Tattoosday Goes to L.A.: Oscar's Horror Sleeve

I previously wrote about meeting Javie Dev, one of the artists at Ace of Hearts Tattoo in San Pedro, along with Vanessa, the shop piercer.

I also spoke to another of the artists, Oscar Montes, who shared his horror-themed sleeve:

He credited the top image in this sleeve to his mentor, Guillermo Figueroa, who works out of Tinta Maldita Tattoo Shop in nearby Wilington, CA.

The middle image, of Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, is credited to "the world famous Diablo," a.k.a. Edgar Marquez, who is owner of Long Beach Ink Assassins.

And the bottom piece of the sleeve, the iconic hockey mask belonging to Jason of Friday the 13th fame, was inked by Oscar's friend Irving Lozano, who works out of Addinktion Art Gallery and Tattoos in Los Angeles.

Thanks to Oscar for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday!

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Tattoosday Goes to L.A. - Javie's Sublime Tattoo

On my recent trip to Los Angeles, I popped in and talked to a few of the artists in San Pedro's Ace of Hearts Tattoo.

Fortunately for me, they were also in the sharing mood. Check out this piece on the upper right arm of artist Javie Dev:

This awesome tattoo was an appropriate one to feature, as Southern Californians would attest. The work refers to the ska/punk band Sublime, who hail from neighboring Long Beach.

Their debut album, 40 Oz. to Freedom, featured this cover art:

What makes this tattoo particularly special is that Javie got it from Opie Ortiz, the artist who designed the album cover. Opie was one of Javie's mentors and did the tattoo at American Beauty Tattoo Parlor in Sunset Beach.

Thanks to Javie for sharing this awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Tattoosday Goes to L.A. - Vanessa's Sugar Skull by Joe Truck

On my recent trip to Los Angeles, even though I was in town for only a few days, I wanted to find some time to visit a tattoo shop. Of course, with L.A. being one of the "most tattooed cities in America," the challenge wasn't finding a shop, but deciding from among several to visit nearby. I was staying on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and there are a host of establishments in the Hermosa Beach/Redondo Beach/Gardena/San Pedro/Torrance.

Out of respect to shop owners and the artists, I didn't want to just drop in unannounced, so I reached out ahead of time to see if anyone would be open to coming in for a visit. Fortunately, I found one shop with a New York City connection, Ace of Hearts Tattoo in San Pedro. It's proprietor, Joe Truck, is from the Big Apple and he was open to me stopping by.

Last Monday afternoon, I stopped in the shop, only to discover that my timing was off. Joe wasn't in. The shop was impressive, however. It was well-lit, clean, and very spacious. And not only were the staff friendly,  they each shared some of their own ink with me for Tattoosday.

For example, the piercer, Vanessa, offered up this sugar skull on her forearm that was tattooed by Joe Truck:

Vanessa said that she got this from Joe after she started working at the shop. As I've said many times before on Tattoosday, sugar skulls are a lot like snowflakes, even though they're basically the same, there are never any two exactly alike, and it's always cool to see how many different ways they can be done.

In addition to Vanessa, I also spoke to two of the tattoo artists in the shop, but you'll have to wait for future posts to see what they had to share.

Thanks to Vanessa for sharing her sugar skull with us on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.