Tattoos that make you go “WOW!”

[ThePioneer]

Tattoos are something that I’m very passionate about and I’m a bit of a snob so seeing all the horrible tattoos in the tattoos that make you go “WTF!” thread brings great pain to my soul... So I’ve decided to go ahead and take LolasLiger’s idea and create this thread of awesome tattoos and tattoo artists.

My first featured artist is Kurt Fagerland located in Atlanta.

http://www.kurtfagerland.com

 

[Rose]

The guy who did my two large tattoos is really talented. I'm not sure if I should share his other work, but here's mine and here's a link to the facebook page where his work is hosted.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.283705344986903.75307.147423495281756&type=3

 

[Shaun__]

I like black light tattoos.

 

[AliceDoe]

I like black light tattoos.

I SOOOOOO want to get a blacklight tattoo!!! But I don't know what I should get... Decisions, decisions...

 

[Rose]

Oh man, I've been wanting a black light tattoo for awhile but I'm not sure of any parlors around here that are licensed to do them.

 

[MrRodry]

from http://fyeahtattoos.com/

 

[NoelleBright]

I know horror tattoos aren't really everyones thing, but Paul Acker has an absolutely insane amount of talent.

 

[JoleneBrody]

Saw this the other day! It's AMAZING! Most everything I have is traditional styling but a lot isn't finished. I haven't been able to do anything for about 6 years. Really looking forward to wrapping some stuff up when I move.

 

[ThePioneer]

I know horror tattoos aren't really everyones thing, but Paul Acker has an absolutely insane amount of talent.

I absolutely love Paul Acker's work!

Mike DeVries also does some really incredible realism tattoos.

http://www.mdtattoos.com/

 

[JoleneBrody]

The texture on this one is insane!

 

[Lintilla]

I have zero tattoos, and I really would like to change that. Problem is any artist I find who I'd let come near me turns out to be in France, because I guess that's just the style I like. Very minimalist stuff for the most part. I'm going to have to either save up to get myself over there or pay closer attention to when they visit North America -- these guys book appointments YEARS in advance for their trips. Otherwise find someone who lives here who's doing something similar (any help, anyone?)

Any of these guys, I wouldn't even want to have much input in the design. I'd just tell them... I like these particular ones you did, here is my body, put something on it. Well, maybe a little more specific, but not much.

Loic:


Yann Black:


Lionel out of Step:



Noon:


And this one is Flash, so I couldn't copy any images: Topsiturby

 

[ThePioneer]

I have zero tattoos, and I really would like to change that. Problem is any artist I find who I'd let come near me turns out to be in France, because I guess that's just the style I like. Very minimalist stuff for the most part. I'm going to have to either save up to get myself over there or pay closer attention to when they visit North America -- these guys book appointments YEARS in advance for their trips. Otherwise find someone who lives here who's doing something similar (any help, anyone?)

Any of these guys, I wouldn't even want to have much input in the design. I'd just tell them... I like these particular ones you did, here is my body, put something on it. Well, maybe a little more specific, but not much.

The "abstract" style is extremely popular throughout Europe right now, especially in France, Belgium, and Germany. I don't know of anyone that specializes in that style in the U.S. though.

Eva Mpatshi:

Jason Vaughn did this one, it's the closest I could find off the top of my head:

 

[lordmagellan]

While maybe not up to par with the Paul Ackers and the Mike Devries (seriously stunning work on both accounts), I would feel remiss if I didn't pimp my hometown peeps.

http://artfuelinc.com/

Most of these folk are just awesome people- I can speak for three, as I don't know the other two- and pretty amazing artists outside of tattooing. That's important to me for some reason. I think it gives the artist a better understanding of art and therefor, makes a better tattoo. I love their studio, too, because it also operates as an art gallery for locals and not-so-locals. I've hung there and my wife's hung there, so I may be a little biased.

Someone mentioned horror tattoos. I can't hear those words without thinking of one name: Paul Booth. I grew up admiring Paul's work (I kind of missed my calling with ink, I think). He may not have the best style or technique, but there's no denying he does some eye-grabbing, haunting work. And he tends to paint the word as I envision it, so, again, I may be a little biased. I can't really seem to find a page exhibiting his ink (mostly his paintings), but google images is your friend.

 

[LolasLiger]

The 1196 Word Tattoo

Check out the rest of that site for more literary tattoos.

And I will share one of mine, on my left forearm. No, I am not going to claim it has *wow* factor. Just doing so because I share that site's love of books (sorry it looks so crudey. I took that pic with my phone a day after I had it done, so is scaby. I shouldn't be so lazy and take a better pic). The lines are from the poem:

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

 

[LolasLiger]

Just a few from the many that i have collected over the years

 

[Lintilla]

The "abstract" style is extremely popular throughout Europe right now, especially in France, Belgium, and Germany. I don't know of anyone that specializes in that style in the U.S. though.

Thanks for that, the label and the couple of other countries gives me a bit more to search on. I know a lot of these artists do make it over to North America now and then, and the more I can find that I like the more likely I can get myself to the same place at the same time. I'm really very interested in getting tattooed, but I'm also suuuuper picky and kind of have my mind set on this style, and at the same time set on not asking someone to "create something in this style", but to imagine something in their established style and put it on me.

 

[lordmagellan]

I generally dislike word tattoos, but I'd like to take a day and read every inch of that woman.

 

[JoleneBrody]

:shock:

 

[lordmagellan]

http://nemesistattoo.co.uk/portfolio/john-anderton/

 

[LolasLiger]

Most of the most amazing tattoos that I have seen are in the magazines I subscribe to rather than ones i see online. Sadly my scanner has bitten the dust but i will see if i can capture some with my camera. In the meantime, a recent profile on Total Tattoo magazine had me drooling. Brendan Mudd's portrait tattoos are so good. I found his MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/inkfishtattoo/photos

and Skindeep had some of the work done by Peter Bobek that i loved:

http://www.myspace.com/peterbobek/photos

 

[ThePioneer]

Timmy B from Black 13 Tattoo. They have some other really great artists there but he's my favorite.

 

[IvyLux]

http://www.inkarmy.com/dmitriy-samohin
This guy's work is ultra-realistic and beautiful.

 

[Red7227]

Fuck Yeah Girls With Tattoos



http://fuckyeahgirlswithtattoos.tumblr.com/

 

[JoleneBrody]

This thread needs a bump and I've found the perfect excuse!

 

[Anonymous]

I LOVE star tattoos. :thumbleft:

 

[BloodRed87]

This isn't as impressive as the other ink jobs in this thread, but I still love it:

 

[Anonymous]

Can I brag about my brand new tattoo? Yes? BITCHIN'.

 

[ThePioneer]

Valerie Vargas from London.

She may be known for her girl heads but I absolutely love the way she gives a modern feel to traditional work. It seems that many of the great artists that I've been looking at are so far away, one of these days I'd really like to just travel the world and get tattooed.

And as a bonus here's a pretty neat video series on her:

Part 1
http://www.vice.com/tattoo-age/valerie-vargas-part-1#ooid=lsOXh1NTrjsADo8H7VQ3j6Af3VVCt-9U

Part 2
http://www.vice.com/tattoo-age/valerie-vargas-part-2#ooid=VwMnF3NTpyMis4n-c-M4nRxZVnq6_1Xk

Part 3
http://www.vice.com/tattoo-age#ooid=15aTAwNjqKDzCG4RWZG8RbYeFFCZEHMK

 

[ConnerJay]

Wow

 

[Anonymous]

my tat[/color]