The intimate relationship of Japanese tattooing with the dark world of the yakuza has helped cover this form of artistic expression with an aura of mystery. But the culture of irezumi is deep and rich in meanings, shapes and motifs that have gone from color woodblock prints to being applied to the skin to beautify and protect their bearers.

This book reveals the meaning and the secrets behind the most significant motifs from traditional Japanese tattooing such as mythological and supernatural creatures, animals, Buddhist deities, flowers and historical characters and turns this art form into a path toward personal knowledge and individual expression. Readers will discover the origin and meaning of each visual representation of the most frequent themes in this art form. Irezumi itai begins with a brief review of the history of Japanese tattoo art and then examines each subject (water, mythological animals, real animals, mythological characters, historical characters, flowers, shunga and yokai) through images and descriptive texts; it also includes a gallery of original designs by the author and a glossary.

The Graphic Art of Tattoo Lettering is a visually led, comprehensive guide to designing and realizing hand-drawn letterforms in the most widely used contemporary tattoo styles.

Each chapter constitutes an accessible overview to these key tattoo styles, including an account of the history, complexities and relevant sub-styles, interviews spotlighting leading practitioners, galleries of exemplary artists’ work, sketches, sketchbooks, finished designs and detailed how-to-design guides to allow readers to truly understand each style.

More than a step-by-step, technical handbook for professional and practising tattoo artists, The Graphic Art of Tattoo Lettering is also an informative introduction to both understanding tattoo styles, their history and context, and learning from them to inform other graphic arts. Touching on the role of lettering in tattooing, as well as considering the components of typographic tattoos, it offers an insight into how tattoo art intersects with other areas of design practice, including sign-making, furniture painting and scrimshaw.

Combining great book design with the inimitable expertise of a master tattoo artist, The Graphic Art of Tattoo Lettering is the ultimate guide for all with an interest or involvement in tattoo art, typography and calligraphy, and graphic design.

Contents List::

Foreword • Traditional • West Coast • Fancy Script • Calligraphic • New School

About the Authors:

B.J. Betts is one of the most influential tattoo artists working today. Based in Delaware, USA, he has published a number of industry-standard guidebooks on tattoo lettering.

Nick Schonberger is a writer, blogger and critic on fashion, culture and music. He lives in New York.

Anyone who rides a motorcycle lives, to some degree, in the margins of society. Where members of the herd drive Toyota Camrys and hipster hatchbacks, bikers opt for Harley-Davidsons, Triumphs, and Ducatis, putting themselves out there with raised middle fingers thrust at the ordinary citizens of the world. Just as a motorcyclist's ride is an affront to the sensibilities of the meek and the conventional, so too is the ink on their skin. 

Tattoos have long been an integral part of this culture, the result of the overwhelming number of ex-military men who formed the nucleus of the postwar outlaw motorcycle club scene. These soldiers, sailors, and marines returned from war with statements etched in ink upon their bodies, and they continued that tradition when they formed the clubs that came to define motorcycle culture. 

In 1000 Biker Tattoos, motorcycle photographer Sara Liberte celebrates the most personal of art forms by capturing the wild abandon of the motorcycle lifestyle as expressed through tattoo work. 

Featuring 1,000 photos of tattoos and the artwork used to create them, along with profiles of the most renowned tattoo artists in the biker community, this book provides an unprecedented window into the most intimate aspect of motorcycle culture.

Once the mark of an underground subculture, tattoos have well and truly stepped out of the shadows and into the streets. Join photographer Nicolas Brulez and Mylene Ebrard on their road trip to Berlin, London, Paris, New York and Tokyo to unearth the most stylish designs and cutting-edge tattoo artists the world has to offer.

Showcasing over 300 photographs of diverse people and their unique designs as well as the cities' best artists, this is a keepsake as well as an informative guide of the best places to get your next ink. Presented in luxurious coffee table book format, this is a stunning edition for the tattoo enthusiast.

About the Authors:

Nicolas Brulez is the Tattoorialist -- based in France, he travels the globe looking for the best tattoos and tattoo artists across the globe. Mylène Ebrard is a freelance press officer and is passionate about fashion and art. She is also based in France. 

Mylène Ebrard is a freelance press officer and is passionate about fashion and art. She is also based in France. 

Showcases the work of the top 100 tattoo artists around the globe

Lively and informative, The World Atlas of Tattoo is a superbly illustrated and compelling reference book that, through examining the meeting point between tattoo artists and their personal understanding of their environment, presents a well-informed and nuanced account of what has become a widespread art practice. Organized geographically, each section is introduced by a short historical overview of the types of tattooing traditionally practised in that area of the world, enabling the reader to trace historical threads in the careers of some of the profiled tattooers, as well as marvel at how other artists have managed to create novel forms of tattooing that transcend any previous context. The book also tracks the movement of styles from their indigenous settings to diasporic communities, where they have often been transformed into creative, multicultural, hybrid designs.

Written by an international team of scholars, historians and journalists, this comprehensive atlas will enlighten and excite anyone who is passionate about tattoo art in its many forms worldwide.

