It just never seems to stop.  Every day, everywhere, someone is coming up with a new way to capitalize on the colossal status of tattoos.  I just can’t be surprised anymore when I read about or hear about something new or some new method of incorporating tattoo art with everyday things.

The most recent concept that I’ve read about is the “Ink and Stay” package at trendy Venice Beach, California hotel, The Hotel Erwin.  Starting at a rate of $399 with a minimum advance booking of 7 days, the Ink and Stay package includes: a $100 tattoo voucher for a tattoo from the hotel’s in-house tattoo artist Norm, lubriderm lotion and an ice pack, a bottle of tequila and temporary tattoos if you don’t actually want to commit to getting real tattoo work done.  They’ll also switch up your $100 tattoo voucher to a $500 tattoo voucher if you get “I Heart Hotel Erwin” done.

Hmmm…I’m not sure how much Norm charges per hour, but I’m pretty much positive that a $100 tattoo voucher would enable you to get very, very little tattoo work done.  Still, you’ve got to hand it to the hotel: they certainly know how to tap into a demographic.  Of course, for all the money you’ll spend staying at the Hotel Erwin just so you can get a $100 tattoo voucher, you could go somewhere and get an amazing tattoo done.  I mean, if you really just want to get a tattoo done, it’s probably better to save your money and do just that.  But, if you’re visiting LA and want to try something different, maybe the Ink and Stay package is for you.  Just be sure to book before December 30th 2009, because that’s when the “deal” ends.

This past week, things got a little controversial in the Canadian province of British Columbia when police decided that gang members could have their gang related tattoos removed for free if they so desired.  Naturally, the cost of such a procedure would come at the expense of tax-payers and for many Canadians, that just wasn’t a good thing.

Several months back, I posted a story about the US government setting aside an extra $200,000 for tattoo removal procedures in the state of California.  True, the California tattoo removal budget isn’t expressly intended for gang members trying to clean up their act, although 90% of the people who undertake the government subsidized procedure in California are in fact, gang members.  The British Columbia system however, is solely for gang members who want to change up their lifestyle.

Speaking as someone who happens to live in British Columbia, I can attest to this past winter having been a particularly violent one, with a veritable gang war going on in and around Vancouver for at least 2 months.  Many people were shot and killed during this time, in a city which is generally pretty safe and where gun related crime is rare, to say the least.  Anyway, the reason that I personally disagree with the police offering free tattoo removal for gang members is not because it’s a burden on the tax payers (there’s about a million other things that I’d rather stop tax payer money from going to than a few measly tattoo removals), it’s that this new plan isn’t very well thought out.

Tattoos believe it or not, and their elimination, are not going to end the gang related violence and problems in British Columbia.  Given that there is a particularly brutal heroin epidemic in Vancouver and that the gang wars revolve around the drug trade, I’d have to say that maybe it’s a better idea to strangle heroin’s arrival into the province of British Columbia at Vancouver’s numerous shipping ports, before people start looking to burning off a few tattoos as a solution to gang numbers.

Hey, I’m all for getting people out of gangs.  But let’s ask ourselves why people join gangs in the first place, particularly ones that make tons of money off illegal drug smuggling and sales.  There’s a lot of money to be made in Vancouver off heroin.  A lot.  So doesn’t it make sense to stop the flow of heroin (or at least attempt to stop the flow) as a measure for decreasing gang activity, rather than telling all the gang bangers that the cops will help them get rid of their tattoos?  The gangs wouldn’t exist if the drugs weren’t so readily available in the first place.

But it’s just easier to foist tattoos into the dirty limelight, isn’t it?

Many people know Adam Carolla from TV and radio with shows like Love lines and The man show. Now a days he’s breaking records on itunes with his podcast The Adam Carolla Podcast. The reason I’m writing about this is because he said something that bothered me. According to Carolla people with tattoos have no personality and need tattoos as an artificial way to be interesting. I like Adam Carolla but that’s not a fair assessment. I know Carolla is known for being kind of a straight talker but he needs to stop talking about things he does not know.

Their are people who get tattooed just because its “cool” or they want to look tough on stage when they perform with their band. I’ve come across those idiots before. Every culture produces some idiots. Tattooing has been around way before the bad reasons to get tattooed have been. Now I know that tattoos aren’t for everyone but getting a tattoo doesn’t mean your lacking personality. How about the woman who had a bad surgery that has left a scar. If it can be tattooed we can take something that makes someone feel bad about their body and change that for them , boosting their self esteem. Or how about someone who lost their brother, father , sister or brother. A portrait can help honor them. It can help with the grieving process. I haven’t even touched on the artistic aspect of tattooing yet.

Paper, canvas and skin are very different. You can draw really well and not be able to tattoo for shit. I’m a lover of all arts and Tattooing is an art. The technique of tattooing is something to be admired. Different people have different types of skin. Sometimes the skin is hard to tattoo. Yeah and try to tattoo someone who doesn’t take direction well. They move around give the tattoo artist a new challenge. Hey Adam why don’t you just try doings a single straight line across someone’s arm and we’ll see how much respect you have for the art. Again I do like Adam Carolla but I strongly disagree with his views on this subject. I understand that too many people have tattoos for the wrong reasons but I’ve seen more good reasons then bad. More great art then bad. Don’t judge a person with a tattoo. People get tattoos for bad and good reasons but just remember there the ones who have to live with it.

