The Illustrated Man, Part 19: Green Lantern

I actually did this piece the same day I did the 'STR8 EDGE' tattoo on my knuckles. It's located on my left middle finger (as if you couldn't already tell that). Basically, I wanted to do a Green Lantern ring on my hand, as I've always been a big Green Lantern fan. Unfortunately, the color never took to my skin well due to the location of the tattoo. At some point, I will probably have my artist Chase Martines (Brave New World Tattoo, Denver, CO) take a look at it and see what he can do about getting the color to stick. Piece by Shaun Reed Tattoos, Olympia, WA.

The Illustrated Man, Part 18: STR8 EDGE

For tattoo #18, I wanted yet another straight edge tattoo, once again going to my buddy Shaun Reed (Shaun Reed Tattoos, Olympia, WA). He and I came up with the idea of a knuckle tattoo together. I have to admit I partially took the idea from pro wrestler CM Punk, who has "DRUG FREE" tattooed on his knuckles. I wanted something similar, but not the exact same thing. So, based on this, Shaun came up with the idea to put "STR8 EDGE" on my knuckles instead.

The Illustrated Man, Part 17: XXX

For piece #17, I decided that I wanted yet another straight edge tattoo. This time, I went with another symbol of straight edge, that being 'XXX'. For those that don't know, the reason 'XXX' is a symbol of straight edge is that each X represents a different part of the lifestyle-one for a clean mind, one for a clean body, and one for a clean soul. We ended up only going with an outline-style tattoo, but I may end up filling it in with some color at some point. I will have to ask my current artist, Chase Martines (Brave New World Tattoo; Denver, CO) what he thinks about doing that. Tattoo by Shaun Reed Tattoos in Olympia, WA.

The Illustrated Man, Part 16: sXe

For my 16th tattoo, I wanted another straight edge piece. My artist, Shaun, who I had just become friends with at the time, is also straight edge, knew exactly what kind of piece I was looking for. He drew up this custom sXe design for me, and we decided it would look good on the left side of my neck. In the process of doing the piece, Shaun thought it would look cool if we added some grey flames to it, so I let him pretty much do whatever he wanted. I'm actually glad he suggested the flames, as I like the way they turned out, especially how the one kind of goes up the side of my neck. Tattoo courtesy of Shaun Reed Tattoos in Olympia, WA.

The Illustrated Man, Part 10: Mr. Lucky

For tattoo #10, I decided that I wanted something on my right forearm that was similar to the on one my left forearm, keeping with old school, traditional designs. Josh (formerly of Tiki Tattoo in Lacey, WA) had me look through some work and I found I wanted to have a "Mr. Lucky"-style skull done. Once again, Josh took a rough idea, drew something up of his own based on that idea, and he put together the piece you see in the picture. He also chose the color scheme, and added a nautical star to the tattoo because I wanted one somewhere on me. Although it is hard to tell in this pic-partially because it's small and partially because the tattoo is nearly 10 years old and has faded a little (although it has actually held its color very well thus far)-this Mr. Lucky skull has three gold teeth, one on top and two on bottom. In those gold teeth are an 'X' (representing my straight edge lifestyle) and the number '13' (because, well, why the fuck not? It's a good number), respectively.

The Illustrated Man, Part 4: Poison Free

This is my fourth tattoo (on my right shoulder) and was was my first straight edge piece done. It was originally taken from some flash art, but my artist at the time, Marco Hernandez, changed it up to not only make it a little more affordable for me, but to make it more customized as well (I have only one true piece of flash art tattooed on me). Straight edge is my lifestyle, and I was very pleased how this one turned out. I've gotten three other straight edge pieces since this one, but I will save those for another time. Formerly of Tiki Tattoo (Lacey, WA), Marco is now the owner of Lit Fuse Tattoo in Olympia, WA.

*Recent touch-up work done by Chase Martines of Brave New World Tattoo.