John Mayer's Tattoos
John Mayer's added a full sleeve to his extensive collection of tattoos. It's a beautiful and elaborate piece. He has several older tattoos on his left arm, can you find them in his new work? Click the tattoo to get a closer look...
He recently spent weeks traveling alone through Japan and said it was a remarkable experience. Possibly some of the work was done there.
Drunk Tattoos, Yours For Life
Tattoos mark a moment in life. And just like life, not all of those moments are well thought out. Click the tat to see it in all it's glory...
Bad Tattoos On Famous People
Tattooed Teacher Teaches Tolerance
Celebrity Tattoos
Bad tattoos are hiding everywhere, even on the famous. Can you match the celebrity from the list of names below with their hidden tattoo?... Click the tat to see who's wearing it.
Tattoos of Celebrities
Celeb Tattoo Fantasies
Images via Vanishing Tattoos, more great pictures there!
Tattoos of Celebrities
Not to be confused with celebrities with tattoos, this time we're focusing on celebrities as tattoos. From the excellent galleries of TattooArtists.org, famous faces in ink...
Click to enlarge the tattoo and learn more about the artist...
3D Tattoos in Depth
Most illustrative tattoos are shaded and have a 3D effect, but some seem go beyond the boundaries of skin and into another dimension... Amazing 3D Tattoos!
Tattooed Teacher Teaches Tolerance
The Maddox Jolie Pitt Tattoo
Celebrity Tattoo Fantasies
Kat Von D's Tattoos
Back Story
More 3D tattoos below...
Kat Von D's Tattoos
According to Wiki, everything about Kat Von D is friggin awesome, and we agree. Her work is great, and she's funny and sexy on LA Ink, but we want to see more of her... Kat Von D's Tattoos
Previously:
Celebrity Tattoo Fantasies
Tattoos and Bubble Gum
Megan Fox's Tattoos
Get close-up to Kat's tats below!...
Celebrity Tattoo Fantasies
A little magic from the Worth1000 gives us a peak at what some stars would look like with full body tattoos.... Celebrity Body Shop
Jessica Alba Naked & Tattooed
Hollywood Sideshow Freaks
Scary Celebrity Clowns
Altered Egos
Vin's not-so-Diesel tattoo below...
Back Story
When it comes to elaborate tattoos, there's no better canvas than a broad back. A Test of Will hit the 10th annual NYC Tattoo Convention and vividly captured the scene and some amazing back work...
Tribal Face Tattooed Teacher
Woodstock Tattoo Convention Photos
An awesome nautical back tattoo below...
Tattoos and Bubble Gum
A thought inspiring shot by Baldomero Fernandez that captures the mystery and sensuality of tattooing....
Tons of cool photos can be found in Baldomero's serene portraits, eye opening travel shots and serendipitous mosaics of life.
More tattoo pics...
Fresh Ink
Killer Dragons
Tattooed Teacher
Armed & Dangerous
A great shot of the artist of the tattoo above, below...
Joan Rivers' Willie
Joan Rivers once said when she looks at her crotch she see's Willie Nelson staring back at her (here's what that might look like.) An awesome reader sent in this update: an image believed to be a close up of Joan Rivers' Willie! Proceed below to view in full...
Britney Spears' Willie
Paris Hilton's Willie
Joan's Willie, close up and personal below...
Tattooed teacher teaches tolerance
Bruce Potts is a teacher of Public Speaking at the University of New Mexico and has a full tribal face tattoo. He has a straight forward attitude and imparts a cool vibe of acceptance. We'll bet his students get an extra edge on using demeanor and attitude in public speaking. And a life long lesson on not judging books by their covers. Either that or they study really hard because they're afraid he'll eat them.
From UNM teacher uses ink in expression... "'I have had very few negative reactions,' he said. 'People have been amazingly supportive.' Potts said he hasn't had trouble getting a job, because success is all about how one presents him or herself and doesn't solely depend on appearance."
Tattoo stories:
Britney Spears gets tattooed in NYC
The Maddox Jolie Pitt tattoo
Armed and dangerous
Secret Wall Tattoos
Tat bonding
Killer knees
More on Bruce Potts below...
James' brows James' brows
Turns out The Godfather of Soul has permanently tattooed eyebrows, who knew?!...
In Hollywood, big name celebrities may wait up to two weeks to get an appointment with Sheila May, the permanent makeup artist to the stars. "After I did James Brown's eyebrows, he told me he didn't mind if anyone knew. He's very open." Brown had them done in 1991.
