At the intersection of Clark and Henry Streets in Brooklyn Heights, I saw a guy stride into a corner bodega. Something told me to peek in. I did. And there, on the back of his right arm was a cool-looking tattoo.
So when he exited the store I introduced myself and we walked twenty yards to a well-lit frame shop to talk about his work.
His name is Jack and he works as a framer but is also a painter and fine artist. Feel free to check out his website here. His work is quite good.
He shared two tattoos with us, the first being the one on the main section of his back upper arm:
Jack is a fan of graphic novels and this piece is based on a panel from the a Hellboy book (Volume 6: Strange Places) by Mike Mignola.
The words in the upper corner of the panel are "I will cast off my afflictions...". The tattoo was done by Erick Diaz at Asylum Tattoo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
A Hellboy tattoo has appeared previously on the blog here. You may remember the name of Erick Diaz and Asylum Studios based on an appearance on Tattoosday previously from this amazing back piece.
Getting back to Jack, when he pulled up his sleeve, I saw this tattoo above the Hellboy design:
This art is based on the work from another graphic novelist, Anders Nilsen. The piece in question is from the award-winning Dogs and Water.
Jack credits this tattoo to an artist named Jasmine Morrell, aka Jazzy J, who he referred to as a "kitchen surgeon". In other words, this is an example of a home-inked piece, more commonly known as a kitchen table tattoo. Not to say that she is not a professional. In fact, Jack informs me that she is an artist at Atomic Tattoo in Austin, Texas.
Both pieces reflect Jack's love of graphic novels. He adds "I have 4 tattoos, all from comics, the earliest was a back piece from Winsor McKay's Little Nemo in Slumberland." Perhaps we'll see that here in the future!
Thanks to Jack for sharing his amazing tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!