Know a great tattoo artist who is good at sports tattoo pictures and designs? Leave a link to there sports tattoos in the comments and we’ll add them to Tattoo Blog!

Carlos Torres
goodfellas tattoo
2345 n. tustin st.
orange, ca 92865
(714)637-8282

Corey Cudney
Renaissance Studios Tattoo
Buffalo, NY US

Cory Kruger
Kruger Tattoos
Renegade Tattoo | 284 Southbridge St. | Auburn, Ma. 01501

John Fitzgerald
Slave to the Needle Tattoo & Body Piercing
508 NW 65th Street ¦ Seattle, WA 98117
Phone: 206.789.2618

Mike Parsons
Las Vegas Tattoo Company
1829 E. 7th Ave. Tampa, Florida 33605
Phone: 813.248.3004

Tom Renshaw
Bobby Hull
Eternal Tattoos
1004 W. 14 Mile Rd.
Clawson, MI 48017

American designer Jim Mielke just creeped me the hell out.  Though his “Digital Tattoo Interface” is from last year’s Greener Gadgets Design Competition held in New York City, the sheer concept of the entire thing is enough to resonate for much longer.  Mielke’s design is not real – at least not yet – but the straight forward nature of the product’s presentation and potential consumer appeal leaves me with visions of a world gone convenience mad.

The complete run down of Mielke’s design can be found here, but basically what it amounts to is a mobile phone that is inserted just slightly beneath the skin of the forearm.  Invisible to the naked eye until an incoming call kicks the phone into action, the phone functions with as little effort as it takes to touch your finger to your forearm.

“Rather than ink, tiny clusters of microscopic spheres are injected, like tattoo ink, into the skin. Each sphere is filled with a field sensitive material that changes from clear to black when a field in the matrix is turned on.”

Okay, yeah, the entire thing is one big piss-take on Mielke’s part in a bid to win a competition for cash, but while part of me can laugh, another part of me knows that if this thing were made available to the public tomorrow, way too many people would want it.  As if people with Bluetooth headsets didn’t look like big enough douches sitting in restaurants seemingly talking to themselves, imagine a room full of people talking into their tattoos.  And you thought temporary tattoos were bad.

I’m feeling lightheaded.  I think I need to go lie down…

This past weekend was a great one for Singapore’s tattoo community.  Playing host to their first ever tattoo convention and expo, The Singapore Tattoo Show managed to bring in over 8,000 visitors.  Fabulous, considering that organizers initially estimated the turnout to be in the neighbourhood of 5,000 people.

The show boasted over 120 tattoo artists from 25 different countries around the world.  Aside from the excellent opportunity for those unfamiliar with the tattoo community to see it all first hand, the show also offered art theory seminars, contests and of course, plenty of tattooing and piercing.

Hundreds of fans queued for a chance to have their photo taken with and meet tattoo guru/Miami Ink star Chris Garver.  “I think society is definitely accepting tattooing a lot more nowadays. I think people are less afraid of it you know, like tattoo shops used to be a place where normal people would be, you know, a little apprehensive to walk into and I think a lot of that, the barriers are being broken down,”  said Garver, who was also the convention’s official host.

The convention took four years to put together.  Organizers claim that it’s the first of its kind in all of Asia, though neighbouring Malaysia for example, has had its share of tattoo conventions throughout the past few years.  Regardless, with a turnout as large as this past weekend’s, tattoos appear to have a bright future in Asia.

Although the ’30’s have been called the “Golden Age” of tattooing, it would seem to me that, just based on the basic numbers, this is actually the Golden Age of tattooing. Tattooing has never been more popular in modern society than it is now. In search engines across the board on the Internet it has rarely left the top ten searches in the last decade. In 2002 the term tattoo hit it’s highest ranking of number two in the search engines.

In 1936 a Life magazine article estimated that 10 million Americans, (6%) had at least one tattoo. A 2003 Harris poll indicated that the number has risen to 16%, or around 30 million by 2003.

Now when you add that to the broader range of artwork that is now available to tattoo enthusiasts over the last few decades, I would go out on a limb and say that we are living in the Golden Age of tattooing right now. Makes you feel a bit special, doesn’t it?

Tattoo choices themselves have seen a mercurial shift as well. During the “reintroduction” of tattooing brought back to the west by Captain Cook, and the first tattoo craze of the modern era, nautical, and military themes were the rage.

