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.

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.

Chris and Rihanna Go Another Round… Of Ink

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Stars-n-Skulls

Well folks, the simple truth about our business is that some days there’s just nothing to write about, and others…well other days the world of celebrity gives you a shiny nugget of amazing to write about. Today is one such day, as both Rihanna and Chris Brown have gotten new tattoos within days of each other, and they’re so amazing that we almost didn’t believe that they were real. No, not “amazingly cool” or “amazingly well done”, there’s no fun in that; nope, they’re amazingly bad! The best kind of amazing! These two both already have their fair share of ink, especially Brown, but these new tats take the cake.

First up, we have Rihanna’s tattoo, which is supposedly a tribute to her grandmother. What’s the best way to pay homage to your momma’s momma? By getting the area directly under your boobs tattooed! Duh! She got some sort of Nubian or Egyptian goddess right smack dab on her breast bone. The wings spread under her breasts, which kind of makes it look like her boobs are going to fly away at any given moment, and the goddess’ head-dress extends up into her cleavage area which should lead to some weird looking cleavage. Now this isn’t a bad tattoo in the poorly done sense, it’s actually pretty nicely, albeit simplistically, designed; it even has a similar quality to the hawk that she recently got on on her foot. However, it’s a bad tattoo in the way of “why would someone who isn’t out of space everywhere else tattoo the area directly under her breasts!?”. We hate to be the ones to drop the old “How’s that going to look when you’re older?” on someone (especially considering how bad some of our ink is), but the moment she get’s pregnant or starts losing the age-old battle with gravity, that tattoo is going to look horrible. However poorly thought out Rihanna’s new ink may be, at least it’s not horrendously offensive and terrible…Chris Brown has that angle covered for the both of them.

Before we go any further, let’s just put this out there: Chris Brown is the worst. He’s a walking, talking everthing-that’s-wrong-with-music; he’s over produced, over praised, over confident, over forgiven, and we’re over him. So with that said; let’s all guess what the worst possible tattoo a guy who once beat his girlfriend (Rihanna, for those of you who take residence under the proverbial rock) to a pulp could get. Seriously, guess; pretend you didn’t look at the header picture and guess what the worst tattoo Chris Brown could ever get is. Yes folks, that’s not Photoshop, that’s a tattoo of a beaten woman on the neck of a guy who beats women. Furthermore, your eyes aren’t decieving you, the woman in the tattoo looks an awful lot like Rihanna…like a lot like Rihanna…as in “That’s clearly a tattoo of a beaten Rihanna on Chris Brown’s neck!” like Rihanna. Brown has of course denied that the tattoo is of Rihanna, instead calling it a coincidence and saying that it’s art but not a portrait. Does he really think that we’re all that stupid? More importantly, how many people actually are that stupid? If his album and concert ticket sales are any indication, a lot of people are that stupid. This new tattoo is just another reminder that Chris Brown doesn’t respect anyone or anything, and that he has horrible taste in ink. Furthermore, whoever did this piece should hang their head. Giving him this tattoo is no different than being the guy who inks hate symbols on Neo-Nazis; seriously dude, it’s not worth the money or the publicity it brings your shop.

So there you have it folks, Chris Brown and Rihanna both got new tattoos, and they really sum up the entire situation between the two of them. Rihanna got something that was well intentioned but ultimately a bad idea, and Chris Brown got a tattoo that shows his complete lack of respect for the female species and for people as a whole…and they both look pretty dumb in the end.

Bieber’s New Ink

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Stars-n-Skulls

Ugh, here we go again. We’ve talked before about how upset we are that “Boyfriend” singer Justin Bieber keeps getting tattoos. Well, he must’ve heard us, because as if only to spite us, he’s gotten more, and the newest one is absolutely infuriating. As if to declare himself the new King of Pop, Bieber has gotten a crown inked on his chest. We know about said tattoo because he insisted on posting shirtless pictures of himself to show it off. So here’s the issue: he isn’t the king of anything yet, he’s never even won a Grammy! Weird Al has Grammys! Okay, bad example; Weird Al is awesome and deserves all the Grammys, but the point remains: the kid hasn’t earned that ink yet.

