“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.”
— Hunter S. Thompson

The cutting part of this scar/tattoo tribute to the godfather of gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson was done by Tony Snow. Tony is currently out in my neck of the woods guest spotting at Fatty’s with Hannah. A mere twenty minutes away from my shop and not even a visit. For shame you bastard.

Long-time ModBlog readers will recognize this style almost instantly.  It’s the work of Freak-Mike, one of the many talented artists that passed through the doors of Swastika Freakshop.  While Swastika Freakshop isn’t operating any more, Freak-Mike is still working with Marc in Radolfzell, Germany at Little-Swastika’s gallery.

If you started to follow a trail of breadcrumbs this week, you may have ended up at Star City Tattoo in Roanoke, Va.  You see, Jackie Rabbit has been working on a special piece for a client who is a big architecture buff.  This client had taken a trip to Europe many years ago and fell in love with architecture, specifically the works of Antoni Gaudi.  One piece in particular stood out in her mind, the gingerbread house from the entrance to Park Güell in Barcelona, so that’s what she asked Jackie to recreate in tattoo form.

Every once in a while a tattoo will come along that is so realistic, you begin to question whether it really is a tattoo.  Most of the time this happens with small animals or insects that appear to be crawling over the skin.  This piece by Viktor Sigil is definitely not a small animal.  The middle photo in particular is the one that stands out.  The black background helps give the tattoo the feel of an optical illusion, so if you focus your gaze on the middle of the photo, it seems as if his arm has been replaced by the machine.

Viktor works at Self Sacrifice in London.

Alright so it might still technically be summer, but for most people, when September hits, the kids go back to school and days at the beach are done.  I know that if I drive about an hour north of where I am I’ll be able to see the trees start to change colors and that fall smell is in the air.  So summer may be on its way out, but we still have photos to remember those lazy hazy days.

That would be ShuggaBee, with work by Nick Dyer, Chris Churchill, and Katrina, P.

I really like what Nick Kelley has done with this backpiece.  The cutaway to the spine gives the impression that the vines started growing from within, and have burst outward, pulling the flesh back with them.  This back in particular belongs to Nixiie.

Nick works at Precision Body Arts in Nashua, NH

A client walked into Brandon “Fox” Layng’s studio, Fox Tattoo Designs in Bowmanville with a photo of a painting.  The only thing he said was that it was “The exact moment everything changed”. Since doing the tattoo Brandon has looked high and low as to the origins of the original piece, so if you recognize it speak up, as he’d like to know a bit about the painting he reproduced.

That is the question.  The human question.  Much like this human question hand-poked piece by Max Harris.  Given Hamlet’s famous soliloquy is about him questioning his own life, and contemplating what happens after death, it really works well with this design.  Taking a look at these lines, you can see how the figure not only appears as a question mark, but also as a man ascending in a resurrection pose, an image linked to both death and rebirth.

To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there’s the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause – there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.

At first glance I thought this was a Green Day tattoo, but given the stylistic differences between this original by Viktor Sigil and the art used for one of Green Day’s album, it’s safe to say this isn’t a band tattoo.

Viktor works at Self Sacrifice in London, England.

When someone submits a “Beard Love” tattoo?  Granted Lauranomaly probably loves all beards, so it’s not really pandering, but it sure is a good way to get me to take notice.  Anyone else think BME needs a beard gallery?

This will probably also be the finest use of the “Hearty Beards” tag.