Fat Music for Fat People

Tattoo by Nick Ackman

Out of the blue the other day a young man named Joshua Wilson contacted me via email and asked if I was the artist behind the first FMFFP compilation put out by Fat Wreck Chords back in 1994.
I replied “yes” to him and we had a brief exchange.
He had reached out to let me know he had gotten the Fat Man dancing that I had drawn, as a tattoo.
Nick Ackman who did the tattoo, did a great job!
He wanted to make sure it was ok with me after reflecting that maybe he should have asked first and offered to compensate me if needed.
I declined his kind offer.
Art is Art. And it has a life of it’s own when set free.
I think I still have the handful of cds I got in trade for the artwork.
I am stoked it made it’s way to more places around the world than I have been.
That’s kinda fun to think about.

He asked me if there was a story behind the illustrated couple. And I told him, how Fat Mike had asked me to come up with a couple of happy dancing fat folks for this compilation he was putting out.
No background. Just the characters and text.
He had asked me specifically, a woman, because he wanted to avoid any possible fat shaming allegations that may have come up at that time or in the future.
I gladly helped out to dispel negative connotations.

I had no idea these little characters would reach around the globe and last as long as they have. Who knew!?
Or for them to come back around as a tattoo on someone out in the world that wanted to commemorate a record that was influential in his youth.

Those certainly were some fun times in my life.

Fat Music for Fat People