Just a proud baby mama showing off her new knuckles.
The fingers are attached to Christina Michelle, and the artist of the lettering is Justin Lamoreux from Milwaukee, WI
No drama here
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“What’s that on your face blubber boy? A booger?”
Are you blind? It’s a lonely tear drop!
Given the size of this little portrait, I’d guess that Mario Sanchez used a single needle for this one. He’s got quite a few micro portraits in his BME gallery, including a number of ones done on knuckles.
Waiting for the end
When the end comes, this Philadelphia native will be prepared. Thanks to Joey Knuckles at Olde City Tattoos in Philadelphia, he’ll have eyes in the back of his head watching the bombs as they drop.
This piece was sent in to the face and neck tattoo gallery.
Holy Roller(coaster)
With the way Jesus’ knuckles are glowing, I’d say he’s probably praying at that moment. Granted this isn’t the first time ModBlog has posted a picture of Jesus white-knuckling it.
Jesse Smith from Perfect Image in London did this biblical tattoo. While it probably could go in the religious tattoo gallery, this one can be found in the cartoon and comic gallery.
The Friday Follow-up
This week in the follow-up we’re going to take a look at a small cutting. As you know, the main point of this weekly column is to show people just how scars and brands can heal over time, as well as showcasing the many talented scarification artists out there. While we have seen scarification used in conjunction with tattoos, either as highlighting or negative space in blackwork, we haven’t seen a scar used to remove a portion of a tattoo.
Toronto’s own Six sent in this series of photos of a small scar he did. The goal was to use scarification to remove a section of the tattoo that the client wasn’t happy with.
To start with, here is the tattoo in question. The issue is that the letter “C” isn’t distinctive enough, and the knuckles can easily be mistaken to read “GOLD”.
Following the cutting, you can see just what was removed in order to give the client the look he was after.
To see how this healed up, you’ll have to keep on reading.
A month later, here’s how things are looking. There is still a bit of redness as it’s only been a month, but you can see just how much of a difference a little bit of scarification can make.
In the scarification galleries you’ll be able to see a close up of the finger, which will give you a better idea of just how Six was able to help out his client.
From Estonia, With Love..
This anonymous beauty hails from Tallinn, Estonia where Kat from Auriga Tattoo gave her a set of straightedge knuckles. It’s not too often the straightedge tattoo gallery gets submissions, so if you’ve got some tattoos you want to share, please send them in.
And yes, her other hand has “FREE” across the knuckles.
BME Book Review: Black & Grey Tattoo
I was thrilled to find out I would have the opportunity to review the newest tattoo book on the market, Black and Grey Tattoo: From Street Art to Fine Art by our old friend Marisa Kakoulas (who wrote Legal Link for BME) and co-authored with Edgar Hoill. I’ll admit, I was also a little nervous, after all, Marisa is a friend and what would I say if the book wasn’t up to snuff? All those worries went out the window when I finally got my hands on it.
This is actually a three volume set and to my knowledge the first multi-volume set featuring the work of some of the world’s greatest tattoo artists. From street art to fine art indeed, the range and diversity of the work is amazing and the talent is unquestionable.
Read on for my review!
Marisa called this book mammoth and she wasn’t joking, it is mammoth in both scope and weight! Make sure you lift with your knees when you pick this thing up! Marisa says it weighs around 22 lbs but it felt more like 50 to me!
Ok, enough joking around; let’s talk about what’s inside. The first thing that strikes you are the covers. The work adorning each front is simply breathtaking and with the embossed title running along the front of this hardcover set, this is the kind of book you’ll want to keep on display. Volume one is dedicated to traditional black and grey tattoo work (336 pages), volume two is dark and horror (400 pages) and volume three is photorealism (272 pages).
Flipping it open you’ll find that the included text comes in not only English but German and Spanish as well. There are portraits of the artists as you are introduced to their work so you can see the man (or woman) behind the art. Not only are you treated to some of the most incredible tattoo work I have ever seen; there are also drawings and paintings by the artists showing you they are unquestionably fine artists ranging from across the globe.
Tatu Will
Interviews with some of the greats are included but this set is heavy on the photos and light on the text putting the focus exactly where it belongs, on the art. Sometimes books about tattoos become more about the authors opinions than the artwork but you won’t find any of that here. Marisa and Edgar keep their voices to a minimum, letting the artists’ work speak for itself. How refreshing! This set is first and foremost, a celebration of the art of tattoo, but don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to be a tattoo enthusiast to enjoy this. The striking photography and incredible work make this book a must for anyone with an appreciation of art and photography. This book would feel just as at home next to other fine art books as it would in a tattoo studio.
Edward “Chuco” Caballero
The tattoos range from full body suits to knuckles. The work, as I mentioned, is breathtaking. Volume One includes interviews with Jack Rudy, an icon with over 35 years of experience and Jesus “Chuey” Quintanar, a man whose work speaks for itself. In Volume Two, you’ll find interviews with the master of the dark tattoo, Paul Booth, and Xu Zhicheng, out of Beijing whose bold work has earned him international respect. Finally, in Volume Three, Bavarian Andy Engel, who specializes in realism and well-known portrait artist Bob Tyrrell round out the stellar cast of interviewees. In addition to these fine artists you’ll also find work by renowned artists such as Freddy Negrete, Brian Everett, Mark Mahoney, Dan Henk, Kari Barba, Tim Kern, and Tim Hendricks to name a few.
