Mario Live! » Tattoo Art

Ooops, Holidays In My Hayabusa Kanji Tattoo!

Mario — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:53:26 +0000

If you are not familiar with this and you think after reading this headline that my tattoo is on holiday without me, your wrong. So let me explain.

If we talk about holidays in a tattoo we mean that there are blank spots in it. Tattooists call them holidays and I think this is because the artist was somewhere else with his thoughts while doing this.

This can also happen to very experienced tattoo artist. Of course they will always give it a touch-up for free if it occurs. If you just start out tattooing I guess that it’s very likely that it happens to you. At least it happened to the Hayabusa tattoo I did on my leg.

You may have read this and this article and watched the video’s.

If you were waiting to see the final result of this adventure I have to apologize. It will take a little longer that I can provide a photograph of it. First the healing process has to be completed and then I will have to make a touch-up. As it’s just one Kanji character I could also state that I do it all over again. Then when it’s healed I will provide a picture of my Hayabusa tattoo.

In the meantime I want to show you the image that was used for the stencil of the tattoo and compare this version with the one you could find on the motorcycle that is named after the bird (Hayabusa is Japanese for Peregrine Falcon).

This is the is calligraphy version of the Kanji I used for my tattoo:

The version on the Suzuki Hayabusa looks looks this:

The main difference here is that the second one is kind of cursive and that it makes the impression that it’s fast painted with a brush. The middle vertical line is (in both cases) interrupted. In the Suzuki-version more than in the calligraphy version above. This also suggests speed.

Maybe I did mention it earlier: I’m not a biker and I honestly wouldn’t dare to ride a motorcycle like this (if any). You maybe want to watch the following video to understand why:

Why You Can’t Translate Your Initials Into Chinese For Your Tattoo

Mario — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:38:08 +0000

I participated in this very interesting discussion over at the British Tattoo Forum of the vendor where I purchase my tattoo supplies. A mate were looking for appropriate Chinese Characters to tattoo the initials M.B. on a client.

I explained why this isn’t working after anther participant shared his experience with this.

Chinese symbols are phonetic and not alphabetical. The second mate had his first name Anthony translated. The result were 3 Chinese characters. According to his Chinese neighbor the symbols were saying An-tho-ny, what translated back into English meant: peace eastern strong person.

If you ever go to China with your Chinese character tattoo you don’t want your tattoo to be frowned at.

My 2 cents to this were this little advice:

As Chinese characters are phonetic and western characters are alphabetical we compare two totally different things here. It’s the same difference as between characters and numbers. You could take the numbers of the position of your initial letters in the alphabet and tattoo them. This would make the same sense as the example above.

Here is how to do it accurate as possible:

Every name has its meaning. Try to find out the meaning of your name (there are books out there about that topic) and then have a go to translate that meaning accurate in Chinese.

In the case of my first name this would result in the following:

Mario = Man from the ocean (as far as I investigated, and I investigate a lot)

So if I would like to have my name tattooed I would search for a translation of ‘Man from the ocean’ rather than a literal translation of ‘Mario’. This would at least assure me that I don’t have have a tattoo that says something completely different than I think it says.

I can’t emphasize enough that it’s recommended to invest in Yingying’s service here, as I explained in my post How To Avoid A Total Failure If You Consider A Chinese Tattoo.

Have a nice day ahead!

How To Create A Custom Tattoo If You Can’t Draw It Yourself And You Know Nobody Who Can Do It For You

Mario — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:29:28 +0000

During one of our weekly meetings with some friends at Rene’s place (our host since 15 years, at the time of writing) last summer we had this conversation about tattoos. Better said about tattoo art. Earlier that day I’d stumbled around on the web aimlessly and enjoyed some very beautiful photographs of models with great tattoo artwork.

As it was warm, Rene showed more skin than usual and made me think of my discoveries that day. At one point we studied the tattoos we’ve got and came to the conclusion that Rene’s tattoos, though well done during one of his Amsterdam vacations, are a collection of images that don’t have any connection with each other.

I wanted to know why he didn’t decide to make it a whole. You know what I mean. You can get a tattoo and another one and let them create a certain harmony. Rene had chosen to get a barbwire here, a devil there, Stephen King’s clown Pennywise on another spot, a spider (including a web) on one side of his back and so on. Some others on his chest.

None of this tattoos is visible if he wears a shirt with short sleeves. Rene wants to avoid confrontations with his employer. He has to represent the company as he has contacts with clients. Understandable, though it shows how old fashioned the world can be.

I told him that his tattoos look very nice and at the same time he has some kind of chaos on his skin. Thus totally different than this beautiful young lady here, who wouldn’t be less beautiful if she wasn’t inked at all:

He answered that if one hasn’t the ability to design his own tattoo he has to do it with something from the catalogues that are available in every tattoo parlor.

