A tattoo artist who “felt naked” after having his ink removed has blacked out his entire body and eyes – and he’s not done yet.
But he had a change of heart and decided it was time to say goodbye to his tattoos.
He had his old inkings lasered off, but having gone from one extreme to another, something didn’t feel quite right.
It was at that point that he embarked on a “black work” journey, giving himself a full black “suit”.
He’s since tattooed his eyes black too and now plans to go even darker.
Gunny discussed his unique look in an interview with Inked Magazine. tattoo fan removed all his ink – but did a U-turn and blacked out his entire body (Image: YouTube/Inked Magazine)
He said: “All the [tattoos] I collected in my youth, I had removed with lasers, I’d say for about two solid years. Everything on my legs, chest, I had a big throat piece. Sleeves, fingers, you know, I had everything lasered off.”
Recalling how he felt after his ink had been removed, he said: “I’m like a newborn right now. What am I going to do with myself?”
He opted to go black after a “carefully thought out” decision.
He said: “Man, I just want black stuff. That’s it. A suit.”
New York native Gunny got his first inking at 14 after seeing a movie villain sporting a ‘Steamboat Willie’ Mickey Mouse tattoo.
He said: “Wow, that’s the coolest tattoo I’ve ever seen.”
Gunny drew the design on a piece of paper and went to downtown Manhattan looking for a parlour to ink him.
He said: “One crazy b*****d did it for me. He just told me to sit down, snatched the paper out of my hand and was like ‘$80’.
“I just sat down and got my Steamboat Willie tattoo and went to high school the next day and everybody was like ‘is that real?! I was like ‘yeah it’s real!’”
Gunny said he swapped his iPod colour for a tattoo gun (Image: BlackIronMonkNYC)
Gunny became a tattoo artist at 27 after swapping his brand new iPod Colour for a tattoo gun with a friend.
He revealed: “I went home, tattooed my own legs.”
When asked if he had any regrets about his extreme body art, Gunny replied: “None. I was 1000% sure. This was it. This is what I’m doing, this is how I’m gonna die.
“I feel like I’m becoming myself more and more every time I do something.”
Since starting his black ink journey and covering most of his body, Gunny quickly moved on to his face and more extreme areas.
“I started moving on to the face a few years ago,” he said.
“I started off with… this slope I had coming from my lip onto the side of my ear.
“I made my mind up that I wanted my eyes done probably like, 2015.”
He said his only concern was when “the needle goes in your eye – vision goes”.
Gunny has big plans for the future as he continues on his black work journey.
He said: “As of now, I think I’m 50% done. I have a few body modifications, that’s gonna continue.
“I have two cropped ears, corduroy branding on the side of my face. I’ve already started blacking my gums out.”