I won’t give anything away, you need to read these interviews for yourself when you pick up your own copy. Each artist has something unique to say and their interviews are coupled with some quotes from other artists and clients to round out the set but it’s by far the photos that make this set so desirable. I wanted to pick out a favourite from each volume but found that I couldn’t. There were so many photos and the work was so top notch that it is impossible for me to say any one photo is a favourite over the others.
Bob Tyrrell
Dan Marshall
While many of the names were familiar to me, most of the work was not and with each turn of the page I was blown away. I admit, part of me was envious, both of the talent that these artists possess and also of their clients who are fortunate enough to carry this art on their skin. I’m a fan of portraiture and expected the Photorealism volume to be my favourite but found myself admiring each volume equally.
Abey Alvarez
Tim Kern
It is so nice to see a tattoo book that is exactly what it should be, a celebration of the art and the individuals who make it possible. I have a small collection of tattoo related books and I’ve seen many others that for one reason or another I don’t own. Black and Grey Tattoo stands out among those books, it sets the bar high and makes its home comfortably among the massive tomes of classic art and photography, matching them in quality and class.
With over 1000 pages and coming in its own beautiful box, this would make a perfect gift for the holidays or a birthday, or buy it for yourself, because you deserve it! This stunning coffee table book is something you’ll be proud to display whether you’re tattooed or not.
If you want your very own copy (you know you do), you can find it on Amazon, currently retailing for $414 USD, or $422.83 CDN. In Europe you can get the book from Hermansky Books for $248 EU.
Also, if you act quickly, Marisa is selling some of her author copies at a reduced rate, so you can contact her for a copy. She only has a limited number so don’t wait.
Black Grey Tattoo
Hardcover: 1008 pages
Publisher: Gazelle Distribution
Languages: English, Spanish, German
ISBN: 3934020852
Dimensions: 15.1 x 11.8 x 5.4 inches
Weight: 22.5 pounds
Marisa Kakoulas is a New York lawyer and writer. She is currently blogging over at Needles and Sins.
Edgar Hoill is a photographer and editor of Lowrider Arte Magazine. You can visit his website: OSOK
MMMBrains
Today’s Halloween inspired pic comes from BME’s resident Hanson expert, IAM: ilovehanson, who you might recall had her knuckles tattooed in tribute to the band. Ilovehanson, and her boyfriend IAM: Adrian, recently attended the Lawrence KS, zombie walk, and from the pictures it looks like they had a great time amongst the walking dead.
You can check out another picture of Adrian in the big nostril gallery.
Keep sending in those Halloween pictures. We’re less than 20 days away from the best holiday of the year!
Everybody walk the dinosaur
If you’re not familiar with the TV show “Dinosaurs”, you’re missing out. The show was a live action, Henson puppeted sitcom featuring your typical 50s sitcom family, except they were all dinosaurs. The mother and father were clearly taken from The Honeymooners, which was also the inspiration for The Flintstones. You had the teenage son and daughter, and the lovable (and somewhat obnoxious) talking baby that had the catch phrase “Not the mama!”. It lasted 4 seasons, and is one of the few TV series, and the only sitcom, to end with the death of every single character. You read that right. The plot of the finale revolved around the coming ice age (accidentally started by the main character), and end with the baby asking what will happen next, as the camera pans out and shows the house being buried under snow. The final scene is from a reporter and ends on the line ”And, taking a look at the long-range forecast, continued snow, darkness, and extreme cold. This is Howard Handupme. Goodnight. (pause) Goodbye.”
As always, with a TV that memorable, you end up with fans of the show. Rory (IAM: ScumCity) sent me a message the other day about his newest tattoo.
Now Rory is a huge Dinosaurs fan, he loves them so much, he’s even started to look like Earl (the father).
The resemblance is uncanny!
You can get a closer look at his knuckles in the hand tattoo gallery.
The Hand of Horror
It seems the the closer we get to Halloween the more we take notice of those things that go bump in the night. Horror films seem to be on TV in greater frequency, the decor in stores shifts towards ghosts and goblins, and the occasional image will stand out just a little more than it normally would.
This tattoo, from the portrait gallery, was one such image that stood out amongst the other submissions this week. It was sent in by BME user Alexenglish, and was done by Elson Yeo from thINK Tattoo Singapore.
I want to say it looks like an image of a Yurei, but i’m not 100% it is. Regardless, it really stands out an a fantastic hand portrait, that appears to be part of a sleeve. What really stands out most is how the blood and the shading carry down in between the knuckles. Often with hand portraits they’re capped above the knuckles, but in this case the design not only goes past that point, it works the shape of the knuckles into the design.
Well, Halloween is just over a month away, any big costume plans picked out yet? Or are you the type that decides last minute?