JoeJoesDojo

Marine Core emblem. My boyfriend is in the Marine Core. I got this the day he left for boot camp. I surprised him with it.

Falling in Reverse is a metal band. It has been one of my favorite bands since I was 14. The band helped me through a lot, so I figured I would dedicate a little half sleeve to them. I would get some of their pieces, logos, emblems, and album covers.

The Killers is also a band. This tattoo is the lighting bolt from their Battle Born album. The Killers have been my original favorite band since I was six. I liked the lighting bolt, so I figured I would get that one.

Death’s head moth I have always wanted one of these, and I found a picture. I had my artist redraw a design of it and got it done.

Bats tattoo. I had always wanted a couple of bats somewhere. I am planning on extending it up my shoulder. It’s a bat design; people say it goes with my asthetics.

This is a snowdrop flower and cat skull tattoo. I went out on Friday the 13 with one of my friends. It was two of their flash art pieces. I love cats and have always had cats. I figured I would get the little cat skull. The snowdrop flower is one of my favorite flowers.

This lighthouse tattoo was my first tattoo. I was 18, and had just gotten out of boot camp from the Marine Core. My buddy and I went to get tattoos for the first time. I was in my head about a tattoo. I will be honest, it was a questionable decision. I rolled one of those gumball machines. It was a bunch of designs I liked, so I knew I would not be upset. That is all that is behind this tattoo.

Sic Parvis Magna. It means greatness from small beginnings in Latin. My best friend and I grew up playing this video game since childhood. I had always loved the quote; it’s on a ring in the game. At some point I thought it would be an excellent tattoo.

Alien tattoo is something I doodled all through middle school and high school. I have always had an obsession with UFOs, and so has my dad. We both grew up drawing aliens. It was something my dad did as a kid too, and I realized I had as well. The other day I had wanted to get a tattoo, and my buddy was getting one. He asked, “do you want to get a tattoo with me?” I showed it to the artist, and he was able to work it out.

Horseshoe tattoo. About 15 years ago, I met a former racehorse and fell in love. The horseshoe, to me, represents liberation. I think I was lost in corporate America and climbing the corporate ladder. Champ grounded me. I did not know I had a passion until I met him, and my passion was for horses and equine. The horseshoe is very freeing and liberating. Now, though Champ is gone, he is always with me. I got that tattoo while Champ was still with me. The tattoo artist was Kohen Meyers from downtown Durham.

The ankh and my initials. These were the first two tattoos I got. I got them because I drew them and I thought they were cool.

I also drew these tattoos. I thought they looked cool, so I got them as tattoos.

Cross tattoo. This was the only tattoo I did not draw. I was with a buddy when I was in the army and it was there.

Hearts never heal in a straight line. It is a picture of Kiki from the movie “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” One of my best friends passed away last year. We would see all the Studio Ghibli movies together. Her favorite one was Kiki’s Delivery Service. She was exactly like Kiki. I got this to remember her.

This dragon is from an anime called Dragon Ball Z. Its name is Shenron. The idea I have behind this is Shenron grants wishes. I have myself on the little nimbus cloud. I have Shenron granting wishes, and I am along for the ride. I want to be a person in people’s lives around me where I grant their wishes, so they don’t have to worry about that type of stuff.

I am an artist. I designed this myself. If I have any art on myself, I want it to be my own. I also want it to be unique and significant to me. This is so that every time I look at a piece on my body, I know I designed it.

My first tattoo is the symbol that Rafiki gave to Simba. It is a sign that Simba would be king at some point. It was the beginning stages of his upcoming royalty, so I added the crown to it. The crown is from a game called Kingdom Hearts. Disney and Square Enix became one entity. Kingdom Hearts then had Lion King elements added to the game. I wanted to put them all together. It also represents the logo from my business, Core Taekwondo. We use a lion. I tried to put it all together.

This is one of my favorite pokemon, Luxray. He also represents a lion. I have this lion theme going on. I am not a Leo (joking). I have always liked lions. I wanted it to represent having a strong personality in my beliefs about what I do. It was also cool to have an original piece as a pokemon, which is my favorite. It’s also an electric type which is my favorite element.

This is from an anime called Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. All the Jo stars have a star birthmark. I thought it was fantastic. All the characters were very relatable, and I wanted to be part of the family.

This is a tattoo from A Curse Born Saga. A very good friend created this tattoo from the manga and graphic novel. I became interested in it when I would cosplay one of the main characters. I have also become a Patreon for his business. He considers me a part of the curse-born family.

This is a chaos symbol. Around the chaos symbol, I put fire, water, and waves. I am a musician, and this is the hand I hold the microphone in. This is me controlling the chaos. Two elements of chaos surround chaos. I thought this was a cool concept and aligned with the type of music I play.

One rule for one way of life: Only the strong survive. This is a lyric from a band called Chimaira. The song is written about the band itself and being a musician. Only the strongest bands survive.

Your memory is the fight in my veins. These are the dates for my guitar player who passed away. My band (As Ocean) released our first album, and he passed away two weeks after. I decided to put a memorial. Instead of his death date, I put the album release date. It was a symbol of a new beginning of what he was becoming.

Three years ago, I met my biological family. There are ten of us. I was the 8th one. When I met them, we all got matching tattoos.

This is Polynesian art. I am part-Hawaiian. I wanted to get some art to echo back to that heritage. Each band represents something. The arrowheads mean protection, the water means life and flow, and the shark teeth symbolize protection. The shapes are for fertility.

Whale in Native American art style. Killer whales have always been my favorite animal. They represent the same things as wolves but in the water. Hawaiian heritage was where I got that. I also wanted it on my chest over my heart.

The claw marks are a symbol of toughness and protection. I thought it was a cool thing to tie it all together.