Ambigrams

So I did a tattoo for the hospital chaplain and in the course of him showing it off I got a slew of new work in the form of paramedics. I got three clients in a row who were ambulance attendants from the same hospital.

This puts more pressure on me because if I screw up their ink, I better hope I dont get in an accident.

Fortunately theyve been happy with the work so far.

I actually get a lot of clients in some form of healthcare. Just a few weeks ago I had what I call officially, My Hottest Client Ever.

Shes a massage therapist who came in to get a faded butterfly tattoo recolored. It was an intricate piece and I of course wanted to do a good job.

So being the dirty old man that I am, I looked forward to her appointment. :)

She shows up in tight yoga pants and a little tank top. After I finish setting up she peels off the tank top.

When I came to, she was on the table waiting patiently. So I get to work.

Which, for those of you unfamiliar, involves prepping the area with surgical soap and rubbing with Vaseline.

All the while Im evaluating the tattoo, mentally matching the colors and deciding what needlegroups to use.

I get into professional mode, concentrating on not screwing up the intricate linework and keeping the colors pure.

About an hour later I was finished, she was happy and I realized a sad truth.

In all the effort I put into doing a good job, I completely forgot to enjoy myself.

Here I have this sweet little hottie, skin like lightly freckled marble, figure like she stepped out of a comic book, and I spent the hour treating her like a inanimate canvas.

WTF?! Did I go and turn gay or something?! Did I go and get old?

Here I am rubbing Vaseline on sugarcheeks here thinking "Hmmm, I should use a three round to keep the corners sharp".

GAAAAA! I like to think Im just so used to the process I just went into 'professional mode'.

Anyway. I stopped by her office awhile later to see how she was healing up and she was so happy she took me into her office and yanked off her shirt to show me.

When I came to, I realized I wasnt gay, just professionally focused.

I'd post a pic, but its a little blurry. Im gonna try to get her in for a reshoot.

So heres one of the ambulance attendants sporting an ambigram I designed and installed for him.

Its the names of his two boys, Alex and Noah.

Ive done a lot of these lately. A lot of people with two kids who only want one original tattoo. I find ambigrams, although a lot of work designwise, fit the requirements quite well.

I try to design them so they look at first glance to be abstract, but are legible when you know what youre looking at.