Jax Con 2005

Maxwell Brand from All Or Nothing* just sent me in some pictures he took at the 1st Annual Jacksonville Tattoo Convention. On the left is Cheryl, who’s gotten more work done since this photo was taken (more pictures will be posted in BME’s facial tattoo gallery when I get a chance). Next is Jacki and Johanna, and then the third photo is Elizabeth, part of the Oddity Ink crew. The last picture is Elizabeth with her friend Candice.

* check their website for updates on their two artists that were recently in a major car crash.

Animal Tattoo Miscellany

Everyone loves animal tattoos, right? In terms of tattoo iconography’s ancient (as in caveman) roots, the first tattoos were medical and spiritual in nature, followed not long afterwards by drawings of animal (I don’t think we know if they were totemic or decorative).

Let’s start with a little animal — these are IAM:thouarttheman40‘s rat footprints by Mike Zimmer at Lake Monster Tattoo in South Lake Tahoe, CA.

Conceptually, I also like this flock of birds by Mato at Dunajska in Bratislava, Slovakia, although I have the feeling this might be one of those tattoo that looks a little better in photos than it does in person for graphic design reasons.

This pitbull portrait is sweet as well, done by Dennis at Big Joe and Son’s Tattooing in Yonkers, NY.

Finally, I’ve been wondering if the movie hit March of the Penguins would leave us with a whole lot more penguin tattoos. It’s not as if they’re unpopular as is. Anyway, I hope so.

This one is by Dave Cutlip at Explosive Tattoo in Salibury, MD. Their IAM name (the person with the tattoo, not Dave) won’t surprise you: penguinkelp.

Do you have a signed tattoo?

I don’t really know why, but it always kind of weirds me out when I see a tattoo that has been signed by the artist. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s just very unusual… I think it often even makes the tattoo artist uncomfortable — I strongly suspect that these two examples are only signed because the client insisted.

Left tattoo is by Mike Boseman at Sleep Hollow Studios in Roanoke Rapids, NC, and the one on the right is by Wally Poltern (sorry, I don’t know the studio).

MY SPOON IS TOO BIG

Yes, it’s a MY SPOON IS TOO BIG tattoo. If you’re not sure what this is about, you can watch the inspirational video here (if that link is broken, just search online for “my spoon is too big”).

I think I may have confused my records, but if I didn’t, that’s done by Rev. Marshall at Exotica Tattoo in Madison, WI. Marginally related are these wedding tattoos by Alastair “A.J.” Cameron-Hodges at Mom’s Tattoo in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Now I feel dumb because I can’t remember the origin of this tattoo… Phil told me about it (and the first one in the entry too) when it came in, but he’s gone fishing today… So someone post in the forum about these!