Electronic Tattoo

Now what if you can have a tattoo that has the potential to be far cooler than what you can see today – both the real ones and the temporary ones? I am talking about an electronic tattoo, or epidermal electronics as they call it.

This new technology is based on ultrathin electronics, which can then be placed on a person’s skin. Think of it as being similar to the temporary sticker tattoos that even children can use. The big difference is, obviously, an electronic tattoo is technology advanced and has other purposes.

The new breed of tattoos is the handiwork of John Rogers of Urbana-Champaign (in collaboration with other institutions in the United States, Singapore, and China). As you can see in a video showcasing how an electronic tattoo can be applied, you simply need to place the material on your skin, rub it in with some water, and you have a temporary tattoo of a different kind!

Being a new technology, the use and development of electronic tattoos are still being studied. However, the researchers have high hopes for these wearable circuits in the medical field. For example, they can be used to monitor heart and brain activity. In the future, you might even find yourself using an electronic tattoo as a portable computer of sorts. Suddenly, the prospect of wearing a mobile phone is more real!

Personally, I like the idea of wearing an electronic tattoo (or two) better than having a microchip inserted beneath the skin. While the latter may be more robust, I simply don’t like the idea of being cut up. With an electronic tattoo, you get the electronics without the cut. Now I wonder if they can develop the technology so much so that you can have a design of your own choosing as well?

French tattoo artist K.A.R.L. is supposed to be the first guy ever who takes on the job of tattooing a QR code on another person. He did so on the 16th of June this year, with the entire world watching. Well maybe not the entire world, but those who were watching the live stream. The event was basically a marketing gig sponsored by Ballantine, falling in line with the company’s “Leave the Impression” campaign.

The tattoo features a QR code embedded in the middle of flowers and cogs.

QR Code Tattoo KARL

Now that sketch may not seem much, but after seeing the process (albeit with lots of scenes cut out) and the finished product, one will not be able to help but appreciate the idea. Wondering where the QR code tattoo will take you? Watch this.

Is it just me or does the guy with the QR code tattoo look like the singing guy in the animation? Oh, and I tried to scan the QR code in the sketch but it wouldn’t work. Can you try and see what happens?

Here’s another QR code tattoo, which seems to have been done even before K.A.R.L.’s singing project.

QR Code Tattoo Jully

So this QR code tattoo is simpler – no flairs at all, but I think it does hold a lot of meaning. Why don’t you grab your phone and scan it?

I think getting a QR code tattoo is a cool idea, but if you don’t like “real” tattoos, you can also get temporary QR code tattoos for fun at Barcode Art. Now I can easily see Wolowitz and Raj wearing these tatts as they prowl the bars.

Who doesn’t know Peanuts or it’s main character Charlie Brown? They never bore, each year without missing they are on TV for the holidays in the U.S. The comics are full of imparting wisdom’s.

I found nine tattoos good enough to be posted here. There are lots of tattoo photos but personally I find only a handful good. People have different tastes, but some tattoos we can all agree are ugly. I choose nine tattoos, mostly Charlie Brown that are nicely done.

These are timeless classics, and if you love Peanuts and tattoos, you can’t go wrong.

The tattoos I have listed here are very well done. The last one does raise some questions though, is it a real tattoo? It looks like water paint to me, but I’m not very familiar with all tattooing techniques.

My favorite one on this list, is the first one, I like that it has the border around it, like it has been copy pasted from the book.

Charlie Brown and Lucy

Linus

Charlie Brown and Snoopy

Charlie Brown and Snoopy

Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown

Peanuts Sleeve

Snoopy

Peanuts

Above tattoo, fake or real?

With this being the ‘gazillion’ or so tattoo post here, I want to ask you readers do you have a tattoo? So yes, do share with the rest!

Iron Man Tattoos

You will never hear me deny my obsession for this character – and Robert Downey, Jr. Naturally, he is first up on the list.

They say this tatt was spotted by someone somewhere in The Philippines.  Who knows? I just might run into this guy one of these days. Now I love Iron Man and RDJ (sometimes I can’t tell the difference) but I am not so sure about the depiction of IM’s head here.  What do you think? Mask on or mask off for this tatt?

