Archive for Popular Tattoo Designs
Popular Tattoo Artist: Kat Von D
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Katherine von Drachenberg, popularly known as Kat Von D is a famous tattoo artist and TV personality. She was born in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico on the 8th of March, 1982. She is of a mixed descent – with a German father and Italian / Spanish mother and moved to California at the early age of 4.
What most people wont guess about her is that she is a classically trained pianist and enjoys the work of elite musicians such as Ludwig van Beethoven. Kat Von D’s first experience with television was when she appeared in Miami Ink (a reality TV show). She initially appeared as a substitute for Darren Brass who had hurt his arm and could not tattoo. After her falling out with some of the cast members of the show she was asked to leave the show which turned out to be a good thing for her. She subsequently got her own reality show on TV – LA Ink – featuring her work and tattoo shop – High Voltage Tattoo, in Hollywood, California.
Subsequently she went to gain the Guinness World Record for the most number of tattoos given by a one single person in twenty four hours. She gave 400 tattoos in 24 hours to create that record. Today the record stands with Hollis Cantrell with 801 tattoos in 24 hours.
At such a young age Kat Von D has even come out successful in the publishing world. Her first book – High Voltage Tattoo – was released in 2009 with a foreword by the famous Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe. Her book was No. 6 on the New York Best Times Best Seller list. The book is a compilation of her artwork and tattoos – tracing her career as a tattoo artist and shedding light on her influences and inspirations. The book is “not an autobiography, you know, ’cause I’m too young to do that. But this is just kind of like a picture-driven outline of my career as an artist. So, you see everything from my drawings when I was six to tattoos that have never before been seen” said Kat Von D about the book.
She later (in 2008) created a whole line of make-up products for Sephora that now also includes fragrances. She is also the founder of MusInk Tattoo Convention and Music Festival. She went on to publish another book – The Tattoo Chronicles – that reached no. 3 on the New York Times Best Seller List in 2010.
Gangster Tattoos
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Since the ancient Roman Empire tattoos have been related to criminal deviancy. Although such a taboo against tattoos does not exist today, many gangs use tattoos as a means of identifying with a particular group. Many gang members use tattoos for several reasons not the least among which is a sign of having spent time in prison. Gang members sometimes have several tattoos, each symbolizing or representing something unique in their lives.
The famous (or is it infamous?) tear drop tattoo usually tattooed on the cheek below either eye represents prison time. However, some say it actually stands for the number of people they have killed. Some gangsters have their name tattooed real big and bold (so they are visible from any distance?) in an effort to intimidate rival gang members.
Some gangsters are known to take pride in identifying themselves outside the premise of conventional society. They use tattoos (more often than not) to express their beliefs and life philosophy which is a complete rejection of conventional moral and religious beliefs – popularly known as the nihilistic philosophy. They commonly have the name of a person tattooed on the back of their neck or a gang motto etched on the chest. These tattoos are usually done in black and grey and often showcase bullets, firearms, numbers and secret letters in old English or the gothic script.
One of the biggest gangs in California is that of The Sureños (which means Southerners in Spanish). They were one of the very first to use colors to set themselves apart from other gangs. They started using blue bandanas (the color of the railroad handkerchiefs provided in the California prisons) as their identity. Numbers are also sometimes incorporated in their tattoos – they use the Tres Puntos (meaning three dots) and X3 (the number 13.)
The other major gang of California is the The Norteños. Yes, you guessed it – it means the Northerners. They are also popularly known as Nuestra Familia meaning ‘Our Family’. As you may have also guessed the Northerners and the Southerners traditionally have been rivals with Bakersfield (in California) being their geographical dividing line. The Northerners are more notoriously known for their involvement in the drug trafficking trade and armed conflict with rival gangs.
Bird Tattoo Designs
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One of the most popular designs for tattoos (among both men and women) is bird designs. Bird designs have been used in tattoos for more than a hundred years now simply because of what they represent to us, humans. Americans are very fond of the Eagle just as the Japanese are of the phoenix. Birds, both real and legendary are used as a strong metaphor for human emotions and have come to play a central role in tattoo designs.
The dove is a bird that is most often associated with gentleness. It also symbolizes devotion and the divine. The playful partridge and the proud cockerel have become the symbol of passionate gentlemen. Likewise the rooster is associated with France’s proud heritage.
Geese supposedly choose mates for life and have become famous symbols for matrimonial celebration. Perhaps the most popular bird that has come to symbolize love is the lovebird! These are tiny Mexican parrots that surprisingly snuggle up close to its partner in a seemingly affectionate manner and have thus earned the nick name.
Almost every culture in the world has myths and stories where birds play a central role. It is said that the Egyptian god Atum chose the stork like Benu to appear at the very beginning of creation. Birds like the vultures, eagles and hawks – birds of prey – were a symbol of victorious conquests for the Vikings and the Goths. The raven however has different meanings in different cultures. In some cultures the raven was viewed as a wise bird. In North America however both crows and raven are considered tricksters. The Bible views the raven as a symbol of evil, likewise among the Arabs who consider ravens as bad omen.
