Tattoos Archives - Page 77 of 79

June 25, 2016

Interview with Lucrezia

Our Italian contributor Ilaria Pauletti chatted to tattooist Lucrezia about her beautiful tattoos and recognisable style…

Lucrezia is a Sardinian girl with a colourful heart and sea waves in her hair. Her Sarditional style is getting more and more renowned and here she explains the perfect mix for a tattoo made with love. Among coricheddos (little heart shaped sweets), delicate feminine figures and amulets, she is bewitching the web! You can find her in Milan, at Toy Tattoo Parlour.

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You are a complete artist- a graphic designer, illustrator and tattoo artist! Can you tell us a little bit about your artistic career? It was a quite natural process, you know, I grew up with colors in my hands and I used to leave my marks on every surface. My path as an illustrator and tattoo artist were parallel to each other, they reflected a way more rebellious and emotional side of my studies in architecture and graphic design. My degree surely gave me the basics useful to search the composition and balance in each drawing I make.

What is your first memory connected to tattoos? My first memory is a feeling, I see the tattoo as a very important gesture that helps to fix an emotion and one that is on your skin for you to wear forever. As a tattoo artist,I find that the tattoo is a rite, that binds deeply the tattooer and tattooed during the creation of the piece.

The transformation of a story into a picture and the subsequent transposition of the skin, the pain, the amount of tension and excitement, and an indelible bond that is created with all my clients. These are the things I love the most about this work and I’d never imagined they could become so essential and vital for me.

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How would you define your Sardinian style? Is it a declaration of love for your homeland and the coricheddos (typical Sardinian sweets mostly made of almond and honey)? The sarditional was originally born as a hashtag game on Instagram. Initially, before I started tattooing, I filled my illustrations with little women tattooed with Sardinian buttons and motifs derived from the Sardinian tradition. Beginning my career as tattoo artist, they became my main subjects, executed using the technique of traditional style. The designs were simplified, with thick lines and black shadows, from there I put that Sar-ditional touch. Now it has become a real characteristic of my style, which is to bring to the world the Sardinian tradition, from ‘pavoncelle’, kokkoi, to buttons and coricheddos. And all those jewels that the Sardinian tradition considers to be protective amulets and charms. That’s how the design of a sarditional becomes a real ritual to put on the skin: for Sardinians and beyond!

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What are your daily inspirations, both personally and professionally speaking? Every day, the inspirations are the most varied, most of the time I get influenced by my moods, from the weather and especially by music. This last is crucial because it helps me to channel myself in mental states that may not belong to me and, for example, when I prepare a drawing for a client I can get closer and better identify himself using music.

From Alghero to Milan: how are you living this experience and what are your expectations? Milan is basically adopting and taking very good care of me, I am very good and I also managed to do a lot of experience, getting to know many people and growing especially from the professional point of view. Alghero will forever remain the seat of my roots and going home to do some guest spots is a must for my creativity. Sardinia is a land that offers so much inspiration, and especially its silence and its mystery stimulate creativity in me.

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Corals, beads, women faces filled with love. What are the subjects you prefer to tattoo? My favourite subjects are without doubt the little women, I find them super expressive and I am able to communicate anything through their eyes and hands.
I try to draw every little woman to resemble as closely as possible the client who will wear them forever. In fact, I generally choose the colours together with the client, also to see what kind of colours and feelings that person sends me, and most of the time I guess right!

Who have you been tattooed by and who is on your wishlist? I have two beautiful surreal pieces made by the great Gabri Pais. Others by my boss Amanda Toy, who has spoiled my skin with bright colours. A piece signed with perfect lines by Paul Colli. A wonderful little woman by Viola Ceina. Another woman who remembers the old pieces of George Burchett, masterfully executed by Marco Sergiampietri. And a super old school tattoo by Alessio Errante.
In my wishlist you will find; Chiara Pina, Nicholas Rinaldi, Giampiero Cavaliere, Carlotta Cawa, Luca Font and internationally Bouits, Danielle Rose, Kirk Jones, Emily Rose and many others!

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Do you have any side projects you would like to tell us about?
I carry on various projects and collaborations, where I leave my mark with my illustrations. I have a newborn project this year, where my illustrations are combined with stories of “Appunti sparsi di una trentenne a Milano”; I often work approaching the magnificent letters of Gabriele Cecere. I always carry forward my graffiti under the name of La*tete, it was all born one evening, many moons ago, out of curiosity and in Milan, thanks to my good friend Nacho. When I have some time left, I also collaborate with the great artist and friend La fille Bertha.

