Ronan Harvey is a printer who works on manuscripts large and small.
\nOnly the ink he uses is indelible and comes out of a machine “gun.” And the canvas on which he works is the human skin.
\nA tattoo artist, Harvey, an Irish native, owns The King\u2019s Head Tattoo at 1572 Garnet Ave. between Haines and Ingraham streets.
\nKing\u2019s Head is one of a series of parlors lining PB\u2019s commercial strip, which include: Chronic Tattoo at 1253 Garnet Ave. #B, Black Rose Tattoo Lounge at 4603 Mission Blvd., Guru Tattoo at 1122 Garnet Ave., Above All Tattoo at 1026 Garnet Ave., Funhouse Tattoo at 1453 Garnet Ave., Avalon Tattoo Inc. at 1035 Garnet Ave. and Mums Custom Tattoo at 1837 Garnet Ave.
\nHarvey is a practitioner of an ancient art form performed for centuries in many cultures worldwide. The oldest discovered evidence of tattooing on preserved skin dates to 6000 B.C. on the remains of a South American mummy.
\nHarvey\u2019s got a theory for the rationale behind the wide \u2014 and growing \u2014 popularity of tattooing.
\n“It\u2019s the missing tribal link,” he said, noting he\u2019s tattooed people of all ages and those from all walks of life.?
\n“I\u2019ve tattooed priests, lawyers, doctors and nuns,” he said.
\nHarvey said he worked on an 86-year-old woman not long ago who came in with her great-granddaughter.
\n“It wasn\u2019t her first tattoo either, but her third; a little butterfly,” he said.
\nHarvey said a tattoo is “very unique art, something you\u2019re going to have on your body.” He said that regardless of whether it\u2019s a piece of flash (stock) art displayed on a wall or custom work designed especially for \u2014 and with \u2014 the recipient, a tattoo is as memorable as it indelible.
\nA tattoo, said Harvey, can be a rite of passage that someone gets when they pass a life milestone or a symbol of their “coming of age,” or for any other reason you can imagine.
\n“It can be a guy in their 30s or 40s who\u2019s getting a divorce or a student at a turning point, or their grandmother\u2019s name or just to have something on their body that they can always have and see,” Harvey said.
\nHarvey recently took two first-place awards at the San Diego Tattoo Convention in Mission Valley. His artistry was attested to by one of his customers.
\n“I\u2019ve had the pleasure of being tattooed by Ronan Harvey for the last seven years,” said Todd Brown. “The custom touch that he puts on every idea I have for him is brilliant. The King\u2019s Head is very fitting for Ronan with its layout and old-school fashion.”
\nNoting King\u2019s Head has “cool skylights,” Brown said clients can get “tanned and tattooed” at the same time while enjoying the company of a true professional in Harvey, whom Brown referred to as “a great guy I\u2019m glad to call my friend.”
\nTypically, how one breaks into the tattoo trade is by apprenticing under a practitioner before mastering the craft and developing one\u2019s own unique style before moving off onto one\u2019s own, as Harvey did.
\nTattooing can be a lucrative profession. The going rate is $150 an hour. Ask around.
\nIt\u2019s worked well for Harvey, who\u2019s supported a wife and three children for several years while plying his craft.
\nLike other art forms, tattoos are subject to tastes, which can change over time.
\nFor example, tailbone tats once popular with ladies at the beach and denigrated by some as “tramp stamps” have faded from view. They\u2019ve been replaced in popularity more recently by other symbols like “silhouettes of birds flying.”
\nHarvey\u2019s clients tend to be more serious, desiring weightier themes requiring more skill to carry off.
\n“My style is a little bit more bold and heavy,” he said, noting his imagery tends toward the darker side of dragons and such.
\nHarvey said he\u2019s always available for appointments and accepts walk-ins, as well.
\nFor information, call (858) 352-6133 or visit thekingsheadtattoo.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ronan Harvey is a printer who works on manuscripts large and small. Only the ink he uses is indelible and comes out of a machine “gun.” And the canvas on which he works is the human skin. A tattoo artist, Harvey, an Irish native, owns The King\u2019s Head Tattoo at 1572 Garnet Ave. between Haines […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":269080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"TATTOO YOU: Ancient art form is alive in PB","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}