Show me the MUNNY!

For the last week we have been taking turns working on the Munny. We decided to give Horitomo first crack at it,



he decided to work on the front. The bonji symbols represent the god Fudo Myo-o and his attendants Kongara and Seitaka.
Horisou drew the skull-face and Filip added the onis inside the ears.

Horisou drew the amazing hannya mask on his head. He worked on it in Sacto at the convention, in between appointments.





Since Shige has been in town visiting he joined in and drew the dragon head on the back. He took a tiny tracing of the doll's back, one night, to work on it. He said Munny was a very patient client!



I drew the snake and peonies on the back of the head and around the mask. I did the whole thing in the airport and on the plane. It felt like I was shlepping around a toddler.




Dan Wysuph drew the skull and dagger sleeve on the left arm,




and Horitaka put the "GOOD LUCK" on his knuckles and finished it off with the State of Grace sleeve on the right.




Pencil, Sharpie and fixative, that's it. Did I mention Munny glows in the dark?

Everyone had so much fun working on this that we are making another one for the shop!

CLASS of '09

I just got back from NY where I was celebrating my little brother Ryan's high school graduation. Ry is a huge fan of Kid Robot and buys their blank dolls, called Munny, to decorate. Last time I visited NY, he showed me his collection of Munny dolls that he had made. When it came time to get him a graduation gift, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for him. So I rounded up the whole shop, bought the biggest Munny I could find and got everyone to do something on it. I presented it to him at the graduation party my parents threw for him the Sunday before the ceremony.



It was at a pizza place by my parents' house. Their good friend "Chunky" recently took over the kitchen and catered the party.



There is NOTHING in the world that can compare to NY pizza!

All I can say is, my little brother was so surprised that he was actually speechless. Trust me, we are NY Jews that is not an easy feat!




Now he knows how proud of him me and the rest of the crew are!!!!

थिस सतुर्दा......

SATURDAY JUNE 27th, 2009
Saturday night come check us out at the Canvas gallery in LA where Shige will be signing and personalizing copies of his new book. Canvas has suggested pre-ordering to guarantee everyone who wants one, gets one.


EVENT DETAILS:

SATURDAY JUNE 27th, 2009

Book Signing: 7 - 10 PM

Live painting: 4 - 10 pm

CANVAS LOS ANGELES

441 N. Fairfax Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90036

www.canvasla.com

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Somewhere 40 minutes north of San francisco this sign really exists...

DIRTY SAC

the booth...



nicely done Shige!



um... Wow!



"The biggest little tattoo I've ever done!"
-Oliver Peck
single needle Rock of Ages on a stomach



greatest picture of someone taking a picture, ever.




Shige adding a personal touch to the books







clever AND current, kudos


Here's a couple more from my homegirl Robin:






Great show to Allen and Jesse and all of our boys at Forever Tattoo! Thanks again and we'll see ya next year!

You don't wanna miss this...

Remember when I said Shige was signing books at the Sacramento Convention this weekend?

Well, I forgot to mention he is doing a painting in every single one of them! Here are two he was working on in on the shop today, don't miss out on owning one of these babies!


See ya' in Sac!

Amazing new levels of stupidity have been discovered in Belgium...

In the immortal words of Horitaka,
"People always get the tattoos they deserve,




And I'm out!"


*Thanks to Nick Colella for finding this fucking GEM!

"Get sex now... the power of Satan does not need to brag."

While searching Black Magick on ebay this morning, which is the name of the Australian fashion label Lover's 2008 collection, I was hoping for this,



lovely 60s inspired dresses or maybe a tank top. Instead I found this,

http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-Magick-Sex-Spell-Cast-by-Satanist-Get-Laid_W0QQitemZ280358586771QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4146ac8993&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Black Magick Spell for Sex
Cast by Simon Warlock
Master of the Dark Arts, Occult Priest, Ordained Minister and Satanist!



Simon Warlock professes,
"Enjoy copulating like a animal again. Satan loves all his children.
You will receive email confirmation once your spell has been cast before my dark alter."

Bidding starts at $24.99, FREE shipping! State of Grace does not assume responsibility for dealings with the devil or venereal diseases, and Simon expects feedback, if buyer does not leave positive feedback Simon will curse you, please contact Simon before leaving feedback. Thank you.

SHIGE book release kick off at Sacramento All American Tattoo Show this weekend!

The SoG team has been saving a special group of Shige books to bring to the Sacramento convention, to be sold at the show and signed, personally, by our good bud Shige. Shige is coming all the way from Yokohama, Japan; so come buy a book, some Shigster swag or just come down and support the show. This weekend will definitely be a blast and we will be sure to post lots of photos. If you guys can't make it out to the show, check our website for ordering details www.stateofgracetattoo.com or if you live down south we'll be at Canvas Gallery the following weekend!

Let the comments begin....

Alright, this photo is in desperate need of a caption, please help it.

For the last couple of weeks Mike Rubendall and Henning Jorgensen came to get tattooed by Horitomo. They crushed it!
It was great hanging with those guys and we miss them already! Ruby will be back to get more work done after Sac but we don't get to see Henning again until the San Jose show in Oct :( We had so much fun with them...



we actually had such a good time that I almost forgot why I started this whole blog to begin with.



To share moments like this!




Man I love these guys!

COME CHECK US OUT IN SAC THIS WEEKEND

Well, it's that time of year again! I can't believe it, this is Alan and the guys at Forever Tattoo's eighth convention. Damn, Taki and I must be getting old because between the 2 of us we have represented SoG at every one of the Sacto shows since day 1.  We love the guys at Forever Tattoo and just like the excuse to visit them...

Yakuza video game cell phone by Horitomo

If video games are not your thing you can also check out these amazing cell phones that Sega collaborated with Japan's Softbank cell phone carrier on. 

http://kotaku.com/5038156/yakuza-the-cell-phones

This link might help find the consoles, 

http://www.ncsx.com/

but if we get any word on the availability of the phones or consoles, then the online log will let you guys know.

Horitomo for Sega

As some of you may already know, Horitomo has been commissioned by Sega to draw designs for their highly coveted Yakuza video games. Well, they are already on the third incarnation of the game and have released some exclusive limited edition, white, PS3 consoles featuring Horitomo's artwork. They are amazing and, according to the article, will probably be pretty hard to find. I guess last time I tried to buy a PS3 I paid a college kid to wait in line at the Metreon, so good luck!

http://www.ps3informer.com/playstation-3/news/special-white-yakuza-ps3-in-japan-009665.php

Welcome to State of Grace Tattoo's new online log. We are excited to showcase all of the new projects we are working on; featuring our tattoos, books, articles, rants, snapshots... whatever!