Flash Your Tattoo » Art

Mike DeVries Latest Book

Tattoosue — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:09:00 +0000

Mike DeVries is one of my favorite artists. He’s most well known for his realistic color tattoos. He doesn’t seem to be on any type of ego trip even though he’s tattooed some celebrities and has won over 100 awards over the years.

Macaw by Mike DeVries

He also has a good head on his shoulders for related businesses. He sells his art work, videos, and books. He has tutorial books as well as art books he’s put together. He collects and publishes tattoos done by many talented tattoo artists for you to drool over. One of the books explores tattoos of skulls. This latest book of his focuses on the topic of wildlife. Wild animals are a popular tattoo choice so there is no shortage of outstanding body art in this category. DeVries has put it all together in this attractive full color book.

The tattoo artists who are featured in this wildlife tattoo book are very impressive. The list include: Bob Tyrrell, Roman Abrego, Sweet Laraine, Larry Brogan, Brandon Bond, Eva Huber, and Myke Chambers.

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Auctioning Off Some Skin

Tattoosue — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:47:22 +0000

One woman from New Zealand has been an inspiration for other individuals now offering auctions for picking out – what will be inked on their rears. Tina Beznec, the 23-year old woman, came up with a unique method to raise money. Utilizing a New Zealand auction site, she’s taking bids to auction off a space of 9cm by 9cm on her butt for the tattoo of the winner’s choosing!

Her ad suggests –“advertise your business”, propose to your loved one (I doubt this would be a great idea), “destroy her love life” ( chuckle), get creative! The winner of the auction will receive a framed photograph of the final piece of art. If they’re lucky enough to live in the area, she said it’s OK to observe her getting the tattoo. The auction ends in February and as of today – the highest bid is $12,200!!

Now this idea is catching on and men and women are auctioning off space in the same area. In some cases, these people are strapped for cash and are planning to keep the money, while others are using it as a tool to raise money for a charity they believe in.

For example – Hannah Wesley, a nursing student, is offering the same options as Tina but she’s handing over half of the cash raised to her favorite animal welfare organization, the SPCA.

It’s an easy way to raise money for a good cause and shows that tattooing can be used for good causes.

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Tattoos and Tentacles is Finished

Tattoosue — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:10:31 +0000

Julian Murray has a quirky and unique artistic view. He specializes in fashion, music and the advertising business. He does everything from website design to creative concept photography. His client list includes Inked Magazine, Rebel Ink and Warner Brothers.

A while back I did a post about a project he was working on called Tattoos & Tentacles. The project is now completed!! and he’s selling posters as well as a coffee table book full of images of beautiful women posing with “clinging” octopi. It’s gross and yet beautiful at the same time. The sliminess just creeps me out. It would make a nice XMAS present for any tattoo fans on your list. The artwork and book are for sale on his site.

Ugliest tattoos

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New Tattoo Reality Show Coming Soon

Tattoosue — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:09:34 +0000

I’m not a fan of reality television but a new series called Best Ink, may have potential. It sounds like they’ve finally come up with a tattoo show that focuses on the art rather than the drama going on in the shop or in the lives of the artists.

It’ll be premiering on Oxygen and begin on January 30^th of 2012. It takes talented tattoo artists from across the country and has them compete for the title “Best Ink” – the best tattoo artist of that group. The grand prize is $100,000 and a cover story in Tattoo magazine. Not too shabby. The artwork is judged by a panel consisting of Joe Capobianco and other people in the industry. A guest judge will be rotated on the panel.

Each episode consists of two challenges for the artists. The first will challenge their creative as well as their artistic skills. They’ll be given challenges like coming up with a tattoo design to commemorate a life or based on a personal inspirational story. The second is to determine the most talented artist with the most artistic ability.

Artists will be eliminated as the competition progresses. As times goes on, the challenges get more difficult and eventually only one artist will remain at the end. It’ll be interesting to see if they can keep the show focused on the talent and steer clear of the pumped up drama you see on most of these shows. I think there are more than enough fans of tattoo art that would be interested in a show focusing on the artist’s skills only.

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Snake Yates

Tattoosue — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:21:31 +0000

Snake Yates (he legally changed his in the ‘80s) is well known amongst tattoo artists. He was born and raised in Colorado Springs and was one of the first artists in the state. He still owns Snake’s Tattoo shop in Colorado Springs. He’s now 62 years old and has been tattooing for over 40 years. And now Yates is becoming well known for his talent for restoring old dental chairs to be used in tattoo shops!

