In the Spring 2012 issue of i-D Magazine, hitting newsstands now! I joked with Carolyn Murphy that I was more than happy to be an uncredited armrest in this photo-shoot, but it's true.  Some cool pics in this series by Iango Henzi and Daniele Duella , everything seemed very promising from what I saw in the studio.  Hopefully I can get my hands on a hard-copy soon.

Heck of a way to start the Year of the Dragon.

What's next? All that's left is something for the center of my chest..to be decided.

Happy New Year! This year is the year of the Dragon, and mine are coming along beautifully.

This is my left wrist, almost done! Next week we'll put the finishing touches on this one, and I wouldn't be surprised if we finished the other dragon as well.
On New Year's Day I went to the annual Coney Island Polar Bear Swim, which was a lot of fun.  My first time, and the mild weather this year made it much easier than I imagined.  Still, the Atlantic is chilly in January!

There was a large crowd gathered and as soon as I stripped down to my trunks there was plenty of curiosity.  I didn't expect it, but old women were the most straightforward.  Not afraid to touch and ask lots of questions! I'm plenty happy to talk to nice old ladies though.

Finally got my copy of the Bloodwork book. Wow! I'm blown away. The first surprise was when the two volume set was handed to me.  It's so damn heavy I almost dropped it on my foot.  I'd say about 30lbs of great tattoo pics.

Wonderful design on the cover, as you can see. The second surprise was when I opened the book - they used one of my pictures for the inside cover! Guess they liked it.

These books cover many different artists from all over the world, and the general format is a cover page with a portrait of the artist and a map showing their location, and then several pages devoted to each tattoo collector associated with that artist.  Each collector gets a smaller portrait, a fold-out three page spread with  a couple of views, as well as a few more pages devoted to more full-page views and several detail shots. These are all full body tattoos, hence the "Bodies" name.

My name is actually misspelled on my title page, but I'm not mad.  I was actually reconsidering giving my full name in the first place.  Problem solved! My bare ass is all over the damn place, is it wrong to hope for a modicum of anonymity?

Here's my three-page foldout.  Trying to suck in my gut. ;)

Another view of my back, and some detail shots.
I don't want to share photos of the other artwork, but trust me, there is plenty of tremendous artwork showcased in these two books.  This is absolutely the best tattoo book I own as far as quality of subjects, pictures, and overall design and packaging.  If you're an appreciator of tattoo art like me, do yourself a favor and check out this book. I'm honored to be a part of it.

Here are a couple of pics of my right wrist.  As you can see, we started to color it in.  Green! Quite pleased so far (as usual).

Regulars may remember that some time ago I was photographed for the "Bloodwork: Bodies" tattoo book.  Well it's finally out! For full details, check out the website here.  Looks like this is an amazing book.  The photographers took their time doing tons of shots to put together a panoramic view, which seems to be one of the trademarks of this series. Can't wait to get my hands on a copy.

Did an amazing photo shoot last night.  Japanese-themed thing for a well-known magazine featuring beautiful famous people..and me. Will definitely post a photo when the magazine comes out in a few months. This weekend I have a tattoo session, will be posting new photos of that very soon.

Starting the color on the dragon on my right arm.  Interesting to see the tebori at work on a smaller scale piece.