Johnny Depp and his Tattoos

Johnny Depp is one of the most popular Hollywood movie stars but he is also known for his love of tattoos. Depp has at least fourteen tattoos to date and he says his body is his journal. He said he marks a specific date or time in his life with a mark on his body, whether it be a mark done by himself or a professional tattoo artist. For instance his design of a Cherokee Indian Chief is done to commemorate his ancestral heritage.

He has tattoos for his family, a Lily-Rose design for his first born daughter. He also has a “Betty Sue” design for his Mothers name and this tattoo has a flying sparrow over water underneath with his son Jack’s name.

He has a ribbon tattoo that says “wine forever”, rumour has it that this used to read Winona Forever, but Depp had the tat modified when he split with Winona Ryder.

It is said that most of Johnny Depp’s tattoos are done by a New York tattooist called Jonathan Shaw and Shaw played the role of a tattoo artist in the Clint Eastwood movie “Tightrope”.

Depp has a lot of designs to depict the movies he has starred in or the character he has played. He has a Brave Symbol design on his right arm and this is to commemorate his film “The Brave”. He also has “The Swallow” tattoo that apparently has been taken from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”. He re-designed the tattoo on his right forearm and he turned it round to depict the bird flying towards him and underneath this he wrote his sons name “Jack”. This design has particular significance as it is said that, a sailor is entitled to his tattoo after voyaging over 500 nautical miles. Apparently the swallow indicates that land is nearing and it also signals a safe return.