Prolific tattooists Ben Corday and Sailor Jerry have continued to inspire new generations—think: sailing ships, pin-up girls, skulls and hearts—all of those symbols defined the “American Old-School Tattoos.” The same icons that US-native Brian Kelly has revived on skins and in tattoo flash. “Sometimes I use liquid acrylic for the white parts of the paintings. I almost always coffee stain the sheets before I begin,” comments Kelly who loves to challenge himself with meticulous brushstrokes of fine lines and gradient shading. He makes them into prints to sell online, or they can be purchased at Rose of No Man’s Land—a studio where he works out of in Berlin. The German capital has been Kelly’s residence since 2008, “it is nice,” he says, “it is hard to survive tattooing here [because] the caliber of work is so good in the city, that it has really pushed me.”