I don’t know where to start….  

Providence is a great place, and it was a perfect weekend for a nice indoor chilly but hot convention Called “Rock the Ink”.

As always Miss Tattoo dominated in every way we can, from the pretty, to the glam, to the attitude, to the tattooed hawtness that is Miss Tattoo! We had an uber professional set of hair and makeup artists, that turned each lady into a diva with tattoos.

For More Photos: http://www.myspace.com/miss_tattoo_usa_pageant

I will go into a more in depth update once I have settled back into my cave up here in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Until then I leave you guys with a photo before the next update…

In the grand scheme of things, eight years isn’t really that long of a period to have spent tattooing.  It’s not just tattooing either, typically in order to really have your art form down, whether it’s painting or writing or acting for that matter, it takes years and years.  Despite this, there are from time to time those few artists whose work is already so accomplished that even within the first few years of their career, it’s apparent that they are just purely talented.

Such is the case with New York City tattoo artist Vinny Romanelli.  Originally from Long Island, Vinny now spends his days tattooing at New York City’s Red Rocket Tattoo.  What really sets Vinny apart from his contemporaries in the tattoo world is his ability to tattoo portraits.  Finding an artists who can really render a portrait well and do the very complex artwork justice is often a very difficult task.

Sure, Vinny Romanelli does other types of tattoos, but portrait work is where his skills truly shine. When one takes into consideration that he’s been tattooing for only eight years, it really is amazing how good he is.  Everything from Yoda to Michael Myers to Mr Rogers has been done by Vinny and every single one them is gorgeously rendered.

In this new generation of tattoo artists, names seem to quickly get thrust out into the mainstream, affording artists near instant recognition and respect.  I honestly don’t think it will be long before Vinny Romanelli’s name is commonly referenced and widely associated with quality tattoo work.

Check out Vinny’s online gallery here. You can also find him in the Red Rocket studio Tuesday to Saturday, 12pm-8pm.

Of all the forms of expression that tattooing can take, perhaps the most personal, moving, and in religious eyes, most forbidden has to be the memorial tattoo. Hands down. No other tattoo that you can get will have more meaning for you than the “In memory of” tattoo. Still, this kind of tattoo goes far beyond just the loving memory of the loss of a loved one. There always have been, and always will be occasions in our lives when we want to remember a special person, place, or moment in time.

Whether you want to pay tribute to a lost loved one, mark a individual journey, or ensure that we never forget a day like 9/11, few forms of expression can compare to the tattoo for such milestones in one’s life. In fact, I once modified a clichéd saying to empathize events that I thought were more important than others:

“Been there. Done that. Fuck the T-Shirt. Got the Tattoo!”

It has been estimated that by turn of the 20th century, over 85% of American soldiers were tattooed in memory of fallen comrades, or in honor of their ships or regiments. And I can’t begin to count the number of “Mom”, “Dad”, or “In Memory of” tattoos that I have both seen, and done over the years.

There have also been what I like to call the achievement tattoos. These are memorial tattoos that mark the special moments in the collectors life. Such as one I did for a cowboy who made his mark in a local rodeo, and a woman who when back to college and graduated with honors. Not to mention, of course, the number of bikers who were patched in to their clubs and got their first club tattoo. Memorial tattoos all, and no matter how you look at any of them there is no denying that the memorial tattoo is a product of a highly emotional state.

Perhaps that is why they are so personal to the collector. No matter what form the tattoo takes, be it birth and death dates, portraits, roses, red or white, or favored objects of the deceased, if that happens to be the case. It all amounts to the one tattoo that can honestly be said is more than just skin deep.

There are far more examples of memorial tattoos than I can possibly get into here, but if you would like to see the range of these meaningful marks of passage, Evil Tattoo has one of the largest collections of memorial tattoos online.

Not just pictures of some good work, but tattoos that have more meaning to their owners than words can express.

Peace out, Gang.

All images ©EvilTattoo.com.

Lately there has been a trend to have tattoos made from the written word. Everything from famous quotes, to sometimes embarrassingly misspelled and inaccurate scripts done in languages that the poor tattoo artist has no idea as to exactly what he is inscribing into your hide.

Understand I’m not putting this kind of expression in ink down in any way. It has been a time honored custom, in one way or another, to have one’s life slogan, or special phrase, tattooed. However, I do think one unique form of this style has been slightly overlooked a bit, and considering the art behind it, I thought I’d bring it out into the well deserved spotlight.

The genre I am speaking of is the growing trend of Graffiti Tattoos.

Why not? Graffiti art, (more often called “writing” by the artist’s themselves), seems tailor made for tattoo. Basically a word, or short phrase, is taken by the artist and turned into a work of art in it’s own right. What could be more perfect for a tattoo? Not only is the word significant for the collector, but it is a unique artwork in and of itself.

