Tom Araya Tattoos

Tom Araya is an amazingly talented Chilean musician known for being the bass player and vocalist of the thrash metal band, Slayer. Tom Araya has many tattoos on his body, including two nearly complete sleeves, as well as several other designs on his upper arms and shoulders.

Some of the tattoos on his right arm include, a skull on his upper arm, along with two Kanji characters underneath. Plus many designs within his sleeve, including a star and bio-hazard symbol, plus a bracelet of sorts.

Contained within the sleeve on his left arm is the faces of three women, one of which resembles Jackie Onassis. Tom also has a handful of other tattoos on his upper left arm and shoulder area, however they are rather difficult to identify clearly.

Tom Araya Tattoos

Tom Araya Tattoos

Tom Araya Tattoos

Tom Araya Tattoos

Rafael Araújo Tattoos

Rafael Araújo is a professinal Brazilian basketball player who has also spent some time in the NBA with the Toronto Raptors and Utah Jazz. Rafael has quite a few tattoo designs, mainly on his arms and back. On his left arm is a tattoo of a hand holding a basketball, along with 3 Kanji characters. On his right arm is a large tattoo of a cartoon style shark with its tongue sticking out, along with a couple more larger Kanji characters, on his bicep and shoulder. Rafael Araújo also has a rather large tribal style tattoo across the top of his back.

Rafael Araújo Tattoos

Rafael Araújo Tattoos

Rafael Araújo Tattoos

Rafael Araújo Tattoos

Rafael Araújo Tattoos

Fiona Apple Tattoos

Fiona Apple is an extremely talented and creative American singer-songwriter, with a music style influenced by jazz, pop and alternative rock. Fiona Apple has two tattoo designs which we know of and both are located on her lower back. She has a tattoo of the letters "KIN" and "FHW" on the lower portion of her back (Not Pictured).

Fiona Apple Tattoos

Natalie Appleton Tattoo

Nicole Appleton is a lovely and talented Canadian pop star, known for being a member of the hugely successful pop group "All Saints" and later "Appleton" with her sister Natalie Appleton. Much like her sister, Nicole Appleton only has one tattoo design. The tattoo is on the left side of her lower abdomen, and its of the Chinese symbol representing the "Year of the Tiger".

Natalie Appleton Tattoo

Natalie Appleton Tattoo

More recent pictures!

Most of the time, I tattoo...

...and sometimes I paint, but it doesn't
look like anything I do all day long at work.

Recent Work:

Finished Whitney's Owl Chestpiece!

Started Anna's Second Tribal Cover-Up.

Session One of Erin's Fancying-Up of Existing Lettering.

Sara's EPIC Literary Piece!

Thanks, Rachel!

Rachel came in last week for her first tattoo...then she wrote about her experience!
Take a gander.

Has anyone else done this? Let me know if you'd like me to link your blog, too!

Opening Tonight:

I have some free time this evening, due to a rescheduling. Any takers?

Martin's Basketball a Flambe:

Martin came in last Fall for a cover-up. We had the usual consult and it seemed like "another day at the office", but by the night before his first session I was barely able to sleep. I know this is going to sound melodramatic, but it's all true. I think a lot about each piece, occasionally agonize over some, and generally don't put anything on paper until I have it figured out. By the morning of Martin's appointment, I was feeling unsure of whether what I'd drawn would properly cover the existing tattoo. When he came in excited about his tattoo and I saw the existing Flaming Basketball that I was supposed to cover, I realized that it just wasn't going to look the way I knew it could.


I stared for a while. I'm sure I made some unattractive, worried faces and groans. Finally, I swallowed my tattoo artist pride, told him I would be unable to tattoo him that day, and explained that I felt the black was simply too dark to allow for a successful cover up. I was worried that no matter how well I did the tattoo it would just ruin his entire upper arm. I refunded his deposit, suggested getting just a few sessions of laser removal to lighten the area, and told him I would love to do the cover up when the lightening was done if he was still interested in having me do the work. Then Martin left, understandably bummed. I was completely upset with myself. I felt like a failure. I left early and cried on a friend's shoulder. (Yeah, I'm serious.)