Michael Douglas's bad plastic surgery etiquette
Howard Stern's plastic surgery revelations
Dolly's All Wrong, But It's All Right
Priscilla needs botox for her neck
Tara's boob is out of the bag
Sharon O goes Double D
Fergie foggy about facework
Burt Reynolds looks like an alien
Well suited
Some cool images in Worth1000's - Regrettable Tattoos. Best is this one of dark angel Jessica Alba in a full body suit, it looks so real...
Jessica Alba repelled by fanny pack
Jessica makes Mathew Broderick question sexuality
Angelina Jolie getting tattooed in Bangkok
Britney Spears gets a tattoo in NYC
Anna Nicole's big booby mermaid
Celebrity Sideshow!
Bad karma needles Britney
There are reports that Britney Spears was taken to the hospital this week after stepping on a hypodermic needle. Seeing these photos on Egotastic of Brit's big feet showing the tattoo our friend Eric did for her (a couple year ago on St Marks in NYC) reminded us... that bitch didn't tip him! Tattoo proverb say: people who don't tip their tattoo artist should beware of stepping on needles.
Get the full story on Britney's foot tattoo in... Cheap = creep. (Bonus link - more stingy stars in Cheap Celebrities Suck)
And check out our EXCLUSIVE photo of Britney in the tattoo shop right after the work was done below...
Kissin cousins
Some lesbians don’t like it when heterosexual girls pretend they're gay at clubs to get attention. Not us. You straight girls can make out all you want, doesn’t bother us a bit...
Photo via the oh so fabulous LastNightsParty.com
Maddox Jolie Pitt: cultural icon
Just when you think a celebrity couple has the corner on eccentric, a fan throws in the trump card... a Texan man has had the face of Maddox Jolie Pitt tattooed on his arm, claiming it's the ultimate symbol of fun and rebellion... "This tattoo just reminds me to say that I really don't care that much, and it's not that big of a deal - You know, stick your tongue out and wear a Mohawk!"
Update: Andy, the owner of the Maddox tat saw this post and sent us a cool email, noting that a big reason he got it was access to an artist talented enough to pull it off... Mike Tidwell out of Dallas
Update #2: Wenn.com asked us to remove the first photo, BUT... we scored this EXCLUSIVE photo from Andy himself for CityRag, what a fukcing awesome dude, he RULES!
Fresh ink
We used to comb Mark The Cobrasnake's site looking for cool tattoo shots, but lately InkedBlog has been doing all the work for us...
(Photos copyright: Mark The Cobrasnake)
love hurts
nothing says "I love you" like sporting a really bad tattooed portrait of your loved one, forever.
BME (Body Modification Ezine) has put together an INCREDIBLE 44 page collection of portrait tattoos! (via INKEDblog)
(photo credit: bmezine.com)
inky goodness
this tat we caught on our first day of vacation last week kinda said it all for us...
and check out the cool new site: INKEDblog
"tattooing is a modern art form which today encompasses fine art and illustration, fashion, style and pop culture. While respecting the history of tattooing and paying homage to its roots, the mission of INKEDblog is to present a contemporary take on tattooing and to look into the future."
more great tat stories in CityRag's - Tattoos are Personal
tre jolie
Angelina Jolie getting tattooed in Bangkok by tattoo artist Noo Kanpai. the 12-in. tiger took more than two hours. Kanpai previously inked five lines of ancient Thai Buddhist scripture on Jolie's left shoulder.
life art
hot tattoos, from Mark the Cobrasnake...
Secret Wall Tattoos
on GorillaMask we found a link to an amazing site called Secret Wall Tattoos. here's the deal... you rent a hotel room, remove a mirror or piece of art, create your own art piece on the wall underneath, and then put the item back on the wall. and the flip side is it's creating an army of people peaking behind stuff on the walls of their hotel rooms. fucking awesome!...
not much info on the SWT site about it, but following the "discuss" link we found a newly started message board and a post that has the scoop... "caught this article in the German magazine Der Arztwitz Jun 2005 Issue" (from the article...)
Josh Homme, the 6'4" frontman for the Queens of the Stone Age, has a new venture. Its art and mystery. Homme is known for the enigmatic, the vague and the unexplained. "We've been doing this on tour for some time. It's like crop circles, but better. I used to collect corks as a hobby, but several of us got together and started doing this", muses the rock-star and guitarist from his Berlin hotel room. "We're actually being paid to do this. It all started out in Joshua Tree at local art festivals where local artists we knew down there would do people's ranch house rooms. There's several SWTs in Rancho De La Luna."
