Shaquille O'Neal Tattoos

Shaquille O'Neal is a great all star caliber NBA player and 3 time finals MVP, commonly referred to as "Shaq" and the "Diesel".

Not only is Shaq an accomplished basketball player, he is also well known for his impeccable acting skills and sensational singing voice, not to mention an official U.S. Deputy Marshal.

Shaquille O'Neal is also a man who enjoys his tattoos, which he has around a dozen.

The tattoos on his left arm include, the famous shield of superman with the words "Man of Steel", he also has a large tattoo of his nickname "Diesel" just above the shield.

He has a rather large angel on the top of his left forearm, alongside a couple of script designs which are difficult to see clearly. On the inside of his left forearm is a bullseye with a silhouette of himself dunking.

The tattoos on his right arm include, a circular logo with the word "DOG" and the "O" being the head of a pitbull. He has the word "BIG" in bold lettering on his inner forearm, along with a very muscular man which is perhaps meant to be a small portrait of himself.

Shaquille O'Neal is said to have a couple of new tattoos which read "The world is mine" and "Against the Law".

Checkout these pictures of Shaquille O'Neal and his tattoos.

Pressure Hooker

From sketch to the finished product from Joe Capobianco. By the way, his awesome new sketchbook can be previewed here...
http://www.joecapobianco.com/news3383.html

Tattoorism: Jeremy Shares a Derek Hess Tattoo

Although we're not a fan submission site, we'll occasionally post tattoos from fans with interesting work to share. It often helps us through the lean months when most ink is hibernating in the colder climates.

Jeremy recently e-mailed me, having found us via the blogroll of the awesome Needles and Sins site and felt, as he said, compelled to share this tattoo:


Jeremy explains:

"The piece is [based on work] by Derek Hess and it's called 'Flood Damage'.


I got it in April of '09 after 2008 was one of the worst years of my young life (I'm 25 now) to mark the fact that as much as I was flooded with bad things in '08, I was moving on. It was done by a..."Low" [who recently left] Lucky Draw Tattoos in Kennesaw, Georgia. I got it tattooed on the outer portion of my right thigh. The piece took just about 3 hours...I absolutely love it. Everytime...I get a chance to look at it, I remember that I'm not the same guy anymore and that I've moved on with my life."

We featured a tattoo based on the work of Derek Hess previously here on Tattoosday.

Jeremy also apologized for the fact that the photo is in black and white, but there is color in the tattoo. His camera on his phone, however, would not shoot in color.

Thanks again to Jeremy for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday!

Robbie Williams Tattoos

Robbie Williams is an amazingly talented and one of the most successful British pop singers of all time.

Robbie truly has a passion for tattoo designs, seeing how he has fourteen of them, at last count.

He has a rather large Maori tribal tattoo on his upper left arm and shoulder area, containing many twisted and turns which is meant to represent the constant change in his life.

The tattoos on his right arm include, a lion head on his bicep with the words "Born to be mild" on a banner beneath it, along with the phrase "Elvis, grant me serenity" above the lion head.

On his right forearm is a Christian tattoo design, with Jesus on the cross, and the Virgin Mary along side two angels and a dove.

He has a tattoo on the back of each forearm in old English lettering, one says "ILoveU" and the other says "Mother".

The tattoos on his back include, the Eye of Horus, an Egyptian falcon god said to protect from evil spirits. On his lower back he has the musical notes and lyrics of "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles.

On his abdomen is a pair of beautiful swallows, a type of bird which represents freedom and honor.

He has matching tattoos on each wrist with the name "Jack" and "Farrell" accompanied by a small heart, in memory of his grandfather.

Some of Robbie Williams' other tattoo designs include, a Celtic cross on his hip, the word "love" on the knuckles of his right hand, the phrase "chacun à son goût" French for "Everyone has got his own taste" on his chest, and finally the letter "B" behind his left ear, which is dedicated to his good friend Betty.

Enjoy some pictures of Robbie Williams and his tattoos.

