Hello,

Being fairly new to tattoo art, I have spent a fair amount of time looking through tattoo magazines for reference material at 8 bucks a shot. The internet is helpful sometimes but more often hit or miss, as I tend to find the same images over and over. More recently there have been a plethora of books printed focused on tattoo art, however at 20-30 bucks a piece I tend to shy away unless they are top quality.

On my last outing to pick up a few magazines at the local book store I got pulled by some unseen force to the bargain racks. I found books on drawing anatomy, weaponry picture books, and a load of other great visual reference material. The best part? Most were under 5 bucks each. I said screw it for the magazines and picked up a few books. I then headed to the next book store I could find and checked out their bargain racks. I left there with another few book.

I don't know why I didn't think of this before.

Great find, and good idea. I've got a stack of books on pinups (my favorite) that I've picked up over the years. Good reference material all. Keep your eyes open in the art section too. A lot of classic art can be adapted, or used as inspiration as well. Mucha is a really good source for how lines work. Van Gogh for how colors work, although I personally think he's overrated. Mucha should be available in Dover editions (really cheap), and Van Gogh is popular enough that you can pick up a good size coffee table book just about anywhere fairly cheap.

I would suggest, however, you try and find Guy Aitchison's book on tattooing, as well as the BJ Bett's lettering guides. They are definitely worth the money and have helped me greatly.

Are you talking about Reinventing the Tattoo, 1st or 2nd Edition? If so, would I get much out of it as I am not tattooing yet? I know it has some design stuff in it, but for $250 I want to be sure.

I have the first edition of Reinventing the Tattoo. It's a lot more than tattoo instruction. He goes more in depth into design elements like contrast, texture, color, than tattooing techniques. His discussion of reference and second medium use is invaluable also. Even the last chapter is good advice (playing the right kind of music). I found mine on ebay for cheap comparatively. I did not pay $250 for it. But I've read it several times, and would probably be worth $250. See what info you can find about it on the net.