His soundman Hutch and Wayne Sherman, a Seattle based tatoo artist Homme met while attending the University of Washington after leaving Kyuss, are the creative forces behind this work. Homme fills in as art director. "Basically, it's like a box of Cracker Jacks. You get a secret toy surprise. We have a set of patterns and each art piece is kind of a stepped up rendition in the duration we spend in a room. We spend a lot of time in museums and hotel rooms while touring. That's our inspiration."
And how do people discover secret wall tatoos? "It's for the obsessive types who are prone to move a picture in a room that is off center, and have to dismount it and they get this little surprise behind it. It like to think it's like panties, there's something better behind the mystery, the ucovering that's even more mesmerizing"
tattoos and cocktails
artist Steve Butcher is showing his wonderful Fresco Tattoo Paintings at Superfine Bar and Restaurant in Dumbo/Brooklyn through the end of this month. a nice opportunity to grab a cocktail and bite and take in some really cool art!
Jesus and two firecrackers
we wanted to put up a little tribute to the new Pope, but it's turns out he's an old school, conservative, gay hater. so instead, we bring you Jesco, The Dancing Outlaw, and his tattoo of "Jesus with two firecrackers"...
a comedian named Julie Scoggins tracked Jesco down - check out her hilarious story and great photos. (via the excellent WebWasteland)
and one last word on Pope-age... Tony Pierce writes and we read, and think, and remember what he writes, cuz it's fucking brilliant! check out his amazing essay called turning the other cheek to child molestation
star struck
we *heart* simple and striking black tats and Pink, so this must be our lucky day, cuz our boy Trent has some fucking hot shots of his new star!
dragon lady
our next tattoo is going to be a dragon by Andrea Anderson. been planning this one for a while and feeling the urge lately so it's time to go for it! (tats are like that.) we have a couple pieces by Andrea (she did our wedding "om".) but her dragon work is truly in a league all it's own (her old-school flash is pretty incredible too.)
trim tat baby
Anna Nicole's big booby mermaid...
killer dragons
our boy Eric (who tattooed Britney Spears) has done some KILLER work! here are a few of his detailed and colorful dragon tats...
and on World of Wonder we found... Hanzi Smatter - a site "Dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters (Hanzi or Kanji) in Western culture." some funny posts that reveal the true meaning of the symbols people have tattooed.
army of one
some of the beautiful and detailed arm work done by Michele Myles, one of the owners and founders of Dare Devil Tattoo on Ludlow Street. Michelle is one of the original Tattoo "homesteaders" of the early 90's, tattooing out of various apartments around the EV when tattooing was still illegal (up until the late 90's there was a law against tattoo shops in Manhattan.) if you want a killer tattoo, go see Michelle.
progress
Michael captures more mood and ink from the Richmond hard core scene…
“Jimmy, Richmond Va.” by Michael Simon
bound
Pam and Eric's wedding tats
straight edge
once again Michael Simon stuns us with a story that equals the intensity of his photo...
"Wes is the lead singer for the band Cast Aside from Richmond, VA. Ive known this dude for over a decade and Im lucky to have him as a pal. I have always felt bad for his enemies, he hurts people for sport. I drove down to Philly to see his band play and we stepped around the corner for a quick portrait session. He to this day, remains straight edge."
"return and get it"
the assistant who works with Buddy's vet in the East Village has this cool tattoo on her wrist. it's a West African Adrinka symbol called "Sankofa". she saw the symbol on Janet Jackson and liked it. but a fascinating thing happened the day we were in the office... she and the receptionist had just noticed the EXACT same symbol in the iron gates on the building DIRECTLY across the street from their office...
the receptionist said that she'd heard that African slaves incorporated tribal symbols in their work and it can be seen around the city (even as a legacy today in newer work).
looked around the net to learn more. not a lot out there but we found that many of the slaves who helped build New York were great artisans and came from the regions of Western Africa that used these symbols, and these areas/empires were specifically known for their metalwork.
the mystery was heightened, and at the same time possibly answered, with this message found in the Sankofa's meaning:
"return and get it" - symbol of importance of learning from the past
UPDATE: Black Lilly from I'm So Confused (a GREAT site you MUST check out right now!) sent a cool email thanking us for mentioning the Sankofa (she has the same one on her wrist!) she sent along some comments that provide additional food for thought...
