Tim Ryans

Peter Pan sleeps inside a sunflower on the left side of Tim Ryans’ rib cage. Ryans, a musician from Williamsburg, says he got the tattoo – his only one – after his “heart was broken for the first time.” His decision was by no means rash and the concept for a design evolved slowly. Ryans knew he wanted something that incorporated a sunflower – a nickname friends at summer camp used to call him – and his favorite childhood character, Peter Pan.

After Ryans and his girlfriend spilt up, he started to hang around a tattoo parlor in his hometown of Austin, Texas. He befriended one of the artists and told her about his idea; without Ryans even, she drew it out for him. After seeing it visualized, he knew he wanted to go ahead with it. Ryans had the tattoo done the day before he left Austin for California. The move marked a new chapter in his life and the tattoo was a concluding stamp on the previous one.

Ryans had the tattoo placed on his chest because he didn’t want it to be visible. He shows it only to “people who get to know me first.”