Twitter and Instagram have changed the world of communication, and now they have helped one fan of the HBO show Girls, Tina Wargo, get a tattoo that even the show’s star and creator, Lena Dunham, is an active part of. Wargo tweeted Dunham asking if the star would write out the line “all adventurous women do” so Wargo could ...

As Willy Chavarria and David Ramirez roamed around Ramirez’s hometown of Palmer, MA, they surveyed the decay of textile mills and knew that they wanted to bring back quality, American-made wares. Palmer Trading Company’s retail space was constructed with original wood from an old mill and houses both old and new pieces, all made with extreme care. Their ...

The "Dirty Ghetto Kid" talks skating, hip-hop, and hip-hoppers who skate.

In high school, D’Angelo worked in a sign shop that made New Orleans replica street signs, and he fell in love with both the Crescent City and its pirate lore. Once out of high school, he decided to forgo art school for a tattoo apprenticeship and now has a pirate-themed tattoo shop. He’s the young gun in the ...

Skin and eye candy is what Ink Master is all about, and Flores’s looks certainly complement her work. She admits she’ll attempt to use her sex appeal to her advantage, but don’t judge this contestant strictly by her appearance alone: She’s got talent and a portfolio of well-crafted black-and-gray tattoos to back up her swagger.

Yunda is one of the first generation of tattoo artists in his native country of Colombia and believes that communication is what makes a good tattoo artist a great tattoo artist. He collaborates closely with his clients in creating his designs and specializes in what he calls “magical realism,” a specific style of tattooing that blends magical elements with the ...

Halvorsen is an alpha male of the group. He’s got a colorful past of serving as a sniper for five years in the U.S. Army and being professional comic book artist for both Marvel and DC Comics before dipping into tattoo art. He says that tattooing is the hardest of all art forms since the canvas moves, screams ...

With india ink and a sewing needle wrapped in thread, a 12-year-old Givens gave himself his first tattoo. To say that he’s come a long way is an understatement. After an eight-year stint in prison, he chose not to return to a life of crime—and he credits tattooing, specifically photorealism, with keeping him on the positive side of ...

Tefft has a shot at the finals if he doesn’t get out of hand between tattoos. The “party boy” in designer shirts will have to get used to the grind of competition as he bangs out black-and-gray portraits and horror imagery in record time.

When Cummings was 15, he was getting himself into trouble—so his dad bought him a tattoo machine, thinking it would give him an outlet for his restlessness. It did. He’s not in this competition to make friends; he is focusing on his art and is in it to win it.

Davies is an oddity in that he’s a veteran tattooer with only one piece of ink on his skin. As a self-described obsessive-compulsive workaholic, he says that he’s too busy focusing on his clients’ tattoos to design and get another one himself. He started out as a comic book artist but grew bored with its repetitiveness and transitioned ...

Murphy came to tattooing through his work as an airbrush artist when he was a teenager. While glimpses of his past can been seen in his tattoos, he mainly works in black-and-gray and photorealism—of the latter he describes himself as a “ninja duplicator.”

Little Mike makes up for his diminutive status with a large, funny, and sarcastic character (his friends affectionately refer to him as BLB: Belligerent Little Bastard). Similarly, his designs are big and bold with thick, sculpted lines and exaggerated highlights that make his tattoos pop.

The dreaded cover-up tattoo doesn’t make Jones nervous; rather, she shines in correcting scratchers’ mistakes. Her tattoos are often bright, colorful, and pinuppy. The badass mom has a big cheering section outside tattooing, made up of her seven kids and her roller derby team.

Matthews is a self-taught artist who respects the styles of traditional Japanese and American ink. Don’t expect him to back down from competition: He’s also a professional mixed martial arts fighter who will go toe-to-toe with anyone trying to take the title he thinks he should rightfully own.

Miller comes with a different outlook on tattooing. After having worked with numerous design firms on branding campaigns, she quit her thriving graphic de- sign and illustration career in order to ink. She aims to expand the medium and push the boundaries of what is considered tattoo art with her illustrative work.

Some tattoo artists let their work do the talking—and while Benham’s pieces speak for themselves, his silver southern tongue also interjects. Using super clean lines, smooth shading, and the full color palette, Benham is one of the boldest artists and characters this season.

Since Smith’s resume boasts a job of drawing caricatures at Busch Gardens, there’s no doubt that if a quirky, cartoonish tattoo goes in front of the judges, it came from his hand. Not just an illustrator, Smith prides himself on being able to construct his own homemade tattoo machines.

After getting a really bad tattoo, Givens decided to give tattooing a try. He turned a negative into a positive and created a new life’s work. He is always grinning, considers himself an “eternal optimist,” and hopes that his new-school Japanese tattoos and winning smile will take him to the top.

Every tattoo has a story, but few are more moving than that of Michael and Melissa Flinchum. The Flinchum's 3-year-old son, Dylan, was diagnosed with terminal late-infantile metachromatic leukodystrophy in August 2011. This disease is responsible for the deterioration of white matter in Dylan's brain, which alters his muscle and mental functions. That same year, Dylan's parents ...

Although the performer passed away last March, just weeks before last year's Coachella festival, this is not an April fools prank. TMZ reported that the rapper will be making a guest appearance in the form of a hologram. Dr. Dre did not want to leave the rapper out of his performance so he is using the same technology used ...

Mayor John Fetterman took over a dying town and began tattooing the date of every murder committed under his watch. But can one reber mayor save post-industrial America before it tears him apart?

The BOLD WILL HOLD art show is a celebration of the traditional tattoo. 
As they did last year, tattoo artists from across Canada will be submitting 
art for us to auction to the highest bidder. The proceeds will be donated to
Art City St. James–Town, a charity that provides free and accessible art 
programs to underprivileged children in an ...

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