Oh my goodness, so much goodness.

I’m always looking to hear about different scenes in different cities.  I tend to travel a lot and while I travel, I’m always on the look out for new and different tattoo studios and if I can, to meet new and different artists.  I’m really hoping that this year I’ll be able to get to a very specific – and as of right now – secret location in order to get tattooed by a tattooist whom I have a lot of respect for.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed and seeing how this year pans out.

Anyway, as I was saying, I love to learn about different scenes, yeah.  Some of you might cringe over the use of the words “tattoo scene”, but I don’t give a rat’s ass if you do.  Cities have scenes, like it or not.  If I go and check out the tattoo studios in London, England, it’s going to be a completely different experience from checking out the studios in L.A. or Seoul.  Different people, different styles, different attitudes, different ink.  That my friends, is a scene.

Now, maybe I’m naive and uninformed on what’s going on in America, but according to this article in The Maine Sunday Telegram, Maine is actually quite the little tattoo spot.  I’m going to be honest and say that until now, I’d never even considered Maine as a place where there could be a lot going on in terms of tattoo.  But I guess I was wrong.  One of the great things about Maine’s tattoo scene is that all the studios are licensed and regulated.  This is always a touchy subject, but I happen to be all for regulation.  At present time the officials in charge of the inspections are only there to concern themselves with hygiene, but hopefully as time goes on these jobs will be filled by people who are really invested in the tattoo industry and who appreciated it for the art form that it is.

At any rate, I recommend checking out the article on Maine and discovers some of the interesting facts about the place and its relationship with tattoo.  It’s particularly cool that such a high percentage of tattooists in Maine are women.  It’s nice to see a variety of genders and races within any particular scene.  Keep up the good work, Maine and I hope to get down and see you all one day soon.

Right, okay, back once again to the topic of bad tattoos.  I’m not sure why I’ve been thinking about this lately, but fortunately, there is no shortage of news out there on exactly this topic.  The most recent example of a bad tattoo is courtesy of 22-year-old Brit John Forsyth.  So enamoured with the top 40 hit ‘Wake Me Up’ by Swedish pop star Avicii, he decided that it would be a great idea to get the lyrics to said song tattooed down his side.  According to Forsyth, the lyrics tell the story of his life.  Fair enough, maybe they do.  If it makes the guy happy, then great.  The sad truth of the matter is that the lyrics to ‘Wake Me Up’ are standard generic pop lyrics.  They undoubtedly tell the story of Forsyth’s life just as they do a billion other people.  There’s no real story here, it’s just a collection of vague platitudes that seem to really speak to you when you’re Forsyth’s age.  And that’s fine, but I mean at age 22 you haven’t really done anything.  So to take up the entire right side of your body with the story of your life is kind of a joke.  Again, it’s his body, I just wouldn’t recommend this sort of tattoo to anyone.

Incase you’re curious, here’s what John has to say about the tattoo and his reasons for getting it.

What prompted you to get a tattoo this large? Were you drunk when you had it done?

It was just a decision I made, I was sober when I had it done. I thought about it for a few weeks.

Do you have a girlfriend? What does she think about it?

I don’t have a girlfriend at the minute, but all the girls I know they all like it. They all think it’s sick.

Did it hurt a lot getting it done?

Yeah, most painful tattoo I’ve had. It took four and a half hours, all in one sitting.

What responses are you getting? Do you have any Twitter haters?

 I’ve had about over a thousand retweets. But yeah, I’ve gotten messages from people saying: It’s shit, eat shit and all that. Saying you’re gonna regret it. But I don’t care what they think, because I’m not going to regret it. It’s my choice.

What would you say to Avicii if you met him? Would you show him the tattoo?

Obviously I’d show him. I’d probably ask him if I could have a picture with him. Maybe offer a beer. Just be like I am with anyone I first met when I’m doing my job. How’s it going, what’s your name and all that. Well, obviously I know his name…

Someone on Twitter said some words are misspelled. Is that the case?