Here’s a hand tattoo, which I think is pretty cool.  I’d be careful not to use this hand for tough jobs if I had this ink, though.

Not everyone wants a huge tattoo on their leg, but if this were the image, I wouldn’t think twice – would you?

Now this tattoo, I had a difficult time deciding whether to include or not.  On the one hand, the concept is cool.  On the other hand, it is very poorly done, don’t you think?

Wonder Woman Tattoos

Artist MeghanBeth says this took them three hours to complete, with the hair giving her the hardest time.  I think the effort was well worth it?  That cascade of black simply looks awesome, don’t you agree?

This Wonder Woman tatt, I like much better.

And, for a more meaningful Wonder Woman tatt (read: woman power and all that), check this out.

X-Men Tattoos

Very very powerful image, don’t you think?  And, the fact that it is purely done in black…I was staring at this for a while.

If the first one was simple (in terms of color), this one is literally fiery HOT.

Gotta love the concept.

Sure looks like this one hurt.  I just can’t get enough of Wolverine, though.  The guys at Ink & Dagger Tattoo Parlour are the geniuses behind this tatt.

Hulk Tattoos

The best of both worlds – that’s what this guy has with this tattoo.

If I had this “baby” on my back, I wouldn’t be apprehensive going out at night – alone, in a strange place.

This tatt cracks me up. I don’t know why, but it really does. It’s not just Hulk, of course, but it’s still worth including in this group.

Batman Tattoos

I love the colors used for this tatt, and I love the quote used in the site where I found it even more: “My world is all just shades of grey, Batman. That’s why you’ll never really understand me.”

Disturbing is the word that keeps repeating in my head. Definitely wouldn’t get one – wouldn’t even dream of it – but this tattoo does catch one’s eye, doesn’t it?

Pretty sassy Batgirl, this one is.   I also like how the colors blend.  It looks like it has just been done – notice the rawness? Doesn’t matter, though – I still like how it looks.

And, lest you are thinking “Where the heck is a Batman tattoo in this group?” here is an overly muscular version.

Spiderman Tattoos

From what I see, the image of this tattoo has been going around for quite some time now, but it has to be part of this list – no question about that.

Beautiful, isn’t he?

Superman Tattoos

Death of Superman chest tattoo – a good change from the usual emblem that everyone and their mom has, isn’t it?

Here’s another nice deviation from the usual emblem. If you like your steak very rare, the chances are that you’ll appreciate this tatt as well.

And for our last tattoo, here’s one of Superman himself.

Superman himself would be happy with this rendition, I reckon.

So there you have it – 23 of the coolest superhero tattoos I could find (for now).  Watch out for another feature on tatts in the next month or so!

I have one tattoo for somewhat over a year and a half and I took a long time to decide on it. Since then I have been looking for text or an art piece that speaks to me to make my next tattoo. In this mind set I went searching for Banksy tattoos to see how people implement them. I have listed seven here that I found interesting. The most popular one is “Girl with heart balloon”, which a lot of people have as tattoo on different body parts and in combination with their text of choice.

Banksy art is definitely on my consideration list for the next tattoo.

Rat

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Girl with heart balloon

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Girl with heart balloon

Girl with heart

Girl with heart balloon

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Angel

Girl hugging a bomb

Having a Banksy tattoo is quite meta if you think about it; originally a graffiti which is considered art by many who even protect his graffiti with plastic. Any readers here have a Banksy tattoo?

I had no idea just how much others likes, or no, loves Twilight. As in unhealthy love one can say. While browsing tattoos I decided to check if there are Twilight tattoos and I was shocked. It’s like the fail directory of tattoos. Then I decided to look for the ones that are actually nice taking away that they are Twilight tattoos and not everyone is a fan.

So I set to to look for all I could find and pick the artistically best ones. Making a list of the horrible ones is a feat even a 5 year old can do. So here I present you the 8 best Twilight tattoos. You might not be a fan or even hate Twilight but at least 5 of these tattoos can be seen as a general tattoo not related to Twilight but a true fan would recognize them as Twilight tattoos.

Edwards words to Bella when he has to leave her.

