Book excerpt: Determined to be a tattoo artist at the age of ten and tattooing professionally since 1967, California native Don Ed Hardy has become one of the world's leading tattoo artists. Inspired by traditional Japanese work, he was instrumental in developing the medium's fine art potential and fueling the international tattoo boom. Chronicling an art form that encompasses Asian aesthetics, Western art history, surfing, and California funk, Tattooing the Invisible Man presents a survey of Hardy's paintings, etchings, lithographs, drawings, photographs, and elaborate tattoos -- over 500 color illustrations -- most never before published.