Yerae, born in Jeju, South Korea, in 1989, had a traditional upbringing in which her parents insisted she obtain a stable career that did not include being an artist. Her grandfather, who engaged in art, recognized Yerae’s talent and provided her with drawing supplies and encouragement to pursue her artistic ambitions. Yerae became a tattooer in 2020 […]
Category: Body Art
The Universal Code: An Interview with Tattooist Mikhail Nechaev
Mikhail Nechaev is based in Germany and frequently travels to tattoo guest spots across Europe. 2014 marked his graduation from a technical university with a degree in Electrical Equipment and Power Supply Engineering for Enterprises, Organizations, and Institutions. As a former executive chef of a high-end Japanese restaurant, he believed that becoming a tattoo artist […]
Tattooer Jimmy Shy is Reviving Pinky Yun’s Legacy
Taiwanese Jimmy Shy’s vibrant dragon and tiger artwork is essential to the present and the past of tattooing. Takahiro Kitamura’s 2023 book “Tattoo Master Pinky Yun: The Don Ed Hardy Flash Collection” featured his rebirth of Yun’s (1927-2010) iconic artwork. According to Jimmy Shy’s remark for that publication, “Pinky Yun (…) is the godfather of the Asian […]
Shane Tan’s Complete Collection, From Paintings to Japanese Tattoos
Shane Tan, known for his triumph in Japanese-style tattooing, spent seven years developing his self-titled book. Tan’s passion for woodblock print masters is evident in the 448 pages of hand-drawn line drawings, paintings, and tattooing of characters ranging from Tenjiku Tokubei to Nango Rikimaru. Although woodblock imagery has a long history, it flourished as a […]
Yelselogy, Singapore’s Emerging Tattoo Artist
Yelselogy has a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication from the School of Art, Design, and Media at NTU in Singapore and an MA in Visual Sociology from Goldsmiths, University of London. Worked as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer for a few years, creating backgrounds and photo props for a photo-booth firm, but found she […]
Ilya Kuznetsov’s Stippling Tattoo Creations
Born in Russia in 1989, Ilya Kuznetsov worked at an Italian fabric store after earning a degree in costume design from Smolensk State University. A tattoo artist friend urged him to use his drawing skills in the tattoo industry as he barely made ends meet. Self-taught in this new discipline, Kuznetsov began taking tattooing more […]
Upcoming Book Release: Tattoo Master Pinky Yun
Scorpion Front Publishing will print “Tattoo Master Pinky Yun: The Don Ed Hardy Flash Collection” by author and American-Japanese tattooist Takahiro Kitamura in March 2023. The life and work of Pinky Yun, born in Canton, China, on October 29, 1927, are shown on 111 pages in a 90s-style graphic arrangement. Yun moved to Hong Kong […]
Ian Damien: Singapore’s Next Breakthrough Tattooist
“A tattoo comes alive, when a body moves,” says Ian Damien, a resident artist at Shane Tan’s Singapore studio Feather Cloud. Damien began tattooing approximately five years ago and completed a two-year apprenticeship to enter the profession; however, Tan has been mentoring Damien on the flow and technical aspects of tattooing since he was invited […]
Adriaan Machete, Acclaimed Neo-Traditional Tattooist
Inspired by the work of Renaissance and Art Nouveau painters, German tattooist Adriaan Machete is renowned worldwide for his delicate and exquisitely colored body art. His professional tattoo career began around 2007 after he apprenticed with Iban Maya. His major break came in 2010 when he was invited to be a guest artist in various […]
Arirang’s Painterly Tattoos
Arirang developed an interest in the arts at a young age and wished to further his studies in them, but his family did not have the financial means to do so. He worked for years at a car wash, restaurants, and bars, and as a tiler on a construction site to save money to become a […]