I can't tell which is worse!

I can't tell which tattoo is worse! Is it this unicorn with a broken/ jello neck?



... or these little scratchy buddies? They are both so bad!

Death Metal Tattoos: part 2

I wish I knew what this was, I really do. It looks like a totem pole of demons? With some kind of weird scarred-out blob in the middle. Is it a tribal-mutant batman logo? AND DO YOU SEE THE SCRATCHED UP FETUS ON HIS ELBOW? I mean really, how could you miss that? I don't even know what the stuff on his forearm is. If anyone can help decipher this, please let me know! I was staring at this guy for ages trying to figure it out.



I wish I knew what was on his back, too. You can see a bit of it poking out. I bet it's incredible.

More amazing back pieces

What happened to this angel's feet? Don't they look just like stumps? Also why is one angel stomping the other one's head? I think I see some horns on the bottom angel there, so maybe it's Lucifer being shown what's up.
Let me show you a wonderful trio of ridiculous back tattoos:


Now I know that this photo was taken mid-scabby-stage so I won't be *too* harsh about the quality of the tattooing here, because it's really hard to tell. HOWEVER, it's impossible to tell what's going on! I do see some flaming dice, and a '3', but what are the weird globby things on each shoulder? They look like rotting lettuce.


Okay, now this one just confuses me. I am under the assumption that it's not finished. The triangle thing on the left is one of the worst tattoos I've seen, but seems like a pretty explainable bad tattoo to get. The Japanese guy on the right is not actually that bad, and obviously isn't done yet. What REALLY baffles me though, is what is on the bottom. It looks like a scratched on sunbathing girl at the beach! IT CAN'T BE SO! sdlkfjslfjs! Amazing.

Don't Lose Your Head

This Frazetta-like warrior was done by Matthew Hockaday.

Don't Lose Your Head

This Frazetta-like warrior was done by Matthew Hockaday.

Wizards with triangle things on their hats

You guys probably know by now how much I love bad tattoos that are all from the same book/ piece of flash/ google search. I especially feel this way about wizard tattoos. I collect photos of wizard tattoos and then try to match them up. It's amazing how many are alike! This is the largest collection of matching wizards I have so far. Enjoy.

This one has a sketch next to it, but it can't be the original.


I love how they are all the same, but have their own little personalities...


... like "mild" written over the nipple, for example.






And finally one in color! I can't decide if the color makes this bad tattoo more or less awesome. There's something about the classic black and white wizard that I really love, but I think anything magical really deserves to be in color.


I'm sure there are many more wizards-with-triangle-things-on-their-hats out there, I just have to find them. If you know of anyone with one of these, or know where they might come from, please let me know!

Introducing Mary's Ink: An Incredible Chalice

My wife Melanie, from time to time, gets to plug Tattoosday with people she meets through the course of her day.

I recently received the following e-mail:

Hi,

You don’t know me but your wife Melanie does . . . and of course since I am writing to you…have tats.

I started getting them on my 40^th birthday. All were done by Fine Line Tattoos. I have attached a picture of one but I can take more. Melanie thought you would like it. This last one is based on fantasy art. It is a chalice. The artist's name is Mehai Bakaty and ... he has been working for over 20 years. His dad, Mike, is also very famous. [Below, Mike and Mehai Bakaty in the shop]

I think all of them including another artist there by the name of Skull (no joke) are fantastic. They are unassuming and don’t do PR and unfortunately are not as busy as they should be.

Thanks for looking.

Mary

Thank you, Mary, for sharing your awesome chalice with us here at Tattoosday!

Roll a d20 for awesome tattoos.

I finally did a new tattoo post, but this one is AWESOME and not AWFUL!
Roll a d20 for awesome tattoos
This entry is dedicated to my new d20 tattoo, inspired in part by the quote from the X-Files episode Jose Chung's From Outer Space, "I didn't spend all those years playing dungeons and dragons and not learn a little something about courage!"

You can digg it here if you are so inclined.

I know I've been neglecting posts but I promise I'll get better.

xo
Alice

Wizards III: wizards with balls

Here is an assortment of my favorite tattoo theme: wizards with glowing and/or fiery crystal balls.

Glowing red eyes just make this wizard look like a snake, and what is up with the weird pointy shoulder on the left? I can't even begin to discuss the money ball...


