Tag Archives: backpieces

At a Glance

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This backpiece comes to us—surprise, surprise—from Marc at Swastika Freakshop in Radolfzell, Germany. It’s not just Marc’s technical skills as a tattooist that impress me (although they’re off the charts), but his aesthetic: The designs he comes up with seem so bizarre sometimes, but what they really indicate is a thorough understanding of the human form, and it’s a style that, ultimately, is equal parts complementary and jarring. All of which is to say, Marc pisses excellence, plain and simple. He wakes up in the morning and pisses excellence.

See more in “Tribal and Blackwork Tattoos“ (Tattoos)

Peace on Your Wings

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It’s hard not to be reminded of Keith Alexander’s beautiful koi backpiece when I see works like this, but this project by Aod from Divine Ink Tattoo in Bangkok, Thailand, is a nice variation on a familiar theme. In a lot of ways, actually, the muted colors and general sparseness in the piece pictured above are more to my tastes—this is 15 hours in, though, so we’ll see if it evolves further from here.

See more in “Oriental-style Tattoos“ (Tattoos)

This is a Public Service Announcement

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This isn’t a particularly provocative statement, but DrPhil‘s back-piece up there is one of the more original designs I’ve seen in a while. Not that something has to be unique to be great, of course, but there’s some stylistic stuff here you just don’t see very often, and I think it makes for an interesting piece. Also, any reference to The Clash, intentional or not, is a winner.

(Tattoo on DrPhil, by Basti at Morbus Gravis in Darmstadt, Germany.)

See more in “Fairies and Angels“ (Tattoos)

Never Burn Your Buns

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This ancient, murderous, mustachioed sea-demon dragon has been summoned by bad_bunny, who is likely going to use his powers to, I don’t know, destroy a castle, or perhaps steal a bejeweled sword? Probably one of those. And as if such dragon-summoning prowess is not impressive enough, bad_bunny has also been known to perform now and then with both Allen Falkner and CoRE, doing suspensiony things. Watch her handle a chain, after the jump.

(Backpiece — which is 95 per cent finished — by Scott Silvia at Black Heart Tattoos in San Francisco, California.)

See more in “Oriental-style Tattoos“ (Tattoos)