Oh Ninja Turtles. Hands down the best anthropomorphic ninjas ever. Sure the movies didn’t live up to the pure awesomeness of the cartoon show, which in turn was never as cool as the comics, but they were damn fun to watch.
Now this person, they’re a huge turtle fan. Probably not as obsessed as this woman, but definitely a huge fan nonetheless.
Now while this was uploaded anonymously to the cartoon tattoo gallery, we do know it was done by Orlando Ferron from Gold Coast Studio in Monterey, CA.
Personally, I was always a Raph fan. Even before the movies came out and he became the de facto lead character. Don was fine, but he always seemed to be a little dumb for a genius, and well, Mikey was Mikey. Leo was always an enigma. For the leader of the turtles, he didn’t really have much control over them.
As for the tattoo, it’s still incomplete. The next step is to add a Manhattan skyline behind the turtles.
Did you have a favorite turtle? Or were you a fan of one of the many supporting characters? Casey Jones, Shedder, Beebop, Rocksteady? The list goes on, and while the height of turtlemania has passed, they will live on forever in our hearts, as well as our bellies when we eat pizza.
I’m probably the furthest thing from a religious scholar you will find, but during my years in university I did come across a large number of texts that were either directly tied to the church, or at least were influenced by it. Now the term “gargoyle” refers to any sculpture (usually in the form of an animal or person) that is designed to allow water to fall away from the edges of a building to prevent erosion. Over the years people have just adopted the term to apply to any decorative sculpture on the roof of a building.
The reason I bring up the religious side of gargoyles is that centuries ago, when being illiterate was the norm, the church needed ways to convey their stories and rituals to the masses. What better way to educate an illiterate crowd than through images. It was here that the myth of the gargoyle began. As the story goes, St. Romanus encountered a monster in his travels, your typical dragon type creature that breathed fire. Well when Romanus defeated the creature, he brought its body back to be burned, but discovered that the head wouldn’t burn because the dragon breathed fire and the head was adapted to heat. So he hung the head on the outside of the church to ward off evil spirits. Over time the churches would add their own stone gargoyles to the outside of the building in order to let people know that outside the church evil lurks, but inside they will be protected.
Now of course when I was growing up gargoyles were just scary looking statues that eventually came to be “cool” in my young eyes. I suppose that was aided by the Disney cartoon. Of course I’m not the only person walking the planet that enjoys looking at gargoyles. Bromley_Daz submitted this image to BME the other day, and I think it’s safe to assume he enjoys gargoyles as well.
It’s always nice to see images added to the mythological and religious gallery, because often there is a good story behind the designs. This image in particular reminds me that every culture around the world has developed their own wards against evil. Be it symbols or rituals, these wards have become much more than just a repellent to evil. The gargoyle being a prime example of that. What first started as a way to protect buildings from erosion, a practice that pre-dates Christianity by centuries, eventually became a symbol of warning to people. As time passed, these statues became the guardians of the the buildings they were installed on, until eventually they were regarded primarily for their historical significance and their art.
Now while I don’t feel the need to possess any particular wards against evil, I do own a Rangda mask that hangs on my wall, that I really like the aesthetics of. How about you? Do you possess any symbols that can be attributed to warding off the evils of the world?
I’m sitting on a pile of tattoo photos that I wanted to post and I figured instead of spreading them out over a couple days, I’d do a nice big fat tattoo post. Hope you guys like it.
The first piece is by Matt Geiogamah of Club Tattoo in Tempe, AZ.
See more photos of different style by different artists simply by clicking through, oh my!
“Hey, jackass,” Angela writes in, “thanks for posting my Ed Perdomo backpiece a little while ago, but you didn’t even include all the sweet detail shots! Plus, he’s at a different studio now. Try not to screw it up this time, jerk.” (I’m paraphrasing here.) Anyway! We’ll use any excuse we can to get a better look at this beautiful project by the aforementioned Ed Perdomo, who can now be found at Amigo Ink in Trollhattan, Sweden. Go to him. After the jump, more detail shots of this general awesomeness.
Well well well, and here we have Christophe sporting a bright and terrifying back-piece melding bio-mech components with outer space and evil planet-sized Venus fly traps, tattooed in six sessions by the excellent Dimitri from Dimitri Tattoo in Saint Germain-en-laye, France. This, obviously, is your Friday Night Nightmare Fuel. Hooray!
And finally, gentle readers, let us conclude our broadcast day with this calming shot of Tribal Headhunter of Evora, Portugal, showing off one hell of a handsome backpiece by Guru while relaxing on a beach on the Island of Farol. Is there a click-through? Of course there’s a click-through.
Until tomorrow, folks.
BME Shop is having a huge sale — everything in the store (except anesthetics) is 25% off! Go stock up at shop.BMEzine.com before this deal ends!
Greetings, friends, on this glorious Wednesday. Let’s kick off our afternoon with this gorgeous Japanese-style back-piece by Ed Perdomo at Stardust Tattoo in Orebro, Sweden. There’s a lot going on here for such a small photo, though—this is just the sort of thing that begs for a larger post-jump picture. And we have one! Best day ever?
Ha ha, well if this isn’t some sweet retribution. We’re used to seeing Xed Le Head inflict unknown pain and suffering on various clients, but now the tables have turned! Here he is, getting a taste of his own medicine, courtesy of Pink (from Tattoo Pink in Hasselt, Belgium). Really though, this is just a whole lot of incredible tattoo work in one place, and judging by the stoic display, this is just further evidence that Xed is nothing if not the consummate bad-ass.
New Rule: I do not like Motley Crue. I do not think I have ever intentionally listened to one of their songs all the way through. I would like to see Tommy Lee slathered with delicious chestnut honey and chained to a tree in Death-Bear National Park. With that said? The Dirt is one of the most entertaining musical memoirs ever written, and if you commit to an entire goddamn (and surprisingly well-done) backpiece dedicated to these train-wrecks, well, you get featured on ModBlog, friend.
(Tattoo by Tania Sinnaeve at Body Design in Belgium.)
If you’re wondering why this hulking back looks so familiar, it’s because it’s the reverse of this hunk from earlier in the week. Now, if you’re saying, “Hey, jerk, that’s much too small of a picture to truly enjoy the majesty of that fine work,” I couldn’t agree with you more—click on through for a full-size shot.
And just like the sands of time, another week etc., etc. What happened this time around?
And that’s that. You know what happens next: Everybody has a great weekend, we pop in here a few times, and then come Monday, the fun machine starts cranking out the hits yet again. Sound like a deal? Good. Until then, ModBloggers, enjoy yourselves, cheer on Frank Mir against the Minnesotan anger-bear Brock Lesnar and, of course, thank you for your continued support of BME. We’ll see you soon.
