Kat does excellent fine-line portrait work.   I must admit that up till the time I saw what she could do, I was definitely not a fan of tattoo portraits.   Maybe because I’d never seen a really good one.   It always seemed that the pictures might have looked good when drawn on paper, but when translated to skin they were distotred and amateur-artist-looking.   I couldn’t understand why someone would want to honor someone else by putting a mediocre junior-high-art-class-looking drawing on their skin.

Transferring a drawing on flat paper to the curved surface of someone’s body requires a certain amount of adjustment and talent.   And of course a tattoo needle is nowhere near as forgiving as a pencil, and you can’t just go back and erase your mistakes.   But does that account for all the sappy-looking tattoo portrait art out there?   I saw some fairly mediocre portraits turn up on “Miami Ink” and the recipients always said they were pleased, but was that just for the TV cameras?   Who knows?

I’ve even seen portraits of “Jesus” (the standardized Western portrait of a man who certainly wasn’t the blonde-haired, handsome dude used to represent him) that look bad enough that they could be taken for mockery, not faith.

The Total Tattoo Book includes a photo of a man’s back completely covered by a portrait of Charles Lindbergh, which left me wondering why someone would pay good money for something like that.   Of course, my opinion of LIndbergh and his politics might color my opinion a bit.  

What do you think about tattoo portraits?   Do you have one?   Whom does it honor, and who did the work?

photo credit: R.O.K.E.N

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The Art of Tattoo
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British Tattoo History Museum
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While I’m all in favor of this girl going ahead (and of course having a father who owns the tattoo shop makes it spectacularly easy for her) I wonder if the widespread publicity won’t lead other people to believe that if a kid can do it, anyone can.

I read several boards and blogs devoted to body art and from what I’ve read there (I have no personal experience with this) it’s not easy to get an apprenticeship. I do know that the apprenticeship is vitally necessary, because there is a lot more to being a tattoo artist than the general public realizes. (We multicolored people are much more likely to understand.) It’s not just a matter of learning to color inside the lines with a buzzing needle–there are health and safety issues that are of vital importance.

And the girl herself isn’t quite ready for prime time. Her dad has to support the needle apparatus because it’s too heavy for her to hold, and her designs are about what you’d expect from someone her age. But she’s growing, and both her hand strength and designs will improve over time if she keeps at it (the nationwide publicity might well insure that she keeps at it, too).

So I’m torn between cheering for the girl who has already gotten a foot in the door (OK, if your dad owns the shop, it’s not exactly tough) and who may inspire other young people to consider tattooing as a profession, and wondering whether the publicity surrounding her will convince people that there’s nothing special about tattooing if a kid can handle it.

Have you seen the story? What did you think?

Here is about.com’s Karen Hudson’s common sense guide to becoming a tattoo artist.

photo credit: mborowick

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For a long time, the number of female tattoo artists was vanishingly small compared to that of males. That was
understandable, because tattoo parlors themselves tended to have mostly male clientele and the “ambience” reflected that. But as more and more women (other than biker babes and circus performers) began to get inked, it stood to reason that women would also brave the rigors of tattoo-artist apprenticeships and take up the needle themselves.

I can’t really tell if styles differ by gender or whether one group tends to pick one style more or less than the other. Two of my tattoos were done by men, and the third and its revival and extension were done by women. All the artists were equally good, as far as I can tell. The two women artists were noticeably younger than I am, which seems to be more or less the case everywhere–another indication of how recently women were able to break into the profession in larger numbers.

If you’re getting a tattoo in a private spot, perhaps a same-gender artist would make you feel more at ease, but that’s not necessarily so. After all, piercers have been doing intimate work for ages, gender notwithstanding. If you’re having custom artwork designed, perhaps a same-gender artist would find it easier to express your point of view, but again, that’s not necessarily the case.

In the end, I think tattoo parlors are one place where people really are created equal–except that some are better artists than others, and that’s got nothing to do with gender and everything to do with talent.

photo credit: nextagain

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Actually, I think what I need most of all is a recommendation to a great new local shop.   I have a friend who is an insanely talented artist, and I would love to commission her to do me a design for a sleeve that will incorporate my very first tattoo, my seven stars.   Then, of course, I’d need an artist with a shop that doesn’t take an hour to drive to, through heavy traffic.

Clearly, it is time to start looking.  

Those of you who celebrated Christmas today, I hope you got everything you wanted.

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