Michael DeMatty

Many artists have noticed an increase in text tattoos. These tattoos are simple, unadorned, super clean, and increasing in popularity. These are a few examples of tattoos i’ve done in the last month, the most difficult of which was the long poem, (done on adult film star Tony Vega,) which packed so many words in such a small space with a specific font of varying line thickness, that it had to be done meticulously with a tiny 3 needle liner, which took 2 hours just to outline it. (A second session will be done to fill in the letters completely with black.)

One of the most controversial questions in tattooing is can you do an all white tattoo? For a long time the answer was no, but white ink has come a long way in a very short time, (provided you use the right brands of ink,) and now the answer is definitely yes. I recently did this white dove tattoo on a wrist. Not only is it possible, but now you can even tattoo white ON TOP OF BLACK INK, (though it may take a couple touchups to look good.) White also works much better now on dark skin than it used to. Some of the most elegant tattoos i’ve ever seen are all white. It is the ultimate in delicacy and subtlety. If you’re looking to get an all white tattoo, and you go to an artist who says, “Sorry, that won’t work,” just go to a different artist. (The same goes for getting a tattoo without a black outline!)

Elliott came in with an old tattoo band around his arm. It was unfinished and faded, and it was a somewhat painful reminder of a part of his past. However, he didn’t want to totally obliterate it by covering it completely. He wanted to transform it into something else. He spoke to me for a while about his life and explained that he has been going through many changes in his life. I immediately thought of a cover up method i have seen that effectively covers an old tattoo but still allows it to be seen, if you know what the old tattoo was. Also, he really liked part of the old tattoo, so i planned to create a design that would not wrap completely around his arm. He is a spiritual man who meditates, who lived in Asia for a while, who seemed to have as much of an interest in Asian art as i do. I thought of some beautiful Tibetan calligraphy i had collected from master calligrapher Tashi Mannox which says “transformation.” To me, it just fit him perfectly, as well as being a perfect fit for his cover up. However, there was something missing. It didn’t quite cover the whole area we wanted to cover without wrapping too far around the arm, so i needed to find something to add to the top and bottom of the calligraphy to complete it. I tried adding flames since he is a speed demon on his motorcycle. He didn’t love the flames, but he kept referring to them as roots. That spoke to me. I sent Elliott some photos of tattoos i really admired, including a tattoo by Jondix Mahashakti of a lotus flower. He responded strongly to that one. Another thing about Elliott is that he has dedicated much of his new life to planting gardens and teaching young and old people alike to plant gardens and grow food. It is a true passion. The pieces finally fit together. I did my own version of the lotus, added some Thai style leaves to represent a garden, and added roots growing down through the calligraphy. When i showed him the design, his response was simple but clear. “The seed has sprouted.” Then he told me, “I see your heart in this design!” He was right.

Obviously we have only completed the outline. There are several sessions and phases to come. I’ll show each phase as it happens. Next phase in 2 weeks.

The client for whom i recently designed my first tribal decided he wanted a second one, this time right above his gluteus maximus. Again, he wanted it small, and again i tried to design it to fit his body well, accentuating his musculature.