Israel’s “Kid” Memorial Tattoo

This tattoo is a memorial tattoo. It is two doves holding a banner with the word “kid” on it. On December 7th, 2006 a great person left this place. My girlfriend’s 15 year old sister passed away. She was an awesome kid much wiser than her years. We were real close. Because of her sickness she couldn’t go to school so my girlfriend would bring her along when we would run our errands. I still think I am a kid at heart so I get along with kids I know how to joke around so we got along great.

As if having her wasn’t great enough she has a twin sister just as beautiful and just as amazing. Anyways, after she passed away I went to my tattoo artist and gave him an idea of what I wanted, trusting him I let him do whatever he wanted with the idea and he did. He freehanded the banner and the word. Kid is what I called her so I wanted to get Kid instead of her name because I wanted it to be more personal. Anyways I hope you enjoy it. R.I.P. Kid Love You.

-Israel

Also check out Israel’s Virgen De Guadalupe tattoo.

Shep’s Fallen Heroes Tattoo

My name is Shep. I just recently got this tattoo done in Anderson South Carolina at Artistic Ink. Lance Wilson hooked it up for me.

I choose this design for many different reasons. I am an Operation Iraqi Freedom war veteran, and a proud American. I am dealing with being out of the military right now. Its not an easy road to go down. For three years that was the life I knew and now I am starting over. Some times a fresh start isn’t the easy way to go. I picked this tattoo in part to help me remember the good times I had, and to honor those Heroes we lost during this time.

You can see there are 5 stars showing on the folded Burial Flag, those stars each represent one Hero from my unit. Some of those guys I did not know personally, but I occasionally cry for them and their families (as I type this). At any point in my tour I could have been represented by a burial flag.

The grieving mother/wife/sister is there to represent all who have lost someone due to war. I simply cant imagine how it would feel to lose a family member in this war. I hope I never have to find out.

This tattoo is very nice and a really cool looking tattoo, but it is much more than just another cool tattoo. This is to forever remember those fallen heroes.

-Shep

Jack’s Mother Tattoo

This is a tattoo I recently got. It’s not all the way done and I am now considering turning it into a 1/2 sleeve. It’s a photo of my mom when she was 20 years old and getting married for the first time.

The reason I got it is just because it’s my mom, it’s an awesome picture and she’s an awesome person and has always been there for me and always helped me when I needed it. It’s on my right forearm. I plan on getting my dad and grandma tattooed on me as well, but that will have to wait.

-Jack

Tattoo Artist: Karl Otto
Tattoo Shop: Twisted Images in Louisville, KY

Elliot’s Serenity Prayer Tattoo Story

I got this tattoo in Casa Grande, Arizona. It is a tattoo of a prayer called “The Serenity Prayer.” The prayer reads as follows.. God grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change, the courage to change the things i can, and the wisdom to know the difference between the two. The name of the Shop is called Aces and Eights.

The motivation for me to get this tattoo was that i have had a problem with
drug addiction since i was about 16 yrs old. I pretty much was using cocaine about 4-5 times a week thru all 4 years of college. I managed to graduate from college (took me an extra year, so i graduated in 5 years)and all while being on a full athletic scholarship. My senior year with about 2 weeks left before winter break i got busted by campus security(luckily not police) and i od’ed and got kicked off campus and almost lost everything but i managed to work out a deal where if i could complete 60 days in a treatment center and then pass random drug tests and do outpatient 3 hours a week for rest of my senior year i would be able to stay in school and continue to play on the athletic team i was on.

Every day in treatment at least 3-4 times a day we had to recite that prayer and it just started to stick with me. I got the tattoo a week after i graduated and have been drug free since the day i got it. The tattoo stands for my sobriety and the commitment i have to myself and everyone that cares about me to stay that way.

- Elliot

Brittany’s Unbreakable Tattoo

A few months after I turned 18 I went with one of my friends when she got a tattoo. Looking back I probably should have waited to look around at other shops to get such a large piece on my back but, I got it and even with its flaws, I love it.

Up until I was 17 I suffered through sexual abuse when I was very young, never having a real father figure, finding a suicide victim when I was 12 (my step father), being prone to severe depression and when I was 17 losing my mom and big brother within two weeks of each other. Honestly, I dont like to lay it all out there but it needs to be known for the reasons of my tattoo. I got it to remind myself that no matter how hard a situation, I can get through it; no matter how much it seems like Im going to break, I wont.

Ive lead a hard life up until the age of 17 and Im not ‘screwed up’ because of it. I managed to still have a pretty level head on my shoulders and not let hard things get in my way of living life. Unbreakable represents how I live. It represents everything Ive gone through and how I plan on living the rest of my life.

The word Unbreakable represents me. The cherry blossoms remind me to live life to the fullest and no regrets. Its on the back of my right shoulder, taking up basically the whole upper right section of my upper back. I plan to add more to it later on.

- Brittany

Asher’s Star Tattoo

When I was 13 I really started to have problems with depression and mood swings and I was diagnosed as being Manic-Bipolar. I started struggling with school and family and friends. In my freshman year in Highschool, I hit rock bottom and turned to cutting to help relieve the stress and pain I was feeling. No one seemed to understand so it became my own secret.