Now days there are businesses and building owners who hire professional “writers” to put their unique work on the wall of their buildings. As 28 year old artist and tattoo artist Teddy Ferrer, who works for Tuff City in New York, said, “They look at it as art. They pay these guys thousands of dollars. They fly them out to Germany, Italy, to do their walls.” Not only walls, but there is a growing popularity for Graffiti tattoos. With an online list of shops where you can find tattoo artists who specialize in the art form, and the popular website Graffiti Tattoos, where you can get help with designing your own custom piece.

The pictures of the many collectors sporting this unique art form abound there, too. Some of this work is really stunning in just how elaborate it can be. Some is a bit simplistic, although even the most basic “writing” makes the term simple an oxymoron.

All in all if you like word based tattoo, and dizzying artwork, check out what’s going on in the world of Graffiti tattooing. I’m pretty sure you’ll never look at the word graffiti the same way again.

All images ©graffititattoos.com.

Hey, no offense sports fans, but you have to admit that there are a lot of crazy fools amidst your ranks.  Some people somehow manage to take what should just be a game and blow it way, way out of proportion.  Things tend to get even more intense when you mix tattooing with what is arguably one the most out of hand fan bases in sports: football (or as it’s called in North America, “soccer”) fans.

I really don’t think too many people will argue that soccer has some seriously crazy fans.  Anytime you watch a sport where people get beaten up and sometimes even killed at matches…well, you know you’re dealing with something a little unpredictable.  Need further proof?

How about Kirk Bradley, a 25-year-old obsessive Manchester City Football Club fan who recently had a Manchester City tattoo done on his right shoulder.  No big deal, getting a tattoo of your favourite sports team, is it?  Well, how about if you get a tattoo of your favourite sports team which gives them credit for a championship that they have yet to win?  Getting crazier?  I think so.

Bradley’s right shoulder is now adorned with the image of the Champions League trophy, along with the words “Manchester City – Champions League Winners 2011”.  As Bradley puts it:

“I really believe we have the quality and the ambition to do it.  All my mates think I’m crazy, but I don’t care. At least no one can doubt that I am a true fan.”

I guess he’s right: no one can doubt that he’s a true fan.  Many people however, can and will doubt that he is a lot of other things.  When asked what he’ll do if Manchester doesn’t clinch the Champions League in 2011, Bradley responded with:

“I don’t even want to think about.”

No offense dude, but you’re going to be thinking about it for the rest of your life if they don’t win.  Not only that, but it will be a hundred times worse than if they had just lost and you didn’t have the tattoo to begin with.  Every time you look at that shoulder of yours it will transport you back to the day when your dreams were shattered, all over again.  And again.  And again.  That’s why getting a tattoo without thinking it through first is a really stupid idea, kids.

Maybe Manchester will pull it off and Kirk Bradley will end up having a very prognostic piece of tattoo work.  Maybe, but it still would have been a better idea to wait and see what happens before committing to such a thing.  Live and learn, I guess.

Adam Hathorn has in the past, simplified his style by describing it as “Ren & Stimpy”.  In case you have no idea who Ren & Stimpy are, they were two crazy cartoon characters with their own VH1 series that ran from 1991-1996.  It was hilarious and the animation was a cross between spastic and deranged.  I mean that of course, in all the best possible ways.

Hathorn has been tattooing for 8 years and in that time he has created work that (as much of a fan of Ren & Stimpy’s animation style as I am), surpasses the quality of the great VH1 cartoon team.  Sure there is flourishes of that sort of animation, but Hathorn has certainly developed his own unique style, one that makes me think of horror movies and a time and place where those little cutesy Japanese animation characters take over with machetes and cupcakes, leaving nothing but vibrant colours and sheer insanity in their wake.  Once again, I mean that in all the best possible ways.  In his own words, Hathorn describes his influences and style like this:

I’m influenced by many different things. I started getting into art through graffiti, and skateboarding. I do want to say that I no longer have much to do with either. Graffiti, because I was never any good, I just liked to destroy stuff, I was more into doing throwups and tags than legal pieces, again cause the skill wasn’t there. Not into skating anymore because I don’t have medical insurance, and judging from my sk8 history, I fell on my hands alot, and I just cant afford to break the money makers. Definately inspired by tattooing, because thats my job, and a huge part of my life. I work with a great group of tattooers, who are awesome artists as well, so I gain my daily inspiration from co-workers. When I attended art school, I was forced to take some art history courses, which at the time I thought were useless, but turned out having a great influence in my art. I discovered art that I would have never seen whithout those courses. The Byzantine stuff I thought was cool because of the creepy emaciated characters and weird religious imagery. I was brought up catholic, but subscribe to no particular religion, art from all religions definitely interests me.

Currently tattooing at San Diego, California’s Guru Tattoo, Hathorn also maintains the site HonkeyKong.com, where his other artwork is available in the form of posters, T-Shirts, prints and sketches.  There is also information on his upcoming art shows and much, much more.

But if it’s tattoo work that you’re really looking for, then you’ll want to take a peek (or two, or three, or four) at his online galleries, either here or here. If you’re interested in contacting Adam about getting some work done, he can be reached via email at adam@gurutattoo.com, or on the phone at 858.270.1070.