Oh Facebook, thank you for never letting the opportunity for someone to embarrass themselves pass them by…
BYOB, huh? I wonder if anyone has actually received something GOOD during a tattoo party. Or better yet, about some of the really heinous stuff that has been the result. Please tell me one of you can answer these questions!
It may be tempting, but I think most of us are well-acquainted with the tale of a relationship taking a turn for the worst after the couple chooses to get matching lovey-dovey tattoos. The week leading up to Valentine’s Day tends to be a hot time for couples to proclaim their eternal love for each other through tattoo work, from what I’ve gathered.
I think it’s fair to say that while people are all about showing their love via tattoos, the designs tend to be smaller and involving an almost novelty-like set of subject matter. Of course when all else fails people go the good ol’ name route, something I consider especially dangerous. It’s one thing to tattoo the name of children or other family members on you, but putting the name of a boyfriend/girlfriend on you is almost always a curse.
Don’t worry too much though, for every choice you make that you feel may have been a bad idea there’s a tattoo removal location happy to help you with the cleanup. 
I just love the fact that when I go looking for tattoo-related news on the internet the vast majority of the “articles” (we’re using that term loosely) that pop up go a little something like this:
- Rihanna got yet another tiny banger tattoo, which she will talk about candidly on her next interview with 20/20.
- An Olympian you’ve never heard of before now gets some sick ink.
- Nas wants the portrait tattoo on his forearm of ex-wife, Kelis, removed.
- That one dude from Jersey Shore added more tattoos, in case you didn’t know he was Italian already.
- Amy Winehouse doesn’t want the tattoo of her junkie ex-husband’s name on her chest anymore.
On and on about these famous folks and their generally non-visible tattoos… I’m over it. Unless they’re doing something big & beautiful (which, considering how well off these celebrities tend to be financially, doesn’t happen often) I don’t want my newsfeeds clogged with this crap.
No, I don’t care how many relationship tattoos are going to be removed by superstars. No, I don’t care about some tiny tattoo every girl will suddenly start replicating and try to pretend she didn’t steal it of [insert superstar name here]’s recently released promo photos. No, I don’t care that some silly celeb got a tattoo in Italian and one of the words was misspelled.
I can’t be the only one sick of reading this stuff. Since when is that kind of stuff considered “news” anyway? How is this more important than… well, anything really?
Before you get all snooty wondering why you should add a bunch of photographers on Twitter because of a Follow Friday post… remember one thing: these dudes photograph chicks with tattoos. That has a tendency to end with those tattooed girls being naked.
Clearly the appeal here needs no further explanation, so without further adieu:
- Alissa Brunelli: Seems like everyone has been stoked on all of Alissa’s work that we’ve posted on here so far. (Especially the photos of Radeo and Frolic for Powderpuff Pinups.) Imagine the sheer joy you would experience seeing new work from her on the regular!
- Sylvia Hagar: I don’t see how it’s possible for anyone to not know who Sylvia is–she’s responsible for photos of all the hottest babes you see in Prick Magazine & we interviewed her a few weeks back.
- Kelly Lind: Kelly has a pretty long-standing habit of photographing hot chicks covered in tattoo work. I will say that most of the photos of his you will find online are NSFW, so be careful about what computer you use when pulling up his website.
Of course if following people individually isn’t your style, you could make things easy on yourself and just follow the TattooSnob approved photographer list on Twitter. If you know of someone else we should be adding to that list, by the way, don’t hesitate to email me about it.
Last week we covered Tattoo Artists, so today we’re going to move onto clothing companies. I don’t typically get into brands, but these three companies are exceptions. Heavily influenced by the tattoo world, and often designed by tattoo artists – these three companies make multiple appearances in my closet.
To Die For – Before there was a Miami Ink, Tim Hendrix and Chris Garver were designing shirts for To Die For. That was probably seven or eight years ago, and this company has made appearances in my closet since then. Before you write this company off and make a snide remark about the Miami Ink reference, at least check out the clothing.
Just like I did for the ‘Tattoo Artists‘ – I created a list for this group as well. I simply labeled it ‘Style‘ as we’ll be adding more companies to this list that go above and beyond clothing.
These lists are aimed at making it easier for people to follow this group, and they’ll grow as we continue to talk about new and different people and companies.
A couple weeks ago, we announced a weekly #FollowFriday post to share some of our favorite Twitter users. The weekly posts seemed to lack over the past two weeks due to the holidays, so we waited on posting this until now.
Obviously tattoo artists are the best place to start, so without further ado – here’s the list:
Shawn Barber – Tattoo artist and painter extraordinaire Shawn Barber shares his tasks throughout the day, and typically includes a snap shot showing off his jaw dropping work.
Myke Chambers – Myke updates his Twitter quite a bit, and is constantly sending out pictures, links, and letting everyone know when he’s tattooing live over UStream.
Durb Morrison – If you know anything about Durb, it’s he is always working on something new. You can try to keep up, but let me warn you – it’s not easy.
Adam Hathorn – Adam Hathorn AKA HonkeyKong is someone I make sure always check out his tweets. A mixture of unique tattoo work, and humorous tweets helps fuel my Twitter addiction.
In an attempt to make it easier for people to follow this group, and people that will be added to the group in the future – I’ve created a list off the Tattoo Snob twitter account. From what I understand you can follow this list as opposed to all the users, and still receive all the tweets.
I’ll be updating this list in the future, removing people that fall off the Twitter game and adding fresh faces.
I’m pretty happy all the sweet tattoos I thought I would be getting at age 14 didn’t wind up happening thanks to all those pesky 18+ laws here in the US. Obviously, not everyone feels that way. If you feel like trying to understand the younger generation’s desire to get tattooed you could watch the video below… just don’t say I didn’t warn you.
LBTV: Teenage Tattoos from therideronline on Vimeo.
Allow me to show some of you gals one of my favorite hot snobs… Durb Morrison. I thought I’d share this gem with the ladies since so many guys seemed to enjoy the photos of Radeo by Powder Puff Pinups.
C’mon, what other tattooist can you think of that’s appearing in photos that would almost have you convinced he’s a supermodel? (You know, aside from the hand tattoos & the ability to grow facial hair thing.)
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All of these photos were taken by his wife, Alissa–a lucky lady indeed, wouldn’t you agree?
We couldn’t talk about Friday the 13th without posting something about Oliver Peck.
Now Jeremy Swan is currently trying to break the world record, and has to complete 801 to get his name into the book. In the first video below, you hear “Over 200 is the goal. . . .” which shows how old this video is.
I remember reading a couple years back (in Prick Magazine) that every Friday the 13th, no matter where he is, Oliver Peck does 13 tattoo’s all day long for $13. I don’t know if that’s still true, but know you understand why I refer to him as the king.
When the idea of a Halloween special was being tossed around, I immediately thought of Dan Henk. Dan’s a true horror movie lover, and has done a number of tattoos involving characters from the famous movies. Dan graciously agreed, and had this to say about the subject:
People often ask me what it is about horror and gore that attracts me. I immediately ask them what their home address is, and when they will be around. . . . .
I think horror fans get a bad rap. We’re just normal people well prepared for the coming zombie apocalypse people, but just people. If I want to do pure evil, I’ll start doing portraits of politicians. When it comes to horror images, how can you not love them? There is more of an implicit story, more of an undercurrent of something deep and mysterious. I think a horror tattoo makes way more sense than another boring conformist flash based wall piece, unless you are boring and have no soul – like the aforementioned politicians.
*Note: If you’re in the Southern California area, make sure you stop by Tattoolapalooza in San Diego. As of Friday, Dan had some spots open if you were interested in getting tattooed.
