the
Tattoo
A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE FOR THE TATTOO ENTHUSIAST
Bible
T FORM LAYING BARE THE ULTIMATE AR
FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF
S T N E T N CO 06
Introduction
A welcome to the world of tattooing in all of its splendour
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A History of Tattoos
The evolution and rise of the tattoo, from time immemorial to the modern day phenomena it has become, with some of the greatest living legends interviewed for good measure
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Schools of Tattooing
Exploring the vastly different styles of tattooing and showcasing the best of what’s available from the globe’s greatest purveyors of skin art
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Getting Tattooed
A comprehensive guide with every conceivable question answered about going under the needle, and all things prior to and following the event
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Collector Profiles
Meet a handful of people who pursue full, glorious coverage and proudly display their dermal galleries
A History of Tattoos Contents
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Artist Interviews
Introducing you to some of the world’s finest exponents of the tattoo and getting up-close and personal with them for a few sage words
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Tattoo Conventions
More spring up each year, so we present a guide to what goes on, which ones rock our world, and what you can get up to whilst attending one
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Lasering & Cover-Ups
Laser removal makes eradicating and altering old tattoos a reality, so we explore this relatively new arena and present the facts
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Tattoo & Fine Art
These two worlds collide frequently when tattooists pick up a paintbrush or adapt paintings for dermal decoration. We speak to some of the artists who are inspired by tattooists, and those tattooists who can work on any canvas
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Becoming a Tattooist?
If the world of tattooing has enchanted you and you wish to become an artist, we’ve a few words of wisdom to impart that may help you along the way
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Publications and Online Communities
The wider world of tattoo is explored by many means, so whether you’re seeking inspiration, advice, community or erotica, you’ll find all you need amongst this collection of magazines, websites, blogs and books
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Glossary
A brief collection and explanation of words, phrases and slang associated with the tattoo world
A History ofContents Tattoos 55
evan Oriol Photography Est Interview Maki
JACK RUDY
A History of Tattoos
ING’S GREATS, ONE OF TATTOO IS DY RU RIOUSLY K C JA ISED THE NOTO N O TI THE LEGENDARY LU VO RE D IN '75 AN IQUE. HAVING STARTED TTOOING TECHN TA E DL EE N LE DIFFICULT SING
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udy is still revered as one of the top artists for black and grey work, taking the crude aesthetic from the jails, spawned from machinery that consisted of a sharpened guitar string in the mid ‘70s, and turning into exquisite fine line mastery. We were honoured to be able to spend the day interviewing the quick-witted Rudy, who is known for his laid-back vibe and sardonic humour, as
well as almost always turning up late! Shot by top West Coast snapper, Estevan Oriol, at the renowned tattoo institution Good Time Charlie’s Tattooland in Anaheim. When you first started tattooing, who were your clients? It was predominantly neighbourhood guys. It was Cholos, lowriders, and different neighbourhoods
form the east LA area. That was primarily our clientele. And what kind of tattoos were they after? Predominantly black and grey - what we called then 'black and white' tattoos. fine line, prison style, they liked the joint style work - we did too - and learnt how to do it very quickly, and that was it. Then it took off. We figured out how to do single needle within a few months, and that was it; we never looked back. This shop is still known for that 34 years later. We do any kind of style, and do it expertly, but we are really known for single needle black and grey style.
And when you were developing that style, what are the actual difficulties in working with the single needle? It’s very unforgiving; you have to get it right the first time, or you have to know some really clever repair techniques if you don’t, ‘cause it is extremely unforgiving, which is why many people still don’t do it. For you personally, what is the appeal of black and grey tattoos? For me, I always drew with pencils, and then I did pen and ink, so it was the equivalent of that on a
work done on them. I like that look, I always did. It was natural for us. Also 'cause where we were at too we were at east LA - it all clicked, and everything came together. With the TV shows do you get a lot of clients that know more than you, supposedly? Haha, sure! I don’t get that personally, but I know we get that in the shop. It’s a shame, ‘cause if the shows were more honest about things, the people wouldn't be so uninformed and untutored about the actual process. Everything is so edited and contrived, everything is
abbreviated and nothing is done in real time, but the people don’t know that. Every tattooer knows that, but a lot of people that don't have tattoos, they don’t know that portrait wasn't done in ten minutes - it took five hours to do it. Then they show a brand new tattoo that morphs into a healed tattoo, which means there was a photo taken a month later when it was fully healed, but they won’t say that: the freshly red, irritated tattoo just magically healed up in seconds. They think that only an idiot would think that, but people who don't have tattoos, how would they know?