Over the years, I have been working on overcoming this choice or release. I needed to find something that would help me stay away from hurting myself. I started sketching and came up with this design. I chose the star design because of my love for celestial things and the colors are my favorite, red and black. I decided to put it on my left wrist because that was my arm that is the most scarred, that way I could look at it whenever I was feeling down or depressed.

The spiral stands for the path that I don’t want to go down again. To me, it’s a downward spiral that I’ve fallen down before and I know that I’m strong enough to handle my depression. So now, if I ever get the urge to hurt myself or I get really down, I can look at my wrist and know that I can over come it.

- Asher

Tattoo artist: “M” at Aftershock Tattoo in Olathe, KS

Dragonfly Tattoo with Tribal Markings

I have always been fond of Dragonflies ever since I was a child. their free spirited movements, lust for life and never-ending vast array of color and structure always mystified me.

A few years ago I experienced a life changing event and realized that unbeknownst to me, I truly was a dragonfly at heart. I decided to tribute this piece to myself and my new life. I am an emerging free spirit with a zest  for life and change.

The artist-ink pusher is Pike, and at the time he was at Shivas in Ybor City, Tampa FL.

More Dragonfly Tattoos
More Tribal Tattoos

Death Tattoo inspired by The Sandman

This lil ink blotch was probably around ten years in the making. It has been in my mind in some form for at least that long. About a year ago I decided to put things into motion and finally commit to getting it done.

I had originally intended to do the art myself but my once upon a time talent has over many years of neglect and un-use eroded away like a sand castle at high tide. I spent a few days doing very rough sketches and jotting down notes in the margins trying to get all the info from lo those many years onto the paper so I could hand it off to another more capable illustrator to bring to life.

I then put together a very short list of artists who had worked on The Sandman that I thought would be right for the job. I settled on Richard Case (remembered most for his classic run on Doom Patrol) for many reasons including a) He’s a super nice guy. b) He’s a fellow NCer. c) He worked on one of my fav arcs of Sandman. d) His style is very similar to where my own style was headed. and e) His art looked like it would translate well to being tattooed.

Rich took my sketches and notes and did an amazing job. There was very little that I asked him to change from his earliest sketches. I took his finished art and laid out the text in a graphics program myself.

Last but not least was the search for a Tattoo artist that I thought was good enough to do the work. No hacks for me, only true artists. My first choice fell through. He’s a busy, busy man. I settled on Sarah Peacock of Artfuel.inc studios in Wilmington, NC a lovely and talented British lady. She did a marvelous job, especially in helping me add a touch of color to the piece which I really wanted.

Eventually it will be a half sleeve but I’m still working on what I want as the background. Then I will book more time with Sarah. There is loads of symbolism packed into the design including a Blue Jay perched on the cross that is in memory of my Dad whose name was Jay. When Mom passes a Bumble Bee will be added to honor her, her name is Bea.

It’s all about the yin and yang of life and death, light and dark and how they balance and define each other. The Gaelic on the base of the cross is roughly translated as “My heart is within you”. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

Thanx.

Ivory

Design: Ivory, Richard Case
Tattoo Artist: Sarah Peacock, Artfuel.inc studios, Wilmington, NC

This is my fourth tattoo. It is a fairy tattoo – I got it as a birthday present for myself. The original plan was to have it on my belly but since I wanted the details as much as possible, I decided to put her on my hip.

I always wanted a fairy tattoo. All my other tattoos have been about something symbolic and simple (an infinity symbol on my lower back and my initial on my right foot), and one was to cover a scar (a flower on my left leg above the ankle).

To have this piece of art work on my body strengthens my love for tattoos. The process took about four hours and yes, it was painful. I can’t stop admiring this one and it feels good knowing that I now have my own fairy to keep me safe.

-Elza

Tattoo artist: Clay McKay from Anonymous Tattoo, Savannah, GA

More Fairy Tattoos
More Tattoos of Women
More Hip Tattoos

Michael’s Sandman Tattoo

My Sandman tattoo – this piece of art from Neil Gaiman – as I’ve read it the first time about 10 years ago I absorbed it completely. Wikipedia says about it:

“The Sandman‘s main character is Dream, who is essentially the god of dreams, but is displayed as being the personification of all sentient beings’ collective ability to dream and tell stories”

The wish to get a tattoo of Dream or Sandman as I like to call him grew over time but I was feeling unsure where to go and I wanted a particular picture of him as a tattoo. The breakthrough came in May 2006 as i met with some of my schoolfellows and one of them had a nice Tribal one his arm. I asked him where he’d got it from and some time later I sent an e-mail to www.gecko-tattoo.de and asked them if they could complete my picture of Sandman so I would get a full picture of Sandman to put on my chest.

We arranged a date and a few days later I went to Gecko Tattoo. It took 2.5 hours for Salva (specialised in Freehand) to complete it and everytime I look at I smile. Everytime I hear “Tear In Your Hand” by Tori Amos that got a reference to Neil Gaiman:

“..if you need me, me and neil’ll be hangin’ out with the DREAM KING.

Neil says hi by the way”

I feel good to have Sandman on my body and in a way in my soul.

Inshallah

Michael