Do you have any future guest spots and conventions planned?
My future guest spot will be in August for Cagliari Tattoo Convention. And then I will be in Rome and Florence within the year. The next dates and locations will be surely posted on my Instagram!

June 13, 2016January 30, 2025

Interview with Dr. Faisal Rehman

45-year-old Dr. Faisal Rehman is a nephrologist (kidney specialist) and Associate Professor of Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. He also takes care of patients with kidney disease and contributes heavily to the education of hundreds of medical students, residents, and subspecialty fellows.

Here, Dr. Faisal Rehman tells us about his weight-loss journey inspired by his love for his family as well as his boxing, charity work and of course tattoos…

Photo taken by April-Lea Hutchinson

Growing up, I was a very skinny kid and I remained thin in my early 20s. When I started medical school I began eating more and exercising less. I didn’t start to pile on the pounds until I graduated from medical school and got married. I started neglecting my health, working long hours and eating fast food. Pretty soon, I became supersized! In 2002, while completing my training in Nephrology, I had ballooned up to 242 pounds.

Around the time, this picture was taken, I bought a new home for my young family that I couldn’t afford. I wanted to protect them if anything should happen to me, and I applied for life insurance. Unfortunately, my life insurance application was turned down because it was clear that I had type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. This was embarrassing for me, that as a physician I had allowed my own health to deteriorate. Almost immediately after the results, I started eating properly, cut out all of the fast food and began eating sensible meals. I also started exercising, lifting weights and running and within six months I transformed myself into the picture below.

I lost 70 pounds in eight months. My blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol normalised and I was approved for life insurance. It was at this point, I started to participate in boxing classes.

Life was great until 2006 when my second daughter Nadiyah was diagnosed with Leukaemia at three years old. This was one of the most heartbreaking times in my life. I put all my focus on her recovery and treatment, my training stopped. I lost more weight because of stress and fear for my daughter’s health. Her chemotherapy treatments lasted for three years, at the end of 2008, she was in remission and doing great. This experience changed my perception of what was important in life.

In 2009, I took charge of raising money for the Kidney Clinical Research Unit at our hospital. I organised a black tie night featuring a boxing tournament between amateur athletes from the USA and Canada. I decided to fight on the night, in the hope that we would raise more money. So at the age of 38 I began training for my first fight. In sparring over the next several months I suffered a broken nose, hand injuries and concussions, but I got myself in top shape and was one of the featured fights at our charity night event called “Showdown in the Downtown”. Although I lost my first fight, it was an amazing night of fights and we raised $107,000 for charity.

In 2011, when I turned 40, I decided that instead of painting on tattoos for my charity fights, I was going to get real tattoos. I wanted the tattoos to symbolise my warrior spirit. Inspired by the fighting spirit of boxer Miguel Cotto, who had amazing tribal tattoos, I started getting inked. Rich Lambe, owner of Stay True Tattoo in St. Thomas, Ontario tattooed my tribal and the wings on my back that symbolise speed and agility.

Photo taken by April-Lea Hutchinson

While organising charity events and working, I ventured into the world of kick boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) as I wanted to challenge myself. I absolutely love it!

Through my work with my charity Showdown in the Downtown, we have now held a number of professional combat sport events as well as music concerts with acts like Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo and Jann Arden. Our last four events raised over $250,000. Over the last seven years we have raised over $1.4 million for kidney disease research, solid organ transplant research, cancer research and to combat poverty and homelessness.

This year, I turn 45. I have never been in better shape and I am now proud of my body and tattoos. I had some pictures taken of myself showing off my tattoos and my fit physique, mainly for my own memories and also to remind myself that it is never too late to embrace your body and to embrace the art you have placed on your body, as it is a reflection of your spirit. I am not sure if it was my own health scare or the scare I had with my daughter’s health that motivated me to change myself, but I suspect both of these events changed my outlook on life for the better. I am grateful that I have been able to help myself, my family and others through combat sport and through my charitable work. I am blessed.

June 8, 2016

Oh Bones Illustration

25-year-old Brit is an illustrator, writer and musician from London. We chatted to Brit about her dark gothic archaeology inspired drawings and her tattoos…

Inspired by Things&Ink Brit created this self portrait just for us…

Do you have a background in art? How and when did you start drawing? I don’t have a background in art at all, I began drawing at university when I was studying archaeology – In the labs we had to draw the artefacts and bones. It was there I noticed that my drawings were good and not going so badly. I then graduated and moved to Amsterdam to do an MA in archaeology and I started drawing for an hour a day and thought, this is much better than being in a library studying. So I didn’t do the MA and continued drawing instead!

