Steve's Zombie Apocalypse - In Progress

A couple weeks back, on an unseasonably warm and sunny February day, I spotted Steve on Penn Plaza, wearing a short-sleeve shirt, with some pretty cool ink peeking out from his arm.

Intrigued, I approached him, and started up a conversation about his tattoos. He showed me several pieces, including this, a back piece that is in progress:

Take a closer look - this is pretty cool. I spoke to Steve at length about his work. He had recently left the U.S. Marines, where he had been stationed overseas in Japan. It was there that he chanced upon an artist named Aya, at a shop called Silent Ink, located in the city of Iwakuni.

As Steve, explained it, Aya is a deaf-mute (thus the shop name) and he became a huge fan of her work while serving in Japan. "It's a full zombie apocalypse scene," he told me, and he plans to fly out to Washington State when Aya next travels to see her fiance in the U.S., so she can complete the work.

I always defer to the contributor, as to whether they want to share work in progress, and Steve had no qualms about letting us see this early stage of the back piece. I was able to get a closer look at the completed sections:

I just love the colors and shading behind the tree that borders the upper right arm:

Steve estimates that she has already spent approximately 38 hours on his canvas over several sittings. "I like to sit for a long time," he told me.  I certainly look forward to hearing back from him when Aya has completed this work!

Thanks to Steve for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.


If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Kathy's Back, The Beginning

I spotted Kathy walking in front of Madison Square Garden, near the corner of Seventh Avenue and 33rd Street earlier this month and, although I couldn't see specifically what she had going with her tattoos, I was intrigued enough to ask.

Some folks are often dismissive of me when I approach them, but Kathy was the total opposite. She was joyful and excited to share her ink and, when she removed her outer layer and adjusted her tank top, it was abundantly clear why. She had recently embarked on a full back piece and was proud of the foundation for what is ultimately going to be a phenomenal work of art:

Kathy had enlisted Derek Noble of Lucky Devil Tattoo Parlor in Seattle to create this tattoo. She explained, "he's really into horror, traditional, and all that kind of stuff, so I went to him back in January."

Kathy is an interior designer with twelve tattoos and agreed to share the back piece in its early stage (approximately three and a half hours in). She has tentatively agreed to keep us posted when she heads back to Seattle at the end of the summer so that we can see the work develop.

She explained further:

"I broke my back about two years ago, so I figured I'd make something nice out of a bad thing. There's little vertebrae holding candles and I love zombies ... I gave [Derek Noble] the time period, I said I wanted something Jack the Ripper era, and he went full out for it. I saw [the design] the day of, and I never even thought I wouldn't like it."

Well we here at Tattoosday can't wait to see how this turns out. With just the outlines, the piece looks incredible and, well, it's Derek Noble, after all, so we know it's going to turn out magnificently.

Thanks to Kathy for sharing the early stage of her new back piece with us here on Tattoosday! I know we can't wait to see more!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Ivan's Sleeve: Doom, Zombies, and The Joker

Last month I met Ivan in Penn Station, and I took a bunch of photos of his right arm, fully-sleeved. There's a lot going on here, so let's take a look:

And the inner part of the sleeve:

 

Ivan's tattoo artist is Larry Davis at Explicit Tattoo in Suffern, New York He also credits Adrienne Levy with the design of the cat on his wrist.

Ivan explains a little bit about his ink:

"The zombie on my shoulder is an original that Larry drew from his imagination. The face with the ragged teeth on my bicep is from the video game Doom. 

 

As for the totem pole-esque image on my forearm, the middle and upper pieces were drawn by the artist Matt Simonetti.

The lower piece was drawn by Micki Fever. Larry did the tattooing, as is true for all my tattoos."

Ivan also has this segment of his sleeve which is noteworthy:

Ivan explained that this tattoo of The Joker and Harley Quinn is based on this illustration by the artist Alex Ross, which appeared on the cover of Batman: Harley Quinn.

Thanks to Ivan for sharing his cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Nesting Dolls and a Zombie, Courtesy of Kristin

Last month, I ran into Kristin at the Penn Plaza Borders store.

She has ten tattoos, but the piece on her shin was the first one I spotted:

These Russian nesting dolls represents the friendship Kristin has with her friend Kyle (thus, the merging of their names into "Kryle").

It was tattooed by Bret from Electric Tattoo in Pasadena, Maryland.

Kristin also shared another tattoo, one certainly more appropriate for our current season. Check out this amazing tattoo:

This cool zombie piece was inked by Kike Castillo at Timmy Tattoo in Huntington, New York.

Kristin says that Kike is one of her favorite artists and she is happy for him to provide her with great body art. "He needed someone," she told me, referring to this particular tattoo, and "I'm always game". Tattoo artists love clients that let them do their thing, and you can tell with this great piece of art.

Thanks to Kristin for sharing her cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Halloween Bonus: Zombie Pinup

Back in September I posted Little Dead Riding Hood, courtesy of Amy, who I met in Penn Station.

Amy has a new tattoo, which she generously shared:


It's a zombie pin-up girl, and appropriate for the holiday today.

Like the previous piece, this was created by T.J. Mcinnis at Mcinnis Tattoo Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

Thanks again to Amy for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Have a safe and ghoulishly fun Halloween!

Brooke Shows Off Her Zombie Ninja Poo

On a sunny September afternoon, I met Brooke outside of Penn Station.

She had several interesting tattoos, and she offered this one:


She referred to it as "Zombie Ninja Poo".

On the inside of her right wrist, this tattoo was inspired by the goofy video droppings of the ninja characters in one of her son's video games, Ninjatown.

She exercised a little creative license and zombified the design. The result was an undead mass of animated, um, turds.

Thanks to Brooke for sharing this unusual tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Little Dead Riding Hood

I met Amy in Penn Station earlier this month and she agreed to share this, one of her eight tattoos:


Actually, she has since e-mailed me about her ninth, and I am waiting for a photo.

This tattoo represents an undead version of Little Red Riding Hood, which is Amy's favorite fairy tale.


She also likes zombies, so it seemed like a good match.

This tattoo was inked by T.J. Mcinnis at Mcinnis Tattoo Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

Thanks to Amy for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Subterranean Zombie Encounter

The photo above is a tattoo from the back of Sara's left calf.

I spotted her on the West 4th Street platform back in August.

This zombie girl was inked in Pittsburgh. Sara just loved the design and added it to her body's canvas. She estimates that she is about 10-15% covered in ink.

Thanks to Sara for sharing this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!