Cool Movie Tattoos
By relache
The Best Fake Tattoos
Just like Hollywood has really made a skill out of doing old age makeup, they've also finally gotten down the art of making the fake tattoo. Since actors need to change their appearances a lot from role to role, it's often a good idea to have fake tattoos instead of real ones.
Once limited to just the bad guys, the theatrical or makeup tattoo is now a staple of whatever character the screenwriter or director wishes. Sure you'll still see plenty of gang and prison tattoos, but the good guy can also literally wear his heart on his sleeve or extend his cool to some badass tribal tattoos. Sometimes a movie gets carried away and puts tattoo all over someone for no apparent reason (other than someone thought it just looked good) but a really great character tattoo adds depth and detail to a personality.
Here are some pictures and recommended DVDs for those of you who love movie tattoos.
Watch Some Movie Tattoos
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tribal style tattoos in movies
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Movie Tattoo Resources
- Movie Tattoos and Body Art
Utilizing the latest in makeup technology, theatrical tattoo designs can now be made highly detailed, in full-color and set to be water-proof and smudge-proof for the better part of a day or two’s shooting, closely approximating the often complex des - Movies & TV - Body Art
Looking for a tattoo or piece of body art from a movie or tv show? If the tattoo is a painted/theatrical one worn by an actor, this is where the article is listed. - TATTOOS IN MOVIES/VIDEOS
This is is a list of movies and videos where tattoos are used in some significant form. - Try A Temporary Tattoo
Temporary tattoos can be worn for fun or as a test run before committing to the real deal. Learn how to make your stick-on tattoo look just like a genuine tattoo.
![Memento [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WPTCCgjEL._SL75_.jpg) | Amazon Price: $4.72 List Price: $28.95 |
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![Blade [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-VzKN65zL._SL75_.jpg) | Amazon Price: $9.26 List Price: $32.99 |
![Reign of Fire [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515fyzPTWNL._SL75_.jpg) | Amazon Price: $8.49 List Price: $15.99 |
How Are Fake Tattoos Created?
The first fake movie tattoos were just painted on with stage makeup. Although you can get elaborate designs with this method, it's prone to running or smearing if the actor sweats or rubs up against anything. But a lot of really quick tattoo effects can still be done very cheaply this way.
In the 1970s, a company called Temptu invented an alcohol-based skin paint. This had to be painted on by hand, but the effects were really realistic and the tattoo designs would stay on in water or if the actor sweated. After a day they could be a bit thrashed so they needed a good amount of touch-ups and had to be redone daily. To cover an actor with heavy tattoos would take multiple artists many hours of non-stop work to create. Although the formulas have changed a little, you will still find a lot of tattoo effects being done using methods very much like this.
In the late 1990s, a Hollywood makeup artist named Christian Tinsley was hired to do special effects for the movie PEARL HARBOR. They had to do wounds on tons of extras and he was trying to think of a faster way to do the makeup, and could they come up with something that didn't require so much maintenance. He invented a way of doing the wounds using a skin transfer, sort of a very fancy and technologically-modern Cracker Jack tattoo. What he came up with worked, and once he did the tattoos on Vin Diesel for the movie XXX, all of Hollywood wanted his product. Now using these special plastic skin transfers, extremely complex and contemporary tattoos can be applied all over an actor in just a couple of hours and they will last for up to a week.
tattooed bad boys
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"Tattoo" - the movies
- Tattoo (1981)
A disturbed tattoo artist becomes infatuated with a fashion model, eventually kidnapping her and forcibly tattooing her against her will. - Tattoo (2002)
Two Berlin policemen must track a killer who is collecting tattooed skins, all the work of a Japanese master.
![Wanted [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513BBWfhsiL._SL75_.jpg) | Amazon Price: $6.49 List Price: $14.98 |
![Star Trek (Three-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RfGsmoLVL._SL75_.jpg) | Amazon Price: $20.16 List Price: $39.99 |
tattooed men of action
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Movie & Tattoo Fans, Shout Out!
Isn't that too painful?
I always liked the George Clooney fake tat in From Dusk Til Dawn.
The picture entitled "Jim Carrey in Fingerling" looks exactly like the guy in the Sixth Sense that murdered his psychiatrist, Malcolm Crowe. Doesn't he?!? Looks like he just came out of the bathroom, instead of a gun, he has a sax and some bizarre tat.
Fantastic hub. Awesome resources. :)
In addition, you may want to add Derek Vineyard (Edward Norton) from the movie American History X. His fake tattoos are very well done and they look very realistic. My favorite scene in the movie was when his character pulls his shirt down showing the swastika tattoo on his chest and shouting: "see that..that means not welcome!" a powerful scene that wouldn't have transpired without the fake swastika tattoo.
Awesome selection of movies.
these r all good tatoos i like all of them !
Jim Carrey is a fun guy and his tat looks more like barbed wire. I prefer my tat to be more sedate.
I didn't forget Memento. You didn't notice that listed in with the 'men of action' pics.
very cool..but you forgot Guy Pearce in Memento..those were some pretty bad ass tattoos.
Good hub.
Thanks
Is that Jim Carrey ????? WOW is so cool !
does anyone no were i can find the (batlecry) tatoo out of maxpayne the film
does anyone know where you can find the design that is on in diesels shoulder in the move triple x? i believe it is a sun but i cant find a good picture of it
It's all a matter of design....
Very cool. I wish I could get my real tattoos to look as bold as some of the fake ones!
George Clooney's tattoo in from dusk till dawn is my favorite. When I summon up the courage, that's the one for me :)
I used to wonder that as well- whether they painted the tattoos on daily, that is. So are they more like stickers or an iron-on, type deal. Or is it like paint that is semi-permanent?
Henna is a painted on method that is organic, it's never injected! (yikes, there's some bad body art info out there) Modern movie tattoos are now most often decals that will actually last for an entire week with minimal fix-its done by hand. What used to be an 8-hour, hand-painted makeup session is now often a 60-90 minute makeup session that's all stick-on.
Interesting. Do you know if they do henna injection for these tattoos to make them last a few months, or do they paint them on every single day of shooting?
relache 10 months ago
Carolinemoon, what could possibly be painful about fake/theatrical/movie tattoos? Or didn't you bother to read the Hub?