Diego Maradona Tattoos

Diego Maradona is the legendary Argentine football player, consider by many as the best to ever play the game of football.

Diego Maradona currently has five tattoos, including the names of both his daughters "Gianinna and Dalma" on each forearm.

He has a tattoo of the famous Argentine Marxist revolutionary, Che Guevara, on his upper right arm. Diego has been quoted as saying "I carry him on my arm and in my heart. I learned his story, I learned to love him. I think I know the truth about him."

On his left leg is a portrait tattoo of former prime minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro. Diego said "Meeting him was like touching the sky with my hands. What he has done for me is indescribable. Along with God, he is the reason I am alive."

Diego also has a dragon tattooed on his left arm.

Enjoy these pictures of Diego Maradona and his tattoo designs.

Usher in the Year of the Tiger with a New Tattoo!

2010 Looks to be a great year and I am looking forward to ringing in the new decade on January 2nd by visiting a new tattoo shop of the Lower East Side called Thicker Than Water Tattoo Studios.

From Noon to 10:00 PM, artists in the shop, which just opened on December 1, 2009, will be inking Year of the Tiger tattoo specials for $50.00 apiece. It's first-come, first-served, folks, so don't show up too late.

In case you were wondering what kind of tattoo this deal will get you, we here at Tattoosday were thrilled to get a sneak peak of the flash from which customers can choose, and got the blessing from Shon Lindauer, designer, tattooer and shop manager, to share the designs with our readers:



So, come on down to Thicker Than Water and start the new decade with an appropriate Tiger tattoo to ring in the year!

LL Cool J Tattoos

LL Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James) is a tremendously talented rapper and actor, who has been tearing up the music charts since 1985 with his debut album, Radio.

LL Cool J definitely has a passion for tattoo artwork, and has a handful of tattoo designs.

On his right arm is a microphone with a kings crown on top, and the name "Mr. Smith" across the handle, the cord of the microphone is quite long and wraps down and around his entire right arm.

On his upper left arm he has a large tattoo which says "Respect" written in a tribal style lettering.

He has seven spiritual symbols from Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire cultures, which run down his left leg. The first symbol stands for "presence of God and protection".

And finally, he has a small script tattoo on his lower stomach, a possible tribute of sorts, however its not clear.

Checkout these pictures of LL Cool J and his tattoos.

Lenny Kravitz Tattoos

Lenny Kravitz is a tremendously talented singer-songwriter and record producer.

Lenny has four tattoos which we known of, including a large Japanese style dragon which spans across the left side of his chest, shoulder and upper left arm area, the ink colors include, black grey and red.

He has a rather large flower patch tattoo on his left forearm, which appears to contain several lilies and daisies among other types of flowers.

Plus an interesting style of cross with little triangles on his right bicep and an autograph script tattoo on his right forearm. Lenny is also rumored to have a new tattoo across the top of his back.

Feast your eyes on these pictures of Lenny Kravitz and his tattoo designs.

All I Want for Christmas is a Tattoo with Teeth

On Christmas Eve afternoon, I was passing through Penn Station, I spotted Lindsay, a woman with what appeared to be a sleeve that had a water-inspired design.

It wasn't until after I approached her and asked if she wanted to contribute to Tattoosday that I saw, as she rolled up her sleeve, what awesome work she had done on her left arm:


Lindsay said that, like all of her 14 or 15 tattoos, none of them have "deep meaning". She just goes with whatever she describes as an "intense urge" at the time she's getting the tattoo.

The sleeve above started with her taking photos with stylings to the artist, saying she wanted a bloody shark. This was the first part of the tattoo:


She then expanded it with this segment of shark


which is certainly reminiscient of the movie poster for Jaws.


This piece was created in four sittings lasting 3-4 hours each, by John Reardon at Saved Tattoo (which was the shop responsible for yesterday's post, too).

Work from John Reardon has appeared here on Tattoosday previously. Work from Saved appearing on the site can be seen here. Reardon is also the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting a Tattoo.

Thanks to Lindsay for taking the time to share her incredible shark sleeve with us here on Tattoosday!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

LeBron James Tattoos

LeBron James is the extremely talented MVP caliber, NBA basketball player who is also known as, King James.

LeBron has quite a few tattoos on his body, mainly concentrated on his arms and shoulders.

The tattoos on his right arm include, a large lion head on his bicep with the words, "King James", a crown with the name of his mother "Gloria" with a star, plus some flame tattoos on his forearm with the numbers "303" which is his hometown area code.

On his left arm he has a tattoo which reads "Beast" along side "Hold my Own" with a ring of stars, plus a cute portrait of his son LeBron Jr with the words "Prince James" as well as his second sons name "Bryce Maximus" on his forearm.

LeBron also has a large lion with wings on his chest, and the word "Family" running down the right side of his stomach.

Some of his other tattoos include, "L" and "J" on his triceps, "Witness" on his right leg, and perhaps his most famous tattoo is on his back, which read "Chosen1".

Checkout these great pictures of LeBron James and his tattoo designs.

