Tattoo

I spotted a video on Facebook the other day advertising the services of a tattoo artist. I say artist, but it would seem that a lot of modern tattoos are transfers that are inked over, thus making tattoo artistry a paint-by-numbers game.

In my youth a tattoo artist was an artist and did all the work freehand, and I thought that was still the case, till I saw the video.

Here's a video about the difference.

I suppose there is still a bit of artistry, as one has to take into account the location of the tattoo and how it will look when the limb is flexed - you don't want an image of a Greek warrior turning into a knob or a picture of Boris Johnson when your arm is flexed. Then there's the problem of harmonising several different tattoos - a bit like matching wallpaper patterns.

When I was young, a tattoo was considered rather subversive, but now every bugger between certain ages is covered in them and it's considered subversive not to be to have them. A lot of kids, I'm sure, are somewhat embarrassed to be seen with parents pretending they're Maori tribal leaders.