Contents List:

Introduction • Europe • North America • Central and South America • East, South, Central and Southeast Asia • Pacific Islands and Australia • Sub-Saharan Africa • Middle East and North Africa

About the Author:

Anna Felicity Friedman teaches at the University of Chicago, where she has conducted research on the history of tattooing. She was the curator of a travelling exhibition about tattoo history and culture, which put her in touch with a wide range of contemporary global artists.

Over the past decade, tattoos have become one of the most popular forms of visual culture in the world. TTT: Tattoo is a survey of 250 of the best international tattooers working today. Included are established practitioners – Duncan X, Tomas Tomas, Scott Campbell, the Leu family, Stephanie Tamez – and lesser-known emerging talents, all of whom work towards pushing the boundaries of the art form. A selection of essays and features examines the history and scholarship of tattooing and reveals how it has evolved differently around the world. Exploring the connections between tattoo culture today and seminal figures and developments in the recent past, the book examines how the historical styles of this most enduring art form blend into new ones.

About the Authors:

TTTism is headed by Maxime Plescia-Buchi, a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans tattooing, typography, clothing design, creative direction, and publishing. He founded Sang Bleu in 2006, and, though it began as a highly influential avant-garde magazine, it has solidified as a global art project involving fashion, fine art, performance art, literature, sociology, and tattooing. Plescia-Buchi operates two tattoo studios, Sang Bleu London and Zurich, and helmed creative projects for industrial design company Gabriel Scott, musicians FKA Twigs and Kanye West, and Swiss luxury watch brand Hublot.

Nicholas Schonberger is an academic, journalist and author. His work on tattooing has informed museum exhibitions (notably ‘Skin and Bones: Tattoos and the American Sailor’ – Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, USA, October 2009 – February 2010), been featured in the popular press, and presented within scholarly contexts (Popular Culture Association). Since 2011, Schonberger has served as an editor at Sang Bleu, where his expertise in modern tattooing merges seamlessly with the London-based company’s contemporary focus.

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A Video about TTT: Tattoo book.

Adorn your skin with these beautiful tattoos inspired by the botanical world

With over 100 designs, from peonies, poppies and ferns to wild roses and daisy chains, Tatouage: Blossom also includes 21 art-print keepsakes.

A mix of colourful and black-and-white designs, in a variety of sizes and shapes, makes these tattoos suitable for different parts of the body. There is also a book of quality art prints to use for flower and plant identification, as art-print keepsakes, or as flash sheets to inspire further tattoos.

Each tattoo is non-toxic and transfers easily, leaving a vibrant design that will last a few days. When it begins to fade, it can be removed easily with baby oil.

In the world of tattoos there are many professionals who create amazing works of art on the skin.

It is such a responsibility to do a good job, looking for a balance between technique and design, anatomy and legibility, beauty and tradition… but each one with a unique aesthetic vision of the style we portray: Japanese, old school, new school, tribal, neo-tribal, realistic, Chinese, and so on.

In this book we have brought together tattoo artists from around the world showing us these miracles on the skin that many readers will change their perception of this art form, which is at once ages-old and forever young.

When a tattoo becomes something more than ink

Tattoos always manage to be innovative window displays of a wide range of styles full of freshness. In this book, you will have the chance to explore and see how today’s tattoo culture is heavily influenced by art, fashion and contemporary visual culture, and to be surprised by the evolution that each artist has imprinted on the traditional tattoo styles, achieving unique results and creating surprising personal styles.

Originating as an ancient tribal practice serving as rites of passage, symbols of religious devotion or marks of bravery, tattoo art has slowly grown into an essential fashion item, a personal statement, a decorative memorial or pledges of deep beliefs. From miniature, hand-drawn pieces to extensive tribal-inspired tattoo markings, contemporary lineworks to retrospective designs, the new wave of tattoos reveals an international aesthetic movement grounded in the love of art.

Varied by striking motifs, INK — The Art of Tattoo amasses some 700 recent and classic flash designs, original patterns and illustrations that encapsulate how tattoo styles around the world have evolved. Readers can start examining the subject by admiring a diverse spectrum of tattoo flash categorised by artist, then go on to a photography showcase of inked bodies modelled for fashion and art projects. The book continues with interviews that provide a portal into the mind of select tattoo artists, each distinct in style and approach. Available in three covers, INK is a collectable reference for practitioners and those craving for new tatts.

This book features over 180 photographs and accompanying texts of Russian criminal tattoos from the Arkady Bronnikov collection.

From the mid-1960s to the late- 1980s Bronnikov worked as a senior expert in criminalistics at the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, part of his duties involved visiting correctional institutions of the Ural and Siberia regions. It was here that he interviewed, gathered information and took photographs of convicts and their tattoos, building one of the most comprehensive archives of this phenomenon. He regularly helped to solve criminal cases across Russia by using his collection of tattoos to identify culprits and corpses.

The Bronnikov collection was made exclusively for police use, to further the understanding of the language of these tattoos and to act as an aid in the identification and apprehension of criminals in the field. Unimpeded by artistry, these vernacular photographs present a guileless representation of criminal society. Every image discloses evidence of an inmate’s character: aggressive, vulnerable, melancholic, conceited. Their bodies display an unofficial history, told not just through tattoos, but also in scars and missing digits. Closer inspection only confirms our inability to comprehend the unimaginable lives of this previously unacknowledged caste.

