Sasha Ignatiadou is a digital illustrator and artist based in Germany, who creates oriental inspired pieces overflowing with patterns and cool. We love her fierce tattooed babes and their relation to animals, objects and colour…
Tattoo Artist Myra Brodsky
New York tattoo artist Myra Brodsky has created a line of spooky inspired tattoos titled Cabinet of Curiosities, which features ghouls, goblins and 19th century magic. Strongly influenced by art nouveau and the Victorian age, Brodsky has developed a style that is feminine, classic yet dark…
I’m not interested in making little girls happy in the simplest way, and if I was I wouldn’t even be able to serve that, I only see the world through my own twisted mind and it just happens to be dark inside of there. I cannot help it.
What inspired you to become a tattoo artist and what drew you to the world of tattooing? I did not become a tattoo artist because I really wanted to. For me it came out of an emergency situation. I was 19 when I started to tattoo. I had to pay college fees and rent all by myself after I lost my father. My mother stopped talking to me and disappeared after he passed so I had to figure out a way to provide for myself. Luckily tattooing gave me the chance to generate some pocket money. At that time I had no idea what I was doing so I let my insane state of mind direct my actions.
How long have you been tattooing? I started tattooing in 2008 when I met my best friend at the time who was already working at a tattoo shop. I did not take it seriously when I started and it was more of a way to try out things and tattoo my friends. It took me a while to figure out that it was something I could actually get really good at.
How would you describe your style? How has it developed over time? It’s always very hard for me to put in words what my style is about. I get inspired by a lot of different things, periods of art and places I’ve been to. I settled down in New York City a while ago. But when I was still traveling from one place to another without a steady home base, I was so mad about absorbing all sorts of inspiration I was able to find anywhere in this world. Soon my style transformed into a blend of decorative elements you can basically find in any given period of art from the past and comic-like rather more modern characters that bring the scenery to life. I’m glad that I received my O1-visa for aliens of extraordinary ability as I have the privilege to travel back and forth between America and Europe whenever I want to. I’m sure my style is going to transform again in a few years.
Designs from Cabinet of Curiosities
What do you love to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? What I most like about tattooing is trying to figure my clients out and find a personalised idea that really suits them. Everything has to make sense no matter what idea we are talking about. If I tattooed a large-scale griffin on someone’s arm there’s supposed to be a reason why. Personalities become alter-egos become simplified images.
What inspires your tattoos? Do you think your German roots inspire your designs? I would not necessarily say that my German roots play a fundamental role since I consider myself a European citizen rather than a German. I went to art school and I know a lot about art history and love to help myself to all the decorative and adorning elements that most periods offer. They’re classic, they’re organic and can easily be used as a timeless way to complement your design. It just makes sense to me to tattoo them since classic art never gets old. People still pay admission to see old paintings in museums so I’m sure they won’t regret getting details of them tattooed. But still I need something else to break the sweetness in there. And I’d like to manifest that these days I mix my knowledge of art history with more modern elements I find in adult cartoons from the 70s-90s.
You’ve created a series of designs based on a Cabinet of Curiosities, where did this idea come from? I take the subway everyday, I drink a lot of wine among other things and I watch a lot of B-Movies. I guess that explains at least something.
Design from Cabinet of Curiosities
Halloween Tattoos Pt.2
Halloween is getting closer, the nights are drawing in and we’re stock piling the sweets for ourselves! To celebrate this spooky time for year we’re doing a mini series of Halloween inspired tattoos…
If you’ve got a Halloween tattoo and would like to see it on the blog, send it to us at hello@thingsandink.com
Tatts for Cats: Charity Tattoos
The feline welfare charity, Cats Protection in Coventry, is holding a collection of tattoo fundraisers to help cats in the local area. Cats for Tatts will showcase three flash days in three different tattoo studios in the city of Coventry…
- Saturday 20th October – Queen of Hearts Tattoo Parlour, Castle Yard, Hay Lane
- Saturday 27th October – Grizzly’s Art Collective, Belgrave Road, Wyken
- Tuesday 6th November – The Drawing Room, FarGo Village
The three tattoo flash days, and the cat-themed raffles will raise money for Cats Protection’s Coventry Branch, part of the UK’s leading feline welfare charity which help around 190,000 cats and kittens each year.
Cat design raffle prize by Joanne Baker
Each studio and tattoo artist is drawing up sheets of cat related tattoo designs for you to choose from and book. Once you have your tattoo you can donate to Cats Protection, alongside some of the artists who will be donating a percentage of their fee.
In addition there are two cat-themed raffles – one will see four lucky winners get one of four unique tattoo designs – including the Tatts for Cats china cat (above), by the renowned artist, Coventry born, Joanne Baker.
The second raffle includes a number of unique prizes such as a bespoke pet portrait and custom artwork. After all of the ink is dry you can vote for your favourite tattoo which can win the ‘Cat’s Whiskas’ trophy.
Cat flash sheet by @stephhesketh
Cat flash sheet by @emilylouise.tattoo
Tattoo flash designs by @boo_ink
Dolly Osborne, volunteer fundraiser for Coventry Cats Protection:
Tatts For Cats promises to be three really special events – especially as it will help raise some much needed funds to help us care for unwanted cats. We would like to thank all of the wonderful artists who are giving up their time, talent and money to make the lives of little kitties a little bit easier.
As someone who has been a part of the tattoo community for a long time, I am aware it has a long and established history of supporting good causes. It also has a significant number of cat lovers. We thought it was time we brought these two elements together to help our furry friends
Make sure to follow Tatts for Cats on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more details and updates.
Ceramic Tattoo Art
48-year-old Matthew S. Kennedy from Paso Robles in California creates ceramic tattoo art by using a tattoo machine to draw images onto clay. He specialises in handmade one of a kind memorial and celebratory plates and urns…
Were you a tattoo artist before you worked with pottery? Or do you have a background in art? No, I have never worked as a tattoo artist tattooing on people. I am fully self taught in ceramics by reading 100s of books/movies on the subject and just working hard to create my own style. Not a lot of background in traditional art in school or anywhere else.
How did you make the move to ceramics? Or have you always worked with this medium? I have been working with ceramics now for about 23 years. Ever since I got sober from alcohol. My AA Sponsor suggested I get a toy potter’s wheel and to take a up a new hobby. I was playing pool for a living at the time. About 2006 I was watching a reality show called Miami Ink on TV. About a month later I was attending a tattoo convention in Pomona Ca. and noticed a tattoo kit for sale. I wondered to myself, “could I could use that on my ceramics?” I bought the tattoo machine, took it home and the rest is history. Find out more here.
What inspires your designs? Do you do commissions? I have a coloring book on Amazon called Ceramic Tattoo Art Coloring & Maze Book: Color for Balance. It is a book of my designs. I started drawing geometric shapes about six years ago while I was going through a rough time with my Mother. I just started drawing them and then coloring them in my AA Meetings to help me cope. I now add them to my ceramics. I do special commissions all the time. I usually do special orders for memorial pieces. I just recently created this piece for a woman that was 37 years old a recently passed away from cervical cancer. Creating pieces like this really gives a special meaning to my art and I feel blessed to be able to do it for people.
