Pen and Ink Blog Illustrates Stories Behind Tattoos

Published at 3:00 PM on February 4, 2013

By Laura Medina

The tattooed masses know the plight of tireless questions about their choice of permanent body art. The blog Pen and Ink has made that question into something beautiful, allowing people to submit their tattoo photos and the stories behind them.

Started in 2012 by Isaac Fitzgerald (managing editor of The Rumpus) and illustrator Wendy MacNaughton (whose illustrations have been featured in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle and GOOD Magazine), Pen and Ink compiles the stories behind people’s tattoos with illustrated images and hand-lettered descriptions. The blog is now being turned into a coffee table book by Bloomsbury Publishing, filled with never-before-seen tattoos along with some readers’ favorites.

See a collection of stories and images below, see the rest here.

Click an image to see it full size. To move to the next image, click on the image or use the right arrow key.