The swallows and Bluebirds world over are considered a good omen. It brings hope of the summer with its appearance in spring. For those sailors at sea, the swallow was a definite sign that land was nearby. They have long been associated with sailors and a life at sea. Notice the tattoo of a swallow on Johnny Depp’s forearm the next time you watch Pirates of the Caribbean.
History of Tattooing Among Criminals
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A part of our history has long since associated tattoos with criminals – starting with the grand Roman Empire. There are evident links of certain tattoo symbols or designs to criminal rituals however most today are mere designs and don’t hold the meaning they did in the past.
Early in our modern history, people who were exiled from Great Britain to the Australian Penal Colonies (a settlement where prisoners were transported to separate them from the general population) were sometimes tattooed with symbols intended to disgrace the prisoner; for example, D which stood for deserter (for abandonment of a military post). These prisoners often added to the tattoo in an effort to conceal the original design or to express rebellious or sardonic messages.
In Japanese history, full body tattoos were traditionally worn by members of the Yakuza (traditional organized crime syndicates; they called themselves “chivalrous organizations”). Their elaborate design and size of the tattoos showed who the wearer associated with. Around 600 AD these tattoos began to have negative connotations. Instead of being used for ritualistic purposes they were used to mark criminals, and this practice came to be mirrored by the Romans.
In North America today, there are many tattoo symbols that have come to mean something. For instance, the tattoo of three dots within a triangle (usually tattooed on the skin between the forefinger and the thumb) means ‘my crazy life’. Another famous tattoo among the Hispanics is the Pachuco cross which means ‘I need nothing’. This is similar in meaning to those worn by Vietnamese teens.
We all know what the famous gang related tear drop tattoo means (the wearer has killed someone); it could also mean that the wearer had a friend who was killed in prison. The tattoo of the ace of spades (with the A tattooed inside the spade) is associated with the Asian Boyz gang of California and so forth.
The Meanings of Viveca A Fox’s Tattoos
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Vivica Anjanetta Fox (popularly known as Vivica A. Fox), is a gifted actress and television producer. She is best known for her roles in feature films such as Independence Day, Set It Off, Soul Food, Why Do Fools Fall In Love, and Kill Bill: Vol. 1.
Vivica is of a mixed descent (African American and Native American) and was born in South Bend, Indiana in 1964. Vivica later moved to California to attend Golden West College and it was around that time that she also made her first foray into professional acting. Vivica started her career with roles on soap operas such as Generations, Days of our Lives and The Young and the Restless. Some of the other early roles she played include: Jazz’s sister on the successful comedy show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Beverly Hills 90210. Her big break in the film industry came with roles in movies such as Independence Day and Set It Off (1996).
She is not known for flaunting her tattoos as much as some of the other actresses and musicians, nevertheless, she has quite a collection. Vivica has a rose and a bunch of vines on her lower back. She calls them her “handle bars” (for what reason? I could only but guess)
She also has a tattoo of a tiny fox on her right arm. Is it a coincidence that her last name is also Fox? Maybe not! According to Native North American mythology a fox is representative of a trickster. A fox is known for its intelligence, its surprising cleverness in escaping traps – eluding predators and going about its environment at night. It represents a morally neutral person; someone unpredictable! Given Vivica’s part Native American descent, it is possible that the fox tattoo represents all those things.
Vivica also has a small tattoo ring around one of her toes (purely esthetic I suppose), a large cross on her back (right shoulder blade) and a vertical line of three Chinese language characters.
Cross Tattoo Designs
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The cross tattoo design is perhaps one of the most popular tattoo designs in use today. Every person I know (with tattoos), including some celebrities, has at least one cross symbol (if not more). Some people wear the symbol as an expression of their religious beliefs – they are Christian; they believe in the scriptural reference to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross – plain and simple. Some others however, give the symbol their own special meaning (not necessarily Christian). Very few people today wear the cross for its ancient symbolism – I’m talking of a period in time even before Jesus; a long, long time ago in human civilization.
It is believed that even back then, the symbol has significant religious attachments. Some associate the use of the cross symbol to the use of the early swastika symbol (which looks very much like a cross minus the handles). It is believed that this early symbol represented the tools used in igniting a fire and eventually became a symbol of the sacred fire or a symbol of the Sun. It is also believed to be representative of lightning or the god of the tempest. It is seen as the emblem of the ancient Aryan civilization (now adopted by the Hindu people. The Hindu swastika symbol looks very much like the Nazi German symbol but means something else).
Another such connection made to the contemporary cross is that of the ancient Egyptians – the ansated cross (also known as the Ankh or crux ansata). It is the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that reads “eternal life”. The Egyptian gods of old are often depicted carrying this in their hand. It is believed that the Egyptian Christians (otherwise known as Coptic Christians) later adopted this symbol – perhaps drawn by its form or meaning – as the sign of the cross.
Cross tattoos are famous among men (worn on the shoulders, back, forearm). Women have a (usually) smaller and more feminine version (on the foot, ankle, hand, lower back).