This feels a bit like one of Warlock’s pinball diary entries...hope he’s okay with sharing the format!
My wife and I had a pact to get more tattoos after our first child was born, each having some ink already, but as his first birthday passed this March we hadn’t even looked into it yet...so goes the family life. I wanted something that was a nod to both my late father and first-born son (fate sucks: my son was born on the day of my father’s funeral). I also wanted something fun...avoiding the over-used baby hand prints or written text of names. It all sort of came together. Shortly after my dad’s death/son’s birth double whammy, I was able to acquire a Funhouse from our pal Walt (BM). I have a long standing “relationship” with this machine in which my father is involved, and by pure coincidence, my wife gave our son the bathtime nickname “Nudie Rudy” before I even introduced the machine as a possible addition to the basement. This mixed with my unwavering love for the game pointed to a possible theme candidate.
Now for the execution. The tattoo was designed and inked by Kirk Sheppard (http://www.kirksheppardtattoos.com/) of Rain City Tattoos (Vancouver, BC) during the artist’s visit to the Northern Ink Xposure convention in Toronto this past weekend. I was able to score some time with him because my wife knows his wife. Tattoo took 5 hours to complete, and got through it in one sitting with no breaks (!) Mr. Sheppard did an awesome job in the design...he had never seen or played the machine, but incorporated elements from the playfield, cabinet and plastics to create a stunning piece which has elements of the traditional tattoo style that he specializes in. I wanted bold black lines, lots of colour and something with size...Mr. Sheppard hit it out of the park. He even had ideas for future additions to the tattoo, which is not out of the question (although, perhaps I should incorporate elements from other machines to create an entire sleeve?). The tattoo attracted quite a bit of attention from passers by at the convention, however, I think only one person, one of Mr. Sheppard’s colleagues, picked up on the connection to pinball without being told. My wife also got her tattoo that day, but sadly, it was not pinball related. I tried to get her to get a White Water Bigfoot, but she wasn’t having any of it.
The pic of the tattoo is below, and all is healing well. It now relegates me to wearing long sleeve shirts for the rest of my professional career and being known as that guy with the Funhouse tattoo among pinball collectors.
My wife and I had a pact to get more tattoos after our first child was born, each having some ink already, but as his first birthday passed this March we hadn’t even looked into it yet...so goes the family life. I wanted something that was a nod to both my late father and first-born son (fate sucks: my son was born on the day of my father’s funeral). I also wanted something fun...avoiding the over-used baby hand prints or written text of names. It all sort of came together. Shortly after my dad’s death/son’s birth double whammy, I was able to acquire a Funhouse from our pal Walt (BM). I have a long standing “relationship” with this machine in which my father is involved, and by pure coincidence, my wife gave our son the bathtime nickname “Nudie Rudy” before I even introduced the machine as a possible addition to the basement. This mixed with my unwavering love for the game pointed to a possible theme candidate.
Now for the execution. The tattoo was designed and inked by Kirk Sheppard (http://www.kirksheppardtattoos.com/) of Rain City Tattoos (Vancouver, BC) during the artist’s visit to the Northern Ink Xposure convention in Toronto this past weekend. I was able to score some time with him because my wife knows his wife. Tattoo took 5 hours to complete, and got through it in one sitting with no breaks (!) Mr. Sheppard did an awesome job in the design...he had never seen or played the machine, but incorporated elements from the playfield, cabinet and plastics to create a stunning piece which has elements of the traditional tattoo style that he specializes in. I wanted bold black lines, lots of colour and something with size...Mr. Sheppard hit it out of the park. He even had ideas for future additions to the tattoo, which is not out of the question (although, perhaps I should incorporate elements from other machines to create an entire sleeve?). The tattoo attracted quite a bit of attention from passers by at the convention, however, I think only one person, one of Mr. Sheppard’s colleagues, picked up on the connection to pinball without being told. My wife also got her tattoo that day, but sadly, it was not pinball related. I tried to get her to get a White Water Bigfoot, but she wasn’t having any of it.
The pic of the tattoo is below, and all is healing well. It now relegates me to wearing long sleeve shirts for the rest of my professional career and being known as that guy with the Funhouse tattoo among pinball collectors.
