Every tattoo has two sides — the artist’s and the client’s.

One holds the tools, the other carries the story. Together, they form something that neither could create alone.

 

Blog art subjects – Inktober: Puzzling and Onion | Artist Hour: Torch

Every tattoo tells a story, but not all stories are easy to read at first glance. Some are like puzzles — complex, with a few pieces still missing. Sunday’s Inktober prompt was Puzzling, and that’s exactly where my mind went.

For my first color drawing of the week, I created a heart-shaped box made of two hearts — one with a tattoo machine on the lid, the other a puzzle still missing a piece. Inside that puzzle: a wave and a palm tree, symbols of peace and home.  It represents what currently drives me: my passion for tattooing and art, the ocean that still calls to me, and the truth that I’m still in progress. I’m not yet complete — but I’m building toward it, piece by piece.

Tattooing, like life, rarely comes together all at once. It takes time, patience, and perspective to see how the individual pieces connect — the experiences, the lessons, even the mistakes. That’s where the story really lives: in the process of putting yourself back together in new ways.

And that brings me to today’s Inktober prompt: Onion.

My mind immediately went to that moment in Shrek when he says, “Ogres are like onions.” It’s funny — but also true. We all have layers. Beneath the surface are the things that shape us: memories, pain, pride, purpose. The same goes for tattoos. A simple design might look like ink and color, but each layer — the lines, shading, and meaning — reveals something deeper about the person wearing it.  I completely mistook a simple picture a close friend shared with me of a tattoo he had gotten.  I did not notice the tattoo or its meaning, but thought it was a picture of someone getting a tattoo in their kitchen.  Instead of looking closer, I gave a short response and hurt his feelings with my insensitive words.  Once I figured out what it really was I felt like an ogre (stinky and makes people cry).  I owed him an apology, and learned the lesson Donkey learned that day to look closer and peel back the layers.  BTW, the tattoo was really cool and had great meaning behind it (and not done in a kitchen).

Every tattoo I design and create is a collaboration between what’s visible and what’s hidden — between what a client wants to show the world and what they’re quietly carrying inside. It’s art through the skin, not just on it.

Today’s Tattooing 101 Artist Hour subject is a torch, and that feels fitting. As I keep working through my own transition — from the structure and rules of military life to the creative rhythm of art — I feel that flame growing stronger. The torch reminds me that even in uncertain times, we carry our own light.  As we move through our own layers and find the missing pieces of our puzzles, we each carry a light — a reminder of who we are and what we’ve learned. Sometimes that light helps guide others who are still finding their way.

When I think about Stories in the Skin, that’s what I now see: puzzle pieces and layers, light and shadow, all working together to remind us that even when we feel unfinished, we’re still becoming something beautiful. Every tattoo tells a story — and sometimes, that story starts long before the ink ever touches the skin.