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Jerry Magni tattooing. Picture taken in Glasgow in 2007I started my career in 1992 as a comic artist and illustrator for publishing and advertising. In the second half of the 90s I added web design to my existing talents, and also tattoo flash for many tattoo magazines. In the early 2000s I intensified my work on canvas. Tattoos have been a sort of inspiration in many of my works.

At the young age of 15 I started tattooing roughly and, both for passion and to meet the requests of my friends, I also did it during my mandatory military service. I have been tattooing professionally since 1995, combining my job as a tattoo artist with that of comic artist and illustrator. Until 2005, when I decided to turn tattoos into my main business activity.

A SHORT LIST
Between 1992 and 1997 I made comics for the Italian magazines: Cyborg, Crash, Demon Hunter (for which I was also the cover artist), Tendence Europe, Brain Trust, Nova Express and more.
In 1995 I published the book Segni di Pelle (Skin Marks) from which the Italian showgirl Elenoire Casalegno chose one of her tattoos, and in 1998 Triskell, that I proudly discovered in the library of Brooklyn Tattoo Shop in New York during my 2009 guest spot.
 In 1998 I also made porno comics for the magazines: Selen and Penthouse Comix.
From 1996 to 2003 I made over 20000 flash and many covers for the magazine Idea Tattoo and others for Original Tattoo, Tattoo Tribal, Colour Tattoo and other tattoo magazines.
In 2000 I did an online comic and related website for the USA: Rogue Star. 
From 1999 to 2004 I created several websites for Milan-based advertising agencies and also as freelancer. The most popular one is clubarduetto.it (2002) Website of the Italian club dedicated to the famous Alfa Romeo Spider. 
In 2004 I created the design of the Nintendo Game Boy Tribal Edition.
That same year I started working intensely on my KATZ, surreal cats on canvas and computer colouring.
 Besides all this there was my job as a tattoo artist, so in 2005 I decided to open my own shop.
In 2007 I started travelling the world with my job working as a guest artist in: Glasgow, London, Cyprus, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, New York and I’m looking forward to adding more cities to my list.

Jerry Magni in New York during a guest spot at Brooklyn Tattoo in 2009I started tattooing at the young age of 14/15, in a reckless and rudimental way using a sewing needle and some Indian ink. This raised the interest of my friends and with the recklessness typical of that age I accepted to tattoo them too.
Later on I started attending art school so, in the eyes of those near me, I became even more the right person to get a tattoo from.

In 1992 I started my career as a comic artist and illustrator, publishing covers, comics and illustrations of various kind. In addition to all this there were the rudimental tattoos that I kept on doing, a little irresponsibly, as if it was a hobby.
At that time, we’re talking about the period that goes from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties, the tattoo culture in Italy was non-existent, it was an unknown and mysterious world. There weren’t any magazines, TV programs, let alone studios and/or shops on every corner. It was an underground culture, unknown and unpopular.

Things began to change around 1994. The first tattoo magazines dedicated to tattoos started being published in Italy and in no time exploded what seemed like a trend at the time. Thanks to those magazines I was able to increase my knowledge of the tattoo world. In 1995 I finally bought my first professional equipment in order to tattoo seriously. I still thought of it as a hobby and, considering the reputation tattoos had, I wasn’t thinking of making a career out of it and didn’t even like the idea of being considered a tattoo artist. Considering the poor quality of the works I was seeing, I was afraid that this could take away “prestige” in my career of illustrator and comic artist, but for some reason something inside me kept pushing me to continue.

Segni di Pelle by Jerry Magni, Book Cover. Book published by Xenia Edizioni in 1995.That same year I suggested to my editor that he publish a book with designs for tattoos. Segni di Pelle was probably one of the very first Italian books on the subject and almost certainly the first of its kind. Shortly after, I started creating designs for tattoos for the magazine Idea Tattoo.
At the time the goal of the magazine was to provide ready-made designs for tattoo artists and focused its success more on quantity rather than quality. Unfortunately, despite myself, I must consider myself responsible for the spread of ready-made tattoos of questionable quality, but it was my job and “it paid my bills”.

Triskell by Jerry Magni book cover. The book was published by Edizioni 3ntini in 1998A few years later, in 1998, another book of mine was published, Triskell, with over 200 illustrations that reinterpreted this ancient symbol. At the same time I published an erotic comic called Tattoo Studio, which had a fair amount of success. Tattoos were constantly following me in some way. Meanwhile I continued working as a comic artist and illustrator but, almost by chance, the creation of websites added itself to all this.

