Various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo: skulls and skeletons (1)

Human skulls and skeletons are one of the most common elements in the Grim Reaper tattoos, due to the fact that skeletons and skulls have long been associated with death and decay (sometimes Death himself is portrayed as a skeleton).

the modern society associates skulls with decay, death and evil

Skull tattoos do represent death, but they usually represent the fleetingness of life. Various Latin maxims and aphorisms: Memento Mori (Remember your mortality, Remember you must die or Remember you will die), Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world), Carpe Diem (Seize the day), Ubi sunt...? (Where are...?) or Ubi nunc...? (Where now...?) - both of them are shortened variants of the Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt? Where are those who were before us?) are very often included in the skull tattoo designs; their role is to remind us that Death comes to us all, and for this reason is important to enjoy every moment of life.

a very popular tattoo design: a skull and the latin maxim "Memento mori"

Seize the day or die regretting - a tattoo design which contains flowers (which symbolize brevity and the ephemeral nature of life) and a skull

Memento Mori - the skull is a reminder of the mortality

As a symbol of the certainty of death, skulls are one of the most common symbols used in the Vanitas art

vanitas tattoo containing a skull (a symbol of dead and mortality), several roses (symbols of the ephemeral nature of life), a candle (an object closely related with the cult of the dead) and a watch (a symbol of the inexorable flow of time)

Vanitas tattoo: the beauty is ephemeral, Death awaits every man and woman

a tattoo inspired by the illustration 'All is Vanity' by Charles Allan Gilbert

Despite the fact that the skull is often a symbol of mortality, a design which depicts a skull backed by a pair of wings (usually a pair of angelic wings, but this is not mandatory) is rather a positive design with various meanings: resurrection; death is the road to a new form of existence; the death frees one of the burdens of life; the progression of the human soul through the afterlife. Anyway, the winged skull is not always a positive design, having also many negative connotations: danger, death (death which can reach everyone everywhere), lawlessness (very common in the bikers-gang tattoos)

a winged skull tattoo

back tattoo: winged skull

many biker gangs adopt the winged skull as one of their emblems

The skull is also a symbol of the transitory nature of life and death, and for this reason some designers choose to include a skull into more complex designs which represent the infinite cycle of the life and death.

the death (symbolized here by the skull) is a part of the infinite cycle of life

Related posts:
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo
Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
Death Tattoos / Grim Reaper Tattoos: themes and meanings
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo - animals

Death tattoos - various elements which can occur in a Grim Reaper tattoo - weapons

The most common elements in the Death tattoos are, without any doubt, the weapons (for the obvious reason that they are used for killing people).
The scythe is, by far, the most popular choice when it comes to a Grim Reaper tattoo. The scythe can symbolize the cutting of negative energies or influences. Also, as a harvesting tool, it can symbolize hope and prosperity. It can represent the moment of death, when a scythe is said to cut a silver thread. The scythe has a long handle, indicating that it can reach anywhere.

Death tattoo: Death is portrayed as a young woman holding a scythe

Death tattoo: a skeleton praying to Death. If you like this tattoo design you can find it in a larger format on my web site, www.seiza.ro

However, when the Death is portrayed as the Death Angel, the scythe is usually (but not necessarily) replaced by a sword. The sword can be a short, simple, sword (similar to the roman Gladius) or a highly-decorated sword.

Angel of Death tattoo: the Angel of Death is holding a highly decorated sword

Without being very popular, many other medieval weapons can be seen in the Death tattoos: spears, lances and javelins (these weapons can be seen in the Angel of Death tattoos or in the tattoos which depict Death as a medieval knight), knives and daggers (very common in the Skulls tattoo designs), bows and arrows, etc.

Grim Reaper portrayed as an archer / bowman

Increasingly popular are the fire-guns: usually handguns - derringers, old-fashioned revolvers (very common in the Mexican Mafia tattoos and in the Skulls tattoos), semi-automatic pistols and machine pistols (very common in the gang / prison tattoos) but also various long guns (like shotguns or sniper rifles).

Gangsta tattoo: Grim Reaper pointing a revolver. This tattoo was drawn by Peter Coinin Jr., a tattoo artist who works at the Beauty Mark Tattoo, 3356 East Main Street Waterbury, Connecticut. If you like this tattoo and you want to buy it you can send an email at this mail-address: beautymarktattoo@yahoo.com or you can visit their web-page

a very popular combination: guns, roses and a skull

skull tattoo covering a man's chest: a skull and two crossing revolvers surrounded by several gunshot wounds

a vision modern of the Angel of Death: Angel of Death portrayed as a sniper

a vision modern of the Grim Reaper: Grim Reaper portrayed as a sniper

a very popular tattoo theme: skulls and guns

gangsta tattoo design: a skeleton holding a modern semi-automatic pistol

Related posts:
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo
Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
Death Tattoos / Grim Reaper Tattoos: themes and meanings
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo - animals

Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo - animals

There are several animals which are often depicted in the Grim Reaper tattoo-designs.