Yeah, actually there are a couple of words that are misspelled. But I’m going to get that sorted out. It’s cause it was such a big piece. In “caught” it hasn’t got the line going through the “t”. It’s a five minute job.

Any wise words for the people out there?

Everyone should just do what they want. Live life to the most every day. Literally I just do what I want everyday. I don’t think about what could happen in ten years time, because I don’t know if I’ll be here. I live life to the max. Most nights of the week I go out and get completely off my ass. It’s part of the job. Everyone that works here gets drunk every night. It’s a lifestyle.

And there you have it.  If you’ve never heard the song in question, check it out below.

Oh and FYI, John?  Getting drunk every night isn’t “a lifestyle”.  It’s called being 22.

Normally when it comes to other people’s tattoos, I don’t really have too many objections.  I mean, if you really want to go out and get tattooed with something that myself or other people might think is totally ridiculous and/or horrible, more power to you.  Lately however, I find myself maybe getting more cynical.  Or am I?  I don’t know.

To be fair, I’ve always had a problem with people getting tattoos out of a desire or need to be trendy.  That much is well documented on this site for anyone who cares to go back through the archived posts.  I don’t care what your TV or Justin Bieber tells you, tattoos are not trends and should never be treated as such.  Tattoos are permanent and certainly shouldn’t have anything to do with flash in the pan aesthetics.  So yeah, I  tend to get my feathers slightly ruffled when I see people treating them as such.

I guess then, it’s for this reason that I don’t really have that much of a problem blogging about the worst types of tattoos.  Again – who am I to say what’s a bad tattoo, let alone the worst tattoo?  Well, no one really.  I just think that there is common sense and then there is everything else.  If a tattoo truly means something to you (as I believe it should), and I come down on it or dismiss it, you’re well within your right to call me a (for lack of a better word), dick.  However, if your tattoo is dumb because you were dumb when you got it – and by dumb I mean blinded by the hilarity or coolness of a particular trend at that particular time and place – then it’s open season on the razzing as far as I’m concerned.

Be warned, then.  Bad types of tattoos often have very little excuse for them and they are all too often very easy to spot.  Perhaps this list will help you to understand that a little bit better.  Although I’m sure you understand it just fine anyway.  Right?  Here’s hoping.

It’s never too late to add some tips to the ongoing process of tattoo studio etiquette.  As the saying goes, “good manners cost nothing”.  Too true.  No one wants to deal with a dick who just breezes in and expects the world, running roughshod over everyone and everything in his/her way.  That’s exactly why the folks at The Modified World in Ann Arbor, Michigan put this short little video segment together.  No more excuses, people.  There’s plenty of relevant info here to keep you in any tattoo artist/piercer’s good books.  One little niggle that I do have with the video, however, is that I don’t believe that it’s necessary to tip tattooists.

This is probably going to piss a lot of people off.  The fact of the matter is that tattoo artists are just that – artists.  Waiters get tips.  Porters get tips.  Hot dog vendors get tips.  Artists don’t get tips.  Artists get paid (usually).  In my mind, many different skill sets fall under the umbrella of artist: actors, filmmakers, painters, sculptors, fashion designers, writers, tattooists, etc.  I’m a writer.  When I write an article or a short story or for that matter, a film, I get paid.  There are no tips for doing what I’ve done, nor do I expect to be tipped.  I created something from nothing, sold it and got paid.  And there were many, many, many years where I didn’t even get paid for my work.  Tattooists are handsomely rewarded for their artistic process.  If you’re a tattooist and you want to get tipped for your work, become a waiter.  Or, better yet, charge more for your work in order to cover the 10-20% extra that you feel you need for doing your job.

That’s all I want to say about that.

Hey, get a tattoo wherever you want on your body, I don’t care.  Every once in a while though, someone comes along who gets a tattoo that kind of just makes me roll my eyes.  As you’ll see in the below video, some people are probably more interested in the attention that getting a tattoo in a certain place brings them, than anything else.  But again, what do I care, right?  Take a look at the video below.  Oh yeah, it might kind of be NSFW.  The one good thing about getting a tattoo like this however, is that very few people will ever see it should you one day regret it.  Then again, in this girl’s case, who knows.

