From early 2000 to early 2004, I worked for an advertising agency in Avon, Connecticut. As you may have surmised from some of my earlier writings, my office was full of all manner of Batman stuff, including a neon Batman clock on the wall.
There was a young, brilliantly talented graphic designer on the Creative Department staff at the agency. Her name was Jennifer McKenzie. She was largely overlooked and woefully underappreciated. And she had at least one tattoo of which I was aware. It was on her right ankle.
One evening as she was leaving, I asked her to come into my office. I gestured toward all the Batman stuff and said, “I have no idea what you make of all this junk. For all I know, you may see it as just some macho nonsense. But considering how talented you are — and since you have a tattoo — I wonder how you might interpret this stuff for a tattoo. And I have no idea how any such interpretation might be influenced by your feminine sensibilities. But I’d like to know. What do you think?”
She smiled and said, “Thank you. I’d Love to work on it. Please give me a little time, and I’ll make some sketches.”
“Take your time,” I said. “I already don’t have a tattoo.” I smiled, too.
A few weeks later, Jen came back with six or eight pencil sketches, none of which I’d ever have been able to imagine. Two of them especially knocked me out. I asked her to finalize them.
The Proof is in the Inking
This is the first one. It obviously has the look of a shield about it. The metallic sheen was something I’d never considered. But since I knew I wanted my tattoo to be all black, I wondered how the shading of this design might reproduce on skin. I suppose I needn’t have worried. The next design, however, really caught my eye and eliminated all worry.
As Jen was showing me the design below, she said she’d started to find my initials in it: M and O. Needless to say, I found that intriguing. I also knew this one would look very good in black — with stark, clean lines against my fair, Irish skin. It now resides on my left shoulder.
I read somewhere once that something like 90 percent of people who get one tattoo get another. Since the artist who did my Batman tattoo is named Kevin O’Brennan, it seemed fitting to go back and have him put a Celtic cross on my right shoulder, which I did. That, too, is all black.
Both of my tats are hidden, even when I’m wearing short-sleeve shirts. I’m the only one who needs to know they’re there. I didn’t get them for effect or for anyone else. As with so many of the things I’ve done in my life, I wanted to get tats to have the experience of getting them, to see what it felt like. Now my curiosity’s satisfied … at least for now.
I may get Jen’s shield design inked on me someday. I don’t know.
All I know is I’m Batman.
Originally Published on https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/category/lifecolumns/notes-to-self/
