Many stop by to choose images of sailboats, skulls, landscapes, horses, celebrities, and dragons. Others come to show off their art, to do a few outlines in ink or to color outlines in. Some have them on their legs, arms, chest, stomach, back and across their entire body. Many have suffered hours under the needle. At the third annual Seacoast Tattoo Festival, they all are pleased with the art upon their skin.

Brian Digan of Derry shows off a complete set of The Doors on his left arm. The faces of Jim, Ray, Robby and John adorn his shoulder and bicep, their faces etched in black and red. The portrait was Digan’s third tattoo in the last two months and doubtfully his last. “I know I will definitely come back to the tattoo convention,” he says. He already has a map for the rest of his body. For the remainder of his left arm a gangster theme is planned, probably something like Al Pacino from Scarface on his forearm. On his back is Robert De Niro from “Taxi Driver” holding his .357 revolver, sighting down the barrel at whoever’s behind Digan at the time. “It hurt like a bitch. Worse than my mom slapping me for doing something wrong,” he says of spending eight hours in the tattoo chair. As Digan walks away he shouts, “The Doors will never die!” brandishing his arm, a permanent memento to the band that will last much longer than the cotton Doors T-shirt he wears on the outside of his body.

Buzzing fills the air inside the Dover Elks Lodge on Saturday, Oct. 8 as artists’ needles hum and vibrate, sketching images onto fleshy canvas.

“The industry is changing a lot. It’s becoming more acceptable,” says Alex Travassos, a tattoo artist for eight years and owner of Lost Souls in Derry. “Now professionals like lawyers, doctors and nurses are all getting tattoos.”

Shawn Dunn of Salem receives his fourth tattoo since January at the Studio 3 Tattoos booth by artist Al Benoit. Dunn is sticking with an Irish theme on his left arm and has just finished sitting in the tattoo chair for more than six hours as Benoit drew a picture of a sailing ship on the high seas, which covers Dunn’s bicep. “It’s something I’ve always liked,” he says. “Once I got one it became an addiction.”

Jason Scott, owner of Hobo’s Tattoo Shop in Portsmouth and a tattoo artist for nine years, says the industry has definitely been growing in the past three to five years. “It’s a great time to be tattooing,” he says. “It’s as big as it’s ever been.” Now, especially in Portsmouth, people everywhere sport tattoos in highly visible spots, inspiring new customers.

Wanda Anthony, a former receptionist at White Mountain Tattoo in Conway, had her first tattoo done five years ago.  She now has six in various places on her body.  Five years ago, though, she wasn’t too keen on tattooing.  “I figured if I can’t beat them I better join them,” says Anthony. She agrees the trend is definitely picking up, but she still is bothered when people look at tattooing as a foolish fad.  “They look ignorant,” says Anthony about people who stare at her tattoos. “I went to college, I’m intelligent, I’m clean.” 

Rick Sullivan, coordinator and creator of the Seacoast Tattoo Festival and its main sponsor as president of Loaded Dice, Inc., says that despite the rainy weather they had a good turnout of 2,000 people. The tattoo festival, the only one of its kind in New Hampshire, had 60 artists at the event, and Sullivan hopes to add another 40 next year.

“The artists are what makes the event what it is,” he says.