Maybe the camera lense was dirty

I’ve posted Andro and his top-notch work before, so I hope he’s not too mortified that I included this piece (sent in by CrustPictures), which I like a lot on a design level but appears to include a rather unfortunate blow-out on the shoulder! [Edit/Update: this blow-out was intentional and part of the piece; see the comments for more.] I like how it crosses through the front of the ear — it also goes right down her arm (check her page for more photos).

41 thoughts on “Maybe the camera lense was dirty

  1. I hope its a dirty lens because that would piss me off if that was my tat

  2. okay, except for that one fuzzy spot on the shoulder this is a completely kick-ass tattoo

  3. I’ll be honest I really don’t like it. I can’t really understand why someone would want something that couldn’t possibly take more than a few seconds to draw on somewhere as visible as their neck. Buuut thats just me…

  4. from looking at the other pictures on her page, it almost appears as though there were several more blowouts further down her arm.. too bad, but eh, i love the tattoo.

  5. What are blowouts? I see the smudgey area on the shoulder in blue, so I’m guessing that’s it, but how is it caused?

  6. How would one remedy a blowout? (Besides a coverup.) Could you laser remove/lighten just a small area then reink the line?

  7. it looks like it was on purpose given that up towards the top one of the black lines looks like it was done a zillion times as do a few others

  8. That is fantastic. I’ve had ideas of something similar…good work!

  9. ok, well i am Andro’s girlfriend and to speak on behalf of him as i was there when the tattoo was done and while they were planning it- The blowouts are meant to be there, Raph, the girl in the picture and Andro’s customer came to him asking him for a tattoo that looked rough, not perfect at all, she did not want one line that was straight etc…..so the blowouts are meant to be there for the effect. Maybe to some people this may seem wrong but it is what she wanted and she happens to be a friend of Andro’s too, so he was willing to do this.

  10. I think it looks fine. It DOES look like ballpoint pen =) and I’m impressed that it’s been done to look rough and smudged to get that effect.
    (I bet people assume it IS pen rather than a permanent tattoo.)
    Very unique and artful.

  11. i really like it! it reminds me of EKG graph thingies, so it’s like, “life!”… at least that’s how i interpret it.

    #7 — it also appears that there are scars on the forearm, which don’t really hold ink properly and are prone to causing blowouts in tattoos put over them.

  12. I like this tattoo alot, and the “blowout” or whatever doesn’t bother me, since the lines are all sketchy anyway.

  13. #17… haha if that were an actually EKG line.. you’d be in some major trouble! haha.
    I wonder if that was the intent.. for it too look like an ECG/EKG line? Like I wonder if that’s what it’s actually supposed to be. Most people don’t realize that there actually is a big difference depending on where the spikes and dips are and how close they are together, how high, etc.

    I still like it though. I also like that sketchy look. Not crazy about the blow-out though.. on purpose or not, it still looks like it was a mess-up. if it was on me, it would annoy the crap out of me to see that little smudge all the time.

  14. what’s a blowout? I think I have one on my foot, but always assumed it was due to the quality of thick skin near the bottom of the foot. How does one get a blow out? How can you prevent them?

  15. fucking awesome! i thought it was some abstracted script at first, spent about 5 min trying to read it… then i gave up and just sat back and enjoyed it

  16. I don’t know, I like the overall design concept, but the whole blowups-on-purpose isn’t really working for me. There’s a way to pull off the ballpoint look while still communicating that it’s a well-done tattoo (sort of like that Lionel guy’s work), but the overall effect I’m getting from this piece is that it’s an intriguing idea that was badly executed.

  17. I love it 🙂
    And I’m really intrigued as to how Andro deliberately caused a blowout.
    Did he actually just go really deeply with the gun and *hope* for a halo to naturally occur?
    Or was the halo tattooed in with shading?
    Either way, I love the whole look and idea of the work, it looks great.

  18. I love it a lot. My first thought was definatly ball-point pen. If the intent was for those to not be there, then yeah, that would suck like none other, but since that was the point anyway, I think it’s wicked.

  19. reminds me of the time when i first played trauma center er or something for the wii, dang i fucked up that stitching so bad

  20. I think this is awesome, and regardless of whether the blowout was on purpose or not, i still think it suits the style. if it was a portrait or something with intricate detail that was meant to be spot on, then that would be another story. but obviously this tattoo is intended to be a sketchy style.

  21. I may be about to get slated, seeing as everyone likes this tattoo, but I just don’t like it. It looks badly done.

    It may be intentional to have the tattoo look like a ‘biro scribble’ but I really don’t get that style.

    To me, it looks like a 2 year old has been set free on the neck with a biro. It’s in such a visible place, I wonder how it will look in 10 years time?

  22. It will look rad in ten years if the person stays out of the sun, gets touch ups, wears sun screen, doesn’t get cut in the middle of it..

    .. seriously, why do people ask how it will look in ten years? If the tattoo was done by a quality artist, then there will not be an issue.

  23. #27, Now that you mentioned it, I see it!
    Not good that I’m a dressmaker and didn’t catch that =(

  24. I love this tattoo!

    This is the first time I’ve ever seen blowouts caused on purpose. It adds so much to the whole look of it.

  25. For those who asked, a blowout is an effect where ink spreads away from the tattooed area. This mainly happens in line work, where the needles are grouped together & liner machines run faster & with a longer stroke,… although I’ve seen blowout occur on large tribal pieces as well. (Not applied by ME, of course,…) What is really happening is pigment itself is being sprayed between the layers of the skin, outward & away from the puncture holes, hence the weird wet water color paper bleed look.

    This can happen when A: The needles are damaged when setting up the machine, either bent or hooked B: Going into think skin, like the crook of the elbow, as fast as going into think skin, like on the calf, or just by running the machine too fast C: Going into the skin at crazy angles, like holding the machine at 30 degrees or less from the surface of the skin or D: Not stretching the skin enough,…

    Blowout is unpredictable & very difficult to achieve without damage to the skin area. Among the professional circles, it is considered a sign of inexperience & amateur training, although since everyone is constructed differently, even veteran artists may experience the occasional blowout.

    It would be REALLY difficult to blow out skin on purpose,… & then switch back to clean tattooing,…

  26. the fact that the blown out lines were “on purpose” sounds like a cop out from the artist. better ways to go about getting the effect of fuzzy lines if thats what you want. over all i dont like this tattoo one bit, blow outs or not, but hey my oppinion doesnt really matter if she/he likes it. rock on with your squiggly line tatto, my friend!!!

  27. Artist dont blow out on purpose i dont care what the girlfriend says shading it out with a mag woulda looked way cleaner and a blow out is when ya hit bone usually shins and knee caps and stuff where the needle jams a bunch of ink under the skin and bleeds out spreading under the skin kinda like a bruise…laying the machine on its side and hitting those spots at an angle will take care of blows outs….dude whipped out a weak tat and probably wasnt feelin it or needed the money and most artist arents gonna point out their blow outs because it messes up your line work its an imperfection…blow outs are never intentional…why would you purposely ruin a line? permenantly? sometimes blow outs can be shaded depending which way they run and what part they are in on the tattoo…if you tattoo you know what i mean and if you dont try laying your machine down so you dont hit the bone and blow it out

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