Edwards tells Bella when discussing how dangerous he is to her. On which Bella replies “Stupid lamb”.

A combination of all book covers, this is one of the best I’ve seen as there are many tattoos of the covers. The red beam is pretty realistic, and the apple you see on the right is well done with the shadows on it. All other Twilight red apple tattoos looked flat and ordinary.

This one is a very nice black/gray tattoo. This is the Cullen family crest with another Edward quote.

Jacob Black’s wolfpack tattoo. It could pass as a regular Indian tattoo as it has been said the design is based on the Quileute tribe and some modern pop art.

Yet another Edward quote, it’s these kind of things I was skipping in the books. The chances that vampires are real are more realistic then a guy so “perfect” as Edward Cullen.

Ambigrams are cool, this one is Vampire – Werewolf and must have been done before all books where out. Because Jacob is not a werewolf but a shape shifter. Then again maybe it was a conscious choice because it’s easier having an ambigram of vampire and werewolf instead of just wolf.

I was on the fence with this tattoo, while one arm done in black/gray with the Cullen family crest and tree does not look nice the other arm with the book covers items looks great. Like I said before the red beam is done well. And here I like how they combined the flower, beam and the chess piece.

Aren’t tattoos more fascinating then paints sometimes? I guess just the fact that they are forever.

Pilot Pens has a new “extra fine” point pen available, and to demonstrate its needle-like size, a Barcelona ad agency came up with this series of adverts that feature LEGO Minifigures. The Minifigs have been inked using the extra fine Pilot pens, and are shown in extreme close-ups so you can see for yourself just how intricate these drawn-on tats are.

It’s a brilliant strategy, as everyone in the world knows the size of a LEGO Minifig, so seeing these complex art pieces drawn on such a small medium demonstrates the size of the pen tip far better than any words could. (Plus, the use of tattooed Minifigs demonstrates a sense of humor, and consumers love anything that doesn’t take itself too seriously.)

The drawings on these LEGO figures are truly amazing. But honestly, I’m downright astonished that The LEGO Group would allow their most iconic toy to be used this way, since they’ve been super-strict in guarding their brand in the past. Six of these tattooed Minifigs have been produced; click through to gander at them all.

In any case, it is safe to say that you can get a tattoo (or two) without getting all worked up about the implications. And who says only the bada#* guys get tattoos? Check out all our posts on tattoos and you’ll know what I mean.

Recently, CNET posted a slideshow of their readers’ uber-geeky tattoos, and are they fun to look at!

This invisible unicorn is pretty cool. The guy used UV ink, making the tattoo only visible under black light.

And what about this 1-UP Mushroom from Mario? It’s a bit too colorful for me, but the concept is great.

This one I could have used way back in university. No need to memorize formulas if I had gotten tattoos!

Of course, you can’t go wrong with Transformers.

I think this concept is my favorite – the guy’s initials in ASCII. Always a nice conversation starter. (I think it’s kinda gross that there’s a patch of skin with no hair, though.  It would have been better to shave the whole area…)

So any of you have your own geeky tattoo to show off?

By the way, this reminds me of one of my goals this year – to get my own (first!) tatt. I already have an idea – a metallic gold dragon blowing fire. I want my own dragon design, though. Anyone know a good artist who can create one for me?

I don’t know of you but when I started reading the newspaper as a kid I started with the comics section which included syndicated strips of Calvin and Hobbes. I must say that I only cared for Calvin and Hobbes, non of the others, which explains why I don’t remember which other strips there where in the paper. When I moved to the Netherlands and discovered comic bookstores I started buying the Calvin and Hobbes comic books. I still have to complete my collection.

Due that Bill Watterson retains all rights to the strips there isn’t any legal products of Calvin and Hobbes available. While I think its a good idea to stop after 10 years instead of dragging on the strips, I would love to have a Calvin and Hobbes poster, figurines or t-shirt.

This is where die hard fans got creative; get a Calvin and Hobbes tattoo, it’s not for commercial purpose and it’s on your body for good, laser treatment aside. After looking at these tattoos I can totally see myself getting one, I would browse for my favorite frame, black and white and get it medium sized.

