In the realm of custom tattoos, Rich Criado stands out for his custom sleeves and leg gaming tattoos. As with most tattoo enthusiasts, Rich is profoundly attached to the stories behind the tattoos, and remembers where he was and what what going on his his life for each game represented by his extensive tattoo work.
The full story and pics, from the
ars technica website, follows below.
The images and stories behind the most epic game tattoos on one man
By Ben Kuchera
How many tattoos dedicated to video games does one man need? The answer is simple: all of them. We wrote about Rich Criado when he finished a series of tattoos on his leg dedicated to gaming, and now he has finished his second sleeve filled with video game characters, iconography, logos, and vehicles.
Criado was nice enough to talk to us about his tattoos and share some great pictures of the work. I can tell you that while the tattoos look great in these images, they're even more amazing in person. Finding people with one or two gaming tattoos is getting easier, but in terms of style, amount of ink, and overall design, Rich Criado may have a claim to the best gaming tattoos on the planet.
"The primary difference between this new sleeve and the leg sleeve was how it came together. The main characters were decided early but the exact implementation was not," he told Ars."In addition, several small parts of the tattoo were added later on when we saw how much space was left and what we could fit." Some of the elements include Mario, Vault Boy, Portal, and the Normandy from the Mass Effect series. You'll also find the Assassin's Creed logo, Ms. Pac-Man, and a red mushroom... among others. It's worth checking out his gallery of images to try to catch all the games, references, and images included in the piece.
The tattoo was completed across seven sessions, totaling 52 hours. Work began in April and was finished in November of this year. "I want to give props to my artist,... Hoffa from Ascension Custom Dermagraphics in Orlando, FL," Criado said. He researched shops and artists for a number of months, and finally chose someone based on past experience and an impressive portfolio. "My artist also added his own custom interpretations of a few of the tattoos, such as the large green planet above Vault Boy, which reflects light onto the bottom of the Normandy or the multicolored glow effect on the Assassin's Creed logo. The background colors, planets, and galaxies were all stuff my artist did to suit his artistic style."
So which one came out the best? "My favorite part of this new sleeve is the Duck Hunt dog and duck," Criado said. "My artist told me enjoyed doing it as well due to the challenging nature of the design. The line work and color just for the Duck Hunt piece took 8 hours." One humble suggestion? It would have been better if the dog had his head blown off. Stupid laughing mutt...
Why would anyone do this?
It's a good question, and I've had a number of conversations with Criado looking for some insight. He's a professional man, and when we met he was wearing standard business clothes, with no ink visible. He had to roll up his sleeve and pull up his pant leg to show my son his tattoos. The short answer is that this is a man who loves games, enjoys tattoos, and doesn't see any downside to the work being done.
It goes slightly deeper than that, though. He can explain why he picked each character, why each game was important and where and when he was when he played that particular game. He remembers the years, the context, and the people he was close to at the time. As he takes you through his sleeves and describes the art, the characters, and the stories behind them, it becomes something of an autobiography, the story of a person told through the lens of his gaming. The best tattoos are intensely personal, and Criado's are certainly that.
We tip our hats to someone with such passion and dedication to the hobby.
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