The Eagle and the Parrot

We here at Tattoosday have been biding our time over the past week, a seven-day drought of posts to match the scarcity of ink visible in the Frozen Apple of a brittle New York winter.

So today I am posting work not spotted in the streets, but work on the legs of Pete, who meticulously crafted this lovely piece on my upper back last year.

I snapped this shot of an old-school parrot on his left leg late last summer:


And then, last week, on January 2, while peeking on the Year of the Tiger hullabaloo at Thicker than Water, where he is tattooing when not at New York Hardcore, I photographed this cool bald eagle on his right leg:


with this skull in the eagle's talons:


Both tattoos were crafted by old-school Brooklyn tattoo artist Steve Delgado.

I thank Pete for his outstanding work, and for sharing some of his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Ricky Martin Tattoos

Ricky Martin is the Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican pop star, who got everyone's attention with his smash hit song, Livin' La Vida Loca, among other chart topping singles.

Ricky Martin has five tattoo designs, mainly on his upper arms and shoulder area.

On his upper left arm is a naked woman, decorated in the four elements of nature, air, earth, fire and water. He also has a tattoo of a lovely lotus flower on the inside portion of his left bicep.

The tattoos on his right arm include, a beautiful script design written in the Aramaic language, of the sacred Lord's Prayer, the design has a wonderful spiral style to it.

On his pelvis is a rather small rose wrapped around a sword, which was his very first tattoo design.

His most recent tattoo is of the "Om symbol", which is a scared symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism cultures, representing "Brahman" (to grow).

Enjoy these pictures of Ricky Martin and his interesting tattoos.

Ozzy Osbourne Tattoos

Ozzy Osbourne is the legendary singer songwriter and vocalist of the British metal band, Black Sabbath.

Ozzy Osbourne has quite a large gallery of tattoos on his body, mostly on his arms and chest area.

The tattoos on his chest include, a large blue Chinese dragon head with flames on the right side of his chest, and on the left side is a hooded vampire skull with a crack in the middle of its head.

On his left arm is a tattoo of a Gargoyle carrying the head of a zombie looking vampire woman. He also has a dagger of sorts on his forearm with the name "Mom" on a small banner.

He has a very colorful sleeve tattoo on his right arm, which looks to contain a dragon, flames and a claw among several other things. A rose with the name of his wife "Sharon" is on his upper right arm.

Some of Ozzy's other tattoo designs include, a small stick man, two smiley faces, one on each knee, and his famous OZZY on the knuckles of his left hand.

Feast your eyes on the tattoo designs of rock icon, Ozzy Osbourne.

You Da Man, De Masi!

Awesome colour work from Mike De Masi

Mike Tyson Tattoos

Mike Tyson is one of the greatest and most controversial heavyweight boxers in the world and the youngest boxer ever to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles.

Mike Tyson has 6 tattoos at last count, including his infamous tribal style facial tattoo on the left side of face, stretching from his temple to his cheek.

The tattoo designs on his left arm include, the face of tennis great Arthur Ashe with the words "Days Of Grace". On the inside of his left forearm is a tattoo of his second wife "Monica Turner".

The tattoos on his right arm include, a portrait of Chinese revolutionary and Communist leader "Mao Tse-tung" with his name "MAO". Mike also has a rather large dragon on his right forearm, which was his very first tattoo design.

Last but not least, he has a tattoo of the Argentine revolutionary guerrilla leader, "Che Guevara" on the left side of his abdomen.

Checkout these pictures of boxing great Mike Tyson and his tattoos.

Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright!

This is my fourth tattoo and the one I pondered the least.

If you've been reading, you know the premise: 2010 marks the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese Zodiac, and when I heard that Thicker Than Water Tattoo Studio, a new shop on the Lower East Side, was doing a special tiger-inking event for the new year, I grew interested.

