Paul Buckley:
Penguin Ink was a project I pitched to my Penguin publisher, Kathryn Court. I had been researching tattoo artists for personal reasons and it struck me that here was a vast pool of talent, untapped, except for a Camel Cigarettes ad here and there. My father had been a cartoonist and I have always been impressed by folks who can draw with such rapid fluidity and ease—no scrap, no reference in front of them, just eyeballs to paper and a rapid moving hand and drawing implement. My publisher loved the idea and teamed me up with an editor who gave me a handful of titles to go after.

Art Chris Conn Askew

PB: I pulled it off in the end, but it quickly became a nightmare project and stayed that way until we said yikes, enough were done. What I learned was many tattoo artists do not work well with the long deadlines book projects tend to have, the authors or estates weighing in... in their world, someone walks through their door, the work gets done, it is permanent, no changes can be made, and boom it’s onto the next client. But not so in publishing; I’d get a sketch and have it make it’s rounds and by the time I got back to the artist, they no longer wanted anything to do with the project—that is if I ever could get a sketch out of the artist to begin with. I’d be left muttering “but it’s Don Delillo...??!”.

Art Bert Krak

Art Jen Munford

PB: I hired that famous guy from that TV show... and he kept just yelling at me through the phone that he really did not think I knew who he (expletive) was. Gross. Yet I do so love these covers! Penguin UK loved them as well, and asked if it would be ok if they did some. It was, but I do wonder if they had similar problems. I’ll have to ask some day.

Art Robert Ryan

Art Duke Riley

Art Chris O' Donnell

Art Lina Stigsson

Art Grez

Art Rob Admiraal

Art Gonzalo M. M.