Go Big or Go Home

The author of New York Times' bestsellers High Voltage Tattoo and The Tattoo Chronicles, renowned artist Kat Von D raises the expository and tattoo bar with Go Big or Go Home, her most intimate work yet. Someone who has followed her passions with full commitment and courage from a very young age, Kat has always been a risk-taker in her day to day life, her creative work, and in love. In Go Big or Go Home, she writes candidly about her greatest desires, fears, successes, and failures, and shares how she has dealt with them - for better or worse. In seven thematic essays, she addresses issues close to her heart - individuality, personal strength, creativity, presence, independence, and altruism - drawing on engaging and inspiring stories from her own life and those of her clients throughout each section. Aligned with this focus on risk taking, making bold moves, following through, and taking responsibility for her actions"in this context is Kat's decision to create only large-scale tattoos especially for this book. These meticulous works of art take hours to plan, draw, and execute, and require hours of concentration and endurance for both Kat and her clients. They represent a large commitment from Kat as an artist and from the client, whose lifelong commitment to the large piece almost always represents a significant event or a visible manifestation of their evolving inner selves. Filled with Kat's sketches, handwriting, and specially commissioned photographs of the large-scale tattoos by celebrity and fashion photographer Patrick Hoelck - both in process and finished pieces - Go Big or Go Home is filled with a range of astounding work on regular citizens, as well as the many celebrities that seek her out, including songwriter Linda Perry, actor Ewan MacGregor, rapper The Game, and comedian Bobcat Goldthwait. Above all, this special book captures the candor, compassion, and enormous talent of an amazing woman belovedby millions worldwide.