Kevin Lewis

The Ink On My Body

[2025-03-06]

I got my first tattoo when I was 18 and, despite having a low pain threshold, I have really enjoyed continuing to get them. I by no means have lots, but I imagine in time that’ll change.

Metroid Prime

A close-up of a tattoo on a forearm featuring four small, minimalist black hand symbols arranged vertically. The tattoo depicts geometric, stylized hand gestures. Each hand has a distinct position, with clean lines and a modern, geometric design style. The tattoo is simple but striking against the person's skin.

My first tattoo was on my left forearm and it is a slightly abstract tattoo from Metroid Prime, where my online username phazonoverload comes from. The four black symbols are the four beam icons in the game that are always visible in the HUD of the GameCube game.They would later be incorporated into my Disney sleeve.

Ocarina of Time

A close-up of a tattoo on someone's forearm featuring four vertically arranged symbols. From top to bottom: a blue geometric flower or star-like shape, a red pentagon within a black triangular frame, a green circular symbol with a black outline, and at the bottom, a stylized eye with small triangular spikes above it. The tattoo uses bold black outlines with colored fills in blue, red, and green. An orange-handled tool is partially visible at the bottom edge of the image, suggesting this may be a fresh tattoo in a studio setting.

The first color tattoo was on my right forearm and is symmetrical with my first. These icons are from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. More people recognize where these are from as the Sheikah eye symbol appears throughout the franchise.

Serenity

A colorful tattoo depicting a spaceship from the science fiction series "Firefly." The metallic gray spacecraft, known as Serenity, is illustrated in a detailed style with mechanical components and distinctive silhouette. The ship appears to be flying through a vibrant cosmic background featuring blue nebula clouds with small white stars, and orange-red celestial elements in the upper corner suggesting fire or an explosion. The tattoo combines bold colors and detailed linework to create a dynamic scene of the iconic vessel traveling through space.

My first larger piece appears on my right calf. It is of Serenity - the spaceship from much-loved TV show Firefly (and the follow-up film Serenity). If you don’t know, Firefly is a space-western following the crew taking odd jobs struggling to keep Serenity flying.

Fun story about this one - a friend with lots of tattoos from another city recommended a studio right around my university campus. I went in, said that they sent me and the artist in the shop was super excited and already had a Serenity sketch ready. I later found out I was meant to go to the other shop around the corner and he must have been too nice to say “I don’t know who that is.”

Disney Sleeve

My Disney sleeve was done over four sessions (so far) in the artist’s super vibrant style.

A vibrant, multi-panel display of a full-sleeve tattoo featuring a collage of iconic Disney, Pixar, and Muppets characters. The artwork is rendered in a bright, illustrative style with soft, galaxy-like watercolor backgrounds in shades of purple, blue, and pink, accented by small white stars and sparkles.

This is a ‘100 Years of Disney’ sleeve. Other characters we’re planning to incorporate are Snow White (from the first feature length film), Roger Rabbit, Genie from Aladdin, Ember from Elemental, Wall-E, Figment (the mascot from EPCOT), and if there’s space also the Cheshire Cat, Olaf from Crozen, Ki Possible, Bing Bong from Inside Out, and Edna Mode.

Family Symbols

A small, minimalist tattoo on a person's chest featuring three simple symbols in a row: a green plant stem with leaves on the left, a blue starburst or sun design in the center, and a stylized red OptInk symbol. The tattoo area appears slightly reddened, suggesting it may be recently completed. The design is positioned centrally on the upper chest between areas of chest hair, with the symbols rendered in a clean, simple line art style with minimal color. Below, a flower and a shark fin.

The first two symbols on my chest represent my two kids - Sage, who I often call Sage Leaf, and Nova, who I often call Nova Star. The third icon is an organ donation declaration called Opt.Ink — the half-circles represent the donor, recipient, and the full circle the life. The two icons below represent other important people that have come into my life.

Future

Other than expanding on my Disney sleeve, I have a few ideas.

  • Adding more spaceships to the leg with Serenity on it - a TARDIS, Ma’s Ship from Flight of the Navigator, the Enterprise, etc.
  • The Sex Bomb-Omb logo from Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Another Scott Pilgrim thought was “Ramona 202-554-7665 xxxxxxx”.
  • Two angry clocks - Miss Minutes from Loki and the Clock from Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.
  • “Believe” from my all-time favorite show Ted Lasso.
  • ”:):” as a reminder that I am the one who controls whether I am happy ”:)” or sad ”):”.