W+K Ink

Sky McBean

2009-09-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

My first tattoo is of a pair of tribal dolphins jumping out of water. The dolphins are in a circle while their tails form a heart and the water a butterfly. As you can tell many symbols in all of this. I see this as a representation of life (circle), intelligence (dolphins), love (heart), uniqueness (butterfly) and they are tribal as that is my heritage. I was born of the Columbia River Plateau People. I got this tattoo the summer between my Sophomore and Junior year of college at Sacred Art Tattoo in Corvallis. However, I don't remember the woman who did it as she was called upon to do it when the guy I had my appointment with had been fired. Not the best of luck with the artist situation, but I love it all the same.

My second tattoo is of a tribal turtle with a dream catcher on it's back. This represents Turtle Island, so that I remember that I don't have to carry the world on my back and the dream catcher allows my dreams to flow through into existence while keeping the bad things stuck. A reminder to myself to relax and let my dreams happen. My friend drew this tattoo up and we went and got it done at High Priestess Tattooing in Corvallis. Again, I really didn't know the artist and after he did a bad job I have learned my lesson. When I went back in to have it fixed he as well was no longer working at the shop, but another artist offered to touch it up and she did a great job.

I have many designs that I want to get put upon my body, but first need to find a tattoo artist that I can work with. I have yet to find a good Tribal tattooist. :( I think my next tattoo will be a feather around my wrist or a salmon up my side.

Courtney Nelson

2009-08-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

Courtney got this tattoo when she was 20 and living in London. She had been sketching this design on a pad for a while and one night when she was a little drunk she decided it was time to make it permanent. She got it at a nasty little shop by Hyde Park and the next day she was more worried about hepatitis than what her parents would say. Instead of gauze they put plastic wrap on it and when she woke up the blood was smeared everywhere. She got it redone about four years later to touch it up and make it look better. She might add to it, but no plans in the immediate future. When she first got it, her friends all told her it would not hurt, but she still feels the pain today.

Monica Choy

2009-08-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

I got the birds from Ren Sakurai at Blackbird Tattoo in NE Portland. He does really detailed work and has a really distinct style - kind of hard to tell with my tattoo since it's so simplistic. The tattoo represents my family; the first two are outlines because they're passed. The fourth birdie has a little heart left in it because i'm emo. I'd love to get more work from Ren one day, he tattoos all my guy friends and he does beautiful work.

The second tattoo is from Henry Lewis at Everlasting Tattoo in my native SF. He's really well known for his script and my friend was his assistant at the time, so she fit me in even though his schedule is crazy. It took him about 20 minutes to do and most of it was freehand. He even put some white in it for me to highlight the script. The message "never settle" kind of freaks some people out, but it simply means to not settle for less in life and to search for the best - something my dad instilled in me before sending me off to college.

I was planning on getting a half sleeve from Henry over christmas, but alas, WK12 didn't leave me much funds for extracurriculars like expensive tattoos. I'd really like to get a color tattoo from him though - his color tattoos are really brilliant.

Jeff Selis - Tribute to Otis

2009-03-10T21:18:00.000-07:00

Jeff Selis is one of the biggest dog lovers I have ever met. In fact he has published three awesome dog books while working at W+K, the first was funded by a slime mold grant from Dan. A few weeks ago he lost his cherished dog Otis to cancer. As a tribute he got this awesome tattoo (the yellow circle by the right paw is a ball, it didn't come out very well in this picture).

If you want to read the saddest thing ever, check out his blog about the last days with Otis.

Oliver McQuitty

2008-05-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

I got this done in 1998, it’s a T26 dingbat (T26 is a type foundry). When it was originally done, the guy who did it butchered me, it’s been re-inked once... about time for another re-inking.

Troy Valls

2008-05-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

This ink symbolizes my birth sign – Capricorn. Created by our very own Liz Hepburn, now in our Portland office, back when we worked together at BBH. I had scoured the Internet for several variations on symbolic representations of the sign and provided them to her for inspiration. From them, she created this original. I marked myself in NYC. Next stop, another original depiction of the Phoenix.

