American tattoo artist Ben Shaw has been inking designs into skin since the turn of the century. He started out his career by travelling the United States, gaining experience in different tattoo parlors before finally settling down at Octopus Tattoo in Derby in the United Kingdom. Shaw’s style is a mix of traditional design elements […]
Traditional Japanese tattoo art, known as irezumi, is created by repeatedly stabbing a “brush” of needles into the skin, as shown in this video. The artist repeatedly stabs the brush into the client’s skin to create the design, in this case a large koi fish. As you can see in this video, building up a […]
Yakuza tattoos are a source of fascination for many tattoo lovers. The high level of secrecy surrounding the tattoos, combined with the painful method of “hand-poking” the designs and the association with the Japanese underworld gives yakuza tattoo art a mysterious appeal. The History of Japanese Yakuza Gang Tattoos The history of the yakuza […]