Russ Abbott

10/10/2026

The shin/ lower leg section are the first complete color piece done entirely with the CORE Palette I’m developing with Modern Tattoo Ink.

CORE is built around a Color Map I designed to make navigating color logical and predictable. By moving through the map, I can make subtle, controlled shifts in hue, value, and chroma without having to guess my way through a collection of unrelated colors.

This piece was my first chance to put the entire system to work on a finished tattoo, and I’m incredibly excited about where it’s headed.

The R&D continues this week as I visit Chris Coleman at the manufacturing facility to keep testing, refining, and dialing everything in.

After years of thinking about color, it feels pretty damn good to finally work with a palette that behaves like a system.

A more colorful tomorrow.

10/04/2026

After decades in the tattoo industry, we’re coming back to the world we love with a new vision, a new brand, and everything we’ve learned along the way.

Modern Tattoo Ink is the next chapter.
Built from experience.
Inspired by artists.

Created for the modern tattoo world.
We’ve spent our lives in this industry—building brands, working alongside incredible artists, pushing boundaries, and watching tattooing evolve around the world.

Now, we’re bringing that history forward.

A new beginning by Lou & Jackie Rubino.

Coming January 2027.

09/04/2026

It’s happening! I always wished I could build a set of tattoo inks from the ground up. I’ve learned so much in this process. We’ve eliminated some pigments that had poor longevity and we’ve built a system that is easily learned and should cover the needs of almost every color artist with 80 inks plus the blacks, whites, and grays. There’s so much more to reveal in the coming weeks and months so if this interests you, please follow along.

09/03/2026

Today I’m on the hunt for the most lightfast and vibrant oranges for tattooing. We are not using the Orange 13 (C.I. 21110) that is commonly used because it tends to fade quickly with UV exposure. I was going to use a mixture of yellow and warm red, but then we found a high chroma orange with a very high lightfastness rating. Time will tell if this is the best choice… but I’m excited to put it to the test.

09/01/2026

Thanks to Rich Harris / Tattoo Education and World Tattoo Retreat • Tattoo Education for giving me a few minutes to talk about the tattoo ink project I’ve been working on this year. It was great to finally reveal a bit more of what we have coming soon.

08/28/2026

Megan Carroll asked me to continue her gothic architecture inspired collection down her arm. We started this with her chest, then her back, butt, and ribs, then stomach and thighs, and now her right arm. I created the design first on my iPad using a Tattoo Smart 3D model to get the placements all dialed. But, the only way to make it fit exactly the way I want is to draw it on the arm. So her session started at 11am and we didn’t start outlining until 4:30pm. That’s what it takes sometimes. Photo credit Josh on Leica Q43.

08/23/2026

A nearly completed AMEKUMI アメクミ leg sleeve.

This piece brings together two areas of my work that I’m especially excited about right now: Kumiko-inspired ornamental tattooing and a deeper exploration of color.

Much of the green scrollwork you see here is freshly tattooed using colors I mixed myself from base pigments.

There are still a few things left to finish before I call this one complete. I’m looking forward to seeing how these greens settle in as everything heals.

AMEKUMI アメクミ
Kumiko-inspired ornamental tattooing

08/22/2026

This week I added a lot of warm palette scrollwork for Rebecca Wolfe Smith. I worked in a couple of existing tattoos and helped her tie the room together. One more session is needed to fine tune and dial it all in.

08/21/2026

08/15/2026

I’ve spent the last several years exploring how the geometric language of Japanese Kumiko can be adapted to tattooing.

I’ve started calling this evolving body of work AMEKUMI アメクミ — my approach to Kumiko-inspired ornamental tattooing.

This piece is a good example of where that exploration has taken me: repeating Kumiko patterns drawn across the body and integrated with ornamental forms, rather than treated as isolated geometric panels.

I’m working on more of these projects now, along with a new edition of my pattern book under the AMEKUMI name.

More soon.

AMEKUMI アメクミ
Kumiko-inspired ornamental tattooing