A Perth man has gone viral for his tattoos, having revealed he’s gotten more than 150 Pokémon drawn on his leg.
Zachary Barrett-Desforges, 27, from Kelmscott has been a fan of the Japanese franchise since he was a child and set out on a mission to get all 151 original Pokémons tattooed over six years ago.
In 2020, he met with tattoo artist Paula Stirland to discuss getting the work done.
“I remember it was right before my 21st birthday which was on Friday 13 that year and I got in touch because I’d always admired her work and saw she was having a flash sale,” he told PerthNow.
The warehouse assistant says the tattoos were nostalgic for him, having been a fan of the animation for years.
“I watched the cartoon as a child and played the original game on my old DS console. I’ve got the cards and a load of plushies around my house too,” he continued.
Tattoo artist Paula, 39, says the intricate artwork took “hundreds if not thousands of hours to complete”.
“When Zac first came to me he wanted two Pokémon tattoos done. A few days later he came back and said he was thinking about filling the space more,” she told PerthNow.
“He said ‘I think I’ll fill the leg and do the whole Pokédex’ so we had to muck around to figure out how we’d do that because I’d drawn on the first two quite large,” she continued.
“That was before the pandemic and its taken hundreds if not thousands of hours to complete. I’ve moved studio like 4 times but he kept coming back!”
With more than 100 Pokémon to draw, the cost of the artwork soon racked up.
“Zac’s done at least six day sessions so that we could try and get five to ten Pokémons done up at a time. I charge $1,200 for those and so I’d estimate the total cost of the work to be around $10,000,” she said.
The Inglewood based artist has been tattooing for more than 15 years and says she’s never had such a big reaction to her work, with the video of the complete sleeve racking up almost 1 million views and thousands of comments.
“It’s completely baffled me. I always put my work online but this has gone crazy. I absolutely did not expect it,” she continued.
“I think people just like the nostalgia of a game they enjoyed playing as a kid. In a world where everyone just wants to fit in, I think its nice that people want a reminder of something that makes them feel happy and safe”.
Camera IconThe artwork took more than six years to complete. Credit: @hatefueled_tattoos
The striking Pokémon artwork has received lots of praise, with one person saying: “Never have I felt more jealous.”
One user commented: “Always wanted something like this” while another said “that’s incredible”.
While Mr Barrett-Desforges may be done with Pokémon artwork, he’s certainly not backing down from getting more tattoos done anytime soon.
“I’m a fan of many things. I have a Mario tattoo on my other leg and then a bunch of superheroes on my arm,” he said.
“I currently have my other arm completely empty, but not for long. I’m not sure what I’ll get on it yet, maybe more Pokémons but there are well over a thousand of them now and I’m not sure I’ve got the pace to keep up with that!”