Mark Bult Design: San Francisco, CA, Established 1988

Body Type

Velma and I got our Hitchin' rings tattooed on. It was my first tattoo, and Velma's third (if you don't already know, I'm not tellin').

She's going to change one of hers, partly because it didn't scab and heal right and it looks kinda unfinished, and partly because she wants to mark some personal changes.

When she asked my opinion of her sketch, it led to a discussion we'd had years ago but she'd forgotten. I hate most tattoos. I think most of them are terrible. I think the artwork is often terrible, I think the skill of many tattoo artists is questionable, I think a lot (most, actually) of the things people choose to permanently put on their skin are bog-awful looking and barely better than cartoons.

It's just my opinion and I realize that people can put any damn thing they want on themselves. I simply have a different design and art aesthetic than most people, and when it comes to tattoos it's the same way. Why would I want a dagger, or a "Mom," or a rose or something so pat and predictable?

I mean, be original people. A tattoo is an intensely personal statement, I don't even know how anyone can pick a design out of a book, somebody else's design.

Even if I did go with some totally standard tattoo design like a skull, I certainly wouldn't render it in the cartoony style that most tattoos are done in. And why does everything need to be outlined in black? Lemme give you a hint: If a tattoo artist's book consists of mostly black-outlined artwork filled in with colors, don't have anything to do with it.



And wtf? Why does everybody think words etched on your skin have to be done in old-style Germanic letters?

You may roll your eyes, but if I get other tattoos at some point, one will almost definitely be word-related. But I can guarantee it won't be in an old-style Germanic typeface or some ridiculous script.

Here are some good (and some bad) type-related tattoos, in a book titled Body Type.

Labels: misc. personal, typography, Velma

Posted by espd at 12:18 AM | 
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