Today's feature is by far the most colorful and elaborate of all the tattoos I have in store. It's a real testament to body modification truly being art, as well as the value of an experienced tattoo artist.
Final Fantasy is an incredibly long running series with fans ranging all ages, all groups, and endlessly diehard since the first game came out in 1987. My personal favorites are IV, VII, and IX. In addition to involving stories, deep battle systems, and entrancing music, the character designs are quite amazing. Concept art, booklet images, and official illustrations were used to bring characters and environments to life in ways that older technology never could. It's true, young ones, graphics couldn't always portray cloth details and facial expressions ;>
I respect Morgan on his choice to go with a portrait piece. They tend to be the trickiest for artists, and an inexperienced individual can bring disastrous, permanent results. Fortunately, he went to one of the best in town and ended up with a ridiculously gorgeous piece.
When I first saw Morgan's tattoo I was stunned. Honestly speechless. I never had the chance to play VIII, but I recognized the art style as something from somewhere in the Final Fantasy backlog. I didn't know him well at the time, so I sputtered briefly about what a stunning tattoo he had, then asked which game it was from. As it turns out, Final Fantasy VIII holds a special place in his heart (as one might expect from a piece this large and detailed):
"I got it in October 2012. Not a lot of people see it, but the ones that do say it's really pretty and something that they've never seen before. I had it done because she's one of my favorite characters in my favorite game. It reminds me of how playing the game made me feel, like the places my life would take me to were infinite." -Morgan
Tattoos are such personal things, that's pretty obvious, yet for many people they still can't fathom a video game holding any real value. I look forward to the day when a great game can be seen the same as a great book, movie, or music album: something to be loved, revisited, and held to a lasting standard. Morgan ended up with a piece of art on his body that is beautiful to strangers while also possessing a deeper meaning to him. Personally it makes me wish my tattoos were larger and colored!
Check back on next Friday for the last entry in my gamer tattoo mini series!
-MJ
*Header image from Final Fantasy Wikia
2 comments:
This is a great article! The tattoo is of breath taking quality!
And this also allows me to segue into Morgan’s blog and best thing on the Internet, http://morganeats.tumblr.com/.
Check it out!
Yes! I should have linked to morganeats.tumblr.com because it is fantastic.
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