Too Much If you go to any decent-sized city and there is not a tattoo shop, you know why that is? It’s ‘cause the city doesn’t allow it, and thank god not every city allows tattoo shops in them, ‘cause if that was the case, literally every fucking city or small town that has a couple of thousand population would have one, and I mean every single one. That is the only reason there is not one on every corner.
WE FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO SINGLE NEEDLE WITHIN A FEW MONTHS, AND THAT WAS IT; WE N EVER LLOOKED OOKE BACK. NEVER
A History of Tatto Tattoos
h person’s skin. So even though everything is coloured and lined, to me it is like black and white photography. There is something about black and white photography that has a mystique all of its own. e e, So that was an appeal to me, ‘cause I grew up with a lot off Chicanos and these guys, the older brothers had joint
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Getting Tattooed
DERMAL D A RANGE OF RE O PL EX VE E’ W RN THE SKIN, SO WHICH TO ADO H IT W S HT G LI DE KNOWLEDGE ST THE LIGHT OF CA TO E M TI ’S IT AT LEAD UP LIT AVENUES TH LY M DI E TH TO IN R THE NEEDLE… TO GOING UNDE
Getting Tattooed
WHAT IS A TATTOO?
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ell, ladies and gentlemen, a tattoo consists of specially formulated ink inserted under the epidermis and into the dermis, sitting around a millimetre deep from the surface of the skin; when you see a tattoo, you’re actually looking through the epidermis at the ink that’s sitting beneath it. A machine drives various groupings of needles beneath the skin to allow them to deposit tattoo ink. These needles are housed in a tube, where pigment is drawn up from inkpots and delivered to the needles’ tips as they puncture the skin: a process that is repeated many times over to deliver the lines, the colour, the shading, and the tiny details that make up the bigger picture – a finished tattoo.
It’s encouraging to see first-time tattoo collectors doing their homework, finding a great artist, and plumping for a full or halfsleeve as their initiation into the tattoo world; getting it right the first time around is important and will provide you with a lifelong treasure to carry around, and as many collectors will no doubt inform you, those who dip their toe in with smaller pieces tend to want to add to their dermal gallery. These initial forays can often be a fly in the ointment so please, choose carefully!
LAWS OF AVERAGE The factors determining a tattoo’s quality are numerous, and whilst the real shockers and incredible jaw droppers are generally easy to spot, it can be difficult to pick out the reasons why a mediocre tattoo just doesn’t quite work.
SHADING
SATURATION
Without sounding unnecessarily cruel, bad shading looks as though an erratic child has attacked the skin with a marker pen and left patches of varying density. Good shading has very smooth blends and gradient shifts, leaving a consistent patch of ink that gradually lightens or darkens accordingly. N.B. Some tattooists will utilise a ‘wash’ when tattooing in both black and grey and colour to create certain effects, although the quality of this is often very easy to determine upon inspection because of the gradients.
In a similar vein to black and grey shading, colour or solid black work should look consistent and fully saturated across the skin. Colour should blend smoothly and not have any indication of ‘bleed’, where one tone has unintentionally merged with another, and it most definitely should not be patchy or have that ‘Crayola’ look about it.
Tattoo Terms The world of tattoo is a bountiful garden of novel words and phrases to describe its many parts, and for this reason, we’ve included a helpful glossary on page 158. However, here and now is as good a place as any to reel off a pinch of terminology and impart some of the words of wisdom we’re so full of. Backpiece A scene that utilises the whole of the back as a canvas. This is regarded as prime space amongst the tattoo fraternity because it allows for such scale and detail in the tattoos.
