Justin Bieber: Music Artist To Ink Artist

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Stars-n-Skulls

New York tattoo artist “Bang Bang” (we don’t know if that’s his legal name or not; if it is, then we’re strangely impressed) has long been known as an artist to the stars, but it appears he’s also a canvas to the stars, because he lets his clients work on him. People like Rihanna, Chris Brown, Katy Perry, Amar’e Stoudemire, Baptiste Giabiconi, and now Justin Bieber have all put their mark on the professional marker. Yes folks that’s right, a respected professional body artist has allowed the guy who sings “Baby” to permanently mark his leg; fortunately the tattoo didn’t turn out too bad…although the subject matter leaves a bit to be desired.

During a recent trip to Bang Bang’s New York shop, the Biebs inked a design of his cartoon alter-ego on the renowned artist’s calf. This alter-ego happens to be a cartoon mouse named “Swaggy”…who also has his own tattoo…and a six pack…and weird feet. As a group people who have crossed the line where the actual content of their ink now matters less than the story attached to it, we can understand allowing a random famous person to ink your leg in the name of running a good bussiness and getting good publicity, but why the hell would anyone want to be a mouse named “Swaggy”? To each his own; we guess. The new ink was part of an exchange between Beiber and the shop owner, who gave Justin the name of his new album (“Believe”) on his left forearm.

The new lower arm work is just the latest in a slew of tats for the “If I Was Your Boyfriend” singer. The Canadian-born pop prince has been getting inked since his mid-teens, and his collection already includes a Greek Chi (looks like an “X”, means “Christ”), praying hands with roses around them on his calf, Jesus on his leg, the Hebrew word for “Jesus” om his ribs, an owl, a crown, and a Japanese Kanji (it means “music”). We’re sure that he has more ink in his future, as he’s been so consistent with his work in recent years and he’s still in the middle of his prime tattoo years. We expect his to end up with a full sleave at some point, probably when he tries to transition to “more serious” music in a couple of years. We look forward to it, because say what you will about him as a person and an artist (we have plenty, trust us), but the kid usually has nice work done.

Miley Gets Heart On Her Sleeve

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Stars-n-Skulls

So the old folks like to say that Miley Cyrus is in the middle of some kind of drastic fall from grace because she keeps getting ink and new haircuts and getting engaged and possibly un-engaged. However, us young folks (well…younger folks at least) like to think that if we were barely in our twenties and had millions of dollars in the bank, we’d have died in some sort of bus full of strippers-related accident , so her going through a better funded version of everyone’s quarter-life crisis isn’t even kind of a big deal. The girl is clearly going through her punk rock phase, and there’s nothing wrong with that; her new tattoos also give us things to write about, so we’re nothing but happy with her. The artist formerly known as Hannah Montanna was recently spotted rocking her litle boy haircut and a grown woman piece of ink, and amidst rumors of her engagement dissolving, we’ve got some theories about it. The new tattoo was done by “LA Ink” star Kat Von D, and it’s a miniture rendition of Leonardo Di Vinci’s “Anatomical Heart”. It’s a very well done piece of work, that perfectly copies the original art (Kat Von D may have some personal problems, but the lady knows her needles), but it’s placement and meaning are a bit peculiar to us. We get that the heart is literally on her sleeve and we’re cool with that message, but what we don’t get is why she put it so close to her older Roman numeral piece. We’re unsure if they’re meant to function as one piece or not. If they are, then the nail has been cracked on the head, but if they’re not, then she should’ve considered her placement better. We also don’t know if the ink was done as a reaction her current emotional state, or whether it’s an overall statement on her attitude. If it’s the former, then we fear she might regret it a bit someday; we’ve all got at least one like that though, so really who are we to judge ? Like we said before, the new ink is very well done, and it joins a now large list of pieces on the starlet’s body. She already has the word “love” on her ear, some crossed arrows on her back, a bunch of little symbols on her fingers (cross, heart, peace, and equals signs to be exact), “just breathe” on her chest, and a FDR quote on her arm (it goes with a piece that Liam Hemsworth has). At this point, no new ink she come as a shock to anyone, but we’ll keep reporting on Miley’s forrays into body art, because that’s what we’re here for!

