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The tattooed granny

And Pauly Unstoppable

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If someone stops you in the street and asks for a moment of your time, they’re usually hassling you to set up a Direct Debit for a charity or asking whether you’ve recently fallen down a manhole and need help to sue your local council.

But if it’s me, I’ll just want to make a quick sketch of the graphics on your T-shirt, because it’s sparked off an idea in my head for a crazy tattoo. I’m constantly influenced by all sorts of things around me, from pictures on a café menu, to graffiti on a toilet door, or a magazine fashion shoot.

It feels as though Eureka! lightbulbs are popping up above my head and so many lightning bolts are hitting it that I can’t sleep! I only spend about four hours in bed each night. In fact, it’s starting to piss off my girlfriend, Chantal – but that’s tattoo life!

I got the idea for an animated tattoo when I remembered some little picture cards that came free with a brand of yoghurts I loved as a child. When you moved them, the image changed. As a kid it seemed magical.

I wanted to transfer some of that magic to someone’s skin, and so the scissors and anatomical heart you see here (top right) were born. Switch sheets of blue and red acetate over the top of them (or wear 3D glasses and wink alternate eyes), and the pictures jump to life: the scissors snip-snip-snip, and the heartbeat boom-boom-booms.

The colours have to match the acetate for it to work, though. I use Premium Inks, which contain lots of fine pigment. I tested out different hues with tattoos I was already working on, and pinpointed the precise shades I needed. I also experimented with illustrations by making sketches and then manipulating them on a computer to see what would look most effective.

The diamond uses the same crimson and blue, but to different effect. Don 3D glasses and the stone ‘jumps out’ at you. In fact, this three dimensional optical illusion even works to some extent without 3D specs. I’d like to create something more complex in my next tattoo – fish that appear to be swimming beneath a 3D layer of water, for example.

My stresses over time with Chantal have got me thinking about an alarm clock design that moves to show different hours, and a hand that shifts between a peace sign and a raised middle finger. My friend Jon and I want to ink a classic sacred heart image with a banner across it containing a message written in raised Braille scars.

I met Jon in Berlin, although he learned about body modification from legendary ‘body hacker’ Lukas Zpira, and used to work with ‘body architect’ Bastien in Paris as part of a suspension performance art group called Un Autre Corps.

I often incorporate tattooing into my own performance art sessions too – but more on that next month. In the meantime, since we’re friends now… gimme some skin!