Rene got a point here but I think that Rene’s choice was taken impulsive. The thought of Let’s get a tattoo now I’m in Amsterdam in his mind. Otherwise he would have asked me to design something for him that matches his personality. I’m quite sure about that. Even though it would be difficult to define my friend in a small drawing.

I don’t think that there is nothing wrong with tattoo’s from a catalogue. Rene is certainly right when he says that not everybody has the artistic abilities for designing a tattoo.
The only advise I keep giving is don’t get a tattoo on behalf of a tattoo. You get this ink on your body for the rest of your life, so think before you ink.

I think the most common custom made tattoos nowadays are Chinese or Japanese character tattoos and I wrote about it in this article. I recommend reading this article if you want to avoid failures. You can also think about a Chinese character tattoo combined with other items.

A while back I had another discussion about the subject and a workmate asked me to take a look at a software called Tattoo Director. I visited the vendors website and (try to) embed their video right here. Forgive me when I say that I find it kind of funny.

I had to laugh when AJ stated that you can move the components from the application around and I found his voice kind of cool. But of course I gave it a serious look.

The first thing I asked myself was What can this program do what you can’t do with any other graphic application?

The answer was pretty simple: Nothing. I really don’t see something you couldn’t do with this software that you couldn’t do with any other graphic software. Be it Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, Manga Studio or however you name it. I would definitely use one of this programs (if at all) to draw my own stencil outline.

A pro would be the price. For $30,- you get a graphic program that can edit and combine different tattoo designs. It seems to come with a bunch of different designs that you can color and/or combine.

OK, let’s think a little further and please correct me if I’m wrong. Do you need to do the coloring within the software? In my opinion you want to print out a stencil outline. The whole coloring process is done during the process of tattooing. Thus, in fact the coloring would be a waste of time no matter what software you use for this purpose. The only thing I could imagine is showing a colored version of the design to the tattoo artist who will tattoo you.

Isn’t it just the same as having one of this catalogues on your computer? The vendor says that there will be added more graphics than the ones the software comes with. The only thing that differs from selecting a motive from a catalog is that you can combine more different tattoo designs into one. This takes a little bit the character of a standard design out of it. Doesn’t it?

If you can’t design a tattoo by yourself it is certainly more expensive to have it done by somebody else than buying this software. Of course you can use the software over and over again. In my opinion the results you get from the software are not really as unique as you would wish. But OK, if you create multiple designs with it, it will pay off.

It’s not very easy to give an advice here.
Would I buy it?
No.
Would I recommend it to a friend?
No, I would offer to design something for him or her.

This is all I can say. But as there is a hassle free money back guarantee you can try.
If you want a design that is most likely not inked on somebody else’s body, you can’t do it yourself and you don’t know anybody who can design something for you, you can give Tattoo Director a shot.

Have a nice day!

How To Avoid A Total Failure If You Consider A Chinese Tattoo

Mario — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:16:05 +0000

Not everybody who read my the article on my first tattoo experience also watched the accompanying 13 minutes video. This is too long and too much asked to a stranger who is passing bye. Especially if the article is quite long as well.

This said, I want to share this little story with you.

It’s mentioned by Ilaria during the filming and it’s from my dear friend Pedro. He told me this story about his workmate during one of our Wednesday (beer drinking) evenings we hold since 15 years at the time of writing this.

Pedro had this workmate who showed up at work with a sleeveless shirt showing his fresh and gleaming new tattoo. It was a tiger with a black Chinese character right beside it. They had the usual chat about pain, costs and meaning. I can’t remember exactly what Pedro told me the Chinese character was saying, but it really doesn’t matter as you’ll see in a second. However, it should have been something cool and tiger related.

The next day Pedro’s workmate came to work and looked pretty disappointed and kind of nervous. Pedro asked him what was going on and he told that he went home by train the day before. While he was waiting on his train to arrive a Chinese girl came to him and asked very politely: Excuse me, but why is your tattoo saying a quarter to five?
Pedro’s workmate immediately protested and said that she must be mistaken as his tattoo said something powerful, tiger related. The girls shrugged and went away smirking.

Pedro gave his workmate the clever advise to go to a Chinese restaurant, showing his tattoo to an employee there and then he would knew it for sure.

The guy admitted that this was very wise and after work he decided to take a meal at the local Chinese. He asked the waitress if she could read the character on his arm. She said no (she was born in the Netherlands, could talk the language but didn’t knew all the characters) but she would ask if the chef had time to look at it.

After a while the chef came and he said with a friendly smile that it said a quarter to five. Pedro didn’t tell me if the guy finished his dinner, but he wasn’t that happy when he came back to work the next day.

If you like tattoos at all is a question of taste. If you like Chinese characters as a tattoo is a question of taste as well. Personally I find Chinese characters in a tattoo beautiful and esthetic. The problem with them are stories like the one above.