Adele’s Body Art

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Stars-n-Skulls

If Adele is one thing, it’s talented. If Adele is two things; one is definitely talented, and the other isn’t “good at picking creative tattoos”. In a recent appearance at the 2013 Grammy Awards, the “Set Fire To The Rain” singer and former dominator of the biggest butt kissing contest in the music industry debuted her new ink and didn’t really impress anyone. To be clear, the sentiment behind it was nothing but sweet, it’s just the execution that we find to be lacking.

The new ink is a simple “A” written in script on the side of her head, right behind her right ear. It’s very small and doesn’t draw a lot of attention, which is fine, but it’s also…just…so…lazy. We’re almost one hundred percent sure that the piece was done in honor of her son Angelo, which we think is great. You’re never going to go wrong when you get ink in honor of one of your kids; significant others can go leave and friends can bail, but your children should be forever, so it’s a pretty safe bet to pay tribute to them on your body. She’s shown public love for him before in the form of flashy jewelry and you know, by loving him; so it should come as no surprise that she’s decided to put his initial on her body.

What does come as a surprise is that someone with the talent and creativity of Adele didn’t get something more artistic than a simple letter. We would’ve expected an angel, or maybe some other type of symbol that represents her son’s name and/or role in her life. However, it kind of makes sense for someone as elegant as her to get something really simple, so we’re not totally shocked by her choice.

We don’t really see her having much more done in the way of tattoos in her future, but maybe she’ll wind up with something on her wrist like a small tribute to her husband or something. The wrist is a popular spot for classy ladies to get ink done. Also, if she ends up with another kid, she might have to get some more ink done to keep things even in her household. Time will tell whether Adele decides to have more art put on her body, but we hope that if she does she chooses something more complex than a simple letter.

AJ McCarron’s Chest is a Mess

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Stars-n-Skulls

AJ McCarron is about as big a fish as there is in the sea of NCAA Football, and now he’s got a tattoo that’s just as big…well at least it is now. The Alabama Crimson Tide Quarterback is one of the few people in the history of the sport to lead his team to back to back national titles, and he’s also one of the few quarterbacks in college football history to have a gigantic tattoo on his chest, and much like his legacy as a quarterback, his chest piece just keeps on getting larger and larger, and more and more impressive…okay, the ink isn’t that impressive, but the legacy is awesome. So now, about that tattoo…

When it was first revealed to the public, the piece was a simple crying Jesus with the words “Bama Boy”, “Ma”, and “Pops” surrounding it; simple, but pretty friggin’ huge. It looked an awful lot like the J-man was trying to burst out of his chest Alien style. The placement is a little crazy for what we think is his first tattoo, and the art style is a little two soft for such a serious figure. We’re not the religious types around here, but we tend to think that major figures of religion should be inked in a more sharp and serious style. Regardless of our opinions on the original ink, the piece has just kept on growing, and in recent months the world got another look at it. The new additions to the work include a hanging cross, a smattering of stars and stripes, cloud etchings, the words “Home Team”, “God’s In Control”, and some Sailor Jerry-style doves. The new additions make for a pretty cool overall aesthetic but the piece overall does not feature the best execution we’ve ever seen. It reminds us of some of the tats we got when we were younger…the one’ s we ended up being unhappy with as we got older. Not because we don’t like what the tattoos stand for anymore, but because we’re unhappy about how they turned out artistically.

AJ McCarron has a bright future ahead of him; one that should include a lot more ink, and probably a lot more bad tattoos, because if there’s one bad tattoo, there’s always going to be a second one coming down the pike. We’ll keep you posted on what he ends up with, and how long his “a cheap tattoo is a good tattoo” phase lasts.

Josh Hutcherson – Anchor’s Away!

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Stars-n-Skulls

That’s some anchor tattoo Josh! Wow…that’s just a whole lot of nautical themed ink on the body of “Hunger Games” star Josh Hutcherson, and we’re not quite sure why. The pictures that we have show him on the set of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”, looking pretty ripped and doing some sort of scuba work or surfing…or just wearing a wet suit because he’s feeling frisky Whatever reason he’s dressed like a seal, he still rocking a very serious anchor piece of his side; even co-star Jennifer Lawrence seems to be surprised by the mass of his ink. The Academy Award nominated actress doesn’t have any known ink of her own, but she doesn’t seem like the type to give Josh any guff about his choice of body art. However, Hutcherson himself seems to have mixed feelings about his life in ink.

