Tri-Cities artist’s Seattle Kraken tattoo is monster hit with NHL and fans
Hockey fans on social media are calling on the National Hockey League to revamp the logo for the new Seattle Kraken team after seeing a Tri-Cities artist’s handiwork.
The owner of Monarch Tattoo in Kennewick created the design for longtime client Ryan Fouts of the Tri-Cities within hours of the announcement of the team name.
“He called me and said, ‘I need to get tattooed tonight,’ ” Kody Flannery said. “I told him, ‘I’m sorry, I have a full day. You know we will have to do this the normal way.’ “
Fouts persisted and emailed Flannery a copy of what he wanted. It was the Seattle Kraken logo.
A Kraken is a legendary cephalopod-like sea monster of gigantic size in Scandinavian folklore. The creature dwells off the coasts of Norway and Greenland and terrorizes sailors, according to the sagas.
The Seattle Kraken’s primary logo includes a stylized S in honor of the Seattle Metropolitans, the first American hockey club to raise the Stanley Cup in 1917.
The multi-blue logo features an embedded red “eye” of the beast, and a tentacle in the logo’s curves are a nod to the dark waters of Puget Sound. The secondary logo is an anchor.
Fouts told Flannery to pick which logo he liked best, but it needed it done ASAP. Flanney knew what he had to do — he canceled his wife’s appointment.
Flannery told the Herald with a chuckle that his wife reluctantly agreed to be put on the back burner and give up her appointment for the greater good.
“I looked at the logos – and they reminded me a lot of a classic tattoo design of an anchor and rope,” he said. “I wanted to make something like that – classic with a modern logo and everybody loved it.”
It took a couple of hours to ink the 4-by-6-inch tattoo, which also features the Space Needle, on Fouts’ arm.
Flannery said it was nothing like Fouts was expecting, but he loved it.
Fouts couldn’t be reached by the Herald for comment, but he is gaining stardom with the picture he posted of his new tattoo next to a Seattle Times headline about the team.
On Reddit, he posted, “My love for the game of Hockey and the City of Seattle came together today.”
And it was an instant internet hit.
“There’s already a Seattle Kraken tattoo,” screamed the headline at Inked NYC, a Manhattan-based tattoo studio and gallery.
Even the Seattle Kraken club took note and wrote on Twitter, “Seattle fans are the best in the world.”
Other fans wrote, “This combined logo is absolutely sick. It’s not too late to make a change.”
Another wrote: “This logo is better than the actual logo.”
Even the NHL asked Seattle fans in a tweet: “Who did this?!?! Literally, who did this .... I want a name!”
This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 12:53 PM.