Kevin Lewis

The Ink On My Body

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 Half Sleeve

My Disney half sleeve was done by the amazing Holly over three sessions in her super vibrant style.

A vibrant Disney character sleeve tattoo on a forearm against a colorful pastel background with sparkle effects. The tattoo features classic Disney characters arranged vertically: Mickey Mouse at the bottom, Minnie Mouse above him in her red dress with bow, Donald Duck, Pluto with his tongue out, and Goofy at the top wearing his green hat. All characters are rendered in their traditional bright colors against a gradient purple and teal background.

The first session included the fab five - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy.

A colorful Pixar-themed tattoo on a forearm featuring characters from multiple Pixar films. The design includes Héctor from "Coco" at the top wearing his hat and displaying his skeletal features, Sulley and Mike Wazowski from "Monsters Inc." in the middle, an red panda from "Turning Red," and Soul's character at the bottom with its distinctive blue-green coloration. The tattoo has a purple and blue galaxy-like background with small stars scattered throughout.

Next we moved on to the Pixar Crew with some favorites - Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, Hector from Coco, Mike & Sully from Monsters Inc. Mei Mei from Turning Red, and 22 from Soul.

A colorful Disney-themed sleeve tattoo on someone's forearm with a pastel rainbow background. The tattoo features Tinkerbell sprinkling pixie dust, Lightning McQueen from "Cars" at the top, Jack-Jack from "The Incredibles" in his superhero outfit, and Slinky Dog from "Toy Story" at the bottom. Gray hand silhouettes are incorporated throughout the design against the soft pink, blue, and green watercolor background with sparkle effects.

The final part fo the half-sleeve incorporates my original Metroid Prime tattoo with a set of other lovable characters - Lightning McQueen from Cars, Jack Jack from The Incredibles, Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, and Slinky Dog from Toy Story. Originally Slinky wasn't going to be there and it took Hollie and I a while to think about which character would fit.

Disney Full Sleeve

A tattoo outline on someone's arm featuring various Disney and Pixar characters. The design shows a Bear and Tutter from BEar in the Big Blue House, with Stitch from "Lilo & Stitch" prominently featured with purple coloring. Other characters include Kermit the Frog, Vanellope von Schweetz from Wreck it Ralph, and Nemo at the bottom. The tattoo appears to be in the early stages with some parts colored in purple while others remain as line art.

The intention is to continue the half sleeve into a full sleeve. So far, we have only outlined part of my arm with the intention to go fully around and join it up with the existing characters. We are going from the sea and the bottom to the stars at the top.

So far, we've included Bear and Tutter from Bear in the Big Blue House, Baymax from Big Hero 6, Kermit and Stitch both playing their instruments, Vanellope von Schweetz from Wreck it Ralph, and the trio of Dory, Marvin, and Nemo from Finding Nemo.

Originally, we were also going to include Moon from Bear in the Big Blue House, but we ran out of time. She will be replaced with Star from Wish, and we're going to make this a '100 Years of Disney' sleeve. Other characters we're planning to incorporate are Roger Rabbit, Genie from Aladdin, Ember from Elemental, Eve or Wall-E from Wall-E, Perry the Platypus, Remy from Ratatouille, Winnie the Pooh, Olaf from Frozen, and the Cheshire Cat from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

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.

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.

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 "):".
  • BLACK LIVES MATTER
  • THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR STOPPING BY
  • LEAVE IT BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT
  • TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS
  • EAT THAT FROG
  • YOUR PRESENCE HERE IS VALUED
  • TAKE EVERYTHING I SAY WITH A GRAIN OF SALT
  • WORK HARD AND BE NICE
  • IF YOU'RE NOT SURE THE ANSWER IS PROBABLY NO
  • DESIGN FOR THE LEAST PRIVILEGED