During the Industrial Revolution you were pretty much limited to flash, or as one famous tattoo artist was rumored to have said back then, “If it ain’t on the wall, I don’t do it!” At this time the most popular choices were oriental dragons, skulls, hearts (usually with MOM in the banner), and “pin up” girls in various stages of undress.

As the ’60s and ’70s came around several college educated artists began to look at tattooing as a means of expression, and a way to avoid the “starving artist” gig. Bringing with them more innovative techniques and styles it became a little easier to get custom work done and the art soon saw a change in popularity as peace signs, marijuana leafs, and the Zigzag® man took center stage for a bit.

The ’80s saw the rise of tribal, (both real and faux), as well as the beginning of the Kanji and Hanzi craze. Either of which could be a bit embarrassing if you don’t read Japanese and Chinese. A case in point, one poor dude who thought he was having the characters for Love, honor and obey found out from a Chinese waitress that his Hanzi actually said “At the end of the day, this is an ugly boy.”

The ’90s saw The rise in the popularity of the portrait. From realistic renderings of members of the client’s family, to pop icons and celebrities ranging from May West to Kiss. All of which leads us up to our current decade.

So, just what are the most popular tattoos now? That is probably as easy to pin down as holding a handful of smoke, but given the questions asked on several web sites, and the numbers from several popular search engines, the numbers read it this way. (I’m sure by the time this blog sees the cyber-light of day the numbers will change.)

1: Star tattoos
2: Angel tattoos
3: Tribal tattoos
4: Flower tattoos
5: Celtic tattoos
6: Swallow tattoos
7: Lower back tattoos
8: Butterfly tattoos
9: Kanji/Hanzi tattoos
10: Black work tattoos

OK. Pecker contest aside, what do I think the most popular tattoos are? Easy. The tattoos that you feel good about getting. The ones that make you proud to own. Those are the most popular tattoos.

*Photo from 1946 Life Magazine Tattoo Article, view more Life Tattoo photos from the 30s and 40s on Google Images

Some folk have an indomitable spirit. Tattoo people tend to fall into that category more than others. Little to nothing tends to slow us down once we decide to go for it. Case in point, Eduardo Arrocha. Better known to the Coney Island crowd as Eak the Geek.

As a former sideshow performer on the Coney Island circuit, Eak had himself heavily tattooed, including a constellation of stars and planets covering his face. For a little over 15 years Eduardo entertained the crowds of gawkers in Coney with stunts worthy of the Jim Rose Circus. Billing himself as The Man Who Tattooed His Face Like Outer Space and The Pain-Proof Man, he regularly preformed such acts as inviting members from the audience of Coney Island Circus Sideshow to stand on him while sandwiched between two beds of nails, and snapping mouse traps closed on his tongue.

Unfortunately, Eduardo came to realize that being another heavily tattooed performer in a sideshow isn’t really anything special anymore and was becoming bored with his repetitive routine. After ten years of soul searching, and a bachelor’s degree from New York’s Marymount College, Eak made the decision to move into a real bizarre sideshow. The law.

Being that Eduardo’s father is already a corporate lawyer in his native land of Mexico, it seemed like the most logical choice. He soon enrolled in Thomas M Cooley Law School of Lansing, Michigan. To say that Eak’s unorthodox appearance caused a bit of a stir in Michigan, would probably be a bit of an understatement, but Eduardo takes it all in stride with his single minded pursuit of his new career.

“It was hard at first because I got way too much attention,” Eduardo says. It was inevitable that people in a blue-collar town would be interested in someone with tattoos of stars and planets covering his face. The local paper made sure everyone noticed Eak by running a front-page story the moment he hit town.

“Going to the mall was strange at first,” he continues. “The people in Lansing had never seen anybody like me. They freaked out! They weren’t nasty – just really shocked.”

Does that put a bit of a downer on Eak’s determination to become a attorney? Not in the least. At first he considered that his heavily tattooed appearance might make the switch into academia a bit difficult, but soon realized that instead of a deterrent, his ink had actually made him into something special again.

“If you’re as tattooed as I am, you’re not really a trailblazer in the sideshow,” He explains. “If you look the way I do, it’s no surprise you do that kind of work. That’s what people expect. But if you look like me and you’re in law school, then that’s a real surprise.”

As I said, indomitable.