So without much more ado here are 9 tattoos that are true Calvin and Hobbes.

A classic scene! Source

Some fans combine it with another illustration that has personal meaning to them. Source

A very gutsy tattoo, true Calvin fandom.

Calvin and Hobbes and the Cosmos. Source

Calvin’s alter egos. Source

I loved this one! Although I’m more for black and white, the frame finish it wonderful.

Simply Hobbes

A very colorful leg sleeve

A whole strip sleeve in black and white, I love it but wouldn’t dare go so far. But doing just one frame is what I would go for.

Professional LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya — who, as you should know by now, creates art sculptures using LEGO bricks — has got himself a new tattoo. And it might be the most geektastic tattoo you’ll ever see.

With hype like that, you’re probably expecting something huge and wildly detailed. But this is not that kind of tattoo. Its brilliance is its understated simplicity. With a minimum of ink, it manages to evoke a sensation that pretty much everybody in the world is familiar with: the feeling of LEGO brick studs impressed into the skin of one’s fingers.

Eight little dots, with a bit of a three-dimensional look, is what Sawaya had tattooed onto his thumb. He said he did it in honor of the fact that every single day, he snaps LEGO bricks together, pressing down hard to insure a tight fit. “What better way,” he says, “to pay tribute to my medium of choice, than permanently inking those marks on to my thumb?”

Tattoos aren’t really my thing, but even I have to salute the Brick Master for his inspired use of ink.

My love of food is not that deep that I would get a tattoo to show it, especially not of bacon. As much as I would like to, eating bacon everyday wouldn’t be good for me. Others seem to have a different idea, they went as far as getting a tattoo to show their love for bacon.

This one is my favorite, very realistic done and good artistic work. Most importantly it’s placed on the arm and not some weird place.

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Another one on the arm, a bit more “cartoonish” then the previous one but still very nice.

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A bacon band, not my taste but it works.

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The graphic is very well done, but the place it’s on and the upside down cross is just plain weird. Note that I cropped the photo to remove the “crack” of the person if you know what I mean. Who wants to see bacon next to that.

The text says is all, “True Love”.

The drawing remembers me of cartoons from late 90′ early ’00. It does not make me want some bacon like the first two tattoos.

Now this a bacon related tattoo I could see myself getting. Classic done.

I guess this person has no problems at all with what too much bacon does to one’s heart. If I had that tattoo on me I wouldn’t be able to eat bacon anymore. Each bite you take you chew and think about the effects.

Bottom line is these people like bacon enough to show it with a tattoo. While I personally don’t like all the tattoos it does take guts to tattoo your favorite food on your body.

A year ago I got my first tattoo after thinking about it a year long, I wanted something really meaningful and be sure it wasn’t something I would regret later. I decided on a poem which I wanted on my shoulder, but at the ink shop I decided why put it somewhere where I can’t see it every time I want. So I had it inked on the my inner left arm and till today I like it very much.

Since venturing into the tattoo world I pay more attention to others their tattoos and I noticed I see more bad ones then good ones. They are obviously chosen without second thoughts and placed in spots that are not hidden by regular cloth. Not that they should be hidden, to each their choice but if it is a FAIL tattoo you’d be wishing it was under your clothes. Because lets admit it the taboo might be less but if you want a job which deals with high status you’ll need to cover up those tats.

The people of Houston tattoo removal have devised an excellent flowchart to help you decided to get a tattoo or not. And this is something you should definitely consult if you have yet to get a first tattoo.

I went through the flowchart with the tattoo I currently have on mind and passed the chart without a problem. I can safely say I made the right decision with getting my tattoo. But then again I don’t have stars all over my face or Tony Danzas face on my leg.

So I have something to admit. I love maps. Awesome maps are awesome.
When recently my attention was drawn to this gorgeous whole back world map tattoo I wondered what more cool maps people had inked on their body and the result was not bad at all.

The whole world, tattooed over both feet is a great concept and it looks ace. Too bad that Britain is barely visible and Eurasia and Africa need both feet. An ace tattoo though and personally I wouldn’t mind if my girl friend had a similar one.