Tattoos have gone mainstream. Here comes the tattoo underground

Tattoos now have mass appeal, but beyond the mainstream, a new tattoo underground has developed. It is as innovative, diverse, inspiring, and controversial as the motifs it creates. Forever is a stunning documentation of this dynamic current scene.

Forever showcases key tattoo innovators and a broad range of fresh styles. The book explores how today’s tattoo culture is strongly influenced by art, fashion, and contemporary visual culture as well as traditional tattoo art - often in surprising ways.

Tattoos, which were once an exclusively underground phenomenon, now have mass appeal. This evolution from sub-culture to the mainstream has brought fresh ideas, tensions, and shifts with it, and traditionalists and innovators have staked out very different positions. Over the last few years, new influences from the realms of art, fashion, traditional tattoo art, and visual culture have given rise to a dynamic tattoo scene - a new underground. This cutting-edge tattoo culture is as innovative, diverse, inspiring, and controversial as the motifs it creates.

One of the most striking facets of this new tattoo scene is its interaction with high fashion and art. The internationally successful artist Scott Campbell, to name just one high-profile example, began his career as a tattoo artist.

Forever breaks the mould of standard tattoo books and their typical displays of flesh. This publication is an in-depth investigation of current developments in contemporary tattoo culture. It showcases key tattoo innovators and a broad range of fresh styles by the likes of Peter Aurisch, Mark Cross, Rafel Delalande, Lionel Fahy, Happypets, Sue Jeiven, Jondix, Xed LeHead, Lea Nahon, Liam Sparkes, Tomas Tomas, Fuzi UVTPK, Tom Yak, and Yvonne Ziegler, among many others.

In addition to its cutting-edge selection of quality visuals, Forever features insightful text portraits by Nick Schonberger of Alex Binnie, Yann Black, Scott Campbell, Curly, El Monga, Fergadelic, Mike Giant, Thomas Hooper, Jon John, Alix Lambert, Guy Le Tatooer, Duke Riley, Robert Ryan, Jonas Uggli, Amanda Wachob, and Duncan X. A preface by heavily tattooed art historian Matt Lodder puts current developments in tattooing into historical context.

This new gift-sized edition of the classic bestselling book features over 500 retro designs of every style and subject matter, curated by legendary rock journalist Carol Clerk.

Princes and prisoners, sailors and criminals, showgirls and soldiers – all have submitted to the tattooist's art.

Vintage Tattoos features over 500 retro designs of every style and subject matter, including nautical, patriotic, hearts and banners, circus, girls, animals, roses, daggers and symbols. Legendary rock journalist Carol Clerk's curation of the most iconic traditional ink designs also includes profiles of history's illustrious tattoo artists, as well as interviews with contemporary practitioners.

About the Author:

The late Carol Clerk was a veteran rock music writer, an author and an award-winning journalist. After many years on the staff of Melody Maker, most of those as news editor, she became a freelance writer contributing to Uncut, Classic Rock and the Independent, and appearing on radio and TV.

Artists from graphic design, photography, illustration, painting and sculpture have found in tattooing a new tool to express themselves and give way to their distinctive language. And they do it with a fresh look and extraordinary results, often far removed from the traditional tattoo. New Tattoo Artists presents the work of 25 tattoo artists from around the world, taking us on an exhilarating journey through this “new art of tattooing”. Their work is nurtured by many sources, resulting in a rich, diverse and especially unique book that offers a revitalized vision of an ancient art along with the artists’ own reflections and personal experiences.

About the Author:

Mariona Cabassa is a designer and illustrator. Born in Barcelona in 1977, she has published her drawings and illustrations in more than 80 children’s books for different publishers, including Barefoot Books, Book House and Quarry Books. A tireless explorer in search of new expressive terrain, she has been involved in the art of tattooing for nearly four years. She has taught illustration applied to tattooing at the Elisava Design School in Barcelona and teaches at different art and design schools in Barcelona.

The seminal volume on body painting and adornment by the world’s preeminent photographers of African culture. Following the international masterpiece Africa Adorned, Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher have focused on the traditions of body painting spanning the vastly unique cultures of the African continent. In a contemporary world so fascinated with tattoos and piercings, Beckwith and Fisher document the origins of these fashionable adornments as passed down through African tribal culture. Featured are portraits of the richly colored, detailed, and exquisite body paintings of the Surma, Karo, Maasai, Himba, and Hamar peoples, among others. Drawing from expeditions in the field and firsthand experiences with African peoples and cultures over the past thirty years and with more than 250 spectacular photographs, this is the definitive work on the expressiveness and imagination of African cultural painting of the human body.

About the Author:

Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher have photographed the peoples and cultures of the Horn of Africa for more than 30 years. Together, they exhibit internationally and lecture widely at prestigious venues such as the American Museum of Natural History, The Explorers Club, The Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society, and the Royal Geographical Society. Their magazine credits include major features in Time, Life, Vogue, Marie Claire, and Elle.

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