Once Eak graduates and passes his bar exam he plans on working for the alternative community and offer representation for business or housing needs. Soon The World’s Most Tattooed Lawyer will have his degree. Then look out world. Eak has a lot of experience working in the circus. I’m betting the legal circus won’t stand a chance.

Idiot Music producer Scott Storch – one of Forbes’ richest “Hip Hop Cash Kings” with over $17-million banked from hits like Fat Joe’s Lean Back, 50 Cent’s Candy Shop and Beyoncé’s Baby Boy – is rumored to have gotten his first tattoo last week. Apparently the 35-year-old inked the likeness of his 19-year-old crush, Briana. Of course it’s not unheard of for smitten peeps to ink their lover’s name onto their body, no matter how groan-worthy a practice it may be (*ahem* 16-year-old Miley Cyrus and whatshisface), but Storch’s inked portrait is a whole new level of stupid since Briana is not – nor has ever been for that matter – Storch’s girlfriend. She’s just a girl Storch is trying to date. That’s right. I said trying.

To make matters worse, Storch’s tattoo is not even discreet. His friend told gossip rag Page Six that “the tattoo is ghetto, big and on his arm.” I expect Storch will be revisiting the tattoo shop in the near future for a coverup. I hope for his sake that he makes a better decision about his next design.

So you’ve gone and done it.  You got your fiance’s name on your wrist to show how much you love him.  Only problem is, once you showed him, he told you how much he really despised tattoos and he broke up with you.  Age of tattoo at time of breakup:  a day.  This is a true story.

So now you want to have this very stupid mistake covered up but you want to make a better decision about this coverup than you did for the initial piece.  Here’s some general information about getting a coverup.

1.  Plan on any coverup being at least 30% larger than the original tattoo, this is necessary to prevent “muddying” of the coverup.

2.  Dark colors (blues, purples, black) will cover lighter colors (yellows, pinks, lime greens) but not so well the other way around.  Think of tattoo pigments as watercolors or markers, ever try to go over black with yellow?  Doesn’t work so well.

3.  Think camoflage not coverup.  The design used as the cover piece should be visually busy enough to keep the viewer from being able to tell that the tattoo is even a coverup.  Not all coverups have to be tribal/solid black, that’s a rookie mistake, run away. Biomechanical pieces and other organic-type designs work well to provide this distraction.

4.  Not all tattooers are created equal.  By this I mean that just because someone can do a good tattoo doesn’t mean they can do a good cover.  Even if you love your current artist, be sure to check for good coverups in their portfolios before making the commitment, a bad coverup is exponentially worse than a bad original piece.

5.  Be ready to pay.  I know tattooers that charge twice as much for coverups, in some places, that’s the industry standard, you’ve been warned.

6.  Don’t get your heart set on what design to use as a coverup.  Once you know you want to get something covered, find an artist and start brainstorming.  A good artist will be able to tell you what will and won’t work for you.  As a customer, you need to be willing to get what will work as a cover, not what you thought would work.  A good tattooer will take your desires into consideration and create something that will look good, but they’re going to need some freedom to do that.  I can’t easily count on my fingers and toes how many times I’ve had to refuse to do a coverup because the client couldn’t understand that what they wanted to do wouldn’t work.  Which brings me to…

7.  You can’t coverup writing with writing (you’d be surprised how many times I’ve been asked to do this.)

8.  You can’t cover anything with a black and gray portrait, don’t be dumb.  Full color pieces with strong line work works best, think BOLD.

These are some very general rules for getting a coverup, just to let you know what to expect before you go into the tattoo parlor, I’m sure you’ll hear some of this again from whomever does the cover.  As with all things art-oriented, some rules can be bent, some broken altogether (thanks Morpheus).

This week I saw a tattoo that was a Sistine Chapel style angel, striking a very angelic pose while drinking from a large bottle of Dr. Pepper. Then there was the Blackberry guy who late last year, had a Blackberry tattooed on his calf with the message “iPhone Sucks” written beneath.  Today, I’ve just read an article about Natalie “Kommodore” Thompson, who has had her inner forearm tattooed with Google’s “Andy the Android”.  In fact, I would almost venture to guess that every major recognizable corporate logo in existence has at some point or will at some point, become a tattoo.

I can hear the groans of disgust already. They really aren’t an appealing thought, these corporate tattoos, are they? How much longer before someone shows up on the Internet, posting photos of their Starbucks logo arm sleeve? It could be minutes, it could be days. My bet is that it will happen sooner rather than later.