Max's Spin on a Traditional Gypsy Tattoo

I was passing through Penn Station late yesterday when I spotted Max, who offered up this fascinating tattoo:


At first glance it looks like the traditional gypsy piece, but if you look closely at the back of the gypsy's head, you can see Max added an element that extended the design up and around his right arm:



That is a deer skull that the gypsy woman is wearing, complete with a set of antlers.

When I asked Max about this he acknowledged that the tattoo, in concept, had started as just the old-style gypsy profile but, growing up in Maryland, he said that there were deer everywhere around his home, and that this was a nod to his former home state.

Perhaps reading too much into it, I asked him if he was taking a symbol of home and tying it to the nomadic image of the gypsy to illustrate a dichotomy between the two contrasting lifestyles. He nodded and said he hadn't thought of it in those terms before, but it seemed to make a little sense if you looked at it like that.

This is one of nine tattoos Max has. The piece in question was designed by Paul Bosch at Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn. Max came to Paul with the concept and left it to the artist to design the tattoo. Work from Saved has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Max for sharing this fascinating spin on the traditional gypsy tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Woman, Deconstructed

With winter upon us, I have been tempted to bemoan the scarcity of visible ink on the streets (or subways) of New York.

But Mother Nature giveth, as well, by depositing the powdery white stuff and causing delays that held up commuters in Penn Station.

One such soul was Kaeti, a visual artist passing through NYC on her way from Philadelphia.

This pheomenal tattoo jumped out from her corporeal canvas on Tat-tuesday, catching my eye as I walked by:


Kaeti originally thought she was going to get a sleeve inspired by the work of Salvador Dali, but the scale and concept didn't converge in a final design.

She went to the artist, Andrew Johnson-Lally, at Body Graphics on South 4th Street in Philadelphia. She described for him the general concept behind what she wanted, something along the lines of a representation of a female figure, deconstructed. Kaeti also is very influenced by stitching, so she brought along examples of work she had, which included stitched sculpture and sketches. Andrew drew something up based on these styles that she liked, with her ultimately yielding creative freedom to the artist.


To me, she was describing a collaborative effort, which many tattooists and their clients create. Another example of her influence on the end drawing is the empty eyes, which Kaeti said was similar to a lot of the work she herself was doing around the time of the tattoo being inked.


The whole piece took about 3 and a half hours to complete. Initially she told me that when the tattoo was initially completed, she thought that it was finished. Like many people with large tattoos, however, Kaeti is tooling with the idea of expanding the work to include background, which might involve wrapping around her arm and making it a "true" sleeve.

Incidentally, work from Body Graphics has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

I want to thank Kaeti for taking the time to speak with me in a crowded Penn Station, and for sharing her fascinating tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Kobe Bryant Tattoos

Kobe Bryant is a professional NBA basketball player, who has won 4 NBA championships, and was also elected league MVP for the 2007-08 season.

Kobe Bryant has a few tattoos, all of which are on his right arm, including a crown with a butterfly on his upper shoulder, a halo with the hair of his wife Vanessa, along with her name, just below the crown tattoo.

He also has a tattoo of both his daughters names on his right wrist, Gianna and Natalia.

Checkout these pictures of Kobe Bryant and his tattoo designs.

Two More Tattoos from Josh

Well, more than six months have passed since I posted Josh's amazing Verrazano Bridge tattoo, and I almost forgot he sent me some additional shots, including the clock from the old Penn Station on his inner bicep, which is interconnected with the bridge piece:


This is a fairly accurate homage to this bygone historical monument seen at the top of the photo below:


Josh, being in the military, also has this back piece:


This tattoo consists of a pair of variations on the caduceus, surrounding the insignias of the 44th and 30th Medical Brigades - the two units he was assigned to in Iraq.















Thanks again to Josh for sending along these pictures and if you haven't seen the Verrazano tattoo linked at the top of the post, you must go check it out.

Kenyon Martin Tattoos

Kenyon Martin plays professional basketball in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets.

Kenyon has some rather interesting tattoos on his body, including a tattoo of his girlfriends (Trina) lips, on the right side of his neck behind the ear.

He has a cute portrait of his baby son, on his right arm, and then a tattoo of the grim reaper on his left arm.

Plus he has a huge back piece tattoo, of a cross with the words, "I Shall Fear No Man, But God".

See some pictures of Kenyon Martin's tattoo designs below.

Chris "Birdman" Andersen Tattoos

When it comes to tattoos in the NBA, Chris "Birdman" Andersen is the reigning champ of the most tattoos in basketball.

Many of Chris Andersen's tattoos are on his two arms, these tattoos include, a giant skull wearing a crown, an eagle, chain links, a zombie looking tattoo of himself, two large Chinese symbols, one on each forearm. And of course, his bird wings, which are on the bottom portion of his biceps.

Some of Chris Andersen's other tattoos include, a pit bull dog on his chest, the words "Honky Tonk" on his stomach, and a player making a slam dunk, on his right arm.

Here we have some pictures of Chris Andersen and his tattoo designs.