Don Ed Hardy: The Godfather of American Tattoo
Explore how Don Ed Hardy, the godfather of American tattoo, transformed the industry from simple flash designs into a respected form of fine art and culture.
Jason Howie 11 min
Tattoo History
42 articlesFrom ancient origins to modern culture — explore the rich history of tattooing across civilizations, traditions, and artistic movements.
Best Traditional Tattoo Artists: Masters of Old School Ink
Discover the best traditional tattoo artists and masters of old school ink who use bold lines and classic imagery to create timeless, high-quality body art.
Jason Howie 12 min
Sailor Jerry: The Man Who Defined American Traditional Tattooing
Discover how Norman Collins revolutionized ink as Sailor Jerry, the man who defined American traditional tattooing through bold innovation and vivid artistry.
Jason Howie 12 min
Mildred Hull: The Woman Who Tattooed the Bowery
Mildred Hull ran her own shop on the Bowery in an era when nearly every tattooer was a man. Here's what we actually know about the Queen of the Bowery.
Jason Howie 4 min
Circus Sideshow Tattoos: How the Big Top Made Ink Famous
How tattooed circus performers and one 1891 patent dragged ink out of the shadows and onto the main stage of American entertainment.
Jason Howie 5 min
Why Tattoos Were Taboo in Korea, and How That's Changing
For decades Korean law treated tattooing as a medical act, and ink read as a gang marker. In 2025 that changed. Here's how the stigma built and broke.
Jason Howie 5 min
American Prison Tattoos: How Ink Became a Language Behind Bars
Inside prison walls, a tattoo isn't decoration. It's a coded record of who someone is, who they answer to, and what they've survived. Here's how that language works and what it costs.
Jason Howie 6 min
Horiyoshi II: The Master Who Kept Traditional Japanese Tattooing Alive
Horiyoshi II carried hand-poked Japanese irezumi forward when the craft was fading, and his lineage still shapes how artists think about bodysuits today.
Jason Howie 5 min
Les Skuse: The Artist Who Put Bristol on the Tattoo Map
Les Skuse founded the Bristol Tattoo Club in 1953 and ran one of the first tattoo conventions. Here's how a Bristol pub became a turning point for British tattooing.
Jason Howie 5 min
Coney Island's Tattoo Scene: Where American Ink Got Its Start
How a Brooklyn boardwalk full of bikers, sideshow acts, and old flash became one of the places American tattooing actually grew up.
Jason Howie 5 min
George Burchett: How the "King of Tattooists" Built a Global Reputation
How a Brighton-born tattooist who set up shop near Waterloo Station ended up inking three reigning kings and dragged the craft toward respectability.
Jason Howie 6 min
Chinese Tattoo History: From Punishment to Art Across 3,000 Years
How tattoos in China went from a brand of shame to a Shanghai art scene, and what Confucian belief still pushes against the needle today.
Jason Howie 5 min
Copenhagen's Tattoo Parlors: Where European Ink Culture Began
How Copenhagen's parlors in Vesterbro and Nørrebro grew from hidden studios into one of Europe's busiest tattoo scenes, and where the craft stands now.
Jason Howie 5 min
Exploring the Tebori Tradition: The Art and History of Japanese Hand-Poked Tattoos
Tebori is hand-poked Japanese tattooing done with a needle on a wooden handle. Here's where it came from, how the work feels, and why it's growing again.
Jason Howie 5 min
Tattoos in Medieval Europe: Who Got Inked and Why
The Church praised some tattoos and damned others. Here's who wore ink in medieval Europe, what it meant, and how that tension still shows up in shops.
Jason Howie 5 min
When Kings and Queens Got Tattooed: Europe's Royal Ink History
Princess Eugenie behind the ear. A royal security guard with the cypher inked on. Here's what tattoos in European royal circles actually look like, and the history behind them.
Jason Howie 5 min
Borneo's Dayak Tattoos: Sacred Marks and What They Mean
What Dayak hand-tapped tattoos record, why each motif is earned, and how Borneo artists are bringing the bamboo technique back.
Jason Howie 6 min
The Revolutionary Electric Tattoo Machine Invention: A Game Changer in Body Art
Samuel O'Reilly's electric machine cut tattoo time and pain in the 1890s. Here's how that one tool reshaped what artists could put on skin.
Jason Howie 5 min
Military Tattoo Traditions: How Service Members Made Ink Part of the Uniform
Why service members get inked before deployment, what memorial tattoos mean to the people who wear them, and how studios are showing up on base.
Jason Howie 5 min
Russian Prison Tattoos: Every Mark Tells a Story
A coded language inked under threat of death, where a single star, skull, or set of bars told other inmates exactly who you were.
Jason Howie 6 min
Victorian Tattoo Culture: When Getting Inked Was High Society
By the end of the 1800s, half the convicts in Britain's habitual criminal register had tattoos. The story behind that ink is stranger than the stereotype.
