With the people of the world staying home as much as possible due to the coronavirus, many tattoo addicts have started turning to their own creativity to get their tattoo fix in the form of self-administered hand-poked tattoos. Hand poking is the original form of tattooing, with tattoo machines being a modern invention. Before the […]
Tattoos of elephants symbolize a variety of things; depending on who you are and what type of elephant you are depicting. When choosing an elephant for your tattoo design, you have two options; an African elephant or an Asian elephant. African elephants have larger ears than Asian elephants, and are generally larger. In Africa, the […]
Vietnamese tattoo artist Tery Do creates a complex bio-mechanical tattoo for his client, which covers one side of the client’s chest and extends down his arm. Tery Do starts the tattoo process by drawing a design freehand onto his client’s skin. Not only does he create the tattoo design directly on skin with markers; towards […]
This video shows how two tattoo artists from the Borneo Headhunter Tattoo studio in East Malaysia work together to create a traditional Iban tattoo. The tattoo artist uses two sticks, one with a needle attached to the end, the other a plain piece of wood. After dipping the needle in ink, the artist uses the […]
A mandala, also known as “the flower of life” is a beautiful geometric design that is often given a deeper, spiritual meaning. Some mandalas resemble symmetrical flowers with patterned petals while others seem like the mad art of a mathematical genius on acid. Whichever form they come in, mandalas have a visual appeal that most […]
Russian prisons put the “hard” into “hard time”. Over-population, power struggles and violence are an every day part of life in Russian prisons. Convicts have created a caste system; a hierarchy of leaders and lieutenants, followers and outcasts. To communicate their status to others, prisoners wear tattoos that reveal their rank, their crimes and their […]
Every inch of Peter Madsen’s tattoos is crammed with spiritual patterns or symbolic imagery. As a whole, Madsen’s spiritual tattoo designs are intriguing and individualized. His bold yet highly detailed tattoos are designed to meet his client’s criteria, expressing the client’s spiritual beliefs through the medium of body art. Peter “Walrus” Madsen is inspired by […]
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 […]
National Geographic takes a look at the link between the historical tradition of tattooing prisoners in Japan and the full body tattoo suits worn by members of the modern Yakuza gangs.
Shawn Will is a tattoo artist from Houston, Texas who works at Red Dagger Tattoo Studio. In this speed tattoo video, Shawn Will inks a guy’s calf with a skull surrounded by art supplies. In the tattoo design, the tattoo artist has creatively used the skull’s cheek bone as a pencil holder. This is a […]