Dental chairs are the perfect choice for tattoo work because of their various adjustment choices and their maneuverability. Yates said using one of these was a real back saver and although he tried to properly care for his chairs, they eventually wore out. The upholstery would get ruined because of the chemicals needed to clean it.

After spending big money getting his chairs repaired again and again, Yates bought an upholstery machine and so began a second career. After years of repairing his own chairs, he now collects and repairs them. He buys chairs from local dentists, old dental offices in Mexico, or scavenges them from dental suppliers. Other artists have gotten wind of his talent and will hire him to repair their tattoo chairs.

Yates has now expanded his skills to include wheelchair repairs. Nice to see someone is restoring a useful piece when we’re so used to chucking anything and everything that wears out or breaks.

Lotto online

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Dead Dolls

Tattoosue — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:53:00 +0000

I wrote a post about this artist almost 2 years ago. Since then she’s expanded her gothic selection and her current inventory looks completely new to me – so I just wanted to throw her some traffic for her latest creations. I really think hand crafted goth dolls are not appreciated as they should be. Each one is unique and one of a kind. A collector’s item for people that have an affection for vampires and scary movies.

Internationally known artist, D.L. Marian, creates one of a kind dead dolls, mannequins and other works of art. I like that she offers to add fangs on request. She also offers tours of her studio which would be so interesting. She’s located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I love a cool site like this.

This is a cover on 13^th Hour Magazine with one of D.L. Marian’s creations. Visit her site to see all of her work.

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Stereotyping – We’re All Guilty

Tattoosue — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:04:57 +0000

At least I’ll make that statement about myself. I try to be open minded but there are certain lifestyles that we tend to associate with certain social groups. Well – this story shows you can’t always judge a book by its cover. You have to look deeper. It also shows how tattoos are now popular with people from just about all walks of life.

Mitzi Britt is a tattoo artist and a Christian who wanted to help get rid of stereotyping when it came to her faith. She wants to show that even Christians can love motorcycles and tattoos. She’s spreading the word with her own clothing line called Soul Candy Brand. The images are favorite tattoo images like skulls with religious images incorporated in as well. She wants to show people that the life of a Christian isn’t dull and boring.

I think this works to prove a point in 2 ways. You shouldn’t stereotype people because of their faith and you shouldn’t stereotype people that have tattoos.

Another mention- Britt donates a portion of each Soul Candy Brand sale to local community organizations and to their church.

You can buy their products at their studio, Wildfire Tattoo Studio, and online. Wildfire is located in Walnut Cove, North Carolina.

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Disney Characters with Tattoos

Tattoosue — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:24:14 +0000

The artwork that’s affiliated with Disney movies and books has always been highly respected in the art world. The stories are classics and the artwork is superior. And now we have an artist by the name of Tim Shumate who has combined some of the endearing female Disney characters with body art. Outstanding idea! Tim combined the likes of Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, and Princess Jasmine with a more adult costume and tons of tattoos. Here’s his Sleeping Beauty.

You can see more of Shumate’s work on his website. His work ranges from portrait realism to cartoon like subjects. Although he chooses to paint and draw subjects that are frivolous by nature, his talent takes the subjects he paints to a seriously talented level.

Arai Vector

Tattoo Aftercare

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Cattoo Design

Tattoosue — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:18:52 +0000

I wanted to tell you about a new tattoo blog with a specific topic – cat tattoos. They call the cat tattoos they are featuring Team Cattoo. They are combining tattoos and helping animals by bringing needed attention to animal rescue groups. They are featuring people that help out animals and volunteer to work with organizations that desperately need help. Any of these volunteers that have any cat tattoos will be pictured on this blog.

The latest blog post is about the San Francisco SPCA which is supported by the community.

Hopefully this blog will remind people that these groups could use any support you can offer. With the economy being in rough shape, people are turning in their animals in record numbers. They can’t afford to feed and keep them anymore. All of the foreclosure in the last couple of years caused many families to give up their pets when they were forced to move. To compound the problem, funding is being cut to animal shelter across the country. If you can spare some cash, donate to your local animal groups. If you can’t afford a donation, see if you can give your time. Most shelters are always looking for volunteers to help out.

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Yoga and Tattoos Go Well Together

Tattoosue — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:22:40 +0000

For some who practice yoga, the idea of getting a tattoo is equivalent to desecrating the body. For others, they believe in the beauty and art of tattoos. In the casual dress that people wear while practicing yoga, there is an opportunity to see works of body art that may normally be covered up the majority of the time. This link takes you to a series of black and white photographs of people practicing their yoga poses while sporting some beautiful artwork in the process. The photography of these graceful poses would make a beautiful book.

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