Jason Howie 5 min
How Polynesian Tattooing Shaped American Ink Culture
How Samoan tatau and other Polynesian traditions traveled into American shops, why the motifs carry meaning, and what artists owe the cultures they borrow from.
Jason Howie 5 min
Southeast Asian Hand-Tapped Tattoos: Why the Method Matters as Much as the Design
Hand-tapping isn't slow because the tools are primitive. It's slow because every mark carries meaning the wearer has to earn.
Jason Howie 5 min
Samoan Tatau: Where Tattooing Got Its Name
The Samoan tatau gave English the word tattoo. Here's what the marks meant, how the practice survived, and why ownership of it is still argued today.
Jason Howie 5 min
Horiyoshi III and the Lineage Behind Japanese Irezumi
Horiyoshi III spends up to five years on a single full-body suit. Here's why that pace, and the tradition behind it, still shapes how artists think about Japanese work.
Jason Howie 5 min
Tattoos in the Roman Empire: Marks of Slavery, Service, and Status
In Rome a tattoo wasn't art. It told you a stranger was a slave, a criminal, or a deserter before they said a word.
Jason Howie 5 min
The Evolution and Significance of Mexican Cartel Tattoos: A Historical Overview
Discover the evolution and significance of Mexican cartel tattoos, uncover their historical roots, cultural meanings, and impact—gain insights today!.
Jason Howie 10 min
Amund Dietzel: The Man Who Brought Fine Art to American Tattooing
Amund Dietzel tattooed Milwaukee for half a century and shaped the bold-line traditional style still copied today. Here's the artist behind the flash.
Jason Howie 6 min
The Bowery: How One Street Became America's Tattoo Capital
How a single Manhattan street went from O'Reilly's 1891 electric machine through a 36-year tattoo ban to today's micro-realism studios.
Jason Howie 5 min
Exploring Native American Tattoo Traditions: History and Cultural Significance
A 2,000-year-old tattoo tool from Utah, and what Native American ink actually meant: protection, rank, and belonging carved into skin.
Jason Howie 6 min
The Tattoo Studios of Old St. Martin's Lane: London's Hidden Ink History
A walk down Old St. Martin's Lane, where London's tattoo studios kept their edge through saturation, price wars, and a decade of breakneck growth.
Jason Howie 5 min
Exploring Early 20th-Century Criminal Tattoo Anthropology: A Cultural Insight
Convict tattoos in Britain and Australia recorded names, losses, and loyalties, not just gang ties. Here's what the historical records actually show.
Jason Howie 5 min
Scandinavian Tattoo Traditions: From Vikings to Modern Nordic Ink
Why Nordic artists keep reaching back to runes and Norse myth, how they rework those symbols, and what the region's new ink rules mean at the front desk.
Jason Howie 5 min
How Tattooing Started in America: Sailors, Sideshows, and Shop Fronts
A 2,000-year-old cactus-spine needle, sailors' arms, and the long road tattooing took from ritual mark to storefront craft in America.
Jason Howie 6 min
Bert Grimm: How One Artist Shaped American Tattoo Culture
He worked sixty years of full days in the chair and ran the country's oldest tattoo shop. The bold-outline style most American traditional work uses today runs straight through Bert Grimm.
Jason Howie 4 min
Japanese Irezumi: The History Behind the World's Most Iconic Tattoo Style
How irezumi went from a brand for criminals to a respected art form, and what the koi, the phoenix, and the full-body suit actually mean.
Jason Howie 6 min
Unveiling the Mysteries of Pictish Body Art: A Journey Through Ancient Tattoos
What the Picts and other ancient peoples actually marked into their skin, what those marks meant, and how modern tools are finally letting us read them.
Jason Howie 4 min
Sak Yant Tattoos: The Ancient Thai Tradition Behind the Sacred Designs
Sak Yant is a sacred tattoo tradition from Thailand and Cambodia, where the master's mantra matters as much as the line work. Here's where it comes from and why.
Jason Howie 5 min
Tattoo Ole: The Story Behind Copenhagen's Oldest Studio
Founded in 1884 in Nyhavn, Tattoo Ole is the world's oldest working tattoo shop. Here's how it survived a lease fight, an EU ink ban, and 140 years.
Jason Howie 6 min
Samuel O'Reilly: The Man Who Invented the Tattoo Machine
Discover how Samuel O'Reilly revolutionized tattooing with the invention of the electric tattoo machine.
Jason Howie 15 min
The Horiyoshi Legacy: Inside Yokohama's Most Famous Tattoo Family
Horiyoshi III spent four decades on irezumi, opened a museum in Yokohama, and handed the craft to his son. Here's why working artists still study him.
Jason Howie 5 min
Sutherland Macdonald: Britain's First Professional Tattoo Artist
How a tattooist on London's Jermyn Street turned a sailor's mark into a craft that crowned heads climbed a narrow staircase to get.
Jason Howie 5 min