Here's to You, Joe DiMaggio...

Living in New York City, a metropolis known for its die-hard sports fans, it is not unusual to see tattoos honoring and celebrating the rich athletic tradition that exists here.

On Friday, during my lunch hour, I spotted a New York City Fire Department truck parked at the corner of 40th Street and 7th Avenue. Standing along side it was Johnny, one of New York's bravest, enjoying the warm weather, in shorts, and baring this incredible leg tattoo:


This is, of course, Marilyn Monroe, but with a twist. She is sporting the New York Yankees jersey of one of the franchise's greatest players, Joe DiMaggio, to whom she was married for less than a year.

Johnny is a huge Yankee fan, and also loves Marilyn Monroe, one of the iconic figures of the 20th century, and among the most popular celebrities tattooed. I have featured Marilyn tattoos previously here and here.

The image is based on a lithograph that Johnny purchased at a FanFest in 1996. After having it tattooed on his right calf, he felt something was missing.

He contacted the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, and purchased an archival photograph of the original Yankee Stadium, circa 1923. This was then used as the source material to create the recognizable backdrop for Marilyn.


Johnny has a ton of tattoos, approximately 15 pieces in all. This one, along with others he has, was created by Cort Bengston at Cort's Royal Ink Tattoo Studio in Patchogue, New York.

Thanks to Johnny for sharing this amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Stephen's Tailored Tribute to His Father

I met Stephen while walking through Herald Square on an unseasonably warm Friday afternoon.

He had his sleeves rolled up and I noticed the set of circles on the outside of his right forearm. He was more than happy to share the story behind them.

Stephen was raised in New Jersey and he remembers his father commuting daily into Manhattan, where he was a Vice President at AT & T. His father was extremely dapper, and always wore a "crisp" suit to work, dressing impeccably for the job.

He vividly recalls his father taking him for his first suit, and how his father imparted all of his knowledge onto Stephen; how the suit was the uniform of a true gentleman, and all about the cut, the style, the fabric, etc.

When Stephen decided to get his first tattoo, he wanted to pay tribute to his father and wanted something above and beyond a normal tribute tattoo.

With a tip of the hat to nostalgia, and the acknowledgment that his father's influence guided him toward a career in the fashion industry, Stephen had the circles tattooed on both outer forearms:


Seen together, and knowing his background, it is all the more apparent that Stephen has tattoos representing two sets of buttons on the suit sleeves of childhood memories.

When I asked him what his father thought when he saw this tribute, he replied, "He wasn't super pumped about it, but it grew on him. The first thing he said after I explained it to him was, 'Couldn't you've just gotten DAD tattooed...?' ."

Stephen now has 10 tattoos, most of which were inked at Electric Lotus Tattoo and Piercing in Boonton, New Jersey. His friend Don Perdue was the artist responsible for these honorary buttons.

Thanks to Stephen for sharing these cool tattoos honoring his father!

Hoot and Cold

Miss Mindy

Rotten Hoot

Unknown

Sweet Peacock!

I love this zombie-30s' pinup come peacock lady from Ryan Mason.

Sweet Peacock!

I love this zombie-30s' pinup come peacock lady from Ryan Mason.

Flower Lady

Simple but lovely, this pretty geisha was done by Darwin Enriquez.

Flower Lady

Simple but lovely, this pretty geisha was done by Darwin Enriquez.

Snakes in her Mane!

Scarily good, and thoroughly NSFW realistic Medusa, from Dave Newman. Apologies for the awful title punnage.

Snakes in her Mane!

Scarily good, and thoroughly NSFW realistic Medusa, from Dave Newman. Apologies for the awful title punnage.

Footprints Over the Heart: Anthony Celebrates the Continuing Tradition of a Name

Mary-Lee appeared in my doorway at the end of the work day with Anthony standing next to her.

Mary-Lee's tattoo was featured here in December. I had never met Anthony before, but Mary-Lee had mentioned his tattoo to me, and she had told him about Tattoosday. He works for one of the vendors our company utilizes for a mailing process.

Anthony, whose birth name is Antonio, is a second generation Italian-American, and the son of Antonio, Sr. He is 100% Sicilian, and last year, on July 29, experienced the joy of having a first child, a son, also named Antonio.

Antonio III.

Aside from memorial tattoos, ink honoring one's offspring is equal to, or possibly greater, in popularity. As a parent myself, I'm partial to tattoos that pay tribute to one's kids. Both of my tattoos were inked in honor of my daughters, so parental tattoos have a special place in my heart.

To so honor little Anthony III, Anthony Jr. inked his son's birth name over his heart and, just below it, had his baby footprints added.

He wears with honor the legacy of his father's name, and bears the mark of tradition, as it carries from generation to generation.

A closer look also shows that the footprints are done lighter than the print of the name, which I think is a nice effect:


A footprint isn't generally a "permanent" fixture, and fades with time. Although the tattoo is permanent, the lighter ink lends more authenticity to the temporary nature of this snapshot in little Anthony's first moments in the world. It captures the moment of his birth, a pinnacle of joy in every father's life.

For a comparison, and I pass no judgment here, check out this earlier footprint post. There's a stark difference in the two tattoos, and I will say that this example is a nicer representation of the style of tattoo.

This is Anthony's third tattoo, but clearly the most important one. He had this inked at Tattoo Lou's in Selden, New York. Work from one of Tattoo Lou's other locations has appeared previously here.