The “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” star currently has three tattoos on his body. He has the aforementioned giant anchor with red tips on his side, a Libra symbol on his wrist, and a ship on his back; he planned on getting more, but now it seems like that idea has been taken off the table. In May of 2012, Hutcherson did an interview in which he stated that he loved body art and that he was going to get a whole lot more of it put on his body. Being only 19 at the time and having gotten his first work done when he was just 16, it seemed like the sky was the limit for his body as a canvas. However, weeks later he went on record as saying that he was going to cut it out with the ink until he was a more established star. Citing mega-star Angelina Jolie as his prime example of a star who waited until she was established to get crazy with the needle (that doesn’t sound good, but you know what we’re talking about), the “Red Dawn” actor said that he wasn’t going to give casting directors an excuse to excuse him from considerations.

So with all of that said, we can’t tell you what the future holds for Josh Hutcherson’s body art, but we can speculate. He’s a pretty talented kid, and he’s making a fortune off his work in the “Hunger Games”, so we expect that he’ll find himself not too worried about his career within a few years, and he’ll start getting inked up again. Time will tell, and we’ll keep you posted!

50 Cent Reveals His New Inkless Look

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Ink Pirate

Last year Rapper 50 Cent started undergoing laser treatments to remove his tattoos. In interviews 50 has said he felt he had out grown the look of being covered in tattoos and he wanted to have them removed. He also said he wanted to expand his acting career and that having a lot of tattoos was something hindering him from pursuing roles.

The process of removing tattoos is extremely painful and often occurs over many sessions for completion. The laser penetrates the layer of skin where the ink sits. After several treatments the ink starts to slowly break down and get absorbed by the body. Sessions can last anywhere from 15 to 90 minutes.

Recently 50 was featured in some new ad campaigns with his now inkless skin. The results are pretty dramatic. While you can faintly make out some of the lines, his tattoos are virtually gone. 50 says he still has a ways to go but he has been happy with the results. Take a look at the before and after pictures of 50 Cent tattoos removed.

Travis Barker Inks His Dome

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Ink Pirate

Who needs hair when you can use that valuable real-estate for some more ink? That’s what Travis Barker of Blink-182 must have thought. Travis is so heavily tattooed he ran out of room for some new ones. At least that’s what he thought at first. Then it dawned on him that he could tattoo his head. Barker’s been collecting some new ink from several talented artists to create a collection of tattoos far cooler than any hair-do could be.

ScarJo Puts The “Art” in “Body Art”

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Stars-n-Skulls

Scarlett Johansson is an interesting young lady; she’s always walked the line between glamorous and trashy, sometimes successfully mixing the two, much to the confusion of us all. Within the same time frame, she walked the red carpet to raves about her classic Hollywood good looks, and openly admitted to having sex with Benicio Del Toro in an elevator. She also spent three years married to Ryan Reynolds, which whether you’re a woman or a man; gay, straight, or other; you have to admit seems like a good idea. The more we think about, she’s actually really awesome…except for her taste in tattoos; she seems to be lacking in that department. During a recent trip to Paris, the Avengers star got some new ink, and it’s…ummmm…it’s pretty darn horrible actually.

As you can see, the multi-millionaire got a horseshoe with an ultra classy “Lucky You” banner around it on her ribcage. We’re going to assume that she’s inferring that whoever sees her naked has gotten lucky, which is true in a real life in the flesh sense, but not so true in the grander scheme of things (in case you forgot, some nakey pictures of her spread through the web like wildfire a few months back). Either way, it’s a horrible piece of body “art”.

For starters, it looks like a third grade Indianapolis Colts fans art project, and not like a professionally done piece of work. Secondly, it’s really trashy, and not in a trendy way; in a “stripper who hangs out at airport hotels on Sunday nights” sort of way. Thirdly, it’s placement doesn’t even make the most sense, as whoever takes her clothes off would have to crane his neck sideways to see it properly. Finally, it’s so bad that we almost made the headline: “Body Art? More like body fart!”. Okay, so that last one happens every time we do any article about a bad tattoo, but still, it’s not a good sign.

Our final assesment of Scarlett Johansson’s new ink is that she must’ve done it ironically. Not to say that she doesn’t think that someone would be lucky to see her lady parts, but we think that she said: “I want to get a really trashy tattoo because I think it’s funny how rich and famous I am”. So basically this is her entry into the world of people with annoying hipster tattoos that hold zero meaning, zero sentiment or fond memory, and aren’t even funny. Hey, at least she didn’t get a Pringle’s Guy (or the “Natty Boh Guy Hon!” if you’re from Baltimore) mustache done on her finger; that makes us want to start fires.

