Category: Comics and Cartoons

An Essential Interview with Tattoo Legend Big Frank

Frank William Harrison was born in 1959 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Known as Big Frank in the tattoo community, this nickname was derived from the fact that there were numerous Franks in the industry, and he stood the tallest at 6.3 feet. Big Frank has legendary status, with over three decades of experience in tattooing […]

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 […]

Q&As with Yeono about Photorealistic Tattoos

When Yeono was 17 years old, her mother decided she wanted a tattoo and sought her assistance in locating an artist. She was awestruck by the precision and artistry of Japanese tattoos (especially the extraordinary backpieces). Yeono quickly connected with tattooing and realized it would be her lifelong passion and profession. She investigated the possibility of following the […]

Mimi-Sama Discusses Manga and Anime Fine-Line Tattoos

Mimi-Sama is a native Frenchwoman who has tattooed in various locations, including Melbourne and Tokyo. She has subsequently relocated to San Francisco, where she has been employed since 2021 at the prominent Black Serum studio. With her husband’s support for travel and work, they share a similar style of life—enjoying new experiences, which led to 15 […]

Pizza Pirate’s Classic Cartoons with Modern Sensibilities

Nelson Calderara better known Pizza Pirate is inspired by Western cartoons of the 1930s—his artwork feels like a direct descendant of that of animators like Walt Disney and Max Fleischer, from the trademark white gloves, to the use of skulls and skeletons, to the almost punk rock style of transgression. That transgression typically manifests in […]

Colorful, Grotesque Creature Mash-Ups by Tom Strom

Tom Strom is an artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland, who paints and tattoos colorful “creature mash-ups.” Among his inspirations are anime and Disney movies—the former for monster design, the latter for colorful backgrounds. He began tattooing over twenty years ago, during which time he experimented with different techniques and developed his style, which is an […]

Elegant, Colorful Chaos in Zeen Chin’s Digital Paintings

Zeen Chin is a self-taught artist living in Kuala Lumpur. Drawing upon a mysterious well of horror films, memories, and mysticism, his digital paintings are wildly elegant and unpredictable; scrolling from one image to the next, you can never predict (nor comprehend) what you will see next. Anime-like characters parade with cartoonish, folklore-inspired beasts, and […]