We are honored to welcome Afterlife, the industry leader in independent tattoo publishing, into the Black Claw family as the new home, exclusive partner, and sole distributor for Afterlife.

Afterlife founder and artist Zac Scheinbaum, along with his team, creates beautiful books showcasing the artist, art and philosophy of tattooing with visionary curation and exploration.

When Zac Scheinbaum first started tattooing, books and magazines about tattooing held a special power. He and all the tattoo artists he knew awaited each release of a new volume with anticipation, coveted certain publications, traded them with each other, and analyzed and discussed the photos and texts endlessly. These publications were a wellspring of ideas and offered opportunities to study and break down individual works, which were otherwise very difficult to access. They provided inspiration and built communities.

The internet rendered most of Zac’s favorite tattoo publications obsolete, and like other printed materials, many of them folded and disappeared. Now images of tattoos abound across digital platforms, and passing around printed books may initially seem antiquated. But Zac noticed that social media and online resources never managed to replicate the magic and wonder of printed media. His vision to establish Afterlife Press was not simply a wish to capitalize on nostalgia for those earlier days, but to provide artists with a space to share their stories in a physical object dedicated to their hard work and commitment to their art. Each printed and bound volume would be an artifact that people could hold, cherish, and return to over time.

Each publication is a manifestation of Zac’s love for the art of tattooing, and he has sought to collaborate with the most creative artists, book designers, and photographers working today to make his vision a reality. Texts and interviews provide deep dives into tattoo culture and philosophy. Carefully curated images, often published for the first time anywhere, show the artist’s process from initial sketches to final works, and portraits of artists and their workspaces offer a glimpse into their lives.

Afterlife’s books and magazines are intended to be resources for present and future generations of tattooers and tattoo enthusiasts. Their content doesn’t shy away from the complex histories and social issues that are at the heart of tattooing, and which make it such a special artistic pursuit. The goal with each Afterlife volume is to create an object that will make the best tattoo artists working today proud to be part of the tattoo industry, and proud to share their stories.

Afterlife looks forward to setting a new standard for publications in the tattoo industry. We hold ourselves responsible to make each volume better and better. We couldn’t do it without all of you, so thank you for being a part of this journey with us!

Afterlife Team Bios

Zac Scheinbaum owns Shrine Tattoo in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is the founder and editor of Afterlife Press. Zac was born in Santa Fe, and he attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and The Santa Fe Institute of Art and Design before dropping out to focus on tattooing. The majority of Zac’s tattoo career was spent in New York City, where he worked at the shops Kings Avenue, SAVED, and elsewhere. He has years of experience traveling to guest spots around the globe, where he’s tattooed and shown artwork.

Cherish Chang (they/them) is a QPOC designer who runs a small studio out of Oakland, California, focusing on editorial and brand design. They attended the Academy of Art University and hold a BA in Graphic Design.

David Skolkin’s oversees the design and printing for Afterlife Press. His career began in New York City working in the studio of one of the top book designers in the publishing industry. While in New York he designed and art-directed book and exhibition projects for most of the major art book publishers as well as museums and art institutions in New York and around the country.