Richard Blackman of Shud Up ‘n’ Train in Dallas, Texas sends us these knuckle tattoos and his story:
The story behind it is that I’m a fitness trainer and everything I do goes against the grain, from diet to how I exercise, it’s the same in life too, I don’t do it on purpose life just ends up that way, so all my life I’ve had people look at me as extreme especially when they see my feats of strength, well, I struggled to accept that label in the beginning but now I’m taking it and running with it with all I got and I’m not going to hold myself back anymore from being me!….so I’m stepping up my game in everything I do and going “HARDCORE” and I had the tatts done as a constant reminder of what and who I am.
Artist Michael Todoran of Las Vegas, NV sends us this set of knuckle tattoos. Check the link at the end to see his art work. It is really great stuff. Looks like his HARD WORK is paying off. Here is what he has to say about his knuckles:
Tattoo by: Brian (Owner of Mastermind)
Shop:
Mastermind Tattoo
3111 S Valley View Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89102
Significance:
I am a descendent from a Romanian father and Yugoslavian mother. Both of them were raised in the ‘old country’ in Europe, and both of them are from hard working farmer stock.
Born and raised in Los Angeles I was fortunate enough to not have to work as hard as my family just to survive.
When I finally was on my own I joined the Coast Guard. First, doing two years of Search and Rescue on the Oregon Coast, and then two years working on a Buoy Tender in Hawaii. Both jobs required a tremendous amount of work, and by willing to commit to that I was able to advance and get to work on all the cool jobs.
When I was done with my enlistment, I used my G.I. bill to get an art degree at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) and that is where I really applied a hard work ethic. I spent countless all nighters’ working on my drawings, and honing my skills. The work got noticed by my professors, and it made it that much easier to work with them on a more personal level.
Often, I have felt that I am not as naturally talented as I would have liked but I heard the saying a long time ago, “Hard work beats talent, if talent doesn’t work hard” I’ve proven this several times over.
So, as a professional artist, curator, and future architect I decided to remind myself of how I got where I am, and what I need to do to get where I’m going.
I got this tattoo after serving a year in jail for drunk driving. I got hard luck because of the situation and the circumstances pertain to my incarceration. Life’s a bitch and I have HARD LUCK.
I had just got out of jail and it was the first time i had drank in a few months so it just seemed appropiate. Ya know i drove down the wrong road at the wrong time. I have always said too that i have had hard luck. I always seem to learn the hard way so i guess it just fit for me.
This is Mason, he found us over on our MySpace page. This is his story:
I got my knuckle tattoo after I became a father.
My life motto was “live fast, die young”. After my little girl was born it became “live hard, die old”. I’m getting “die old” on the knuckles below my “live hard”
I met this guy in my local video game store. He told me that he had been a full contact fighter for a while and that he had his friend tattoo his hands after his second victory in the ring. After getting his knuckles tattooed he found out that he was a father, and hung up his fighting gloves.
