Tattoo star expands body of work in 'Ink'

Success does have some downsides.

Just ask Kat Von D, who rose to national prominence as part of the team on TLC's reality series "Miami Ink," and who tomorrow night launches her own show, "LA Ink."

"I feel like I have a lot more responsibility as far as showing tattooing in a good light," Von D told the Daily News. "The tattooing industry, they love me or hate me. It's different when you're on TV, everything you're doing is overanalyzed by your peers."

It's a phenomenon faced by the folks at Orange County Choppers, after they hit big on the Discovery Channel as well - and their draw of fans at motorcycle shows soared.

"I've had to learn a few things," said Von D, whose moniker is short for Katherine Von Drachenberg. "I've had to weed out my friends." Von D admits she doesn't understand why that happens, either, because she's rooting for everyone to succeed.

"LA Ink," launching tomorrow at 10 p.m., follows Von D as she moves from Miami to Los Angeles, where she opens her new shop. That shop, however, is populated with mostly female artists. In Miami, she was the only female in the bunch.

"I've built this shop from the ground up," she says. "It's all me. I've put my heart and soul into it. You'll be able to see that in this show." The show will have a higher celebrity quotient as clients of Von D's shop, too. TLC has also heavily promoted the new show with giant billboards and with fold-out images of Von D's tattooed body - she got her first when she was 14 - in major magazines.

While she treats her body as a canvas (she's had more than 30 tattoo artists work on her), she's not spent a lot of time looking at the promos. "It's kind of like hearing your voice on an answering machine," she said. "That's my face on a 20-story billboard," she added. "I just think I'm a big nerd."

A big nerd who has had a hand in the changing face of tattooing. Indeed, it's not like the old days, she said; even soccer moms are now sporting ink. "I get people coming up to me saying, 'You're awesome,'" she said. "That's a lot different from the days when I used to go to the mall and people would hold their kids back."

Tattooed Back Dragon

About Got Your Back (Tattoos on Women Only)

Before you submit!

The are 3 very simple rules: Must be real tattooed. No henna or paint or other temporary tattoos Must be on the back. Part of a tattoo may be extend to other parts of the body as long as the tattoo is partially on the back somewhere. Must be on a woman. With some close up views it is hard to tell, but if the person appears to be a man it will be removed.

This isn't a beauty contest, so don't worry about whether your submission is worthy. All female back tattoos are appreciated and welcomed!

Also, please note that this not an 18+ group. That means that submissions have to be suitable for public viewing. This will present problems at times, because there are some excellent tattoo photos that we need to exclude simply because of excessive exposure. This doesn't mean that they are pornographic, or somehow indecent. It just means that we have to live withing the rules of the Flickr TOS, and to realize that when running an open, public group, we need to respect the collective boundaries that we all agree upon.

Original submissions are strongly preferred, either you took the picture or you are the model. Let's keep it real!