The most common of them is, by far, the Death's black horse. Despite the fact that initially (in the book of the Apocalypse) the Death is described as riding a pale horse, many tattoo artist choose to depict the Reaper riding a black horse (possibly due to the traditional interpretation of the color black representing famine, decay and death.) Another very common tattoo-motif is the Death riding a skeleton horse.

Sometimes, Grim Reaper is depicted accompanied by a dog:
1. The Black Dog from the British folklore. The black dog is essentially a nocturnal apparition, often said to be associated with the Devil or a Hellhound. Its appearance was regarded as a portent of death. It is generally supposed to be larger than a normal dog, and often has large, glowing eyes.
2. Cerberus - the three-headed dog which guards the gates of the Underworld, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping. Cerberus appears especially when Grim Reaper is depicted as a lord of the Underworld. Usually, in these tattoos Grim Reaper is depicted sitting on a throne decorated with skulls and human bones; Cerberus is sitting near the throne.
3. A new trend in the Grim Reaper tattoos is to replace the old-fashioned mythological dogs with Pit Bulls and Rottweilers.

Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld

Birds which are usually seen as bad omens that foretell of death like crows and ravens. Crows and ravens have been long time associated with death, sorcery, evil lords, haunted castles, etc.

Venomous snakes - the old symbol of pure evil is sometimes present in Grim reaper tattoos, but more often snakes are present in the skull tattoos (which have a slightly different meaning than the Grim reaper tattoos).

Increasingly popular some butterflies (especially the moths), bugs, spiders, etc. can occur in a Death tattoo.

Lower back tattoo: a Death's Head Hawk Moth

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Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
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Last 5 tattoos of 2012

I had a nice time at Mansarda in my birth town Olsztyn.

I probably will visit you again. So to all who wanted to make appointment : "check my blog for updates, I will be back". 
 
To all who want to get tattooed by me at Kynst, I will be taking new appointments end of February. So mail me then to get appointment in June 2013.
I wish everyone happy new year!!!

And enjoy the last 5 tats of this year:

Death tattoo: the Death's hourglass

Very often, various symbols of the relentless flow of time (like hourglasses, watches, sundials, old pendulum clocks, timepieces, horologes) are included in the Death tattoo designs. The presence of the time-related symbols is a reminder that the time is running out and the life is slipping away.

Among these, the most popular is the traditional symbol of mortality - the Hourglass.

The image of the hourglass, sometimes with the addition of metaphorical wings, is a symbol of the human life's fleeting, and that the "sands of time" will run out for every human life. The Hourglass also represents the belief that death is not the end, but rather the beginning of something new, as the hourglass can be turned to start over. The hourglass is also a symbol of the patience (the symbol of Death patiently waiting for every human being).

This design often uses the hourglass as the focal point in the tattoo. The hour glass design can be made to look almost as menacing as the Grim Reaper.

Death's hourglass tattoo / Grim Reaper's hourglass tattoo - if you like this image you can find it on my web site, seiza.ro

Death and the standing nude woman; reverse copy after Sebald Beham; Death as a winged skeleton standing behind a nude whole-length female figure in frontal view, grabbing her wrists; in the lower-right corner can be seen an hourglass.

Related posts:
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo
Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
Death Tattoos / Grim Reaper Tattoos: themes and meanings

Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo

A Grim Reaper tattoo design is often combined with a variety of other design elements in order to make a truly unique tattoo design. The number of these design-elements is very large (up to several hundreds) and for this reason even their mere enumeration is an extremely difficult task. In this post I will attempt a brief overview of the most popular elements which can be seen in a Death tattoo.

1. Skulls and skeletons are probably the most common elements which can occur in a Death tattoo; sometimes Death himself / herself is depicted as a skeleton carrying a scythe. Anyway, a skull tattoo can have a different meaning than a Grim Reaper tattoo: triumph, anarchy, white race supremacy, etc (read more here).

Grim Reaper holding a human skull

2. Symbols of the inexorable flow of time: hourglasses, watches, sundials, old pendulum clocks, timepieces, horologes, etc.

Death tattoo - Grim Reaper holding an watch - a symbol of the inexorable flow of time

3. Objects related to the culture of death: crosses (especially gothic and celtic crosses), candles, and tombstones.

4. Animals: the Death's horse, the Black Dog, Cerberus, venomous snakes, birds which are usually seen as bad omens that foretell of death like ravens and crows, some insects (especially the moths).

Death riding his / her horse

5. Weapons: the most common is, of course, the famous Grim Reaper scythe, but many other weapons appear as well: swords, spears, lances, javelins, knives, daggers and even modern guns

gangsta tattoo: Death holding a gun

6. Objects related to magic and alchimy: orbs, magic compasses, magic crystal ball (a reminder of the fact that Death can see every single corner of the world), the five pointed star, old magic books or papyruses.

