

Occasionally, one of my posts will fall through the cracks and I only discover it by chance.

For example, earlier this week I was passing through K-Mart in Penn Station when it struck me: the guy I had met several months earlier in there never ended up on the site! How did that happen? I'm still scratching my head over that one, because how could I forget this tattoo?

Will explained to me that he has the signatures of twenty-seven female opera singers that have, in some way, touched his life. The photo above is only a fragment of the whole array, which covers his left arm and runs down the side of his chest.

"I'm a big opera fan ...[it's] just a form of music and expression that has always meant a lot to me," Will told me. He explained how he had waited for two hours for a singer to emerge from a venue after a performance, but she never came out. That missed autograph opportunity gave him the idea to recreate the signatures of an array of great singers on his flesh.

Among the names visible in the photo above are Maria Callas and Grace Bumbry.

The signatures were inked by Dave Wallin at Eight of Swords Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Will for sharing his operatic arm with us here on best-tatto-design!

This entry is ©2012 best-tatto-design.

If you are reading this on another web site other than best-tatto-design, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://best-tatto-design.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Last few days in Hawaii

 So the last two weeks here have been awesome! I've had the great opportunity to meet some really sweet new people, made some new friends along the way.

These two designs were on Annie's man Thomas. (Annie had the lighthouse design) He wanted a fun spin on the phrases "Jinx Removing" and "Accident Prone". He gave me the design ideas and we did both designs in the same day. What a good sport, he sat for both in one session. Pardon the not so great photo here, they are even I swear! In this photo his one leg is in front of the other just slightly, so they look a bit lopsided, but theyre not :)

 Close up of the one thigh.... kinda blurry photo :(

 Here's the other one, much clearer pic this time. I had alot of fun with a limited color palette as well. Thanks so much to Thomas for being awesome!

This one was a walkin the other day on a Marine (obviously) He had an eagle design he brought with him that was an eagle with the flag colors in the wings... he chose an eagle from the flash we had here so we could work with his budget and we did the rest with color. He was a cool dude and hes one of those people that make the time fly by. This was a fun one... my first eagle!

 This was a walkin as well... she had this already on her wrist and wanted to keep the kanji but get rid of the date.....a good challenge for me considering I haven't done an official coverup yet. I'd like to be able to do these well, and you gotta start somewhere. Here's what we came up with......

After... she didn't want to go too big for this one so this is what we decided on. Looking back at it I could have brought the blue closer to the kanji to frame it... will apply that the next time something like this comes in....

Had some fun with names the other day... I could tattoo swirls all day. Never gets old.

This one was a big challenge. She had the flower with the name already on her in black and grey.. it was old and faded. She brought in images of koi fish that she wanted and wanted to use water and flowers to tie it all together. I was stoked to try this out.... looking back I could have put better shading in the fish and wish that I had talked her into color in the flower she had. It still looks segmented to me. She was the first client I've had that moved the ENTIRE TIME! She moved and squirmed and moaned and everything. She was a good sport and sat for a while, but I suppose we learn how to deal with these situation as they arise right? I had a long chat with Bill about the execution of this tattoo and have a better idea of how to handle a design like this in the future.... it needed more. Another experience to be had everyday :)

This was a walkin, an homage to this man's pup that passed away :(

This was also a walkin.... he brought in the exact design that he wanted....pretty straight forward Nordic runes.

This one was a blast to do! Many thanks to Blair at Volcom next door for letting me do this HUGE fun Dia de los Muertos girl on her calf! She sat so good, lasted 5.5 hrs... I could have had one more hour with her to smooth out the shading some more at the bottom, however she did excellent and I'm really happy with how much we managed to finish. This was one of my first girl heads and she let me design it however I wanted.... so stoked on this one and learned alot from this one.



I'm at the shop today....pretty slow day, which is ok with me. I have two paintings for two different art shows on the same day so I need to get back to work. One sketch left to go then I can start painting! I'll be posting more upon my return to Philly......


Aloha!

Ink Master Premieres Tonight!

Regular readers of best-tatto-design may recall this post, last July, when I mentioned that a production company was looking for volunteers to get tattoos on a new reality tattoo competition series.

That was six months ago and the first installment of that project, Ink Master, is scheduled to debut tonight on Spike TV, at 10:00 PM (and 11:00) EST. 

I strongly encourage people to watch, as I’ve seen the line-up of artists competing, and know for a fact that they are a talented crew.

 Unlike New York Ink, which seems to have evolved very quickly into a faux-drama in a tattoo shop that just happens to have great tattooers, the focus of this show is about creating body art in a reality-competition setting.