This wizard is the best of the bunch, technique-wise, but what is up with the Q-ball? The sparkles are a good touch.


This guy gets bonus points for having eyes, but negative points for the half-assed glowing ball.


Not only does this wizard look like a zombie with shark teeth, but his magic ball is made out of DRAGONS and he has flying decapitated hands.


I love the robe but this wizard looks like he's about to hike a football, not cast some serious magic



And finally, I know this bad picture obscures the badness of the tattoo, but just pay close attention to the pointy red fingernails, the snake-eyes, and the fire that looks like it is in zero-g.

Amazing Back Pieces

I have a confession to make. The more I do research for this blog, the more I am falling in love with terrible biker metal tattoos. I want a million of them. Every time I see a huge back piece with demons or dragons on it I get jealous.

I like to think that this guy started with the demon tramp stamp at the bottom and then worked his way up. My favorite part is the skeletons. They're super sweet.


This lady has pretty much every tattoo cliche imaginable, all in one spot! The squishy-headed crosseyed wizard is my favorite part. You can see he's trying to figure out how he got lumped in with all the other random tattoos and isn't too happy about it.


I should start a zombiejesus category. I am pretty sure I can find a bunch more where this one came from. He really wants brains. Braaaaains.


And, for the grand finale. Words cannot express my sorrow for this dude.

Wizards II

I actually like these wizards. It must be flash, or from some pretty well-known book, because I came across these today on two totally different tattoo shop sites.
If you have seen a wizard that looks like this or know where it might come from, let me know!

Fantasy Back Pieces

This is perhaps the best post so far. I bring you a collection of amazing fantasy back pieces.

Here is a dragon, with what looks like a weird bloody/flaming tail tip, some huge balls, and strange blobs flying around him:


Okay, so this isn't strictly fantasy, but the winged horses make it fit into this category enough. There are also a bunch of angels, some weird tribal stuff, some praying hands, and a bad portrait way at the bottom. My favorite is the angel to the left with the ribs sticking out and the very awkward boobs.


Back to straight fantasy. This dude has some cool multicolored clouds, a skull moon, some kind of beast on a cliff, and I think there is a spiraling tower castle in there too, but I am not sure.


This guy has a moon and a cliff and a castle too. And a Pegasus and a dragon. What I don't understand is if you're going to get a straight-up fantasy piece, why go with an Asian dragon and not the Euro fantasy dragon?


And of course I saved the best for last. Again, there is a skull moon, and a cliff, and a castle (actually a couple), and some kind of horse (unicorn not Pegasus this time) but this guy has planets too! Planets in tattoo form are A++. He also has what looks like a wizard but he's cut off at the top of the photo and you can't see anything but a tip of beard. I wish we could see the whole thing.

Wizards

Please let me state that I have a huge soft spot for wizard tattoos. They are pretty much always terrible (let me know if you have seen a good wizard tattoo), but charming, in a weird kind of way. I don't really know why I like bad wizard tattoos so much, because I certainly don't find bad fairy tattoos charming (or even good fairy tattoos). Anyway, here is a bevy of awesomely awful wizard tattoos:

Hairy Red-Eyed Floating Head Wizard:


Meek Purple Wizard:


Yin-Yang "POUNDER" Wizard (the bats are really cool though):


Death Wizard:


Space Wizard (I love love love this dude):


Blasty Wizard:


Wizard-That-Doesn't-Look-Like-A-Wizard 1 (the website I found it on clearly stated that it was a wizard):


Wizard-That-Doesn't-Look-Like-A-Wizard 2:


And, for the grand finale, Not Safe For Work Wizard (thanks Jen):
click here to see NSFWW

Fantasy Failures

Fantasy gems from Big Dogz Ink:

Unicorn tattoos are awesome! Tribal tattoos are not. Wonky unicorns floating astride a tribal piece? Totally awful.



This wizard is almost awesome. He's grizzled and has a cool staff, but his hand is melting, his beard and his cloak meld into each other, and the whole tattoo looks scratched.



And from Headlight Tattoo (not all their stuff is terrible, so it's not as fun as Big Dogz, but there are some gems in the galleries if you search)


Okay, so the color choices in this fairy aren't that bad, but the proportions? The smooshed face? The hair? The floppy left hand? (the right hand claw is kinda sweet though.) The weird shading in the dress?