Thanks to Anthony for sharing his meaningful tribute to his son, and his family tradition, here on Tattoosday!

Hoot For The Moon

Holy Owl-verload, Jason Vaughn

The Hoot Is On

Daveee

On the Bookshelves: A Late February Update

Despite some miraculous google algorithm that has doubled my traffic in the last week, regular readers may have noticed we have been light on content, in this shortest of the winter months.

And so it goes. I can only blog about what I see (generally speaking), and the ink has been a-hidin'.

But fret not, a calendar informed me that Spring is less than a month away, and April (just you wait) will have these pages overflowing with a cross-blog project that will certainly entertain and educate.

So, in the mean time, I've spotted the following titles on my local Borders bookshelves:

High Voltage Tattoo by Kat Von D.

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Vintage Tattoos: The Book of Old-School Skin Art by Carol Clerk.

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Tattoo by Dale Rio and Eva

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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting a Tattoo by John Reardon.

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Ink: The Not-Just-Skin-Deep Guide to Getting a Tattoo by Terisa Green

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And this one has nothing to do with tattooing, per se, but it still looks cool:

Comic Book Tattoo; Tales Inspired by Tori Amos

by Rantz A. Hoseley (Editor), Tori Amos (Editor)

Just Ace!

An old Nikko Hurtado piece that is certainly a cut above!

Just Ace!

An old Nikko Hurtado piece that is certainly a cut above!

More amazing wizards (dragon edition)

I'm seriously obsessed with wizard tattoos. Sorry if you guys are getting sick of them! Here are a bunch with their dragon buddies.


It looks like he's about to pitch all the magic onto his hand that's holding the orb, whereupon it will smash into one million pieces and doom the dragon to an eternity underground without his friends or family.


This dude is NOT HAPPY about the dragon's fiery flames. Not one bit.


Since when are wizards 100x bigger than dragons? I like the lightning bolts though.


"Alright, I want a dungeon. A deep, dark, scary dungeon, with a DRAGON and a huge SPIDER, and a lizard, and cobwebs, and an EVIL PLOTTING WIZARD with another dragon on his shoulder, and a CUTE BLUEBIRD and a HEART with a banner with my girlfriend's name on it and a bunch of FLAMES on the other side and some smoke all around everything. Okay?"

A Hoot In The Dark

Evan, apparently.

Marvel-lous!

Roger LaDouceur is responsible for this comic book Mystique, would love to see one of the film version!

Marvel-lous!

Roger LaDouceur is responsible for this comic book Mystique, would love to see one of the film version!

The Hootman and Her

image removed at request of artist :o(

A Hyding to Nothing!

Something a bit more traditional, done by Marco Hyder and shamelessly culled from Modblog.

A Hyding to Nothing!

Something a bit more traditional, done by Marco Hyder and shamelessly culled from Modblog.

Sweathoot

Alex Vidaud

Tattoorism: A Sparrow Drops in from North of the Border

February is the Dead of Winter, and after the 60-degree day from last Wednesday, I have seen very few blogworthy tattoos in the Big Apple.

Fear not, dear readers, warmer weather is around the corner. I can feel it. So, in the mean time, I am relying on the kindness of readers.

Behold, Jenna's bird:


Jenna wrote: "I just stumbled across your blog one day and I'm always up for sharing my favourite tat! Here's a picture right after it was finished... only picture I've got :( Looks much nicer now that it's finally healed!".

Fresh ink isn't always the prettiest, but we here at Tattoosday like the occasional unsolicited submission, especially when we've been in such significant ink withdrawal.

That was all she wrote, however, so I asked Jenna for some more info on this avian neck tattoo.

Jenna hails from Toronto, and had this inked by Phil at Adrenaline Tattoo there.

She explains the meaning behind this piece:

"...My best friend passed away from cancer in December 2007, and I was really, really torn up about it. When my friend, Corey (who was only 17) was alive, he would see a psychic and never shared any information with her. One day out of the blue last year, the psychic called Corey's family and spoke to his sister. All the psychic said was 'Do you have a friend named Jenna?' and the sister said 'Yes, she was really close to Corey as well". After speaking for a little while, the psychic declared that Corey wanted me to know that he is always going to be there for me and if I feel anything warm on the back of my neck, that's him guiding me in the right way... So, that's why this beautiful bird is on the back of my neck. For Corey."

Thanks to Jenna for sharing this emotional piece with us. We'll update the post with a cleaner, fresher photo when she gets one for us.

A thing of Wonder!

Alice has never looked better, thanks to Jason Blanton

A thing of Wonder!

Alice has never looked better, thanks to Jason Blanton

The Feel Good Hoot Of The Summer

Jonas Uggli (which was linked to in one of the comments in another post, thanks!)

Hoot Me Where It Hurts

Drew XIII

Day Of The Dead Good

Something a bit more striking from Ed Perdomo this time. A frightening and frighteningly good zombie geisha.

Day Of The Dead Good

Something a bit more striking from Ed Perdomo this time. A frightening and frighteningly good zombie geisha.

Who's there?

Something a bit different from Darwin Enriquez this time...

Who's there?

Something a bit different from Darwin Enriquez this time...

We have a Vinall!

A nice collection of new school pinups from Steve Vinall, with a touch of the Corpse Bride about them?