That’s not to say there won’t be interpersonal conflicts - even shows like Master Chef and Project Runway have their share of drama. But, I am optimistic that this series will not disappoint.

Check out the trailer below:

SPIKE
Official Ink Master Series Trailer
www.spike.com
Spike Full Episodes Spike Video Clips Spike on Facebook

And here’s a bit of a tease ..... I know with 100% certainty that at least three of the volunteers on a couple of the episodes have appeared previously as subjects on best-tatto-design. I’m looking forward to not only seeing who wins each week, but as USA Today put it, “who on earth decides to get inked as part of a reality competition?”  

This won’t be the last you hear about Ink Master on best-tatto-design. Trust me.

This entry is ©2012 best-tatto-design.

If you are reading this on another web site other than best-tatto-design, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://best-tatto-design.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Meister's Memorial Sparrows

Last month, I was leaving the Muhlenberg branch of the New York Public Library when I spotted a woman with two birds on the backs of her calves:

These two sparrows belong to Meister, who is also known as The Nervous Cook.

I love how these are not your typical tattoo sparrows, but are more lifelike than the traditional bird flash that is much more common.

She explained that these, two of her eight tattoos, are memorial tattoos, that she has "for three people that I lost, roughly around the same time." Meister elaborated:

"A best friend of mine passed away in a scuba accident - she's the female sparrow [on the left calf] ...

 

...and then two good friends of mine died within two weeks of each other ... totally just a a devastating series of unfortunate accidents."

These, along with most of her other work, were tattooed by Myles Karr, who works out of Three Kings Tattoo in Brooklyn. Meister indicated that these sparrows were done a while back, when Myles still worked out of the now-defunct 334 Bowery Tattoo. Work from Myles has appeared previously on best-tatto-design here.

Thanks to Meister for sharing her beautiful sparrows with us here on best-tatto-design! Be sure to visit her over at The Nervous Cook.

This entry is ©2012 best-tatto-design.

If you are reading this on another web site other than best-tatto-design, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://best-tatto-design.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

best-tatto-design Loves Friday the 13th!

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.....

My lovely bride is a Friday the 13th baby, so it's a lucky day for me, in general.

As for best-tatto-design, my visit stats have already been robust since December, but this week they have shattered the records, with yesterday being the best ever. My sitemeter points out that folks are visiting our old Friday the 13th posts in droves this month, which is fine by me, but I thought I'd link them here for fun.


Our first Friday the 13th adventure was in 2009, on Melanie's birthday, as documented here.

And, in 2010, we got the readers involved, and started here, and documented my first (and so far, only) Friday the 13th tattoo here. And followed up with another one for Melanie here.

There was only one such day last year, back in May, and we missed it, but this year we're starting early and, I just realized, thanks to the Leap Year, there are two additional Friday the 13th observances in 2012!

We're planning on getting inked today at Hand of Glory in Brooklyn, and there are plenty of other options, as well, including Dare Devil in Manhattan and Three Kings in Williamsburg.

If you know anywhere else, in New York City and elsewhere, please post in the comments section so our readers can find a place to go.

Check back tomorrow or see when our Twitter page may light up for more details later today.

Have a safe and lucky 13th!

This entry is ©2012 best-tatto-design.

If you are reading this on another web site other than best-tatto-design, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://best-tatto-design.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Little Darling's Ink: Pinups for Pitbulls

Last spring, I met Deirdre, aka Little Darling, as she was leaving Penn Station to cross Seventh Avenue.

I snapped these pictures of her upper right arm:

Deirdre explained that she is the president and founder of a non-profit organization called Pinups for Pitbulls.

The two pups pictured are portraits of two of her dogs, as interpreted by skin artist Jon Clue.

Little Darling invites people to check out her company's website PinupsForPitbulls.org if you are interested in supporting the ongoing effort to help fulfill their mission of working "to educate the public about the history and temperament of the American Pit Bull Terrier and pit bull type dogs [and] to raise awareness about Breed Specific Legislation and Breed-Specific abuse."

One of the ways that Little Darling and her company strive to "reestablish the defamed reputation of pit bull type dogs as America's premier companion animal, war hero, and therapy dog," is through fundraisers and the sale of Pinups for Pitbulls merchandise, such as their annual calendar. Many of these products can be purchased through Amazon (see link below).

Other Pinups for Pitbulls Merchandise can be found by clicking the hyperlink in this sentence.

Thanks to Deirdre for sharing her tattoos with us here on best-tatto-design, and for waiting so patiently for this post to appear.