Ke$ha’s New Bad Idea Ink

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Stars-n-Skulls

Alright folks, we’ve talked about Kesha’s tattoo obsession before (we know, it’s spelled Ke$sha, but none of that is a word, so we’re going to spell it like a real name), and as with everything about her, it’s kind of wierd and annoying. Just to recap; apparently Kesha keeps a tattoo gun on her just about all the time, despite not being a qualified tattoo artist. So, when you happen to decide to go visit her for a party, or to play video games, or to trade face-painting secrets; she can and will give you a random bad tattoo. That’s kind of insane, and just a bit gross. So with that said, it should come as no surprise that she had a tattoo artist ( a real one) at her recent birthday party.

Celebrating her 25^th birthday at a party that had both a trampoline and photo booth, Kesha decided to commemorate the epic bash by getting her foot inked by the resident skin tagger. Because she had so much fun at the party, she of course got “fun” tattooed on herself…that’s stupid. Okay, maybe we’re being a little harsh, but the tattoo seems overly simplistic to the point of being annoying. She seems like the type of person who would get that tattoo just so people would ask her about it and she’d get more attention. Now we guess that it’s not hugely different than when someone gets Kanji words, but that’s an artistic language, so words look nice; English is clunky and mechanical, not the language you want to ink singular words from. She should’ve gotten a mini-trampoline, or some party balloons, or anything else that isn’t just the word “fun”. It’s not even artistically done, it’s just printed on there.

We will however give her some credit for having a tattoo artist at her party. It’s kind of a funny idea to have someone ready to ink people at an event where everyone is drunk and making poor decisions. Kesha also made some recent tattoo news when she inked her lip a few months back. She got the words “Suck It” scrawled into the inside of her mouth, so that when she decides to randomly open her lips up and show the world, we all know how she really feels. We are unsure of what exactly she wants people to perform said action on, but we’re going to assume she’s referring to some sort of candy, like a Jolly Rancher or something.

Gomez And Hall Get New Ink…Not At The Same Time Though

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Stars-n-Skulls

Hey folks, it’s time to take a little look at the ink that’s currently gracing some of your favorite stars, as we present (* Fancy bellowing announcer voice *) Wednesday’s Tattoo Round Up! We know, it’d be better if it were Tuesday for alliteration purposes…but it’s not…so yeah, just keep reading.

First up, we have Justin Bieber’s number one lady, Selena Gomez. The Wizards of Waverly Place star and “Love You Like A Love Song” singer previously only had one tiny tattoo, but she decided to add to her body art collection during a recent trip to New York. Gomez’s first ink was a little heart on her wrist; she got it at the Under The Gun shop in Los Angeles, and it’s so small that it’s hard to find a picture of it where it doesn’t look like a speck of dirt. Her new ink is a bit larger, but still isn’t huge; it also appears to have a much deeper meaning. Gomez got the Roman numerals “LXXVI” on the back of her neck, which translate into “73″. The new ink was done by famed New York City tattoo-man Bang Bang at his shop, and according to the artist, it has a very special meaning to Gomez. In a recent interview about the Spring Breakers star’s visit to his show, he stated “The tattoo was a tribute to a family member who she said means a lot to her.”. We don’t know the exact meaning of the ink; is it someone’s age when they passed away? Someone’s birth year? We have no idea, but we always respect a tribute piece; we also respect that her new tat can actually be seen without the aid of a microscope and/or a jeweler’s loop. He boyfriend Justin Bieber, who recently threw up on stage during a performance (that’s not really relevant, we just wanted to remind you of his embarrassment), has a bunch of ink of his own, so we have to wonder if he’s rubbing off on her.

Selena Gomez wasn’t the only star to go under the gun recently, as everyone’s favorite serial killer, Michael C. Hall also hit up the local tattoo parlor just days ago. Cameras caught the Dexter star sitting on a table at True Tattoo in Los Angeles having his foot worked on by one of their artists. When asked what he was having done, Hall said “I’m just doctoring up my alien markings.”, which is celebrity for “None of your business”. From the looks of it, it’s just an artistic design, although it does look like something cavemen would have drawn on cave walls after an extraterrestrial encounter.

So a young pop starlet and a guy who plays a murdering hero both got inked within days of each other; is this part of some kind of conspiracy? Are the stars aligning via body art to take over the world?! No. People just get inked sometimes, stop being crazy folks.