The next tattoo (part 1, revisited)
Ok, after a brief (on the cosmic scale) hiatus from blogging and tattoo mania, I’m back on the scene. This is all happening fast, but I think that A) I know what I want, and B) I know where to get it! (I wanna destroy the passerby…)
I decided that the dozens of layers of symbolism that I originally had in mind didn’t really make for a cool-looking tattoo. I also decided that to get back in the game, I should find a highly recommended local shop and go from there, rather than searching the globe for the artist that would really “get” me.
My current plan is to get a tattoo of a dinosaur skull on my right upper arm, with paleobotanical stuff surrounding it (y’know, big ferns, scary flowers, maybe a crazy pinecone-lookin’ thing in there for good measure) for color. I haven’t decided between triceratops (childhood fave) and styracosaurus (bad-ass horns), or if I want the skull in profile, three-quarters view, or head-on (I think I’d rather have a bare skull than a fleshed-out dino head, because who knows what they looked like with skin ‘n’ junk?). I’m hoping the tattoo artist will be able to help out with those decisions; I’d be happy with any of the options. Cub scout’s honor (never made it to Boy Scout), I swear I came up with this before I saw this righteous tattoo.
As for style, I’m not sure how to describe exactly what I have in mind. I want it to be illustrative (illustration-y?), with bold colors and outlines, but not cartoon-ish. I don’t want it to be hyper-realistic; maybe reminiscent of comic book art, but serious, kinda. When I was little, my best friend had this book called 
The Dinosaurs, illustrated by William Stout. It’s really beautiful; I recently bought myself a copy of the latest edition, The New Dinosaurs, and it’s still awesome. Stout’s portrayal of dinosaurs is somewhere between Art Nouveau, comic book, and traditional Japanese art, and he’s really done his homework to make their anatomies as scientifically correct as possible. I don’t want to just copy one of his pieces (although any of them would make a beautiful tattoo), but to have something half as awesome tattooed upon me would make me very happy. I’m hoping that the combination of this inspiration and the artist’s personal style will really be great.
Speaking of artists, I think I’m going to start with Red Rocket Tattoo in Midtown Manhattan, about 3 blocks from where I work. They’re rated #1 in a recent Best of Citysearch.com poll, and hell of convenient (for the time being).
Hopefully more news soon… I’m always in danger of chickening out or getting sidetracked, so wish me luck!
Ink Nerd 
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I am actually looking at getting a styracosaurus skull as well
February 23, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Adam! You should TOTALLY get the styracosaurus skull. Email me at josh@inknerd.com if you want help finding pictures for your artist to use as reference; I collected quite a few of them when I was researching my tattoo!
No seriously, do it!
March 21, 2009 at 11:08 am
You know, I have a shoulder piece using Stout’s artwork (from ‘the Dinosaurs)…wish I could show you!!! (I know this article is old so I’m probably talking to myself).
December 16, 2010 at 2:20 am
(Link to) pictures please! That sounds awesome!
BTW, I have since moved the active version of this site to http://inknerd.com . There are a couple of new posts there if you wanna check it out.
See also my Dinosaur Tattoos group on Flickr (search groups for “Dinosaur Tattoos” and you should find it).
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