My Neighbor Lauren

Studio Ghibli is one of the most prominent animation studios in all of Japan. They are famous for movies such as Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and many many more. Their movies rank as some of the highest grossing anime films of all time in Japan. They have brought a lot of joy to a lot of peoples, especially Lauren Merle. Lauren would say she has healthy obsession with these films because of the artwork. This studio has created some of the most unique and visually stimulating characters off all time. This appeals to someone like her because she recognizes the importance of creativity. Imagination is one of her greatest traits and something she would not trade for the world.

Not only is she an admirer, but Lauren is also a very talented artist herself. Her main technique is oil pastel. Some of her favorite things to draw are family portraits of her, her husband, and their numerous pets. Whenever she lacks inspiration she looks to two artists. One is Bob Ross, oil painter and host of the show, The Joy of Painting. Bob Ross was most well known for painting trees and landscapes. The other is Hayao Miyazaki, the co founder of Studio Ghibli. Who of course was most well known for creating these amazing characters. Her tattoo is a mixture of these two artist's styles. It's a very ambitious landscape with some trees very reminiscent of Bob Ross, riddled with plenty of Studio Ghibli's characters. While working on her own art she now always has the opportunity to look right down at her own arm for inspiration.

A Jedi and a Wizard

Bennett Corley and his wife, Nicole, have been married for almost 4 years. They thought it was about time that they got matching tattoos. Instead of just getting each other's names they decided to get something that required a little more creative thinking. The two of them worked very hard to think of something that represented both of their interests. Bennett is a huge Star Wars fan and Nicole is a huge Harry Potter fan. Thus they came up with this lightsaber/wand duel.

Fuck Luck

To Gracy Wrangler, the name of the game was getting a tattoo she could really relate too. She got this because rabbit's, specifically their feet, are a symbol of luck in a lot of cultures. Her own words were "Fuck luck! Make your own luck!" Some people who have hard times in life do nothing but blame the universe and say that they are just too unlucky. Other people realize that you decide the outcome of your life no matter what, or "make your own luck." That is the kind of person Gracy is.

The Legend of Mansour

Mansour Kazemi lived in Iran for the first 8 years of his life. His parents moved him and his brother to the United States after that to give them a better life. Mansour picked up English in a fair amount of time, but he found that the language barrier he faced was nothing compared to the cultural barrier. Seeing how the other kids his age acted and hung out with each other was kind of intimidating. They all had common interests, all related to something seen on TV or bought from Toys R Us. He didn't share any of these interests or ever really understood what new fad they were even talking about. At least not until he played his first video game. That video game was the famous "Legend of Zelda." Mansour quickly became addicted, as most kids do to a video game at some point or another. He attributes that video game as one of the most influential parts of his childhood, which may seem like an exaggeration, but helping him cross a cultural barrier to fit in better with his peers is not something to ever take lightly. That is why he got the Zelda logo tattooed on his arm.

The logo part of the tattoo came first. The sword was a design drawn up by his girlfriend at the time and given to a tattoo artist that specialized in pop-culture tattoos. Mansour feinted both times. Something about his body chemistry causes Mansour to pass out when he's getting tattooed. So because of that he has never gotten another one. He feels that if he only gets one tattoo in his life then he chose the right one.

Miranda's Peace + Miranda's Love = Miranda's Happiness

Miranda got this tattoo to represent her extended family. Miranda and her sister were the first children in her mom's group of friends. They were showered with so much love and attention that her mom's friends were no different than actual aunts and uncles to them. It made it all the more painful when their "uncle" Dave passed away from brain cancer. After they lost him, Miranda's family started a yearly auction to raise money for different cancer foundations. One thing they did was design bumper stickers that had symbols for peace + love = happiness. Once Miranda turned 18 she knew she wanted something to represent and honor her "extended" family and those symbols felt like the perfect thing.

 

You Can Call Me Evan!

Evan Laudel loved his grandfather very much. His favorite memory of him was riding in the car with him when the song You Can Call Me Al, by Paul Simon, would come on. His grandpa would just completely break out dancing to it. Evan thought this would be the best tribute to him.

See the Shop! See the Work!

I drove all over St. Louis and St. Charles getting pictures of the best tattoo shops in the area. The pictures of the shops were taken by yours truly and the pictures of the tattoos were taken from the shop's Facebook pages. Click on the picture to be taken to those pages!