Tattoo Johnny

Ready for a tattoo smackdown? We watched the first episode of Tattoo Wars, which was filmed at the 10th Annual New York City Tattoo Convention: Here’s what happened:

The challenge: complete a tattoo of a Hanya Devil Mask in one continuous session in four hours or less. We couldn’t track down photos of their designs (come on, TLC, what’s up with that?), but here’s an example of what an actual Hanya mask looks like:

Artist #1:
Mike Rubendall
Vital Stats:
* 29 years old * years of experience: 10 * won first prize in 30 major international competitions

Approach: deliberate and methodical
Style: synthesizes American traditional with the tattoo art of Japan
Tattoo Home Base: Kings Avenue Tattoo in Massapequa, New York

Artist #2:
Pascal “Bugs” Jarrion
Vital Stats:
* age: none of your damn business * years of experience: 20+ * won 1st prize at every major tattoo show Approach: deep, dark shading, contrasts and light effects
Style: modern cubism
Home Base: Tattoo Lounge in Los Angeles

How it went down: Both artists met with their clients a week before the competition to plan out placement and strategy. Mik’s client was Mitch Olster, a psychotherapist, and Bugs went to work on Michelle D’Angelo. After discussing placement and design strategy, both went off on their own approaches–Mike hit the books and researched different styles of Hanya masks, while Bugs preferred to create a design from memory.

While the plans and sketches were underway, Bugs traveled to Fairlawn, New Jersey, to do a guest stint at Screamin’ Ink Tattoo (FYI–the waitlist for an appointment with Bugs is a year-and-a-half, so plan early). Nick Del Virginia, an art student, came in to have Bugs do a cubist rendition of a Hellenistic bust. “I appreciate the way he takes a very general idea and turns just makes it such a unique and beautiful piece of art,” said Nick.

Elyse Nemerear, a fashion executive, had Bugs cover up the calla lily tattoo that he did on her previously with a new, larger tattoo. “Bugs has a unique style that’s beautiful and not like anyone else,” said Elyse. “I’m generally conservative on the outside…so when people see it they are surprised, impressed, and then everyone want to go and get one.” Elyse’s back tattoo will take 18 sessions at 3 to 4 hours per session. We’d love to see the final tattoo.

Tione Torrens made the trip from Alexandria, Virginia to have Bugs do a backpiece of a peacock. “My husband had a piece done on his leg by Bugs, and during that session he was talking about a peacock and I decided I wanted one..I don’t want to be like everyone else.”

Billy Monroe, the owner of Screamin’ Ink, had Bugs work on his Beatnik Joe back tattoo. Beatnik Joe is a skeleton with his arm hanging out of the window of 49 Mercury Coupe, and is a symbol of the Beatnik Car Club, of which Joe is a charter member. Bugs and Billy took a break and checked out a classic car show at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, Mike tells the story of how he got into tattooing: “I drew a lot as a kid, but I never felt like it was like I was a natural talent,” he said. “It wasn’t a God-given thing, I think it was a developed talent.” Mike shares how he and his brother went in to DaVinci Tattoo and met tattooist Mike Romano, who initially blew Mike off before he put him to the test to see how persistent he was. Romano eventually gave Mike an apprenticeship, and worked him like a dog for six months before he even got to tattoo. Mike did free tattoos for six months, then did them for half-price, then moved up to full price. “I fell in love with it,” Mike says of tattooing.

Mike chills out out with visiting tattoo artists Tim Hendricks from California and from Henny Jorgensen from Denmark. Together, they talk over Mike’s strategy—he’s thinking about doing one half of the Hanya in black and grey and the other half in color.

Mike sees a few clients of his own: Lori Bonazzoli, a yoga teacher and longtime client of Mike, comes in for more work on the Tibetan flowers on her sleeve. “I looked at his portfolio and I just knew it, it just felt right,” Lori says of working with Mike.

Drew Lustman comes in to have Mike work on his colorful frontpiece dragon tattoo. “I always like to go back and add a little texture to the piece,” said Mike, who finished Drew’s tattoo after two years of work.

COMPETITION DAY:

An hour-by-hour rundown:

Hour 1: Bugs outline is done, but Mike is still outlining his bigger design
Hour 2: Bugs is doing shading, and Mike lags behind
Hour 3: Mike catches up to Bugs, both are well into the color portion of their tattoos

When time was called, Mike and Bugs’ admired each other’s work: Mike’s completed design was a snarling, yellow-eyed veiled Hanya, and Bugs knocked out a cubist Hanya she-devil. The audience cast their ballots, and the winner was…

Mike Rubendall!!!

Congrats, Mike. With such different styles, it was hard to judge, but the intricate veil in Mike’s design seemed to push the votes in his favor.

Popularity: 37%

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2007 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Tattoo T.V. Shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.