"the one thing that annoys me about tattoos is that many people don't pay attention to the meaning of symbols. I have heard too many people describe theirs as tribal, but cant tell the meaning, what tribe they came from or even which continent."
and keep your eyes open... "You can find adinkra symbols everywhere, you just have to look."
Britney Spears: cheap = creep
while we're waiting for Brit and Kev to do it, here's a slamming story about wild child Brit getting a tattoo on St. Marks Place last year...
last summer (end of June) our boy Eric comes over and drops this bomb "I um, tattooed Britney Spears yesterday" - to which we reply "shut the fuck up" and pound him for the dirty details...
Britney Spears and a friend are shopping at Rags-A-Go-Go on 14th Street. Brit tells the owner, Susan, they want to get tattoos and asks her where to go. she sends them over to Eric working at Medusa on St Marks Place.
Eric has only the vaguest idea of what Britney Spears looks like, so when these 2 hot underdressed girls walk in and start fast-talking about what to get, he pretty much treats them like tarts and shows them some books to look through. Brit eventually (and spontaneously) decides on the Chinese character for "freedom" and asks Eric to draw a vine and butterfly to go around it.
throughout the tattoo Britney: chain smokes Marlboro Menthols, talks about sex, swears frequently and loudly (Eric says she "talks like a slut"), rocks out to ACDC, and lets her nipples fallout (and stay out) of her shirt (check out her barely-there shirt in the pic.)
we kinda loved her for all of that, until he sprang the ending on us - after she pays the cashier the $80 for the tattoo, she runs out with NO TIP! (it's standard to tip the tattoo artist, and this wasn't her first tat.) come on Brit, we love that slutty-trash style you're rockin, but CHEAP = CREEP! it might be cool to look like a low-life but it's never cool to act like one.
off the net... "Star magazine was the first to reveal that Britney Spears got a new tattoo on her foot. Britney explain that the tattoo "hurt extremely". The tattoo was described as "butterfly winging its way off a vine." Britney said, "It means free - I'm free like a butterfly." (via)
(photo is copyright CityRag.com)
open ride
the Burton World Tour hit NY this week. bringing with it tonight's grand opening of the amazing Rides of Passage exhibit, featuring 120 Burton Snowboards painted by some of the world's best tattoo artists.
crash tonight's opening party at 7:00 pm, or get your free thrill on and check out this brilliant exhibit anytime over the next 3 days here...
Milk Studios, 450 W. 15th Street @ 10th, NYC
Oct 7th, 8th and 9th, from 11:00-6:00
my gay wedding
we did not call it our wedding. it was our 10 Year Anniversary Party, dammit! but our hilarious friends knowing our feelings that "you straight people can keep your dam weddings" took great pleasure torturing us by calling it our "wedding", and still refer to it as such 8 years later.
so our gay wedding went like this...
picnic Luau, over 120 people, old stone hunting lodge in Westchester (with 100 private acres, and a pond), friends and family flying in from all over the country, festive Hawaiian fashions, badminton, swimming, drinking, feasting, champagne toasts, uncle Nick driving in with his homemade rotisserie from Michigan and slow smoking 24 whole chickens, friends who formed our "wedding band" playing everything from Let's Stay Together to Magnet and Steel, a beautiful "wedding cake" with a layer made with pot that both our Mother's tried (knowingly!), mushrooms, bonfire, karaoke, fireworks, 'smores, more feasting, sunrise.
also, at the party, we both got OM tattoos over our heart. our own version of the wedding ring exchange, symbolism thing. we held hands as both tattoos were done at the same time (by 2 of our good friends Andrea and Michelle.) and we're planning on somehow topping this for our 20th anniversary in 2006! (political side-note: after 18 years together, and paying buckets of taxes, can we get some rights here)
ending this on a tattoo note, Andrea and Michelle both have their own tattoo shops (lets hear it for the grrlz!) and their websites are gorgeous! check the incredibly rich and detailed tattoo photos (and excellent website design) at Michelle’s site for Dare Devil Tattoo, and the beautiful photos and cool information on tattoos at the site for Andrea’s Lone Wolf Tattoo
(poor quality of pics due to "ghetto scanning" = taking digital pics of old analog photos)
Rides of Passage and Burton Snowboard Tour hit NYC
"snowboarding, tattooing and art collide"... last week we covered the Woodstock Tattoo Festival, and the spectacular Rides of Passage exhibit featuring 120 Burton Snowboards painted by some of the world's best tattoo artists. here's a small sample of the amazing work...
in Prick Magazine we learned that the show will now travel with the "Burton World Tour in Tokyo, LA, NYC, Innsbruck, Zurich, and wrap up in Burlington, VT., where the exhibit will be documented and find a final resting place in a beautiful book". so checked out the Burton website and discovered that the Burton World Tour is scheduled to hit New York City next week with the Rides of Passage Exhibit on display and open to the public!
here's where you can see this massive, brilliant exhibit...