DESIGN The reason why a tattooist may slump over their counter and begin to cry when you hand them a
It’s encouraging to see first-time tattoo collectors doing their homework, finding a great artist, and plumping for a full or halfsleeve as their initiation into the tattoo world
Chestpiece We’re teaching the egg suck here somewhat, but incredible as it sounds, this describes a design across the chest. Kneckles A term coined for youths without any experience of the wider world outside college. They have no tattoos aside from those adorning their neck/throat and their hands and knuckles. We despair.
Getting Tattooed
James Robinson @ Nine, Brighton
LINES The most obvious defects in a glistening new tattoo are shaky or blown lines. Blown lines appear when the tattooist’s needle has burrowed too deep beneath the skin, and the ink spreads away from the point of insertion, resulting in a smudged or ‘blown out’ look. Properly executed lines are solid, have no signs of shake or deviation in their path and have the same thickness throughout their course (unless they have been purposely sculpted otherwise).
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y o r T Roe
VERAGE CAN VAST TATTOO CO SOME WALKS HINDER YOU IN FOR THIS OF LIFE. NOT SO ’ S TROY ‘DIABLO GENTLEMAN, A HO W R XE THAI BO ROE IS A MUAY THE WORLD D LE EL HAS TRAV S ADMIRABLE IN PURSUIT OF HI OOS. ARRAY OF TATT
Location
Collectors
Nomads Thai Boxing Edgeware, London
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hey complement perfectly Troy’s presence in the ring, captured in stunning detail by photographer Al Overdrive. A resident of North London and a fighter with an impressive record, he discusses (amongst many things) the similarities between preparing for a fight and for a tattoo, a battle often won or lost in the mind long before skin contact occurs. Were you into tattoos before you got into the sport? Oh yes. I was drawn to tattoos from a very young age. I remember being in the Cadets when I was a nipper and this old dude who was a Sergeant had all these bluedout old tats of pin-up girls, ships & desert islands from when he was in the Navy. The other kids thought he looked like shit but I was fascinated by these classic images and the stories behind them. From
Text & Photography Al Overdrive
about the age of fourteen I was into punk rock and hardcore; this obviously played a part in influencing me, as nearly every band I saw at least one of the dudes had his neck tattooed or a massive sleeve. I mean, as a kid I looked up to Rancid and Mike Ness [of Social Distortion] and they are covered in ink! From previous conversations I know you didn’t rush out at eighteen and just get covered straight away. Is there anything about tattooing that you wish you had known before you got your first piece? [Chuckles] Kind of, I took my time and ended up being tattooed by a myriad of people from all over the world. Tattooing is a great art so don't rush into getting stuff done to be part of something. I learnt my lesson with the oversized piece of tribal on
my left arm. Since then I’ve been more careful with my choice of artists, Matt Difa did my three quarter sleeves and the koi on my right shoulder was taken care of by John H. He also did the swallow on one side of my neck, the prayer hands on my left leg & the pirate ghost ship on my right (which is still unfinished 5 years on!). From then on it gets kind of confusing. After a couple of years I was sure that I wanted to get full sleeves, so Jeff Ortega finished my left arm with a Spitfire plane and the gap on my right was filled with a beautiful sugar skull and heart design in traditional Mexican style by Juan Puente. The girls on my hands were done by Saira Hunjan and are named ‘Cherry” and ‘Marcia” after the girls in ‘The Outsiders’. My chest piece was done by my good friend Mike Ski at his apartment in New Jersey,
Collectors
TATTOOING IS A GREAT ART SO DON'T RUSH INTO GETTING STUFF DONE TO BE PART OF SOMETHING
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Tattoo Conventions
S ARE LOUD, O CONVENTION O TT TA ! US C IR C E LLECTORS AND WELCOME TO TH MALGAMATE CO A AT E TH S IR A FF DA OF THE UK TO TH ACTION-PACKE AND BREADTH TH G N F… LE O E SE TH O RP OM TATTOOISTS, FR ALL FOR THE PU REIGN SHORES, FO H BE TOLD. G N UT LU TR -F S, ST N A FURTHE SHENANIG ED AT EL -R O O TT WELL, MANY TA
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undreds, often thousands, of tattooed people congregate and spend a weekend socialising, getting tattooed, and generally being themselves in an environment where they are treated completely normally; for a heavily tattooed individual, a tattoo convention can sometimes be a haven from comments