Emily McDonald

2008-04-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

The one on my left arm symbolizes my star sign. I got it in Israel when I was visiting my dad's family. My tattoo on my right was done when I was drunk in Soho, London. My next tattoo will be on my back, and a larger version of the one on my right arm.

Craig Melchiano

2008-04-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

I got most of my tattooes in San Francisco with the exception of 4 here in Amsterdam. I was never much on them having big elaborate stories, most of them are just little thoughts. I was more concerned with having great tattooers doing them and doing their thing. The tattooers I went to, (and they like 'tattooer' from what I have been told, not 'tattoo artist', most of them consider themselves craftsman and not artists.) Anyway, my tattooes are from these guys mostly.

Mike Giant: http://www.mikegiant.com/

Chris Conn: http://www.sekretcity.com/

GRIME: http://www.prickmag.net/grimetattoos.html

Scott Sylvia: http://www.blackhearttattoosf.com/shop/index.aspx

Henry Lewis: http://www.everlastingtattoo.com/

Like I said the stories are simple, East of Eden cause it's the first book I remember reading, love James Dean as well, and there are some MORRISSEY references there. The crying girl wasn't even my idea, Chris surprised me with that one and I liked it, Golden is for Golden State, it says Garden State on the other side, Jersey cause it's where I was born and my dog's name, a chipped gem of some sort, a gargoyle protecting a friend over Paris,and there are others but I thought this was a good example.

Jonas Vail

2008-04-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

My first two were on my wrists.I got the stars on my left wrist in January 1995 at Sunset Strip Tattoo http://www.sunsetstriptattoo.com/info.html in LA. My mom died when I was 18. The green parts of the stars form her initials like a monogram EVB. I got the X underneath on the 10 year anniversary of her death, April 7, 2003 at Mom’s Body Shop on Haight Street in San Francisco http://www.momsbodyshop.com/index.html

My right wrist is Kanji, designed by a Japanese art director friend of mine. The bigger bottom character is “Mother”. Though you would probably use Katakana to spell out her name, the two smaller Kanji characters above represent my mother’s name: Eileen. The left character is “ai”, the right is “leen”. “Ai” means love, and “leen” means pride. I got it at Black Wave Tattoo on La Brea in LA http://blackwavetattoo.com/ in August 1997.

My third one is totally meaningless. I was jonesing for a new tattoo. I made the star in Powerpoint! It was for people who sat behind me on the bus to have something to look at (stupid). I didn’t realize how faded it was until I took this picture. I got it in December 2000, at Everlasting in San Francisco, but at their old location on McAllister, before they moved to where they are now on Divis. http://www.everlastingtattoo.com/

My next one was a long time in the making – about 9 years. I am a Capricorn, and a fellow Capricorn friend and I had it drawn by a Hungarian artist called Rita Ackermann http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Ackermann She also designed the cover of Thurston Moore’s 1995 solo album Psychic Hearts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_Hearts I also got it at Everlasting, this time on Divis, in March 2004.

Lastly, El Tigre, designed by my good friend Abel Macias http://www.abelmacias.net/ Also a few years in the making. I had him draw me a tiger because I was born in the year of the tiger (1974). I got it done by Duncan – aka Mr. X http://www.duncanx.com/ at Into You Tattoo http://www.into-you.co.uk/index2.php on St. John Street in Clerkenwell in London. I got him done February 17, 2007.

Don’t know what’s next, but looking forward to it.

Mathew Foster

2008-04-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Both pieces are on the inner forearms, and are in the japanese style of ukiyo-e, anold form of woodblock printmaking. The first one is a pretty well known adaptation of the 'Great Wave OffKanagawa' by Hokusai (1760‹1849). When he was 13 or 14 he had a dream ofgetting it placed on his arm, cropped in a circle. It stuck. Since the wave carries such weight, he wanted the other to be lighter and balance it out. He found a modern day ukioyo-e artist named Toshi Yoshida(1911-1995), who made this obscure print called 'Double Cherry' that he stumbled on and loved. More are in the works, and will be in the ukiyo-e style (recommendations for a Portland area artist would be appreciated).