Milk Studios, 450 W. 15th Street @ 10th, NYC
Oct 7th, 8th and 9th, from 11:00-6:00
more info on the Burton Tour in NY next week
tattoo festival highlights
stormy weather lowered the attendance a bit, but we still had a fabulous time last Saturday at the Woodstock Tattoo Festival. highlights: watching beautiful tattoos being done by some of the worlds top tattoo artists, seeing great bands in cool venues, and of course, drinkin, druggin, and partying all night with a bunch of friends.
but our favorite part was touring through all the amazing art exhibits! most tattoo artists are also incredibly skilled graphic artists, illustrators and painters. in addition to specific locations devoted to art exhibits, throughout the festival fantastic art is displayed on the walls of every venue. so many brilliant, intense, moving and thought provoking pieces...
next week we'll be putting up more photos from our favorite exhibit: Rides of Passage "featuring 120 BURTON Snowboards painted, mangled, mauled, distorted, or made pretty by some of the world's finest tattooists"
F-fection
sent with love…
nothing personal
(except the tattoos of course)
armed and dangerous
bold colors and thick lines create a beautiful and striking symmetry as her collection grows...
live to ride
“Viva Para Montar” (literal translation “live to mount") - pretty much covers his 2 loves…
Tiger
and for the record, she is.
tat bonding
tattoos can separate people. in a funny way, they’re designed to do that. but they equally bring people together. a couple weeks back we brought you the Killer Knees story about a candid photo taken of a friend’s tattoos and posted on a fotolog site, and then followed the trail as they learned of each other.
today’s shots were submitted by the subject of our Killer Knees post. these are her own street pics taken of an older tattooed man in lower Manhattan. they were mutually drawn to each other's body art and exchanged tours of their tats…
hello... kitty
the latest addition to our Tattoo’s are Personal series… “I love Hello Kitty so much, this way they’re with me all the time”
steady handed
our first submission to the "Tattoo's are Personal" series shows off 
the artistic percision and accuracy of tattoo artist Dan Higgens and surgeon Dr. Domingo Nuñez. from our submitter: "Ruth is my mother's name and there's a "t" on the thumb also making it TRUTH. The symbols are my astrological ones... sun and moon in Gemini, Cancer rising.
killer knees
fotologs/photologs offer an astounding wealth of beautiful images, some of the most creative artistry on the web and provide an ongoing archive of time and culture. especially the slice of life and street pics, often shot without the permission of the person being photographed. in our love and consumption of candid photos (and in taking some ourselves) we've often wondered how people might feel if they came across a stolen shot of themselves posted on a website.
a couple months ago we stumbled on a photo of the back of a close friend's legs on Kdunk's Fotolog. for a while we hesitated to show the photo to our friend because some of the viewer comments were negative (although overall they were positive.) and also because the person photographed is not an active internet consumer, so the context might become muddled. yesterday we showed a print-out of the photo and comments to our friend (click here to see the pic and 40+ comments).
as she read them over, what became apparent was her humor towards the whole thing, as she laughed at the comments (good and bad.) followed by a small smile of happiness that although there were a couple negative comments the majority overall were resoundingly positive.
in the world of tattoos people rarely discuss their feelings on what other people think (a paradoxical part of getting tattoos is it reinforces your "armor" and you care LESS about other's thoughts and opinions about your body.) but although the "fuck em" stance lays strong and real inside, occasional thoughts of "what do people think" come around for various reasons. as our friend finished reading the comments out loud and making her own funny remarks back, we asked "what do you think?" to which she replied "it's very funny", and then after a pause "people have too much time on their hands". and she asked that we post this explanation "tell them I fell a sleep at a tattoo convention and when I woke up this is what happened"
so although the story is unique, we think it offers a small bit of hope that as the foto/photo blog community grows and people start to see pictures of themselves snapped on the street - that they have the same reflective humor and relaxed "such is life" attitude our friend showed :-)
bonus links: check - out - some - of - our - favorite - foto/photo - logs
update: Kdunk responds on her blog!
(this is the kick-off of our "tattoos are personal" series. tattoos are one of the oldest forms of art, and body adornment. this series will explore some of the stories, symbolism, and deep personal meaning behind them.)
