There are few things that I love better than anything food-related, and I count tattoo art to be one of them. There’s something about the permanence of tattoos on the skin and the meaning behind good tattoos that I really, really like. I’ve always admired tattoo artists that specialize in realistic tattooing; they create masterpieces that are both extremely difficult to ink onto skin as well as visually stunning. After some searching, I found an innovative blog called the Tattoo Art Project. This “baby” site (it was created this year) is run by Johan Larsson, who writes that his goal is to “create a network of international tattoo artists that are among the absolute best in the genre of “realistic”‘.  While it’s an ambitious purpose, I feel that Larsson’s blog has huge potential in accomplishing exactly that.

The Tattoo Art Project was born out of Larsson’s own experience of getting tattooed. Apparently, Larsson was so ecstatic over a realistic tattoo that he had inked by a Swedish artist that he decided he would get both of his arms covered entirely by who he calls the “absolute best” tattoo artists in the world. He decided to create Tattoo Art Project because he wants to showcase the work of talented realistic tattoo artists to the world, as well as to establish a sort of family of tattoo artists. If you’re questioning Larsson’s taste in tattoos, it takes only a brief skim of the blog’s featured artists to see that he has a great one (i.e, this Mayan-inspired piece done by a Russian artist named Pavel Angel).

Tattoo tastes aside, the blog layout is pretty self-explanatory and easy to navigate. There are only six pages, including the home page link and featured tattoo artists. There’s one page that I think is pretty cool: an Upcoming Tattoo Conventions page that lists an enormous amount of conventions happening each month in every single part of the world. Larsson is clearly passionate about this art form enough to compile extensive monthly lists of tattoo conventions that anyone can attend. In this way, he gives people opportunities to learn more about realistic tattoo artists. As for Larsson’s post count, he tends to post once every 2-3 weeks. People can comment on his posts via Facebook or “Leave a Reply”, so it is convenient for people both with or without a Facebook account. Usually, there are 10 comments or less per post. Overall, the site is simple and user-friendly. Now, time for some Pros and Cons of the Tattoo Art Project as a whole:

Pros: First of all, the site theme isn’t messy; it is a sleek black and red. All the focus is on the content. The content itself is a melange of personal posts, on tattoos as an art form, and short interviews with the featured tattoo artists themselves. Larsson writes casually, which makes for easy reading. There are advertisements, but they are reasonably kept to a minimum on the right-side column. Some of these advertisements are related to the blog’s shop. The shop has a collection of t-shirts that are the products of collaborations between Larsson and the tattoo artists. I find it pretty neat that Larsson found a way to make tattoos “wearable” for those that like the art but don’t want to commit to a real tattoo. Lastly, the Tattoo Artists page is fun to browse because it lists artists by country. You could check out an artist that hails from your native country or simply see where a random choice takes you. I like that Larsson has been thoughtful with his blog’s content.

Cons: As innovative as this blog is, Larsson’s grammar could use some repair. You could tell he doesn’t reread his posts. If he plans on having this blog develop and grow in its reader base, he should probably make sure that his spelling is perfect. Other than the grammar, the blog is completely fine by me.

For someone who loves tattoo artwork, the Tattoo Art Project blog satisfied my interest. It’s a very young site, and it definitely has a lot of room for improvement. However, its imperfections are forgiven when you’re faced with tons of beautiful body art. I like Johan Larsson’s chosen layout of the site and, of course, the chosen artists. If I haven’t yet convinced you to check out the Tattoo Art Project’s website, I hope this piece by USA’s Nikko Hurtado will. Someone must really love their Apple products.