Design for Nintendo Game Boy Tribal Edition. Jerry Magni. 2004

Illustrations, comics, websites and tattoos. In 2004 I also created the design for Nintendo’s Game Boy Tribal Edition and I started working on my paintings, that somehow combined all the influences and styles of my work, including tattoos.
Even if people had been suggesting me to open my own tattoo studio for almost 10 years, I didn’t give it any importance, I wasn’t interested, I wanted to carry on doing illustrations and comics, but shortly after a turning point took place.

Someone told me about this: “Jerry, do you realize that you have been tattooing almost forever? Think about what you’ve done: the books, the magazines, the comics, the Game Boy. Everything you did that was related to tattoos happened easily, has worked beautifully and people keep asking for your tattoos. Don’t you think that destiny is trying to tell you something? Maybe you should consider opening your own studio.”
These words “lit a light bulb over my head”. In 2005 I opened my studio and I decided to make up for lost time reading everything I could about tattoos and more than once I asked myself why I had waited so long.

From 2007 I also got the chance to work abroad: Glasgow, London, Cyprus, Canada, New York, Norway, Singapore, New Zealand and I look forward to adding others to the list. In 2010 I decided to move to a private studio and work by appointment only, being this more congenial to my professional approach.

LIST OF WORKS - up to 2016

GUEST SPOTS

CONVENTIONS

  • Tattoo Weekend Chiuduno – Bergamo, 2019
  • 5th World Wide Tattoo Conference – Venice, 2014
  • Kristiansand Tattoo Convention – Norway 2013
  • 3rd World Wide Tattoo Conference – London, 2012
  • 4th Florence Tattoo convention – Florence 2011
  • 1st World Wide Tattoo Conference – Rome, 2011
  • XIV International Tattoo Expo – Barcelona, 2011
  • 7th East Flanders Tattoo Convention – Belgium, 2011.
  • 20th International Tattoo Covention – Berlin, 2010.
  • 3a Dimension Tattoo Design – Video Tutorial for Tattoo Smart (USA 2019)
  • 3rd Millennia Tattoo Design – Video Tutorial for Tattoo Smart (USA 2018)
  • Tattoo Evolution – Webinar (2018)
  • Illustrations for Custom Tattoo Design (USA 2013)
  • Illustrations for Tattooed Steel (USA 2009/2010)
  • Illustrations, graphic design and corporate identity for “Ho-Stile” (IT 2009)
  • Logo and merchandise illustrations (Festa Bikers – BG 2008/2009).
  • Logo and illustrations for my personal project “Zoe Grrrls” (2008).
  • Over 40 illustrations for school books (Edizioni Atlas – IT 2006).
  • Over 60 illustrations for school books (Edizioni Atlas – IT 2005).
  • Study and making of an advertising cartoon character for “Caledonia” (IT 2004/2005).
  • Short Flash Movie titled: Universi Paralleli.
  • Corporate Identity for VM Multimedia, MA & CO, Oasi, SoftPower.
  • Design of the Nintendo Game Boy Tribal Edition (Leo Burnett – IT).
  • 5000 flash for the magazines: Tattoo Original and Tattoo Tribe. Kinlake LDA (USA)
  • Corporate Identity for Daimon Club and Blak Marks (IT).
  • Websites for 4events.it, jeans-store.it, matec-colours.it, 5pider.com, Study and making of an advertising cartoon character for “Nasar” (IT).
  • Corporate Identity for Intarsi, Evolution Technology, Club Alfa Romeo Duetto (IT).
  • Over 500 illustrations for two books. Ed. 3ntini & C (IT).
  • 5pider, car design for “Club Alfa Romeo Duetto”.
  • Wallpapers and flyers for “Associazione Culturale Azione” (IT).
  • Navigation anD graphic project for the Duetto 4ever’s website.
  • Websites for flashmodelmanagement.com, clubarduetto.it.
  • Comic series “Sabbiaman” for the magazines “SM” (IT).
  • Comics, corporate identity and website for “Rogue Star” (USA).
  • Short b/w comics for the Cartoozine’s website (NL)
  • Cover illustration for comic miniseries “Wiked angel” (USA).
  • Flash cartoon for “Cartunia.com” (IT)
  • Over 22.000 tattoo flash and 15 covers for the magazine “Idea Tattoo”, over 500 illustrations for the magazine “Clip Art” and over 200 illustrations for the magazine Colour Tattoo (Edizioni 3ntini & C. – IT).
  • Corporate Identity for 3AM, Maglieria Liliana, Duetto 4ever, Mazzola Arredamenti (IT).
