Kern's canvas is your skin, and his inspiration is you. As an award-winning custom tattoo artist, James doesn't design the type of images that as a kid, you may have licked and slapped on your wrist. There is a person and a personality at the heart of each of his works. While in school he held part-time jobs as an artist for Marvel and DC comics. But it was an anthropology course in body art that drew him into this profession.
African tribes do scar patterns to mark different stages in life.
In the Japanese culture, they designed tattoos to encompass the entire body. Eskimos would burn paper, make it into ash, dip a piece of string in it and thread the string through the skin. The ash would color the skin, making patterns. His clients also inspire him. His typical customer is someone who already has a tattoo and appreciates self-expression through body art.