What inspires you? Being an archaeologist inspired me the most because I spent years researching the human psyche and behaviour throughout time. My speciality is death and burial, and I guess that often comes across in my art work. I also love poetry, which inspires my art quite a lot and along with every illustration, I write a poem.

What medium do you use? How do you create each piece? I use both digital and non-digital. I love using fine line pens and Indian ink to create my work. I like things to be imperfect because that way you seen the human in it.

What kinds of things do you draw? Usually I will draw people, disembodied limbs, plants – anything really. I almost always draw around a poem or song I’ve written, to give some visuals to my other artwork in my music and writing. I like it all to be one big art piece – audio, visual and written.

Describe your style? Tailored, black, kind of like an old fashioned 1920’s boy!

Do you admire any other artists, do they influence your work? I usually admire artists whose work is nothing like mine! It’s nice to clear my head of anything remotely like my work now and again, so I really like the work of Gordon Armstrong and Robert Saeheng they’re really great. But I also like old school artists like Patti Smith, her word work really inspires me in my own poetry and in-turn in the art I create around the words.

Can you tell us about your tattoos? I don’t have too many tattoos, definitely under 30 but most of them I love, even though some of them are definitely bad prison style ones. I have some plants, pinky promise hands, trouble making pigeons, dead fish, skulls, love letters, words. Everything! My first one was was just a small one on my foot in Hebrew, nothing too interesting!

How do tattoos make you feel?
My tattoos mean a lot, I’m sure a lot of people say that. Because most of my work is visual, it’s a way that I express myself, so I really do try and add some depth to the things I get tattooed! But sometimes you have so many tattoos there’s only so much meaning behind all of them – some don’t mean a whole lot, but there’s always a good memory behind getting it tattooed.

Do you do commissions? I do commissions, I do ink originals and screen prints for sale on my shop, but I also do a lot of album cover work, tattoo designs and logo designs.

Where can people buy your art? They can head over to ohbones.com and find my shop that way, I will be stocking up for the summer soon, so there’ll be some new T shirts and badges!

June 6, 2016June 6, 2016

Fashion Pearls of Wisdom: Got Sleeves

Our columnist Natalie McCreesh aka Pearl, is a fashion lecturer, freelance writer and creator of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom. In this post she’ll be talking about how getting her arms tattooed was a big deal…

I never thought I’d get my arms tattooed. It had never been in my plan. But then again when I first started getting tattooed I never thought I’d be even close to heavily tattooed, even when I started to get large scale pieces I never foresaw the next. For me getting tattooed has been a process, my tattoos are something which evolve- a collaboration between my own ideas and those of the artists I work with. Even now I don’t have a final vision in mind, I still don’t know if I will end up with a full body suit or not. I have a very wait-and-see attitude I guess. I know I will get two half sleeves and my sides tattooed to connect my back piece into more of a traditional style Japanese half-body suit. But my legs are a random mix of different styles, do I keep them looking separate or do I sleeve them? I’m going off the point; the point of having my arms tattooed being a big deal for me.

I think it’s a huge deal as even though over half my body is tattooed I still don’t feel that I look that heavily tattooed, not from the front anyway. Clothed most people wouldn’t even know I was tattooed. The arms are so visible though, there is no hiding. I have over thought my arms a lot, possibly too much which is why it took me until the age of 34 to have them done. I had also decided that I wanted them to stop at the top of the arm and not go over onto the shoulder and certainly not the chest. So now I have the outline down of my first sleeve, it stops at the elbow and creeps over my shoulder onto my chest. Yeah about that, once my artist had drawn it on, we tried a few different ways of laying it out; it’s just what looked best. I didn’t give it a second thought. Now it’s done it just feels right and I’ve no idea why I was stressing out about it so much in the first place. When I first started to get large tattoos it would take me a while to get used to them, suddenly having something alien on my skin. Now with each tattoo I feel a little bit more like myself with each addition. My sleeve is only half done but it feels like it has always been there.

June 4, 2016June 13, 2020

Apprentice Love: Ella Bell

We spotted the work of 25-year-old apprentice Ella Bell on Instagram and instantly loved her dark art and floral tattoos. We chatted to Ella to find out more about her life as an apprentice at Attica Tattoo Studio in Plymouth where she works…

How long have you been tattooing? I did my first tattoo 14 months ago.