and lingering stares in the street. Tattoo conventions have been around for in excess of forty years and the plethora of new additions to the circuit have sprung up with breakneck rapidity over the past decade. In the UK alone, the volume of shows averages out at one every fortnight, so you’re undoubtedly spoilt for
choice and opportunity when it comes to attending one. They appear in all shapes and sizes and their grandeur varies radically: anywhere from thirty up to three hundred working
Tickets Tickets for a convention are regularly obtainable well in advance, so you can purchase your entry passes early and skip the queues when you arrive. These are available from the show’s website or, if the event is run by a tattoo studio owner, you can pick up your tickets at their shop.
few sessions to complete, whereas others are happy to take on clients as they show up. Certain artists are given to only tattooing small bits and pieces because of the often limited space in convention booths, and will refuse areas such as chest, ribs, backs, or anything that involves laying down for work to be completed. Artists visiting from foreign shores will sometimes work at a studio for a few days prior to or following a convention, which offers another window of opportunity to snaffle a tattoo from them. You will find tattoo convention listings and all of their details on a range of websites e.g. Big Tattoo Planet [www.bigtattooplanet.com] and these will contain the date, location and contact particulars for each show. Organisers vie to keep their
Tattoo Conventions
tattooists may be in attendance, and shows take place right from the northern reaches of Carlisle to the southern seaside resort of Brighton. The working tattoo artists are often a mixture of domestic artists and visiting tattooists from all over the world. The single greatest thing about this is that, as a collector, you have access to people whom you would normally have to travel (often a great distance, in terms of foreign artists) to be tattooed by, all under one roof. Good times, you’ll undoubtedly agree. Each tattooist has his or her own preferred modus operandi when it comes to scheduling pieces at a show: some like to book well in advance and have sketches done and ready to go, especially for large pieces that might take a
reign shores will Artists visiting froma fostud for a few sometimes work atllowingioa convention, days prior to or foher window of which offers anot fle a tattoo from them. opportunity to snaf
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Tattoo the
Bible
Getting Tattooed
Schools of Tattooing
T
attooing has reached a point of immense popularity that stretches far beyond what anyone may have predicted. People are becoming better educated in their tattoo selections and as such, an everincreasing number of those of virgin skin wish to arm themselves with as much knowledge as possible before embarking on their collector’s journey. The Tattoo Bible is the manifestation of erudition assimilated over many years and is the most comprehensive body of work for a prospective tattoo collector to date, providing an insider’s view of the tattoo world to those looking in. Amongst its informative pages, The Tattoo Bible explores the roads and avenues an individual traverses when deciding upon a piece of body art and offers thoughtful insight into every single aspect of this, whilst also providing a complete overview of the many genres available, all exquisitely illustrated with a selection of outstanding tattoo photography. This tome presents a global view of this blood and ink industry as it delves into the world of the tattoo convention and then acquaints the newcomer with the world of fine art, brings them closer to the artists responsible for tattooing’s evolution and introduces them to dedicated tattoo collectors with fascinating stories to tell, whilst also disseminating the myths behind laser tattoo removal and explaining the facts. Education is paramount when it comes to making decisions that will echo through the hallways of one’s life. The Tattoo Bible provides wisdom and a balanced perspective in a book by which you may live your tattooed life.
History of Tattoos
Fine Art FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF
Cover-Ups & Lasering
Collector Profiles
© 2010 Jazz Publishing
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