Paul McNaughton - Tatu Scotty. (Patreon)

I have a full body suit of tattooing and I am delighted with the results. As a boy of 14 years of age, I set out to do this and have never regretted it, nor has it ever affected my business career.  Today, I have my entire head, neck and hands tattooed and recently completed a facial Moko. - Tatu Scotty, 7/24/96

This guy was really interesting; he was obsessed with having his tattoos show and like tease people. He'd put this makeup on his hands and he kept going further and further out wanting to have his tattoos show and have somebody pick - you know this was his fetish. And then I found this stuff that was black light pigment and I think eventually he vanished; I don't know when he died but all of a sudden at some point nobody saw him anymore. - Don Ed Hardy, Tattoo Age Episode 10.

I will admit that I cover this Moko with a cosmetic called Lydia O'Leary's COVERMARK, which can be obtained in the better department stores in the US and UK.  Covermark will stay on my face all day, and when I wear it, people never mention or ask questions about my Moko.  I think we should have a Moko Tattoo Club for those interested in facial tattooing. - Tatu Scotty 7/24/96

I first met Scotty - nicknamed as such for his Scottish heritage - at a tattoo convention when I was in my late teens; he was fully tattooed from shaved head down, and had a pleasant, affable personality. He told me that it was his first day at the convention "as my true self" - explaining that he'd been wearing heavy makeup the first two days of the show to avoid being a spectacle to the media (who at the time, treated tattoo conventions as a ratings curiosity rather than something worthy of actual coverage), only showing up as himself on the final day, usually a Sunday, where he'd be around his chosen community. 

We reconnected (after a very memorable first meeting) on rec.arts.bodyart a few years after that, but lost touch as often happens. 

In 2021, the Gauntlet's Jim Ward got in touch and asked if I had any information on Paul's whereabouts; he was writing an article on him and wanted to see if he was still around. With the assistance of a few sources (Ed Hardy, the National Tattoo Association, and a genealogy nerd of my acquaintance) we did our best to find out if Paul was still alive, or, failing that, a year of death. 

Not everything lined up; the date of birth Paul provided for his National Tattoo Association paperwork listed a difference year than the Paul we found, but using context and what we know about his personal details, it would seem that Paul passed away in 2012, survived by his husband Jack. Attempts to reach Jack haven't been successful. 

He was a fantastic and unique client and friend from when I first met and worked on him in San Diego in 1969. I very much regret his vanishing from the scene. 

- email from Ed Hardy

Paul appeared in an issue of Ed Hardy's Tattoo Time magazine, famously covering up the Coleman tattooing on his chest - something that's been likened to "painting over a Van Gogh" - with a large dragon design. For Paul it was never about the designs themselves, nor the tattooers who did them, but about being tattooed. 

I am another with a few DIsney characters tattooed on my.  I got a Mickey Mouse on my stomach and the day after I did this I was given a private tour of Disney studios in LA by a high offical I knew there..  I told him about it and nothing was ever said.  However,  Mickey was covered over a few years later when I needed the space to complete a more ambitious design. He was a good guy to have around then. - TatuScotty 6/30/96

I can't say if Jim ever published his piece on Paul; checking out his site it doesn't seem to be there, but when/if he does, we'll add the link here. 

Screenshots from Ed Hardy: The Godfather of Modern Tattooing, Tattoo Age Episode 10, ©Vice Media.  Full episode available here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-Cl-t6iyAM