  • Graphic projects for Communic@ction, GoAction and M&M Advertising (IT).
  • Flash animation for eurolearning.it (IT).
  • JMd design, personal experiment.
  • “Duetto Race” online flash game for clubarduetto.it.
  • Flash websites for: adimage.it, emmeemme.com, wwg.it, ghostimage.it, albertocatania.com, telelink.it, nasar.it, pic-nic.it, sportcentro.it, gruppoakena.it, mazzola-arredamenti.com, flash-is.it.
  • Macromedia Flash 5 teaching on CD-Rom “Flash Explosion” (digitaly.com).
  • Erotic comics titled “Tattoo Studio” for “Selen” and “Penthouse Comix”.
  • Several graphic projects and illustrations for GoAction, Communic@ction, Valko, Il Soldatino, M&M Advertising (IT).
  • Mini website “Alfa Romeo Nuvola”
  • Illustrated book “Triskell” (Ed. 3ntini & C.- IT).
  • Illustraded cover for comics novel “American Flan” (Comic Tour De Force – USA).
  • Comic series titled “Carne Sprecata” and other comics for the magazine “Tendence Europe” (IT).
  • Trompe l’oeil and illustrations for the per disco-pub “Sabbie Mobili” (IT).
  • 25 illustrated covers for the comic book “Demon Hunter” (Xenia Edizioni – IT).
  • illustrated book “Segni di Pelle” (Xenia Edizioni – IT).
  • Corporate Identity for “ME&S” (IT).
  • Corporate Identity for “Foto Ottica Magni” (IT).
  • Corporate Identity and CD-cover design for the rock band “Fishkids” (IT).
  • Corporate Identity and CD-cover design for the metal band “Traumakraniko” (IT).
  • 94 b/w comic pages for the comic book “Demon Hunter” #17, (Xenia Edizioni – IT).
  • advertising illustrations for the comic book “Demon Hunter“ (Xenia Edizioni – IT).
  • 10 short comics for the magazine “Crash” (IT).
  • Illustrations for the comic magazine “Cyborg” #4, (Telemaco Comics – IT).
  • Wallpapers, flyers, graffiti, trompe l‘oeil and more for Arcacoop (IT).
  • Trompe l’oeil in private villa (IT)
  • Wallpapers and flyer for the annual music event “Nevrotika Night” (IT).
  • Coffee pot design (Agenzia Studio Clap – IT).
  • Logo for the rock band “Mototronko” (Dracma Records – IT).
  • 2010: “KATZ @ Cricus again” personal at Q Club (IT).
  • 2010: “KATZ @ Cricus” personal presso Q Club (IT).
  • 2008: “KATZ” personal at Colleoni Castle(IT).
  • 2007: “KATZ” personal at Provino (IT).
  • 2006: “KATZ” personale presso le Barrique (IT).
  • 2005: “KATZ” personale presso le Barrique (IT).
  • 1997: “Mondi Futuri”, collettiva (IT).
  • 1994: Collective travelling exhibition at the Art School of the Asiatic South Est.
  • 1992: “Una piazza per gli Artisti“, collective (IT).
  • 1991: “Futuro a Fumetti”, collective (IT).
  • 1989: “Il Gioco Delle Arti”, collective (IT).
  • ADCI (Art Directors Club Italia) Golden Award (Mixed Media) per Game Boy Tribal edition
  • IAWMD Golden Web Award per jerrymagni.com
  • Nem5 Web: Maggic Flash Design and Bronze Award per clubarduetto.it
  • IAWMD Golden Web Award for JMd, Alfa Romeo Nuvola, emmeemme.com.
  • Alfa Romeo Nuvola website of the month “Flasher.it“ (August 2000).
  • Screaming Art Golden Award and Cool Web Design for emmeemme.com.
  • Screaming Art Silver Award for adimage.it, JMd, telelink.it, Nuvola, Flash Is It.
  • Pegasus Webdesign Gold Award for JMd
  • “Jacovitti 2000” contest for comics and new media.
  • “1989. Un Manifesto per il ponte”, contest for evocative event.
  • Interview on Radio Lombardia (Apr 2019)
  • Video interview on EMP ita (Dec 2015).
  • Interview on the online magazine skin-artist.com (Nov 2014).
  • Interview on the online magazine inkedmag.com (Aug 2014).
  • Interview on the online magazine “Beneath Skin” (Dec 2011).
  • Interview on the canadian magazine “Xpressions” (Nov 2013).
  • Video interview on “Tattoo Art Planet” (Nov 2011).
  • feature on the websitepatternprintsjournal.com (Oct 2011).
  • KATZ feature on the magazine “Tattoo Italia” (Feb 2009).
  • TV Show “Ti amerò per Sempre” (Dec 2009).
  • Interview about my comics on “Komix.it” (2002).
  • Interview about my comics on national greek radio (2002).
  • Interview on the magazine “Idea Tattoo” (1996).
  • Inteview on the local newspaper “Il giornale dell’Isola“ (1996).
  • Interview on the national TV Show “Village” on Italia1. (1996)
  • Interview on the national TV Show “Smile” on Italia1. (1995)