Grim Reaper holding a magic orb

7. Latin maxims and aphorisms: Memento Mori (Remember your mortality, Remember you must die or Remember you will die), Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world), Carpe Diem (Seize the day), Ubi sunt...? (Where are...?) or Ubi nunc...? (Where now...?) - both of them are shortened variants of the Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt? Where are those who were before us?)

Dance of Death tattoo

8. Fate-symbols: dices, playing cards, Tarot cards

Death tattoo: Grim Reaper playing dices (probably the stake of the game is someone's life)

Death tattoo: Death depicted on a playing card. If yoy like this tattoo design you can find it in a larger format (600 x 500 px) on my website, www.seiza.ro

9. Symbols of power: thrones, highly decorated swords, chains, royal crowns, rings, lightning strokes

10. Nature elements (these elements occur especially in the large tattoos): dead trees (very common in a Death tattoo), the Moon, mist, clouds, dark waters, swamps, lightning strokes

dead trees are a very common element in the Grim Reaper tattoos

11. Elements associated with the Underworld / Hell: flames (the flames of Hell), thrones decorated with human skulls and bones, demons and monsters, the five pointed star. These elements occur very frequent in the so-called satanic tattoos

Grim Reaper - lord of the Underworld

12. Other elements: handlamps (used to see in the dark), flowers (the symbol of ephemerality), hearts, scales (as a symbol of equity, justice and impartiality, as well as a symbol of the divine will).

Death tattoo: the presence of the flowers is a symbol of the human life's ephemerality

Related posts:
Angel of Death tattoos: examples and ideas
Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
Death Tattoos / Grim Reaper Tattoos: themes and meanings
Death tattoos: angels of death - themes and representations (1)
Death tattoos: angels of death (1)

Dragons tattoo 2

Hi, everyone.

In this post I'd like to show you several dragons tattoo designs available on my website, www.seiza.ro.

First, a black and white tiger and dragon tattoo design, combined with some tribal elements. I think that this design could be a good choice for a shoulder tattoo or for a back tattoo. If you like this image and want to see it in a larger format (600x500 px) you can find it on my website.

Next: a (relatively) symmetrical tribal tattoo, appropriate for a back tattoo (an upper-back tattoo or a lower back tattoo). If you like this image and want to see it in a larger format (600x500 px) you can find it on my website.

Next: a chinese dragon bracelet tattoo design. Read more about the Chinese dragons and about the main types of chinese dragons.

A tattoo design for the persons born in the Chinese year of the Dragon; the design combines some tribal elements, two Chinese dragons (in fact, is just one dragon mirrored) and the Chinese ideograms for the Year of the Dragon: ??; (pinyin: l�ngni�n).

The last image for today is a tattoo design which depicts two stylized dragons sitting back to back.

??

Today I had a second session to finish this tattoo of Geisha. 

???????!

Some parts are fresh some are healed.

Aztec tattoos: Mictlantecuhtli, the lord of the dead

In the Aztec mythology Mictlantecuhtli was a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan (Chicunauhmictlan), the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. He was one of the principal gods of the Aztecs and was the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld. The worship of Mictlantecuhtli sometimes involved ritual cannibalism, with human flesh being consumed in and around the temple.

His wife was Mictecacihuatl, and together they were said to dwell in a windowless house in Mictlan. Mictlantecuhtli was associated with spiders, owls, bats, the eleventh hour and the northern compass direction, known as Mictlampa, the region of death.

Mictlantecuhtli was depicted as a blood-spattered skeleton or a person wearing a toothy skull. Although his head was typically a skull, his eye sockets did contain eyeballs. His headdress was shown decorated with owl feathers and paper banners, and he wore a necklace of human eyeballs, while his earspools were made from human bones. He was not the only Aztec god to be depicted in this fashion, as numerous other deities had skulls for heads or else wore clothing or decorations that incorporated bones and skulls. In the Aztec world, skeletal imagery was a symbol of fertility, health and abundance, alluding to the close symbolic links between death and life.

His arms were frequently depicted raised in an aggressive gesture, showing that he was ready to tear apart the dead as they entered his presence. In the Aztec codices Mictlantecuhtli is often depicted with his skeletal jaw open to receive the stars that descend into him during the daytime.

Most of the tattoos depicting Mictlantecuhtli are inspired by the statues found in various archaeological sites, especially the Ceramic representation of Mictlantecuhtli exposed at the museum of the Templo Mayor in Mexico City and the statuette of Mictlantecuhtli exposed in the Museo de Antropolog�a in Xalapa, Mexico

Ceramic representation of Mictlantecuhtli
recovered during excavations of the
House of Eagles in the Templo Mayor, now
exposed at the museum of the Templo Mayor
in Mexico City

Statuette of Mictlantecuhtli
exposed in the
Museo de Antropolog�a
in Xalapa, Mexico