Comments on: Ink Links

Ink Links

Juliet Banana — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:09:09 -0800

Two tattoo artists who go far beyond butterflies and tribal arm bands. Ryan Mason crafts lush pieces ranging from the sacrilegious to the hilarious to the literary. Amanda Wachoub has expanded fine art to the tattoo realm with her delicate watercolor-like works and conceptual bloodlines.

Ryan Mason works at vegan shop Scapegoat Tattoo in Portland. Amanda Wachoub works at Daredevil Tattoo (NSFW) in NYC. Previously: a short discussion of Ryan Mason in the Awesomely Bad Unicorn Tattoos thread.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:18:51 -0800

Wow, I really like the idea behind "bloodlines." A truly temporary tattoo using distilled water instead of ink.

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:19:25 -0800

Those Amanda Wachoub tattoos, in particular the ones that evoke the vibrancy of watercolor or abstract paintings, or are more literal images, art works on the skin, are amazing. I have no tattoos, have no desire for tattoos (was it some Metafilter wag who said all tattoos should come with small print under them, "Ask me about my parents' divorce!"), but have long found the tattooed suicidegirl look to be compelling. These watercolor-like tattoos are astonishing to me; they take the tattoo to the next level, looking less like a cheesy tribal wanna-be look, and instead an explosion of beautiful color and shape. How could you resist wanting to run your finger along the tattoo?!

By: juliplease

juliplease — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:32:38 -0800

Wow, indeed. I love this one of Amanda Wachoubs (linking to her studio portfolio to get the direct link). I'm really riveted by her work. What wonderful work.

By: Lizc

Lizc — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:43:53 -0800

Amanda Wachoubs' work is amazing. How is this even possible?

By: weezy

weezy — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:52:05 -0800

Wow these are amazing. Geek Love is one of my favorite books ever!

By: Floydd

Floydd — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:22:35 -0800

Echoing hincandenza. I feel the same way about tattoos, but Amanda Wachoub's work has forced me to reevaluate. I never knew it could be such a vibrant medium.

By: Uppity Pigeon #2

Uppity Pigeon #2 — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:31:42 -0800

Amanda Wachoubs' work is amazing. How is this even possible? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that one must be some kind of shared hallucination. Clearly not actually possible.

By: cloudstastemetallic

cloudstastemetallic — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:42:05 -0800

I see your Ryan Mason and Amanda Wachoub, and I raise you one Jesse Smith. His Blog is worth a look as well.

By: cloudstastemetallic

cloudstastemetallic — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:43:19 -0800

Sorry-HTML didn't work...here. http://www.kaoticenzymes.com/Tattoos/ http://www.kaoticenzymes.com/

By: bhance

bhance — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:49:12 -0800

I want this one, because it is ****ing win. This is why I am not allowed to get a tattoo.

By: Juliet Banana

Juliet Banana — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:54:32 -0800

Bhance, I'll hold your hand while you get your feline monarch if you convince me that getting a dapper steampunk walrus tattoo is a totally rad idea.

By: chronkite

chronkite — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:16:48 -0800

"How is this even possible?" The exact same way it's possible with acrylics or colored pencil, through hard work, dedication, and rigorous observation. Anything that's possible on paper or canvas is possible in tattoos!

By: ashaw

ashaw — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:31:25 -0800

Do anyone know how long these 'Bloodline' tattoos last for?

By: water bear

water bear — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:39:48 -0800

Holy crap. Some of Amanda Wachoub's are off the chain.

By: ocherdraco

ocherdraco — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:49:04 -0800

Well, she's going into my rolodex.

By: Lutoslawski

Lutoslawski — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:54:46 -0800

So, I thought most of these were eh...except for HOLY SHIT AMANDA WACHOUB'S ABSTRACT ONES. Planning trip to NYC.

By: mareli

mareli — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:32:07 -0800

I opened the Amanda one then it wouldn't let me use the back arrow and I had to shut firefox and when I reopened it it gave me a weird message I've never seen before about being embarrassed because it had lost my tabs.

By: dersins

dersins — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:54:08 -0800

So, I thought most of these were eh...except for HOLY SHIT AMANDA WACHOUB'S ABSTRACT ONES. Yes x 1000. Ryan Mason's work is very good. Excellent, even. But in the end it's "just" superb, highly-skilled execution of the sort of thing I've seen a thousand times before. Amanda Wachoub's abstract pieces, though? I have never seen anything like that before. A large part of my brain is refusing to believe that some of those are not photoshop trickery-- but it doesn't even matter because it's something I haven't seen before, and how often, really, does that come along?

