Hey Girl, Did Ryan Gosling Get A Dad Tattoo?

The internet, and Kim Kardashian, blew up when Kanye West debuted his latest ink, the Roman numerals of his daughter’s birthday. While as sweet as getting a tattoo for his first child may seem, the real explosion occurred when it was rumored that Kim K. had to convince Kanye to get it on his hands rather than his face. Now it seems as if Ryan Gosling is the latest new dad to get inked. Or is he?

Gosling was spotted earlier this week via paparazzi photo from Splash News with some very noticeable letters inked on his hands. His fingers simply read “E-S-M-E,” which we assume is a nickname for his brand new baby girl, Esmerelda. Though it has not been confirmed (or denied) that Gosling’s ink was real, the shaky line work leads us to believe it is most likely just inked on in pen. However, if Gosling is simply experimenting with the idea of getting those letters tattooed on his hands, we have a few suggestions for who he should go to in order to get the best possible lettering out there.

Norm: Norm is a tattoo artist who travels between shops in Honolulu and Los Angeles. Starting off as a street artist, Norm’s lettering and design precision has gained him significant recognition in the tattoo world, so much so that he now has his own line of custom tattoo machines.

BJ Betts: Betts is a master of typography and has released four books dedicated to lettering and stylizing font. He is currently the owner of the aptly named Trademark Tattoo and recently released his own brand of black ink, Formula 23, designed specifically for making lettering last.

Big Sleeps: Big Sleeps has a signature lettering style and is renowned in the California tattoo scene. Viewed as a trailblazer in the lettering and typography field of tattooing, his ink has adorned the likes of celebrities like Travis Barker.

Big Meas: Big Meas works exclusively in lettering and typography and is best known for free-handing all of his lettering in decorative and ornamental styles. For all of his work in lettering, Meas has been able to release DVD seminar footage to help aspiring tattoo artists.

Lettering and typographical tattoos have become a revered style all their own, and like calligraphy, put stylized writing on just as high an artistic pedestal as portraiture and drawn designs for tattoos. So, we hope with this knowledge, Ryan Gosling can perhaps go out and get some truly amazing ink for his little girl.

To see some awesome parents who have ink dedicated to their kids, check out some of our favorite tattoos of children’s art right here.