In the same spirit this world map spread over both cheeks. It is not clear if this is a tattoo or a temporary airbrush, but no matter what it is this makes anyone want to explore the desert. Desert, dessert?

Hot pants FTW, right?

If you prefer more old-skool, traditional cartography, this original world map is for you. Again you’ll need both cheeks to cover the whole world.

I like the cool colours of this tattoo, although yellow never was my favourite colour for a tatt, and the map but it is not too clear what Western part of the world in this image. It looks like Great Britain distorted, with a splash of Scandinavia or something like that.

I guess it goes without doubt that this the awesomest Australia map tattoo is I have ever seen. It might be true that I have never seen another map of the Foster’s exporting nation but that is not relevant here, nor to be discussed. This map rocks and it’s the best Australia tattoo you’ll see all week long.

Yes, that’s what she said.

The Galapagos Archipel.

The Philippines, together with the surname of the owner, tattooed on a back.

The last ‘cheeks map’ in this list. Again it is hard to see if this is a real tattoo. My bet goes to a temporary airbrush. It does clearify that the Middle East is in shit though.

What I don’t really like about this map is that you would not get an ash cloud but instead you’ld end up with lots of tsunamis, depending on how much you love cheese and onion pie.

This is how our galaxy would look from a distance.

The last tattoo map is a tattoo for all geeks. Better than a map of the Middle Earth this is the map of Thrór, the King under the Mountain at Erebor.

Bonus map: subway map tattoo.

1. The Golden Snitch

By capturing the Golden Snitch the team wins the Quiditch match.

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2. Expecto Patronum

A charm spell

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3. Owl and books

Not specific Harry Potter but at true fan will recognize it as a Harry Potter tattoo.

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4. Hogwarts crest

The school crest with all four the animals representing each house.

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5. Dobby the house elf

The Malfoy’s house elf who was freed by Harry

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6. The Deathly Hallows

The symbol for “The wand, the stone and the cloak”.

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7. The Dark Mark

This mark is branded on the arms of Lord Voldemort followers, the Death Eaters. Very much like the tattoo shown above, inside the left arm.

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I was surprised when researching for this list how many people have The Dark Mark as a tattoo. Given the story is fictional but still, the whole Harry Potter story evolves around good versus evil. Ironically the other popular Harry Potter tattoo is The Deathly Hallows which helped Harry Potter kill Voldemort.

And here’s me thinking that the tattoo boob job silly was.

Via DeadDog.

Photo credit: Simon Marcus.

I honestly don’t know what is most disturbing here: the tattoo, his manboobs or his six-pack. Seems like a Fosters pack to me.

I asked for 56 stars and initially adored them. But when my father saw them, he was furious. So I said I fell asleep and the that the tattooist mad made a mistake.

Body artist Tourmiantz now has withdrawn the offer to pay half of the removal costs and also admitted having received ample publicity for his studio during the tattoostargate case. In the future he will insist on getting written permission before tattooing anyone else.

Via The Telegraph.

First lets put things straight: these tattoos look rather cute. BUT, no tattoo artist should accept to make facial body art on an barely major person. 18 _IS_ too young to make that kind of decision.
Now the story.

Belgian girl Kimberley Vlaminck, 18, is suing Rouslan Tourmaniantz to make him pay for removal of the 53 tattoos on her face. No one knows why/how she fell asleep at the parlour, but she only requested three little stars. Drug allegations are obvious but the artists denies having doped or hypnotized Kimberley.

“I think he didn’t understand what I wanted,” the teenager complained to the UK Sun. “He spoke only fractured English and French, but I explicitly said in my native tongue, French, that I wanted three little stars only near my left eye.” (The French words for three (“trois”) and 56 (“cinqueante et six”) sound nothing alike. Maybe go with hand gestures next time.)

Still I think the tats look kinda curte.

Update: After sueing the tattooist for deliberate assault and battery, they have now come to an agreement. The tattooist will pay for half of the expenses of having the tattoos removed by laser. The estimated cost of this is €10 000, but he says he doesn’t want the girl to be unhappy or feel scarred for the rest of her life.

Update 2: Kimberley has admitted that she asked for all 56 stars. Aaawwwwww…