A month on from Feathers McGraw’s dramatic return as Wallace and Gromit’s silent nemesis, the villainous penguin seems to have become an unlikely hit at UK tattoo parlours. McGraw, an evil penguin comically disguised as a chicken thanks to the red rubber glove he wears on his head, is the chief antagonist in Aardman’s Oscar-nominated Vengeance Most Fowl, which aired on Christmas Day last month.
Since the movie’s release, McGraw has become a viral sensation, with images of him appearing widely online and, according to tattoo artists, on to many fans’ skin. “In this last week just gone I did six Feathers,” Faith Garvie, a tattoo artist at Black Moon Tattoo Studio in Liverpool, told the PA news agency.
“I’ve been brought to tears a couple of times because people have been so positively impacted by the tattoos.”. This month, social media platforms have been awash with people posting pictures of their freshly inked McGraw tattoos, from Worcestershire to Lancashire and Cornwall.
They show the penguin in various scenarios, including holding a wooden spoon and riding a train. Asked why she thinks the character has captured the imagination, Ms Garvie, 33, said: “I guess it’s just the magic of claymation, as he’s so emotive, but he doesn’t speak at all.”.
She said her tattoos take between one and three hours to create, mainly inked on to people’s arms and legs, and most clients are women between the ages of 18 and 30 – but some have bucked this trend. “I’m super lucky with my clients, we have the most wonderful conversations about why they’re getting the tattoos,” she said.
