I can still remember going under the gun the first time. I had the itch to get a tattoo for years but due to laws in my area, well, I had to wait until I was ‘legal’. After that first tattoo, I was hooked. The first design was a Morning Star, the second a string of Japanese characters, the third was a pyramid ... I lost track of the exact order of the rest of them because I've had several cover ups done. One thing that was a constant over the years of getting and pushing ink was my love of magazines that catered to those who work in the industry, are fans of it or just get into it for the art. Tattoo Revue is a great magazine to pick up if you fall into any of those categories. I’m not going to sit here and say that it is better than other magazines because, to be completely honest, the main focus is on the art work that they feature. Having stellar writers and convention coverage is always a perk but if you don’t have people sending in the images to print, your publication is doomed.

Since the magazine only comes out four times a year, there aren't a lot of crappy articles to wade through or useless pages of commentary. The Inkling section gives you the low down on what's new, hot or stuff that they’ve found amusing. This includes new books, tattoo related things that have been in the mainstream news and some other assorted bits. The convention coverage is great; you never know when you are going to be flipping through a page and see someone you know. If you've never checked out Tattoo Revue [or any of the others in the Art & Ink Enterprises family] because you think it is going to be filled with lewd or naked photos; think again. I won’t go so far as to say that this is wholesome family reading but the closest you are going to come to nudity in this is when you see it in a design. Women who have their chest area done cover their breasts and you'll never see a plumbers crack on any of the pages.

Let’s face it, mags like this rely on the photographs to sell the issues. You get a good mix of studio shots as well as those shot on the fly. They don't have dedicated sections for various types of tattoo art [tribal, Celtic, mystical etc] so things aren't slapped into a category or labeled. As far as advertising goes, 99% of it revolves around the tattoo industry so you aren't seeing adverts for car products, perfume or iPods. There isn't a lot of it and so far the companies that have advertised in the magazine have all been on the up and up, been in business for years and carry top quality goods. I've discovered a couple of really nice companies thanks to their ads appearing in this magazine, I'm not saying that I wouldn't have come across them eventually but seeing the in this mag really made me feel 'safe' ordering from them.

Random Images Images of The Inked

This is probably the section of the magazine that I spend the most amount of time reading. Well, not exactly reading .. more like looking at the various pieces that are chosen for inclusion. In most cases they are printed with the name of the artist, location, city and state. I do have to give a shout out to the boys at Flesh Grafix in Imperial Beach, CA and Avalon Tattoo [Garnet Avenue] in San Diego [Pacific Beach] for appearing in the magazine in various sections. That’s another cool thing about this section; you never know when you are going to come across someone that you know, have admired or has worked on you. It’s always a thrill to have someone send in a picture of something that you designed for them and then seeing it on the pages. Random Images is a sort of potpourri of pictures; you never know what you are going to come across there. Now, I do have to say this, some times you will see the same tattoo or design printed several times on a page. This isn’t an error, it’s so that you can see the entire design from top to bottom or left to right.

Back Issues

One of the nice things about having a company like Art & Ink Enterprises in the magazine business is that they publish a lot of cool magazines under the same genre; in this case, tattoos. You can order back issues of most of them by calling their customer service number or emailing vicious@skinartmag.com. One of my favorite issues of Tattoo Review is issue # 121 with Casey Patridge on the cover. Not only is she a complete hottie but she's got some extremely impressive ink. She’s the person that inspired me to get my "Varitasodium Partis" tattoo so thanks for the spread [no pun intended] Casey! This is also the issue with Donny Manco, the Fresno convention coverage and the NTA [National Tattoo Association] convention article. Well, I gotta be honest, I really like this one because there's a picture of one of my tattoos in it but that’s not the only reason it tops my list. They used to run a Lucky 7 Special; you could pay $25.00 [including shipping] and get seven random magazines in the Art & Ink family. I'm not sure if they are still offering this deal so email vicious@skinartmag.com if you are interested in this.

Price

Like most other tattoo magazines, the cost isn’t cheap. This is printed on glossy with full color pages so you are looking at a lot of money on their end to put it out. Individual issues coast $5.98 at the newsstand but you can get a subscription for $17.88 a year or save a little more and get a two year deal for $31.40. This is only published four times a year so don't sit by the mailbox waiting for an issue to arrive every month. Art & Ink Enterprises also puts out mags like Skin Art, Hardcore Ink, Outlaw Biker, Tabu Tattoo, Tattoos For Men and Tattoos For Women. Is it worth it? If you want exceptional photos, great interviews and artist information it is. If you are looking for naked women look elsewhere, so far I've never seen a bare breast or uncovered bummie.

Art & Ink Enterprises
5 Marine View Plaza # 207
Hoboken, NJ 07030
[201] 653-2700
[888] 508-6841 [orders]

www.skinartmag.com


The Bottom Line

Over the years my tattoo designs have gotten more detailed and intricate. No longer do I just give in to the urge to hop in the chair and say, “Ink me”. My latest creation is an ankle bracelet featuring some of my favorite characters from the Neopets website [Blumaroo, Shoyru, Grundo, Scorchio and a few others]. I’m hoping to get this in several mags when it is done because it’s pretty rare that you see someone with a tattoo of Neopets characters. It’s this kind of oddball stuff that makes magazine like Tattoo Revue so appealing. When it comes to buying mags that feature tattoos the content is what makes or breaks it; if you are printing stuff that has been out for years you aren’t going to get anywhere with readers. Tattoo Revue has great articles, convention coverage, artists lists, marketplace adverts and some of the slickest art you’ll find. Sure the price is a little high but there are others that cost more and deliver less.


As always, thanks for the read!

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2006 Freak369



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Recommended: Yes