What amazes me the most when I hear or read a story like that is that people don’t do any research beforehand.

In the first place you know that a tattoo is for life. If you think about a tattoo and you think at the same time that you can let remove it later if you don’t like it anymore, here is an advise I want to give you: don’t let anyone tattoo you. Just don’t do it if you are not for the fully 100% confident that you want to have it on your body for the rest of your life. Think before you ink!

In the second place people tend to spend a lot of money for their tattoos. Of course it’s in the eye of the beholder what you consider a lot of money. My Chinese character tattoo had a price of $ 100,- back in 2008. Not expensive and it’s the quality you can expect from a top tattoo parlor as East Side Ink in New York.

If I wasn’t confident at the time of getting the tattoo that the characters are exactly saying what I thought they were saying, no needle had been put in my arm. I can assure you this for the fully 100%.

I was lucky that Ilaria’s adorable Chinese friend Ching was so nice not just to translate the saying for my tattoo but also to gave me the advice to take another saying what’s an Chinese idiomatic equivalent of it. This is the help you need if you are not Chinese and want to have a proper tattoo consisting Chinese characters.

When I came home my girlfriend confirmed that she couldn’t find anything weird in my tattoo. It was after the inking was done but this gave me the final security as my girlfriend had studied the Chinese language.

But be aware! Even if you know a Chinese person who is keen to help you doesn’t say that this will work without failure. You see, translating a text from one language into another takes more than just the skill of translating words one by one. Even sentences isn’t enough. Why should I’ve made the decision to translate a text into Chinese that no Chinese person would ever use? You see what I mean?

Again, if I hadn’t had the assurance of an accurate translation and advice I wouldn’t have this tattoo today. If I had known about the Chinese tattoo artist Yingying at this time I would have invest $30 or $50 extra to make sure my tattoo isn’t a failure and a waste of my money all together. This is even more true if we talk about tattoos that cost a couple of hundred bucks. Removing a misspelled tattoo is painful and much more expensive than the tattoo itself.

Yingying’s service is no automated stuff. She delivers custom translated Characters for your tattoo. Her design makes you stand out from the crowd with zero risk of misspelling. Besides this she works secure and fast. Within 24 hours you get your translated design delivered. She also provides the stencil outlines what can save you the money for this as well.

You should consider this if you are up to get a Chinese character tattoo.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Show Your Tattoo… Tanya

Mario — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:11:29 +0000

Tanya is a doctor from Brazil and a very good friend of mine since a year or so at the time of writing this.

In her daily life Tanya works at different hospitals and on ambulances. The images she is seeing during a normal working day are beyond of what you and I possibly can imagine. You wouldn’t expect this when you’d see this adorable person in a shopping mall.

As I like people, I love to know somebody who is saving peoples lives.

I’m glad that Tanya decided today to take the step and join the Show-Your-Tattoo-Challenge. She’s biting the top off, as we would say in the Netherlands.

So let’s take a look at Tanya’s tattoo’s and what she has to tell about them in her own words.

I had my first tattoo in 1996, when I was at the Medicine School. I was always a rocker girl, so I wanted a tribal tattoo that could represent my "rebel" side BUT… with a blue heart in it, that represented a lighter side of me… Of course, in a hide place (in my back)…

The second and the third tattoos I’ve made in October 2009. There’s a superstition that a person must have tattoos in odd numbers… So… I’ve made two at the same time, according to have three inks, lol!

The second was the sakura (cherry blossom) in my left flank. I’m sansei (third generation of Japanese’s), so I do respect my ancestors traditions and culture and the sakura represent it all for me.

The third was a pink skull, that I love since I was little… It was a choice just to achieve an odd number… lmao! But it’s a cute skull, with hearted shape eyes… It’s located in my right flank.

This year I want to cover my first tattoo… with a big water dragon, that interacts with the sakura tattoo. Of course, all in hidden places. I don’t want trouble with my career. This because in the place where I live there’s still preconception about inks in doctors.

Well, that’s the brief story of my tattoos…

If I could, I would have inks all over my body, but I can’t.

Show Your Tattoo… Robbie Williams

Mario — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:01:06 +0000

OK, at least one of the many you’ve got, while we are still waiting for the tattoos and the stories behind them of our dear readers.

Here’s Robbies most recent one presented at Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on BBC One:

Show Your Tattoo… Lady Gaga

Mario — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:01:56 +0000

It really was a coincidence when I was browsing to the homepage of Youtube and thinking about your tattoos I’m waiting for, the first thing that showed up as a suggestion for me was this video where Lady Gaga explains to Jojo her peace sign tattoo.

Again, the main interest goes out to YOUR tattoos. You don’t have to be a celebrity to participate. Read the main article here if you missed it.