This entry is ©2012 best-tatto-design.

If you are reading this on another web site other than best-tatto-design, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://best-tatto-design.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Meghann's Ink Inspired by Nikki McClure

This past November, I met Meghann in Penn Station and spotted this tattoo on her arm:

Meghann explained that this work is based on a paper-cut by an artist from Olympia, Washington named Nikki McClure.

There's no real deep meaning behind this. Meghann is just appreciates the art for art's sake: "I just liked the design a lot. I really like [McClure's] work."

The tattoo was done by Sam Gosson at Oddball Studios in Portland, Oregon.

Thanks to Meghann for sharing this cool work with us here on best-tatto-design!

Two weeks to go!

 So these pics are a bit out of order...so bear with me here. Things at Skin Deep have gotten busy! Even working on my days off on friends... Sorry for the delay in posting... the lack of internet where I'm staying and working alot I just haven't gotten around to it.

A celtic design from yesterday

 Kind of dissappointed with how this photo came out, but hopefully you can makeout what it is. This woman got tattooed here at Skin Deep 14 yrs ago and came back to get another one. This design is from a pendant that she aquired in Italy that was blessed by the Pope. Obviously we had to leave out a few things because there was alot of detail in the pendant, but we worked with what we had. This one was a fun challenge considering the detail and shading and working in a stretchy area. Definitely have better ideas on how to approach this the next time around. She was really sweet and sat like a stone.

 Closer view... still a light photo

 Another tourist with her first tattoo... She was really sweet as well. It seems to me that most people if not all people I come across here are super nice and friendly and just so down to earth. Not that Philly doesn't have that, it's just a pleasant change.

 This guy was really cool. He came in for two different tattoos in two days, this was the second. Simple and fun.. I like brush stroke designs like this.

 Some hibiscus action on another visitor to the island... for some reason these flowers never get old. Played around with color combinations and tried to remember how Anna gets her flowers so damn smooth! Need to sit with her some more so I can get my flowers to look like hers.

 This one was a fixer-upper. Dude came in with hideous lettering on the forearm, which was obviously done at a houseparty.... so we did what we could to fix up what he had and added some smoke/wind in it as well. The letters still aren't perfect, but we worked with what he had.

 BEFORE

 Another Rihanna tattoo....in the same location. This girl was really sweet and it was her first one. I really enjoy giving people their first tattoos...not really sure why. Maybe because I had such a crappy experience with my first tattoo, that I would want to give everyone a really good experience so they would want to get more tattoos....

 Lettering on the chest... getting better at stretching in that area. Keeping it simple for now.

 So this made my day... This guy was visiting from Denmark, and wanted a viking holding a beer! He brought this in with him and I was stoked to do it not only because it was a viking tattoo, but because the image is from a Judy Parker flash sheet.... really love her style of drawing...my first tattoo was a piece of her flash as well... We didn't deviate too much from Judy's original design, as it was awesome to begin with. Thanks to the giant Viking man and Judy for making that awesome day possible!

 This photo is a little slanted, but I have to say that to date, this is my favorite tattoo. He was a military guy who saw the owl that I did on Keone in my portfolio and wanted me to put a horned owl on his arm. This was not only a blast to draw, but even more fun to tattoo. Got to experiment with textures and large needles that I hadn't used before... really a good time! He sat like a rock, had good conversation and let me do my thing. It's people like this that make my job worth while. There's nothing better than having someone come to you and let you do whatever you want...just give us an idea. I'm stoked that I'm able to get tattoos like these on awesome people more and more. It will come with time.... I need to do more tattoos like this one...

 This was a late night walkin by another military guy. He came in with an outline already done on his arm of a squid. The linework was ok, not great but ok. He let me color this however I wanted so I had a ball with lots of crazy colors! After looking back at this I think I should have gone over every single line, however I'm hoping it will all blend well when it's healed. Another cool dude as well...he sat well for this although he was a hell of a bleeder... gotta tell myself always to slow the hell down and take my time..

 BEFORE PIC

 Sorry about the dark photo, another military guy for a small jammer.

 I'm going to have Annie come in for a touchup session and better photos so pardon the glare... This one was fun as well, she wanted something to remember her home....

My second attempt at tattooing ribs. Keone's wife Ari was awesome enough to let me do this on her! Definitely a challenge, slowly getting a grip on how to properly stretch the skin in this area...all these years my fellow artist were telling me how this area is a nightmare to tattoo... and they weren't lyin! 

Until next time....

ALOHA