It Must Have Hurt, No?

If the market for print editorial illustrations is really in decline as the doomsayers say, there is an alternative venue rising to the surface—on the human body. Viktor Koen is part of a new trend of illustrators (I know one other) whose editorial art has been been indelibly inscribed on the skin.

Ruud Hortensius, whose arms you are looking at, is a PhD of Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience in the Netherlands. The butterfly-brain man was Koen’s first illustration to appear on the front page of The New York Times (on June 29, 2010). The tattoo was done by Errol at Inkstituion in Rotterdam, and was placed in such a way so the two characters can look at each other (and blame each other for loosing their minds). I asked Koen what he thinks of this epidermal adaptation.

Did you know they were made as tattoos?

I had no idea, but it has happened before and even though this doesn’t exactly fall under the definition of “editorial usage,” I don’t mind as long as they are well done and they send me pictures. (There is nothing I can do to stop them anyway.)