However, I think this video shows that every tiny tattoo has its story:

Show Your Tattoo…

Mario — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:50:59 +0000

…and share the story.

If you have a tattoo did you know that there are a bunch of people in your daily life who would like to take a closer look at it but they probably don’t want to bother you by doing so? Do you think it’s time to give others the opportunity to take this closer look and do you want to share the story of your tattoo?

If your answer is yes and you have no problem with your tattoo(s) being featured on this blog please contact me via the contact form. I will provide you with an e-mail address where you can send your pictures and your story.

Even if you’ve chosen your tattoo design from one of the flash books of your tattoo shop and you think it’s not special enough, I can assure you that it is. For whatever reason you’ve chosen your design, it makes it special for you. You will never forget the day you got it. Every tattoo has its story.

Do you have regrets about one or more tattoos? This can be a reason for sharing as well.

I’m very curious about your tattoos and your stories behind them and I know a bunch of people are. So don’t be shy and share. If there are enough participants I’ll create a new category and make a (hopefully long) series of this.

Thanks in advance! I’m looking forward to read/hear from you!
Mario

P.S.: Before you hurry now to the next tattoo parlor, watch and listen to this tips by tattoo legend Paul Booth:

Mario Tattooed In Manhattan At East Side Ink Tattoo by Alex Leon Sherker!

Mario — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:17:18 +0000

As you can see in the pictures and the video below, we leave the political distractions of the last few days and dive into the ‘daily life’ again. I put it between marks because it is not a daily experience for me to let someone write Chinese characters with a needle in my arm. Once reached the age of 42 not many people would get their first tattoo, I guess.

Above you can watch the 13 minute ‘torture’ video. Feel free to read the rest of the post first, as it provides additional information.

There are two different kinds of Chinese characters (a.k.a. Han Characters). Traditional and simplified. For my tattoo I have chosen for the traditional, as they are in my opinion better for an artistic purpose. More about Chinese characters for tattoos you can find here.

The story of this tattoo

The main character of my second novel LOSER – Director’s cut (at the time of writing this, just available in Dutch) had these tattoo in Chinese Characters on his back that said: I would rather die standing than live on my knees.

This wasn’t just impressive to a Dutch journalist who interviewed me for a literal e-zine but also to me. He was curious if I had this tattoo on my body and of course he asked me if I could identify myself with what the tattoo said. I answered that I of course totally agreed with the saying of the tattoo but that I don’t had any tattoo. I also told him that I was considering getting this tattoo.
Part of the back story of this tattoo is a workmate I worked with in Germany when I was a 17 year old boy. He had this saying on his arm. Nothing special except the saying itself. He had it just as a German sentence on his arm. So it was impressive but not very attractive.

Anyway, when I came to New York and explained Ilaria from TurtleInk.org some details about my book (gosh, it has to be translated in English) she told me that she had Chinese friend who was able to translate the sentence into Chinese characters. Ching was so sweet to send us immediately 14 different artistic masterpieces of the sentence. There is a idiomatic equivalent of the sentence that is on one hand more native and on the other less painful (it’s shorter what means less characters to tattoo. Savvy?). Now it says: I rather get killed than humiliated. Pretty much the same as the one my main character has, isn’t it?

Alex Leon Sherker

This friendly bearded guy is award winning tattoo artist Alex Leon Sherker. The pictures at the top of this post showing how he is working on my arm. First of all he was able to make me feel comfortable. As I’m inexperienced with getting tattooed I very appreciated that. Especially when somebody is working on your skin with a needle and ink it’s better somebody you can trust. Alex did a wonderful job. Thank you so much, Alex!
You can take a look at his work on Ajaxtattoo as well as on EastSideInkTattoo.

Joshua Lord

As Josh mentioned in the video for the record: he don’t smokes! What you see is an exception. At least it is the last time that he is going to smoke a cigarette. Believe it. Now!
However, Joshua is co-owner of East Side Ink Tattoo and together with the other guys he belongs to a group of the friendliest people I have ever met. As a shy first timer in tattoo land their warm welcome and conversation made it easier for me not to draw back at the last minute and decide not to get a tattoo.

Joshua is a body artist too of course. You can enjoy his art at JoshuaLord.com or EasSideInkNYC.com. Even better: go to 97 Avenue B, between 6 & 7 Street and visit East Side Ink Tattoo. As they have plenty of art to do you will maybe call for an appointment (212) 477 2060.

Jen Terban

Jen Terban is a veteran in the industry and co-owner of East Side Ink Tattoo. On WorkingMother.com you can read about her experience of having a baby and open a tattoo shop.

Thank you for your time on my blog! If you have any suggestions feel free to comment or contact me.

Until we meet!

Mario

Mario Live! » Tattoo Art

Ooops, Holidays In My Hayabusa Kanji Tattoo!

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