Months passed. I kept my file on Martin, as I do with pretty much all "in progress" projects. Then, in the beginning of this year, I received an email from Martin saying he'd had some laser lightening done and would like to work on the cover up again. He came back in for another consultation. The black was much lighter and I felt confident that we could kick this basketball's flaming ass! We've worked on it the last few months and after four long sessions we finally finished it this past Wednesday. Phew! Haha.

Here's a shot of it after our first session:


And how's this for a happy ending:


Honestly, I couldn't be happier. We had a great time doing the work and we managed to get just about every flower he wanted into that piece! Lesson? Don't count out laser removal because you think you have to go until the old tattoo is gone. There are a lot of laser removal technicians/artists that will happily work with you to get the result you are looking for. Go check them out as you would when searching for a tattoo artist.

Thanks, Martin!

September? Already?

September is upon us already...where did the summer GO?! Below are a few things I did this past week or two. There's been a lot of construction here at the shop. A lot of sanding, sawing, screwing...you get the idea. I'd like to thank everyone for bearing with the insanity. The shop isn't as fully put together as I'd like, so I apologize for the lack of polished-ness. The couch IS really comfy though, so you should all come in just to sit a while, check things out, and chat.

I'm going to remind you all of the discount advantages/star wars presents for me that are happening now...click here The stormtrooper lamp has already been ordered, so that's out of the game. There's plenty more, though! On to the tattoos....

Ravens for Elsa.

Lettering for Dennis.

The Beginning of Sara's Epic Book Piece.

Sakaina's Lilies/Scar Cover-Up.

Carmelo Anthony Tattoos

Carmelo Anthony, often referred to as "Melo" is a tremendously talented NBA professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets, known for his smooth style and clutch jump shots.Carmelo Anthony is pretty much covered in tattoos, mainly both his arms, chest and back.

Some of the tattoos on his right arm include, a flaming basketball with the letters "C A", the classic "Smile Now Cry Later" faces, but with a dagger in the head of the crying face. He also has a snake wrapped around a dagger, on the outer portion of his right forearm along with a couple of stars and "Who Can I Trust" on his bicep.

Some of the tattoos on his left arm include, a bulldog with playing cards in the background, his nickname "Melo" with a flaming tribal tattoo design of sorts. Some of Carmelo Anthony's other tattoo designs include, a spiderweb on his left elbow, "WB" just below his left shoulder, which stands for "West Baltimore". Melo also has several phrases tattooed on his chest, one of which reads "No struggle, no progress". Checkout these pictures of Carmelo Anthony and his tattoos.

Carmelo Anthony Tattoos

Carmelo Anthony Tattoos

Carmelo Anthony Tattoos

Carmelo Anthony Tattoos

Carmelo Anthony Tattoos

Carmelo Anthony Tattoos

Marc Anthony Tattoos

Marc Anthony is a Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter and actor, but perhaps best known for his high profile marriage to the beautiful singer/actress Jennifer Lopez. Marc Anthony has five tattoo designs on his body, some of which are difficult to see clearly.

He has a large cross on the lower portion of his right leg, just above his ankle. A tribal style tattoo of sorts on his right arm. On the into part of his right wrist, is the name of his wife "Jennifer" Lopez. Marc also has two small tattoos on his chest, but its not totally clear what they are, however one resembles a man with a cowboy hat.

Marc Anthony Tattoos

Marc Anthony Tattoos

Marc Anthony Tattoos

Marc Anthony Tattoos

Marc Anthony Tattoos

Phil Anselmo Tattoos

Phil Anselmo is an American musician, perhaps best known for being the lead singer of the heavy metal band Pantera, he is also the front man for the group, Down, and owner of Housecore records.

Phil Anselmo has a smattering of tattoos on his body, mainly focused on his arms.The tattoos on his left arm include, a skeleton, a plaque with the saying "Body and Blood, Joy and Pain, Life and Death". He also has a snake on the inner side of his forearm with a demon and flames on the outer side.

Some of the tattoos on his right arm include, a large zombie head, the devil and other ghoulish creatures on his upper right arm area. Feast your eyes on the evil tattoos of rock star, Phil Anselmo.

Phil Anselmo Tattoos

Phil Anselmo Tattoos

Phil Anselmo Tattoos

Phil Anselmo Tattoos

Phil Anselmo Tattoos