Bob Vessells - Funny Farm Tattoo

I started getting tattoos in 1993 at Purple Panther my first tattoo was done by Kore Flatmo. As I continued to return to purple panther to get more tattoos I was getting tattooed by other artist there Mark Paramore, Tony and then I met Bob Vessells at Purple Panther Tattoo in 1994. I watched Bob tattoo many clients and was amazed at the detail he was producing in the skin. I wanted a statue of liberty crumbling so I brought the idea to him and this is what he did in December of 1994 and It is still amazing.



Bob did this heart tattoo for me about a week before he started the cross tattoo on my friends back. Bob's style is so distinctive, this was done just to fill in a small spot near my wrist. I was so impressed that I want to get another one similar but much bigger somewhere maybe on my hand, my leg or chest.








This is Bob Vessells Funny Farm Tattoo Shop at 4651 Melbourne Ave Hollywood, CA. it has been repainted since these pictures were taken many years ago. Bob is one of my favorite artist out there as a matter of fact in the last 14 years I have only been tattooed by Bob Vessells and Kore Flatmo. If you have the chance pay him a visit at his shop you wont be disappointed he is an interesting person. If you want to check him out on the web here you go. http://www.myspace.com/funnyfarmtattoos or http://www.bobvessellstattoo.com/









A friend of mine said to me that he wanted a cross on his entire back and where did I think he should get it done. The first thought in my head was Bob. He was doing his research on the web and magazines and I said well Bob's shop is close let take a ride so you can meet him and see what you think.

This would be the first time in 5 years that I would visit Bob. So we arrived and parked down the street as we walked towards the shop I could see Bob outside and was walking towards us but we were far away. He turned in the parking lot and continued to walk away we proceeded to the shop to see a post it stating be back at 3:30 signed Bob with a heart. We laughed it was only 3:05 so we waited around outside his shop. Just a little after 3:30 he was walking back to the shop and from where we were standing it was hard to tell but he had his hand in an odd position as we got closer it was because he had a fake monster hand (glove) on LOL. This pic is represenative not the exact style glove he was wearing.



We went in the shop he didn't recognize me at first but when we talked he remembered me sure enough. We bullshitted for a few minutes before talking business. This is a must when working with Bob he dosent want to talk shop all the time he wants to know what your about.

So my friend told him what he was looking for and he started to schetch it out, it took a couple of trys before Bobs vision was what my friend was looking for. Here's a couple of pics.









I hope to get more work from Bob in the near future some demon or devil girls. He is amazing. Here are a couple more examples of his work that you can find on his website or myspace page.

Some Tattoos









Some Art.