When I saw the flash drawn for the event, I knew I wanted one. And, after talking with artist Shon Lindauer, he drew up a special one for me, and the rest was history. Because he wanted to put more time into it, we scheduled the session for Sunday, after the Saturday of the Tiger, and did it on the third, happy half-birthday to me.

So why a Tiger? Aside from the topical (thank heavens it wasn't year of the Rabbit), I can say I have connections to tigers.

My favorite baseball team is Detroit, and I spent four years at Occidental College in L.A., home of the Tigers. In that sense, since 1985, I have been part-Tiger.

But like most tattoos, meanings grow and new meanings emerge. I am a poet, and what writer is worth their salt if they heard the word tiger and didn't think of William Blake?

THE TYGER (from Songs Of Experience)

By William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

1794

And so I strode onto Avenue B with a sense of purpose, and a desire to go under the needle again. And the snow flurried but I did not feel the cold. I knew, soon enough, that I would feel the fire from the tattoo machine.

Even in my most positive frame of mind, I didn't dream that this great drawing


would become this much bigger and more colorful tattoo:


And one of the many things I love about it is, that at a slightly different angle, the perspective shifts significantly:


Lucky me, Shon worked with mechanical precision, and I was his first client that got to experience his new custom shader, built by Seth Ciferri.

The tattoo was done in under two and a half hours, and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. I love it.

Thanks to Shon Lindauer for his hard work on this awesome tattoo and the staff at Thicker than Water for welcoming me into their shop.

Marilyn Manson Tattoos

Marilyn Manson is the satanic goth rocker, who your parents have probably warned you about.

Marilyn Manson has quite a few tattoo designs on his body, most of which are in relation to the occult, horror and underworld of society.

The tattoos on his right arm include, a smiling single horned green cyclops, a large green hornet/fly looking insect with a tiny skull drawn on its wing.

On the backside of his right forearm is a tattoo of a large skull and spooky haunted tree which is rooted into the top of the skull.

The tattoos on his left arm include, a large smiling red devil in the center of a horseshoe with an eight ball on top and three dice below, all of which are placed on six, surrounded with flames.

Just below that tattoo is the head of a black goat (Baphomet), which is a symbol commonly associated with satanism. He also has a ghoulish face on the backside of his left forearm, a comic book character titled "Uncle Creepy", plus a cobweb on his left wrist.

And finally, Marilyn has seemingly matching tattoos on his inner forearms of the mythical creature known as Cyaegha. A green eye enclosed by a mass of tentacles.

Feast your eyes on these pictures of Marilyn Manson and his tattoo designs.

The Year o' the Tiger Has Begun...

Happy New Year from all of us here at Tattoosday!

2009 was a banner year for us as we reached an even broader audience, racking up 317,000 hits, almost triple what we had seen here in 2008. We're looking forward to welcoming even more visitors in the coming year.

Yesterday, I paid a little visit to Thicker Than Water Tattoo Studio on the Lower East Side where, as I mentioned in the previous post, the good folks were inking tiger tattoos to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Tiger. At $50 a pop for these tiger specials, the artists had a steady stream of clients asking to get their tiger stripes for the upcoming year.

Despite frigid temperatures with single-digit wind chills, clients were still drifting in when I left later in the evening.

I did get to watch as Shon Lindauer worked on Jennifer, who added this cute little tiger to her collection of over thirty tattoos:


Jennifer was born in the Year of the Tiger, so it seemed appropriate to take advantage of this super deal that the artists at Thicker Than Water were offering.

It was also great to see Peter Caruso again, who tattoos at the shop three days a week. Pete appeared here on Tattoosday and subsequently inked this piece on me last Spring. He even had his own set of flash for the January 2 promotion:


As I bundled up to brace myself against the cold, customers were drifting in from Avenue B and a young lady checked out the flash to decide on another tiger tattoo. With a few more hours to go, it looked like the artists were going to be busy.

As for me, many may be wondering if I joined the ranks of the tiger-tattooed. Check back tomorrow to see if I have anything new to share...

Happy New Year and thanks for continuing to visit us here on Tattoosday.