He also really needs to stop posting pictures of himself shirtless; the kid doesn’t appear to know what the word “push-up” means, so he shouldn’t be showing the world his underdeveloped psysique like it’s his job. He’s built like Shaggy from Scooby Doo and an Ostriche had a baby, so he needs to keep a shirt on. We also can’t help but think that he thinks that tattoos make him a “Bad Boy”, well they don’t Justin, we all know you’re a wimpy little kid. Tattoos are meant to represent who you are, not who you’re pretending to be. We really can’t think of a nice thing to say about his new ink except for “Yeah, that’s a crown alright”, so we’re going to stop talking now. You’ve ruined our day again Bieber, and we’re sure this won’t be the last time.

Idol’s Kellie Pickler has Ink

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Stars-n-Skulls

While some of us may only know her as “the girl we thought was named ‘Pickles’ on American Idol”, Kellie Pickler is actually quite the performer. Don’t believe us? Well then ask any of the men and woman of the United States military who she’s performed for during her USO tours and they’ll tell you the hard way. To commemorate her time abroad entertaining the troops, the “Best Days of Your Life” and “I Wonder” singer has gotten a group of stars tattooed on her left arm (although she admits that she’s currently two short).

However, those aren’t the only tattoos the Idol loser turned successful country artist has, she also has “Prayer” inked on her right wrist, and a few more pieces of ink on her feet. Her feet tattoos are a heart outline, the word “Forgive”, and the name “Kaye”. The last one is her grandmother’s name, and is of special significance. Pickler was raised by her grandmother, and knew that while she was alive she hated tattoos; so of course she honored her by getting one of her name.

It’s an adorable bit of defiance and love that makes us all smile a little bit more than usual when we think about it. All of Kellie’s ink looks nice on her, and none of it is overdone or too big. We always question the idea of multiple foot tattoos just because we think it’s a weird spot to get inked, but that’s just a matter of opinion. Overall, we approve of the ink she’s had done, and we especially approve of why she’s had it done!

Ke$ha’s New Tat – Guess Where?

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Stars-n-Skulls

No folks, she didn’t do that one herself…well we don’t think she did…okay, if she did we’re really impressed with her mirror skills. Known for always having a tattoo gun at her side so that she can permanently scare any sap that gets close enough and/or drunk around her, Ke$ha added some new ink to her body recently, and we’ll be the ones to say it: it’s dumb. The “We R Who We R” and “Tik Tok” singer got “Suck It” tattooed on the inside of her lip, and while we have no problem with people getting ink inside their mouths, we do have a problem with women co-opting that phrase from the male gender…we’re lying, we have a problem witth unfunny women co-opting that statement. Basically, if Kaitlin Olsen or Amy Poehler got the same tattoo, we’d think it was hilarious, but we’re not really sure that Kesha even gets why that would be funny, she’s just doing it for shock value, and that dumb and annoying. So with that said, we boo you Ke$ha; boo.

Harry Styles – Boy Band “Star” Gets Inked

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Stars-n-Skulls

Here’s the deal folks; the problem with tattoos becoming more and more accepted in society is that while we’re excited that we’re no longer looked at like scumbag for having ink, everyone and their mother are getting them. This includes all your favorite boy-banders and teen idols like (*pukes a little in mouth*) Justin Bieber and One Direction’s Harry Styles. The only One Direction song we know is “What Makes You Beautiful”, and that’s the most unfortunately awesome song ever, so we’re strangely okay with young Harry getting a tattoo. Actually, he has two…well he’s had two sittings at least. The first time he jumped in the chair he got himself a hollow star on his arm that people think represents spirit, truth, and hope. His next sitting yielded some writing underneath that is aparently the lyrics to a Temper Trap song called “Sweet Disposition”. We actually hope that Harry Styles gets more ink so that we have more of an excuse to like that song, but until then, we will only sing along in shame.