Both were done by one Dr. Julien in 2001 and 2004, in Eugene, Oregon. There's a crappy ass video of the 2nd one being done here: http://www.vimeo.com/41567

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshi_Yoshida

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-e

Joe Staples

2008-03-28T18:37:00.001-07:00

It helps if you have an athletic body part to put your tattoo on and there are few people in the Portland office more fit than Joe. This tattoo reminds Joe to stay in balance. The top two circles are opposites and the bottom circle is everything in one.

Randy Jensen at Avalon Tattoo in San Diego did the work.

Caleb Jensen

2008-03-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorites so far. I wanted to get a tat on my forearm, but I wimped out and went with my calf. Caleb went bold with a cool tribute to his grandfather. This is the brand he used on his ranch in Nebraska.

This is his first one, done at Atlas in Portland, but he is open to more.

Evan Dumas

2008-03-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

Under his shirt, our IT friend is hiding the beginnings of a full set of wings he plans to ink on his back. Evan’s dream is to build a flying machine. In fact he dreamed about this all the time as a kid and when he got this tattoo the dreams stopped.

The work was done by Uptown Tattoo in Minneapolis. Check back for updates on this one.

Jay Berry

2008-03-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

Jay Berry's artwork is a tribute to his California days. His sleeve is a design of California poppies and star jasmine, that winds up and around his arm. At the top is a family crest that is a tribute to his Irish roots. On his other arm he has a tribute to the Mission District, his San Francisco neighborhood.

All the work was done by Jennifer Billig at Atlas here in Portland.

Aubrey Dean

2008-02-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

How much do you have to love Nike to get this tattoo? Not so much as it turns out. Nike or Winged Victory, was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. Aubrey saw this picture in art history class in high school and decided she would have it inked on her arm one day. Ten years later she found the right person to handle this detailed work - Nate Hudson at Optic Nerve Arts on Alberta in NE Portland. A couple of years after she got the tattoo, she visited the Louvre in Paris and saw the actual Winged Victory in all its glory.

The art history lesson continues. On the inside of her left arm there is a very cool script inking that translates as, "To my one desire." This is from a series of tapestries called "The Lady and the Unicorn" or La Dame à la licorne. There are a series of six tapestries woven in Flanders of wool and silk, from designs drawn in Paris in the late fifteenth century. The suite is often considered one of the greatest works of art of the Middle Ages in Europe. The tapestries are commonly interpreted as depicting the six senses - taste, hearing, sight, smell, touch, and "À mon seul désir" (to my only desire), often interpreted as love or understanding.

And finally we have the early mistake. At 19 she wanted to get a wave in a circle tat. The design is based on a piece of hammered metal, but Aubrey was not happy with how it turned out. She plans to cover it up in the future with a sleve of flowers down her entire right arm.

Mia Chong-Hanssen

2007-12-13T17:11:00.000-08:00

Mia's tattoos are inspired by her Hawaiian heritage and her family. She wanted the art to feel organic so it is really one big tattoo that flows around her body. She started with the orchids on her back because her mom grew orchids -- and they look really beautiful -- then it progressed up her shoulder and down her arm on one side and around and up her shoulder on the other side.

The artwrok continues down her back with more flowers, but that is not for public consumption.

Her tattoo is still a work in progress and has all been done by one artist. Although he doesn't live in Portland they get together periodically to keep it going.

Jeff Williams

2007-12-04T13:00:00.001-08:00

It began back in 1995 when Jeff was working on a campaign for Barq's root beer. He saw Christian Clayton's artwork "Sweet Dreams Baby" in an illustration annual and decided he had to get Christian and his brother Rob -- the Clayton Brothers -- to do some posters for Barq's.

