Hello my friends, today Im going to do a review on possibly my favourite book trio, and if the post title hasn't give enough away, this book collection is the holy trinity of books all belonging to Kat Von D. Normally when I read a book its like your typical book, a story book if you will, but Kat's books are more like three tattoo diaries, which also include snippets of her personal and work life.
For those of you who may not know, Kat Von D is an American tattoo artist, model, musician and television personality, best known as for her work on the TLC television series LA ink.
If I am completely honest, I am not 100% sure where I first discovered Kat, it was probably through my love of tattoos and tattoo art, after all she is a well known name within that industry. When I found out about her show LA Ink, I gave it a watch on TLC and got hooked instantly, I even got my mum and dad into it. I think when I first saw Kat I was just so captivated by her, after all she is a walking work of art from her head to her toe, her looks, talent and personality fascinate me and she is her own kind of beautiful.
For this post I am going to be taking to you guys about Kat's three divine book releases, including my thoughts and opinions.
Book 1 - High Voltage Tattoo
The first book of the trilogy, High Voltage Tattoo, is basically like designed in the style of a gothic journal, featuring decorative pages that are even more beautifully designed with each page you turn.
This book starts you off from scratch, tracing back to Kat's roots, featuring stories and pictures form her childhood, along with past and recent artwork along with information about her shop and the artwork on her very body. I found this really rather interesting as you can get a feel for Kat and her style, and basically who she is, and with all this information you can really get familiar with her and fall more in love with her with each page you turn.
You're probably thinking by now that this book may just be Kat talking about herself from the beginning to current, but you'd be wrong. The book digs a lot deeper and goes into the tattoo process and history, including tattoo tools and close up pigments. You could also probably consider this book as a tattoo diary. Kat documents some of her favourite tattoo work on clients, varying from rock stars to every day people, and she explains the stories behind them, along with her thoughts and feelings and beautiful imagery of the final work, in some cases she includes extra detail, such as the stencil she may have used.
I think my favourite part of this book are the five double page spreads in which Kat is dressed in a beauty showing bikini and tall stilettos showing all of her wonderful tattoos. Many of times I've looked at peoples tattoos and wondered if theres a story behind them, and when it came to Kat's tattoos, I had a lot of questions in mind, and the two spreads answered them all.
Book 2 - The Tattoo Chronicles
My favourite book of the trilogy. The Tattoo Chronicles is a book dedicated to one important year of Kat's personal professional life, this book features less of her beginnings as we have already learned this from the first book, but is a lot more in depth when it comes to work things. Just like the first book, it is so pleasing to the eye, and is filled with calligraphy typography, personal photography, pretty illustrations and wonderful layouts.
In this book Kat discusses the importance of the tattoo for the person who is acquiring it, and also how it effects her personally. The book really is a rollercoaster of emotions and I think its wonderful how she can not only discuss her feelings towards clients, but also about family, friends and love life.
Along with the gripping stories of the public, Kat also tattoos famous names, these including members of Kings of Leon, Metallica and Green Day. As I was a complete Green Day fanatic (understatement) at the time of reading this book (I still love them to bits) I just remember screaming with joy as I came across the Drummer (Tre Cool) placed on a page of her book, it was at that point where I thought to myself, can this woman be any more awesome? It's always good when two of your favourite things clash together.
This book is my favourite out of the trilogy as I feel like it is the most interesting, and it flows really well, the stories are all so unique in their own personal way, and Kat's way of writing is so well done and you can feel the exact feeling that she probably felt when it came to each situation. Of course I love the other books, but there was something about the Tattoo Chronicles that I knew was going to be glorious as soon as I took it out of the box, and I was right.
The latest and hopefully not the last book in Kat's writing career, Go Big or Go Home. In this book Kat talks about how she has always been a risk taker, be this in life, love, and tattooing.
Divided into seven sections, Kat discusses about matters that she feels strongest about, this including individuality, strength and independence. Within the seven matters, she tells a collection of stories about clients who's tale behind the tattoo matches/relates to the particular theme. Like in the previous books she explains the clients situation along with her personal thoughts.
Not only does she speak about her clients within the current issues, she also writes about herself and what that issue means to her, and also discusses how she deals with it personally. The introduction in which Kat discusses the issue is always the first part before all the clients and their stories, so I guess it prepares you for what are lying ahead on the sections future pages. Honestly the introduction to the sections are my favourite parts of the whole book, as some of the things she states are relatable to me and the quotes and answers she comes up with are so reassuring, and the positivity from her quotes and answers rub off on me and then helps me with my problems. I always refer back to this book in times of need, its like a bible that throws out positivity and good will.
Like the other books, it is a visual masterpiece. The main thing that I love about this book is the photography. Photos of the tattoos dominate each page and theres nothing that you need to imagine or visualise within your head, as it is placed there right in-front of you in full colour and of a large scale. Along with photography there are also wonderful illustrations, and I'll once again mention how beautifully interesting each page is, featuring gothic patterns, steam punk style illustrations and even a vintage tinge.
To summarise, I love every single page of Kat's books. They are all a thing of beauty and so well put together. I really hope that you guys may pick up one of her books and fall in love with them just like I did. If you're a tattoo lover, addict or just respect the art, I'm positive you'd love Kat and her books. Im pretty sure if you're a lover of Kat as a person as well as her work, these books would probably appeal more to you, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a little read if you're just a tattoo lover, you never know what you might discover, right?
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