I must say, so many gimmicky tattoo trends out there.  Some just want to be trends and never really get the momentum going to be full fledged, others become trends for reasons that defy logic.  The latest attempt at trendy is the so-called digital tattoo.  You can read more about it here if you’re interested, but personally, judging by what I’ve seen in this sample video, I’m less than impressed with the entire concept.  What do you think?

I typically like to offer up a variety of photos of different tattoo artists’ work each month, but this month I decided to throw caution to the wind and just focus on two really excellent tattooists: Brad Stevens and Thomas Hooper.  Check ’em out.

As I’ve noted on here several times before, Asia in particular is a hotbed of tattoo activity.  Despite there being (for the most part) vastly different approaches to the aesthetic, the opinion of and the general process of tattoo, Asian cultures all have very widespread and diverse appreciation for tattoo as a culture and artistic endeavour.  One of the more interesting aspects of tattoo found in Asia is the so-called “magic” tattoos – tattoos that are said to bring their bearer everything from luck to courage and strength to invisibility.  Whatever your take on the probability of such tattoos actually working is not really important.  The ritual and belief in these representations of culture is all that truly matters.  In addition to the ritual significance of the tattoos, they are intricately designed and hand poked, often by monks.  What’s more, there are even massive festivals that celebrate these unique tattoos in Thailand, in which thousands of people attend and a select few retain the honour of being tattooed.

For those of you out there with a potential interest in this aspect of tattoo but with no cash or time to actually travel to Thailand, no worries.  A new book on the topic called Thai Magic Tattoos: The Art and Influence of Sak Yant might be just the thing you’re looking for.  The book catalogues the various Thai religious aspects of these spiritual tattoos with plenty of photos and explanation that will aid even the most ardent information seeker get what they’re looking for.  If you’re interested in a review of the book itself, check it out here.  And for those of you who do seek out this book but still want more, the Wat Bang Phra holds its massive tattoo festival in Thailand every March.  Might be worth the trip.

With the mainstream recognition of tattoos, the days of a tattoo signifying some sort of level of badassery are disappearing fast.  There was once a time when even having a tattoo on your forearm meant that you weren’t to be messed with.  People would try their best to covertly catch a glimpse of one’s tattoos, careful not to attract any attention in the process, lest that tattooed person became angry or violent.  Obviously, that’s all a bunch of rubbish.  There never really was any threat of a tattooed person going ballistic over people glancing at their tattoos.  And yet, the image created by a tattoo was one of danger, rebelliousness – an outlaw living on the fringes of civil society.  People saw ink on flesh and automatically thought: that person is tough, and has a great threshold for pain.  Stand clear.

Whatever diminished effect that tattoos now endure as a result of their common place, perhaps no other tattoo placement has been diminished more by its mainstream popularity than the neck tattoo.  A couple days ago, a friend of mine was telling me about a guy he saw, who had really been playing up the tough guy role and who apparently had been sporting a prominent tattoo on his neck.  My friend was telling me how neck tattoos just don’t make people look tough anymore.  I couldn’t agree more.  Now don’t me wrong – I’m not downplaying the appeal, style or even the necessity for this style of tattoo.  All I’m saying is that if you’ve got one or you’re getting one  in hopes of upping your street-cred or fear factor, you might as well find Doc Brown and ask for a lift in his time machine back to the days where neck tattoos actually provided that sort of impact.

Personally, I love neck tattoos.  I don’t have one and I don’t plan on getting one any time soon, but when done well, a neck tattoo really does offer its own unique aesthetic.  I highly encourage anyone who wants one to go out right now and get one.  However, as with all forms of tattoo, no matter the positioning or location on the body, the most vital caveat is to get a tattoo because it’s important to you, not because you (mistakenly) believe that it has the ability to transform you into someone else.