Unfortunately the client took the work home one night and showed it to his daughter, she said it scared her, so they killed everything.
They still ended up producing a pretty cool campaign for Barq's, but more importantly Jeff had made a couple of new friends. Both Jeff Williams and his creative partner, copywriter Jeff Kling got the Clayton's working on designs for some tattoo's.

In 1997 they got the Clayton brothers involved in the Miller Genuine Draft campaign they were working on, shooting a few TV spots at one of their art openings. The Clayton brothers managed to scare a whole new set of clients with their art and some of the interesting people that came to the party, so none of those spots ever got on the air, but we did get to air one of the spots of a guy going to a tattoo studio to get a tattoo, his friend meets him outside when he is done with a six of MGD.

All of Jeff's tattoos (except one) are based on paintings by the Clayton brothers. They were all done at the Purple Panther Tattoo studio on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles.

The one exception is the girl tattoo, which is a tribute to Jeff's friend Sierra. This tattoo is not finished yet. She is holding jumper cables and the cables run down her leg, but he needs to add the battery charger at the bottom and the words, "A willing helper."

Next time you talk to Jeff, you can get him to tell you what his mom thinks of all his tattoos.

Loren Boggs

2007-11-30T14:09:00.000-08:00

The original design for this tattoo is on Loren's boyfriend's arm. She really liked it and a few years later, when she found the original design in a moving box, she decided to get one too. She redrew the design to make it a little different, but basically there is a guy out there with the same design in the same place, so if you see her holding hands with someone who doesn't have this tattoo...

Currently this is her only tattoo, but she is open to more.

Felicia Glover

2007-11-29T16:43:00.001-08:00

People often get tattoos at a young age and then regret them. This is one of those stories. At 15, the young and rebellious Felicia had a friend drive her all the way to Fayetteville (where there was a lot of military guys and a lot of tattoo places) so she could get this lovely flower tattoo on the back of her calf. Originally she wanted it on her arm, but the tattoo artist talked her out of it, saying she may regret it later, so it is now tucked away awaiting a possible cover up sometime in the future.

Speaking of cover ups, this beauty on her left arm is not original to the area. When she was 19, Felicia moved to San Francisco and after a couple of drinks she and a friend decided it was time to get a tattoo.

She got a ring of stars that was unfortunately a little crooked and instantly regretted. She was, "unable to wear tank tops for quite a while."

Several years later she moved to Oregon and one of her friends got the Carolina state flag tattooed on his arm. This led to her cover up idea. Originally she wanted the Carolina state bird, but a Cardinal is red and this is not a good cover up color, so she got this bird and made the trees Carolina dogwoods.

Mary Alberque

2007-11-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

You know her as the lead singer of Finger Bang City, or possibly she is the producer on the web banners you are currently working on. Either way this girl has some cool ink.

Her first tattoo's were a pair of matching birds on each shoulder. She got them when she was 17 from a friend who is a tattoo artist. He was doing her a favor as she was supposed to be 18 to get a tattoo. Originally they were red, and did not turn out symmetrical. Another friend went back in and turned them blue and balanced them out.

This was the "most painful" of all the tattoos, "the star in the middle of the wrist was the worst." She got this one when she was 20. No big story behind it, she just wanted a girly looking bracelet.

One of the most amazing tattoos I have seen so far. This is a more intricate take on the classic Sailor Jerry Skull Moth tattoo. The work was done by well know Portland artist Lew Hess. Mary added the webbing in the wings and Lew suggested the skulls and peacock antenna coming out of the skull. She got this on Mother's day, but her Mom was not impressed.

When Mary got married her (now ex) husband was a chef and he could not wear a ring at work so they both got a skull and cross bone tattooed on their ring fingers. Love doesn't last forever, but a tattoo...

Mary has a Ramones crest tattooed on her upper leg (or butt -- we let her take that picture). The Ramones "represent more than just my favorite band. I stumbled upon them at a pivotal point in my adolescence; a sort of cognitive hallmark when one begins to consolidate their identity. So it only seems natural to tattoo all of their names on my ass."

She currently has no plans for any more tattoos, but she is open to more if the feeling is right.