Lawton works on Bohley’s tattoo on the early afternoon of Jan. 19 as All Star Body Art colleague Travis Aanensen watches. Lawton works six days a week and normally schedules three clients per day.
Anthony Lawton decided to heavy it up right away. At 1 p.m., big bass and guitar notes from heavy metal band Mastodon filled the room, and Lawton prepared to drop color into the left side of Len Bohley’s chest. The 34-year-old Lawton, who lives in Rotterdam and has been leaving his mark on men and women since 1998, had already stenciled the pattern into friend Bohley’s pectoral — a large skull with swirls behind it. He dabbed his tattoo machine with black ink and began etching deep black lines around the “teeth” of the boney face.