How did you start? What did you do before? I knew tattooing was what I wanted to do but I was never convinced it would actually happen. It took me a few years to build up the courage to take my portfolio anywhere; during those years I tried a lot of things that didn’t work out – menial jobs, I started an MA in art history but dropped out, more menial jobs – and throughout this time art was a constant thing that gave me a lot of joy, so I just focussed on that and it got me through each day. Once I’d decided to find a tattoo apprenticeship, that goal gave me a lot of motivation to really put the hours in and for about six months I spent most mornings drawing and painting, working on my portfolio. I booked in for a tattoo with my now tattoo mentor Steven McKenzie, and felt at ease enough to bring up the subject of an apprenticeship, and luckily he liked my work, and that’s where it all began!

Do you have a background in art? Kind of. My family is very creative and I was lucky to grow up in an environment where making art was always encouraged and celebrated. Art was my favourite thing at school and college, but I chose to study English literature at university and never really pursued art at that level. Sometimes I wish I had, as having access to those kinds of art facilities and teachers is an amazing opportunity, but then again you are subject to exam criteria and all that stuff, and I could never get myself in that frame of mind. How can you mark a piece of art and say it’s right or wrong? It’s really weird.

What drew you to the tattoo world? Getting tattooed! For me, getting tattoos is just really exciting from start to finish, travelling to different studios and being in these different, liberating environments, meeting the artists, and then coming out of the experience with this new piece of art. The tattoo world allows you to be yourself and I just felt a bit like a kindred spirit as soon as I arrived. It’s hard not to be compelled by that. There’s a raw, rebellious, head strong nature about it too, which I love. I love that they are permanent and real, that you can’t buy and discard them like t-shirts. And tattoos are also so beautiful. It’s a celebration of the body and the mind and the spirit. Tattoos definitely offered me the possibility of truly loving and celebrating myself.

Describe your style, how has it changed? I think I have quite an illustrative style which is hopefully refining with practice. In terms of the tattoos I make, I mainly do blackwork but I have started to use a bit more colour as well, but my colour palette is still quite muted. Sometimes I want to do heavy blackwork, solid lines and dark shading, other times I want to do very fine linework, dotwork and greywash. I’m still finding my style really! Natural and botanical imagery is what I love to tattoo the most at the moment though, I could draw flowers forever. It’s so easy to stress about your ‘personal style’, about having something unique that will make you stand out, but I try not to worry because it usually makes me feel shit about everything. People say they can see my style, even if I struggle to, so you just have to trust that the work you do with your own hand will be in some way yours. It’s evolving, and hopefully it always will.

What inspires you? Seeing other people’s creative output and success is very inspiring and it motivates me in my own work. There are countless tattooists who inspire me in terms of the practice of tattooing and where you can go with it. Maxime Buchi, Fidjit and Damien J Thorn are the first three that come to mind. They all have such distinct styles and their work is so strong. I love it and they definitely inspire me to work hard; I’ve had a few tattoos from all three of them and every time, the experience was incredibly inspiring too. I have a deep interest in art history which influences my work as well, particularly Europe’s Medieval, Gothic and Renaissance periods. And I love early Japanese ink painting – their depiction of flowers is just breathtaking. Nature inspires me every day, and so do my mum and dad.

What would you love to tattoo? I would love to do more large scale work. I don’t know if I’m ready for anything like a back piece yet, but I’d love to start creating bigger compositions that flow with the body. It would be amazing to challenge myself with that.

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What is a typical day like for you? Having woken up I usually check Instagram with a coffee, as predictable as that sounds, and then I’ll do some emails and drawing. In my dreams I do yoga and meditation in the mornings and eat organic flaxseeds and stuff. If it’s a work day, I’ll get to the studio at about 11am, clean, set up, hang out, ready to start tattooing at 12pm. I usually do about three tattoos a day. I like to chill in the evenings, it took me a while to realise you can’t work all hours of every day, and it’s really important to rest and recoup. Your work is better for it.

Do you have any guest spots or conventions planned? I’m working at The Burton Tattoo Collective in Leicester in a few weeks (20th-22nd June), it’ll be my second guest spot there and I’m really excited. Apart from that I don’t have anything planned but I would really love to do some more travelling soon, around the UK and beyond.

Can you tell us about your own tattoos? It’s a growing tapestry! I love blackwork, all of my tattoos (bar one) are just in black. I seem to be covered in flowers and birds. I’m quite a collector; there are so many incredible tattooists out there and I’m really greedy and I just want work from them all. That said, there is beauty in finding ‘your tattooist’ and creating ongoing pieces with them. So yeah I’m trying to slow down a bit; my arms are steadily filling up, and I’ve got some questionable pieces on my thighs that I’m in the process of covering, so now I’m just saving myself until I know which direction I want to go in. I’d like to focus on bigger pieces though, and the overall effect they have and the relationship each tattoo has with its neighbour. It’s exciting.