By: dersins

dersins — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:55:32 -0800

Wachob. Not Wachoub. Shit. I should do her the respect of getting her name right.

By: Bunglegirl

Bunglegirl — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:19:00 -0800

Wow, Amanda's abstract tattoos are amazing. If you like her modern stuff a friend of mine got a tattoo by Esther Garcia who has some colorful stuff in a similar style. Personally, I think the hot dog tattoo is rad and the colors on this one are beautiful.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:39:02 -0800

Though this is from a magazine, I am in awe of Jesse Smith's skill. But Amanda's "brush stroke" look... stunning. I'd fear go a bit Lady Macbeth if I ever took up painting. That, or I'd assume random ink was intentional and forget to wash it of.

By: Bageena

Bageena — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:53:07 -0800

Every day I'm hustlin'.

By: misskaz

misskaz — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:59:52 -0800

Bunglegirl, I am proud to say that Esther Garcia is my tattoo artist. In fact, the Wisteria cover up and back piece on her site is me, and I came in here to pimp her work. Glad you beat me to it. She was just declared Best Tattoo Artist in Chicago by Chicago Magazine in their August issue.

By: serazin

serazin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:20:58 -0800

Seems worth mentioning Bay Area darling Marie Wadman at Diving Swallow.

By: mkb

mkb — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:53:00 -0800

My favorite tattoo artist is Lionel from Out of Step Tattoo. They're so whimsical!

By: Space Kitty

Space Kitty — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:58:00 -0800

Amanda's work is gorgeous. I've never seen tattoos I like better than mine, but the abstract work... I don't have enough adjectives for how beautiful that is. I need to get to New York.

By: Lutoslawski

Lutoslawski — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:30:31 -0800

Anybody find any info or have a rough guess how much something like this would cost? I know nothing about tattoo pricing, really.

By: Daddy-O

Daddy-O — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:23:23 -0800

I had two tattoos on my small intestine but I had them surgically removed on May 1st. No, I don't have pictures.

By: ubersturm

ubersturm — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:35:44 -0800

Holy shit, I've been saying for years that I'd love to get tattooed - if I was able to come up with a spare, elegant design I liked, and to find a tattoo artist who was skilled at fairly abstract stuff. I think Amanda Wachob may be that artist. Now I just need to design something greyscale I'm satisfied with...

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:52:13 -0800

My favorite tattoo artist is Lionel from Out of Step Tattoo. They're so whimsical! You might also like Yann Travaille's work.

By: ferociouskitty

ferociouskitty — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 07:26:58 -0800

Do anyone know how long these 'Bloodline' tattoos last for? My artist frequently does a bloodline first, before doing line work. During my last session, he made some adjustments between bloodline and black line, so I had a few ink-free bloodlines—had, for about 2 weeks. It's now 3 weeks since that session and there's absolutely no trace of them any more. I suppose exact timing would depend on the individual's body and how he or she heals.

By: egypturnash

egypturnash — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:04:56 -0800

Holy shit, Wachoub's stuff is awesome. It's so... not tattoo imagery, in style, execution, or subject matter. I've been looking around Boston to get a fairly large graphic piece I designed done and really haven't found anywhere that makes me want to go "hell yeah these guys"; everything I see feels like it's the same old "overshaded under-contrasty skeletal clown ripping out of a hole in your flesh" stuff. But this. Wow. It's explosions of color. I'm finding myself tempted to drop her a line and schedule a trip down to NYC.

By: PhoBWanKenobi

PhoBWanKenobi — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:46:11 -0800

Anybody find any info or have a rough guess how much something like this would cost? You would have to contact the shop, but custom ink these days in NYC starts around $200 an hour and goes up from there. That looks like a 2+ hour piece to me. Which is why I have a huge, unfinished tattoo on my side. (Also, can we cut the "Tattooed people must have had dysfunctional childhoods" stuff? Some of us--many of us--just like the pretty pictures.)

By: ArgentineBlonde

ArgentineBlonde — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:42:53 -0800

egypturnash: Look up Cory Kruger, I think he's currently at Renegade out in Auburn, MA.

By: cereselle

cereselle — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:53:53 -0800

Susan Behney-Doyle at Jinx Proof Tattoo in DC. She did my full back piece (a tree), and her shading is beyond amazing.