Tattoo Artist: Tom Berg

While celebrities get all the credit for art performed in front of the camera, many of the hardest working artists in the industry prefer to hide behind the scenes, deep within the shadows of a makeup trailer away from the chaos of Hollywood.

Artist Tom Berg is one of those, as he has combined the buzz of his tattoo machine to the scratch of his pencil and the wisp of his paintbrush. Today, he not only etches his artwork into the skin of San Pedro customers but he has unexpectedly fallen into the film industry by drawing tattoos for movies and television.

“I see a lot of people struggle in the industry and I don’t envy it,” Berg says. “I’m pretty un-Hollywood so it’s good for me because I can get in, just do my thing and get out.”

His first piece was a set of devilish horns for the movie, Red Dragon in 2002, a prequel to Silence on the Lambs and since, his highly acclaimed work and positive attitude has brought much more work his way.

Through working on Red Dragon, Berg met producer/director, Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, After The Sunset). Berg said they got along really well and when Ratner got the call to work on the hit Fox show “Prison Break”, he asked Berg to come along for the ride.

“He’s the type of guy that when he sees something, he knows it will work,” Berg says. “I didn’t realize that he was so particular and I respect that.”

Berg was called relatively early in the process, entering “Prison Break” during the casting stages. For this tattoo, make-up artist Mike Mekash sent Berg the dimensions and measurements of the main actor, Wentworth Miller and told Berg to draw a tattoo covering the full torso, back and both arms. That was - the largest tattoo they had ever done for television.

“The great thing about working with Tom is he’s a tattoo artist so he knows how to wrap stencils around someone’s body, Mekash says. “We knew it was a lot of work but after getting Tom we realized it would be a breeze.”

Mapping out the tattoo was the first challenge for the crew. The second continues to be the four and a half hour application of the tattoo for every episode. Mike Mekash gets up at 5 am to apply the 13 huge pieces of water transfer tattoo on Millers glue coated skin. He admits that the tattoo for “Prison Break” is the toughest and longest running job he’s ever had to do.

“He puts that thing on brilliantly and it’s not easy,” Berg says. “I put on real stencils for tattooing and when you get into the curvature of the body it’s so difficult to put those on.”

Mekash says Miller is fine with wearing the prosthetic tattoo and sometimes wears it home to avoid another early morning on the set. A few touch ups and they are done.

“If the actor doesn’t feel comfortable wearing it home that’s okay,” Mekash says. “You wouldn’t expect a guy to go home in a full Planet of the Apes monkey suit, so you can’t expect it with a tattoo.”

In “Prison Break”, the blue print of the prison is hidden within the tattoo on the torso of the main character, Michael Scofield. Because his brother was framed for murdering the vice presidents brother, Scofield committed a crime to get into jail and masterminds a scheme to break his brother out.

Although Berg admits he doesn’t watch the show, “Prison Break” is currently his only on-going project and he is proud to continue working on season two.

“It’s cool because I’d have to say that because it [his tattoo] has such a definite part in the story, it makes me proud to see it up there.”

Ratner continues to include Berg in his projects with “X-Men 3: The Last Stand.” For this project Berg designed tattoos for many of the mutants as part of an elaborate makeup department. Tons of tattoos, prosthetics, creative makeup and hair designs will be seen in this installment of the X-Men trilogy.

His most challenging piece was for the mutant, Callisto (Dania Ramirez). His original design was a facial tattoo but once they tried it out on the petite actress, Berg said it ended up looking “like a silly Batman mask”. After flying out to Canada and spending hours with the makeup department head, Kris Evans and Ramirez, he came up with a decorative rod iron design for the side of her face.

“I wanted something strong but not too tribally because that looks guyish,” Berg says. “I wanted it unique, not like a typical street fighter look.”

Berg also designed Callisto’s arm band and the omega symbol on her chest. Also displaying Bergs challenging artwork will be Maxwell Jordan aka Quill (Ken Leung) with a huge Asian architectural piece that flows from his chin onto his throat.

The last character to flaunt Bergs designs already has many real tattoos herself. Actress Omahyra Mota plays Philippa Sontag aka Arclight and will sport Berg’s work on the side of her dainty neck

“Brett sent me some pictures and then we went to dinner and I just drew designs on some napkins,” Berg jokes. “I know it sounds cheesy.”

Berg’s talent keeps him busy. His projects also include designing tattoos for “The Reaping,” starring Hilary Swank. Berg looks forward to watching his creations come to life on the big screen. “I’m not gonna quit tattooing, ever, unless I lose an arm or something.”