Tattoo artists from all over the globe and their willing canvasses convened at the Resorts World Casino in South Ozone Park for the United Ink No Limits Tattoo Expo this weekend.
We scoped the booths and the aisles of the convention for our favorite works of epidermal art.
And though the experts told us "realism" is in, we found ourselves particularly smitten with inked representations of our favorite fictional characters — comic book villains, movie heroines, and Disney princesses.
Below you'll find our favorite trends and designs:
Pretty much the whole Marvel Universe has found a home on this Bushwick resident
Oleg Shepelenko, 27, sports tattoos of the X-Men Magneto, Hope, Cyclops, Wolverine, Juggernaut and Warbird on his right arm.
On his chest: the alien superhero Rocket Raccoon and the spaceship Milano from "Guardians of the Galaxy."
"I'm a huge comic book fan, so I didn't think long about this," Shepelenko said of his body art.
Some folks like the Marvel villains better than the heroes
Bronx resident Will Graham, 36, who had his tattoo of the Marvel villain Thanos inked at Tuff City Tattoos in Belmont, said he loves villains "because they're the most powerful and they're cooler looking."
Thanos, for example, wears the "Infinity Gauntlet" with the "soul gem" on his hand, which comic book lore says can be used together to destroy or recreate all of existence.
This rule applies to the Disney universe, too
The tattoo on Ashley Webster's leg takes the shape of the wicked fairy Maleficent.
But the 21-year-old therapeutic recreation assistant who lives in Stony Brook, Long Island, didn't have the classic 1959 animated film "Sleeping Beauty" in mind when she got it.
"Maleficent," the 2014 film starring Angelina Jolie as the title character, is "just awesome," Webster said. "As soon as I saw that movie, I was like Angelina Jolie killed it ... so I had to do it."
Of course, it isn't always easy to draw a clear distinction between the villains and the heroes
Christine Asher, 27, a piercing artist who lives in Crown Heights, chose imagery from Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," in part because her daughter loves the movie.
"And sometimes," she added, referring to her boyfriend, a tattoo artist, "we joke around and say he's the Beast and I'm like Beauty ... because he's a little crazy."
"I don't like Batman too much, but I love the Joker," said Mike Fuggetta, 39, a construction worker who lives in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. "And everything I got on my body is flip-flop, like both sides. Like I got another on my leg that's Heaven and Hell."
Beloved stories from childhood inspire some tattoos
As a child, Kristin Bonafide's parents read her the story of "Alice in Wonderland" at bedtime.
"I was actually adopted when I was 2 from Korea, so I came over not speaking English and my parents would read to me all the time," the 35-year-old tattoo artist told DNAinfo.
Her tattoo sleeve, featuring the Cheshire Cat, is a testament to her enduring love for Lewis Carroll's creative tale.
Emma Bland, 25, a midwifery student from Australia, has portraits of the major "Wizard of Oz" characters on her right leg because, she said, "I love the magic of it."
As she summarized the story of the L. Frank Baum book and the MGM film, "You go to this amazing place and then you wake up in reality."
"Adult" stories get their share of inked tributes, too
"She's a bad-ass chick beating up boys and just doing what boys do as well," said Los Angeles-based tattoo artist Liz Campos of Tank Girl, the outlaw protagonist of a raunchy British comic.
"If I could be Tank Girl in real life, oh my god, I would accomplish my life goal."
And some tattoos inevitably draw your eyes
Above: David Chiefalo, 27, a tattoo artist from Melbourne, Australia
Above: Gino Sorgenta, 21, a tattoo artist from Rome
