Welcome to the hundredth edition of Inked Wednesday! Can you believe it? One hundred posts filled with tattoos inspired by pop culture nerdery. I’ve seen more stunning tattoos than I can remember since beginning this column—I’m amazed I’m not covered head to toe in tattoos yet thanks to all the inspiration. This week’s gallery is certainly feeding my desire for more ink: Tattooist Josh Bodwell (who we featured back in Inked Wednesday #30) helped me out for this special occasion and curated a gallery of ink he admires. Said Josh, “I’m constantly inspired by other tattooists work I see on my social media feeds and I wanted to share a few of them that jumped out at me over the last few weeks and made me stop scrolling!”
Before we get to those works, please take a second to drool over a couple of pieces by Josh: Kylo Ren and the melted Darth Vader helmet from The Force Awakens and Quint from Jaws.
Follow Josh’s work on Instagram.
A variety of qualities in tattoos make Josh stop for a closer look. “Uniqueness is the first thing my eye catches, subject matter or a layout that I haven’t seen before. While I have a particular style I like to tattoo myself, I enjoy looking at a variety of styles of tattoos, but I look for the technical quality of work, saturation and color blends, line work and details,” he said.
The plethora of tattooists on social media provide constant inspiration for people who want tattoos and also for people who apply tattoos. Josh likes to have his Instagram and Facebook feed filled with artists and tattoos he likes, and he keeps a digital collection of works that make him want to push forward with his craft. He also collects hardcover art books with fantasy and sci-fi art and “Art of” books for films to use as reference.
If and when you’re ready to get a tattoo, I asked Josh for advice on finding the right artist. He explained, “There is such a wealth of knowledge online, I think Instagram is a great place to browse thousands of artists digital portfolios. That’s the key right there, do your homework, research your artist. Follow artist’s pages. Find someone that not only does the style and quality of work you want, but even the types of pop culture subject matter as well. When the artist enjoys pop culture tattoos as much as you do, it always makes for a better session! Even if it requires some travel, and even if they aren’t the “cheapest” (price shopping is a never a good place to start!), it’s worth it in the long run to collect the best possible tattoos you can!”
You can see Josh’s picks in the gallery below. You’ll find Matt the Radar Tech, Green Arrow, Jon Snow, the Terminator, and so much more. Links to each tattoo artist’s Instagram feed are in the captions, and if you like looking at beautiful tattoos (and I’m guessing you do), go check out their portfolios. Many of the tattooists travel to conventions, so keep an eye out in case you want to book an appointment and aren’t local to their shops.
Images: Josh Bodwell
