He Wants His Work to Fade

Rock music blasted from a small radio inside makeup artist Christien Tinsley’s tiny one-car garage, and cigarette smoke swirled around the tidy workshop behind his small Burbank home. Several busts of male figures, including one of “XXX” star Vin Diesel, sat on his workbench. One wall was decorated with photos: Brad Pitt in a white suit, Matt Damon in glasses and George Clooney covered cuff-to-neck in tattoos for a cameo in the forthcoming film “Welcome to Collinwood.” A handwritten inscription to Tinsley from the actor read, “I like this new look.”

Clooney, Pitt and Damon aren’t Tinsley’s only A-list fans. There are others who are too high profile to mention here, he says. In just two years, the 28-year-old Seattle native has become Hollywood’s preferred fake tattoo artist.

He earned the reputation by perfecting the easy-to-apply, authentic-looking tattoo, saving time and money. Tinsley’s credits include Clooney’s tattoos for his appearance as a wheelchair-bound safecracker in “Collinwood,” Diesel’s tattoos in “XXX,” and one for Pitt--who gave his “Ocean’s Eleven” character a tattoo after he learned of Tinsley’s method. (Pitt endured four-hour, daily tattoo applications for his role in “Snatch,” so an easy-on application method was especially appealing to him.) In the past, actors had to sit for hours each day of filming while several makeup artists painstakingly stenciled and painted their bodies.

Tinsley’s method was born out of necessity. On “Pearl Harbor,” Tinsley and his crew were overwhelmed by painting battle wounds and tattoos on hundreds of extras every day during filming. To speed up the process, he developed a camera-ready tattoo that takes a fraction of the application time, lasts up to four days and features computer-generated designs that can be replicated.

The technique--which includes a sticky adhesive on one side that keeps the tattoo on the skin after it’s moistened with water--has been around for 50 years, said Tinsley. The secret is in the vivid, long-lasting ink and adhesive.

However simple, the method has caught on. In two years, Tinsley has supplied tattoos for more than 200 film and TV productions. Bikers, gang members and ex-con characters drive his business. “We get a lot of requests for snakes,” he said. “Dragons are another big design.” Tinsley himself has resisted the lure of ink on skin. He has no permanent tattoos of his own.

A Season for Parties

The new TV season is invariably an excuse for parties to launch series, and despite the fiscal austerity that has gripped networks and studios, Fox and Warner Bros. Television plunged in with last week’s street-clogging bash for “Fastlane,” a new buddy cop show in the mold of “Starsky and Hutch,” only set to an MTV soundtrack and editing.

Fleshing out the guest list Thursday at the Standard on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood were DJs who had come in for the finale of Fox’s “American Idol” the night before. Attendees were provided mini-headphones so they could listen to audio for the program over the blare of music. No one seemed to mind the rain that splashed the crowd, which included stars Peter Facinelli and Bill Bellamy as well as “Fastlane” producers McG (who directed “Charlie’s Angels”) and John McNamara. Of course, that may be because the Bellinis and cosmopolitans seemed to empty faster than the hors d’oeuvres.

Let’s Do Lunch

Whom would you rather share a meal with? Sandy Berger, Mike Milken, Andre Agassi, Larry King or Cokie Roberts?

The charity “Communities in Schools” is auctioning off lunches with celebrities on the Web site www.lunchwithaleader.com to benefit education. So far, author John Irving heads the list. Last bid, at press time, for an hour with Irving: $1,550. The latest bid on King, on the other hand, was $150.

Bidding closes Oct. 21

Quote/Unquote:

“The [managers] talk about myself or Randy Johnson being intimidating when we’re on the mound. But I’ve never thought of myself that way. I’m just focused. If that looks menacing or intimidating, that’s something else. A guy told me a long time ago, it’s like you put $100 in your pocket and the hitter’s trying to take it away from you. That’s how I approach it.”--Roger Clemens in October’s Maxim Magazine.

Staff writer Brian Lowry contributed to this report. City of Angles runs Tuesday and Friday. E-mail angles@latimes.com