Coelacanth Is Watching You…
The coelacanth is one ugly prehistoric fish. The cool thing about it is that it's post-historic, too! (Or at least, um, regular historic…)
From what I can tell, all of the collectors pictured below have three things in common: they like fish, they feel some connection to the concept of "survival", and they are nerdy enough to get a big tattoo of a living fossil.
This beauty adorns Mary McCarthy (no artist info available). Photo from The Love Lab, which seems to be a fish science website. How awesome is it that they have a "tattoos" section?
Arne Kuilman's piece (by Jan-Paul of Admiraal Tattoo in Amsterdam) is a nice balance of realistic and stylized. He's got some great shots in various stages of tattooage, as well as some cool source images in his flickr photostream. Lots of info about coelacanths in his captions, too. I didn't know, for instance, that the coelacanth's typical "headstand" is about 30 degrees.
Flickr member kittenhiccups says the real story behind her coelacanth (no artist info available) has to do with "evolution, beauty, horror, life, death, defying expectations, surviving
against all odds, my own phobias, and a bunch of symbolic stuff that
means more to me than I can say," but if you ask, the answer you're more likely to get
is, "I just think they're cool, I guess."
Hans Rueffert (contestant on the first season of The Next Food Network Star!) chronicles his tattoo experience on his blog. His coelacanth tells the story of his victorious battle with stomach cancer (extra nerd points because the numbers within the scales spell out "cancer" numerically). Tattoo by Deano, no shop or location info listed; based on original artwork by Richard Kirk.
I never pass up an opportunity to plug the geek-licious tattoos on Carl Zimmer's Sciece Tattoo Emporium, and this coelacanth tattoo (by Craig Cooley, currently tattooing at Stingray Body Art in Boston, MA) on Vicki Rosenswieg's abdomen is certainly plug-worthy. Here's an in-progress shot, as well.
Rusty Piton's "mysterious coelacanth", by Alex Higgens at the Tattoo Factory in Chicago, IL.
Flickr member pczoide gave me the idea for this post by adding his Japanese koi-inspired coelacanth to my Dinosaur Tattoos pool. More shots of this tattoo in progress and after later sessions in his "Finding Nemo" set. I can't wait to see this one completed; I think it will be my favorite one! Tattoo by Davi Duarte at Estúdio Muito Além de Tatuagem in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Tweet Much?
Those of you who actually visit InkNerd.com may have noticed a new feature: the twitter feed. If anyone who doesn’t bother to come to the site is interested in following me on twitter, you can find me here: http://twitter.com/inknerd (I promise to tweet about geek tattoos in addition to the standard personal mundanities).
- Ok, so it’s not exactly Tweetie Bird, but I gotta represent my hometown, right? (No artist information available.)
Mostly I’ve added this bit in an attempt to quickly put some new content on the site when I don’t have time to craft a real post (which is most of the time these days), but it’s also a learning experiment for me: I’m kinda trying to figure out what twitter is all about.
I know, I know, I’m way behind. When it first emerged, I thought “micro-blogging” was a collossal waste of time, but I have gotten used to following the brief snippets of my friends lives on Facebook via their status updates; it is entertaining, and makes me feel closer to those I follow.
And I do love the fact that I can text to twitter from my phone and the tweet will show up on this site, on twitter, in the feed reader of anyone who is following me, and on Facebook (well, it would, if Ink Nerd was on FB). Now, if I could combine all my accounts into one, that would be great!
If any of you are tweeting on a regular basis, holla back! I’m looking for friends to follow…
Holy Tattoo Blogs, Batman!
I saw this delicious blog devoted to pin-up girl tattoos over on Needled this morning. Yowza! What Marisa failed to mention is that Raised by Puffins also maintains a blog about owl tattoos and one about, you guessed it, Batman tattoos!
I’ve been contemplating a Batman tattoo post for a while now, but there are so many out there that I didn’t know where to start (especially due to all the hype re: The Dark Knight)! Thanks RbP, for doing the hard work for me!
Here are a couple of highlights:
Tattoo by Matt Kolling (from Batman tattoos).
Tattoo by Bez on Batman Tattoos
Raised by Puffins, you should really check out the work of Electric Pick! Not only does he have a killer signature style of pin-up girl, he’s recently posted an update of his awesome Batman “pantleg” (is the term catching on yet?).
Batman pantleg by Electric Pick
I think RbP should combine two of his tattoo passions and do a blog about Harley Quinn tattoos! I’d subscribe!
Blogroll!
The most fun tattoo blog I’ve discovered lately is Electric Plog, from illustrator / comic book artist / tattoo artist / skateboard designer / photographer Electric Pick of Conspiracy Inc. Tattoo in Copenhagen, Denmark. I think I need to make a tattoo pilgrimage to northern Europe; they’ve got some great stuff goin’ on over there…
I first learned about Electric Pick from 96khz’s awesome Batman tattoo in Devil Dinosaur’s Geek Tattoos flickr group! Thanks 96khz! Thanks Devil Dinosaur!
Not only are ‘Pick’s original custom pieces beautiful to behold, he’s a prolific blogger and a funny guy! And he ends every sentence with some number of exclamation points!!!
It seems that most of his artwork involves sexy pin-ups in a variety of themes and settings, futuristic cityscapes, robots (the good kind and the evil kind), and international espionage (for some reason, the spies are always in cute little animal costume/disguises). He also has a strange obsession with trams!
I’m also kinda hooked on the blog of Electric Pick’s partner in crime at Conspiracy Inc., Uncle Allan, and that of Allan’s wife, Princess Inferno. I know it’s weirdly voyeuristic to follow the life and times of a group of Danish friends, but it’s fun! Like reality TV, but better, because there are no commercials and everyone involved isn’t awful. Besides, you have to be a little bit of an exhibitionist to blog about yourself in the first place, right?
Other recent (not-necessarily tattoo-related) blog subscriptions include:
- the soon after now: An art-nerd blog by my former French teacher, EastVillKit, who also happens to be a music nerd and a comix nerd. He is both insightful and unpretentious in his descriptions of art and life; a rare combination in my experience.
- Hooper’s Electric: Check out Thomas Hooper’s beautiful work; I especially like his big circular patterned blackwork pieces, of perfect radial symmetry and mesmerizing intricacy. Bonus points for working right here in Brooklyn (at least some of the time)! Double bonus points cuz I saw a guy with an impressive tattoo on the subway platform, and then recognized the piece (and the guy) on Hooper’s blog!
- Measure for Measure: Roseanne Cash, Suzanne Vega, Andrew Bird, and Darrell Brown describe their songwriting (and recording!) process, along with anecdotes from their careers, in this excellent New York Times blog.
What are you reading lately?
Fun with flickr
Here’s what I’ve been playing with:
- I tried the “blog this” function in flickr with underwhelming results. I can’t figure out a way to add WordPress tags using this tool to post to this blog directly from flickr.
- I started a “Dinosaur Tattoos” group and invited some people to join (8 new members — whoo-hoo!). You may have to be logged into flickr to see all the photos.
- I submitted a photo of my Triceratops tattoo to many other dinosaur- and tattoo-related photo groups, and started a discussion topic in each, plugging my new group, of course.
- I added a thumbnail feed from Devil Dinosaur‘s “Geek Tattoos” group (at right; maybe I should be bringing in a feed from the group that I own, but DD’s covers more bases).
What do you think, am I doing it wrong? Any suggestions?
Ink Nerd 
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