I want another tattoo. One of those black light ones that's invisible under regular light. What I want is a replica of a section of Keith Haring's mural on the Berlin wall. Problem is, I cant find any good flat images of the wall to have something an artist can work off of. I've tried searching the web, my own books, contacting the Keith Haring foundation, but no luck. The only stone left unturned is the Warhol foundation, but I don't have high hopes for that one.

Is there anyone here who knows where I could find such pictures? Or anyone who's really good with Illustrator who could reproduce it? Any pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Have you poked through coffee-table art books? Somewhere, somebody must have printed a Harring art book. Even if it's out of print, you can probably find one in a library. If you do some digging, you might even be able to find an art book on the Berlin Wall, itself.

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So what do they look like under black light? Can you do actual colors or is it basically black and white?

There are colors available, but i'm going for the white ink, which usually is virtually indetectable under normal light on pale people. This willl be tested in an inconspicuous area before I go ahead and do my wrist. Photos are here. I'm looking to do something like the lizzard on the back of the hand thing.

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Have you poked through coffee-table art books? Somewhere, somebody must have printed a Harring art book

Several Haring books are out there, I own a bunch. All the same damn angled photo. Which is really starting to tick me off, I figured this would be the easiest of his destroyed works to find a good photo of.

If you can find something with decent resolution, it could be digitally massaged to acceptable form. Attached is a result of a quick "perspective correction" of your image in PSP9.

Depending on how pale your skin is, you can get weird results. On of my wife's tattoos was done entirely in white ink, and the problem is that after a tattoo, skin heals slightly unevenly. With most inks you can't tell, but with white, you can see the individual layers where healing has taken place. She ended up redoing bits of it in orange and yellow.

Of course, there are the fluorescent inks, but they all contain mercury - pretty much a BAD THING!!

Heather,
If you or someone you know has the latest photoshop (CS2), there is a tool for removing perspective. This might be useful for stretching the photo you have out of the perspective view.

-Zeke

edit: Bonzi beat me to it! That's what I get for not reading the whole thread before replying. :P

p.s. Very Cool idea for tattoo though! Hadn't seen it earlier, as I couldn't get pics through the firewall that machine was behind.

If your tattoo artist can't reproduce the chain from that drawing accurately, I'd find another tattoo artist.

Oh, and you might want to read:

http://www.bmezine.com/spc/experiences/glow/

Glowing pigments haven't been around long enough to really know the long term results. Many reputable tattoo artists won't do glow ink tattoos because of this. Overall not worth the risk IMHO, not to mention it sort of subverts the entire idea. You will still be able to see the area the tattoo is done in, it's not completely invisible, and it causes discoloration of the skin.

EDIT... the mercury thing is untrue. there are multiple UV reactive inks that do not contain mercury. In fact I've never heard of any of them containing mercury. Have any evidence of that?

I love to look at tatoos, but I figure for myself, well, I have enough scars on my body that I have no choice..I know there is no art in a scar (except for the 'artful' dodging of a bullet or knife that caused most of mine). Plus our Jewish heritage frowns upon it (for obivious reasons). Realy cool blacklight process though...If I WERE to get one (and my wife may talk me into it yet), I'd go for one of those, except that mercury thing...hmmm.

Nah - no personal experience, just chat from my tattooists, which I guess I just took as gospel. Might have to go and do a bit of googling and report back:-)

Attached is a result of a quick "perspective correction" of your image in PSP9.

Which is enough for my drawing challenged self to work off of. Thank You!

I'm all the sudden very tempted to get a tattoo that nobody would notice 99% of the time (says the guy that needs to be presentable in real life).

Uh, back, upper arm, shoulders? Or do you work naked? I did the suit thing for several years. If I crossed my legs a certain way you could see the ankle one. It kinda shocked people who didn't really know me because I "looked so conservative". Which worked the other way too, when some middle age dude would start getting undressed in my office to show me his. It's amazing the assumptions people make about what people are like based on job title and uniform. And something about a catholic priest with a dancing bear arm band cracked me up for a week.

Depending on how pale your skin is, you can get weird results. On of my wife's tattoos was done entirely in white ink, and the problem is that after a tattoo, skin heals slightly unevenly.

This one will be number 9, all of them have white in them. My skin is pretty predictable with white ink, heals fairly evenly, and after about a year or so, you can't really tell the white from my usual skin tone.

Of course, there are the fluorescent inks, but they all contain mercury - pretty much a BAD THING!!

Never heard this one. I thought everyone knew mercury was the reason the photographer and the milliner went batshit insane. I have heard of their being other types of metal particles in the irridescent and metallic inks (I've never seen a bottle of either myself), but never in the flourescent colors.

If your tattoo artist can't reproduce the chain from that drawing accurately, I'd find another tattoo artist.

Didn't even get this far with him. I've seen him work off of way crappier samples, so I'm sure he could. I just like to get my own hands on stuff and play with it before permanently marking it onto my body. The only tattoo I have that I didn't do anything with myself, while it looks great, kinda irks me for that reason.

He did insist on patch testing my skin, no less than three times, because he has heard that the particular brand of glowing ink he uses (the stuff they use to mark fish for tracking) has caused reactions in people with shellfish allergies. Not from the manufacturer, but via word of mouth. Better safe than sorry. He's also got work he did himself with the same stuff, which looks good at 6 years old. You can't see his at all.

Overall not worth the risk IMHO

This is where you and I differ. Stuff like that doesn't phase me, otherwise I might actually want to quit smoking. I prefer to keep my fears to irrational ones, like clowns, chewing gum, Richard Simmons, and heights.

Of course, before I go ahead with something so obvious as my wrist, it's gonna be tested out someplace inconspicuous first.

Plus our Jewish heritage frowns upon it (for obivious reasons).

Actually, I know Jewish cemetaries will not bury someone with a tattoo, but yet every jewish woman I know (and most men) have earrings. I know you can't be burried with the earings in, but the holes are still there. Can you explain the difference?

Wait, his name was Gord, and you're from Canada?

Wasn't this Gord, was it?

OH- for a second there I thought you were going to link to Gort!
Klaatu barada nikto!

That was, of course, Raimi's way of paying homage to Day The Earth Stood Still.