I for one like Natalie “Kommodore” Thompson’s tattoo. True, it’s not very original getting the mascot of a major corporation tattooed on your body, but when looked at objectively, how original is it to get a skull tattoo? Or a heart, or even Christ, for that matter? Not only that (and maybe I’m just totally living the caveman lifestyle, here), but I hadn’t even heard of this Andy the Android until today. The image is just subtle enough as to be mistaken for a cute little green robot. It’s not quite the same thing as having Coca-Cola or the Bulls Eye BBQ sauce logo scrawled across your flesh. At least not yet.

It’s coming, though: a world of human billboards, tattooed with all the latest insignia, in exchange for fifteen minutes of internet fame. You have to wonder if it’s the shock factor that motivates the desire for these sorts of tattoos or if it’s just a side effect of our 21^st century culture. There are few other things that people can identify with less than the morality and social practices of a multinational corporation. Maybe that’s why it strikes so many of us as strange when others get corporate logo tattoos and such. Or maybe it’s the general consensus that getting the tattoo of a corporation’s name and insignia is a foolish, foolish thing to do. Either way, love them or hate them, corporate tattoos are here to stay.

For those of you lucky enough to be enjoying the warm weather of Miami while the rest of us freeze our asses off in tits-deep snow, head on over to the Miami Tattoo Expo this coming weekend (January 9th) at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The yearly event (formerly known as the Gold Coast Tattoo Expo) will host tattoo artists, piercers, lifestyle vendors and some rockin’ entertainment (Shameless Burlesque. HELLO!) as well as contests for you to participate in should you think your ink competition-worthy.

The expo kicks off on Friday at three p.m. Single-day tickets are just twenty bucks and a three-day pass will run you $50. Click here for all the info you need.

While some states have few, if any, laws governing tattooing, (Not a very bright idea if you ask me.), others turn the entire process into a gauntlet that only the most determined artist would attempt to navigate. Case in point, one of the last, if not the last, states to lift their outright ban on tattooing; South Carolina.

David Cowles of Kowulz Design seems to think so as well and has so far collected 1352 cyber signatures on his petition to attempt to clean up this spaghetti tangled morass of contradiction, and outright attempts to make it all but impossible to obtain a tattoo licence, or establishment in S. C.

To be fair there are a lot of laws in the S. C. statutes that most every tattoo artist could agree with. Such as autoclave sterilization, and sterile procedures to be used. How ever there is also quite a few “roadblocks” that makes one wonder just how much homegrown the legislatures were imbibing when they finally decided to lift the tattoo ban. For instance:

Title 44-CHAPTER 34-TATTOOING

SECTION 44-34-20. Establishment of sterilization, sanitation, and safety standards; licensing; engaging in other retail business.

(C) A tattoo facility may only provide tattooing and may not engage in any other retail business including, but not limited to, the sale of goods or performing any form of body piercing other than tattooing.

Kiss those t-shirt, and tattoo aftercare products good bye, gang. Oh, and let’s not forget, don’t get caught selling any tattoo mags, or body jewelry either. Also if you happen to be a body piercer as well as a tattoo artist, you’ll have to get a separate business. I just hope it’s next door to your shop, or your going to waste a lot of energy running back and forth.

SECTION 44-34-60. Inspections and complaint investigations; display of license; verification of age and parental consent; actions by under-age recipients.

(C) A tattoo artist must verify by means of a picture identification that a recipient is at least twenty-one years of age or, if the person is at least eighteen years of age, has parental consent. For purposes of this section, “picture identification” means:

Now correct me if I’m wrong, but even in South Carolina isn’t the age of consent 18?? So your old enough to have sex, join the Military, buy a house, buy a car, but you still have to get Mommy and Daddy’s permission to get a tattoo??!!

To add insult to injury: (D) A person who has his or her body tattooed while under the age of eighteen in violation of subsection (C) above may bring an action in the circuit court against the person convicted of the violation to recover actual damages and punitive damages plus costs of the action and attorney’s fees.

OK??? Even if you are under the age of 18, you are still adult enough to bring legal action against a tattoo artist without parental consent, but not old enough to get a tattoo until you are over 18. This may sound redundant, but….What The Fuck??!

But wait, it gets even better.
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