From his feet to his chin, but not quite his head, Edmonton's Raymond Knowles might be the world's biggest "Avatar" fan.
The carpenter, originally from Pictou, N.S., has spent as much as $24,000 transforming his body into a tribute to the 2009 fantasy film and its female lead, the Na'vi warrior-princess Neytiri.
Photos on his Facebook and personal website show his lower body inked in different shades of blue to look just like the inhabitants of the fictional planet, Pandora.
Check out photos of Raymond Knowles' ink, his truck and his "Avatar" collectibles:
The work has been completed with incredible attention to detail — his legs even have the white dots that illuminated the aliens' bodies in the film.
His upper body is no less detailed. There are two tattoos of Neytiri on his chest, one of them laying a hand on a flying mountain banshee. The sides of his torso also have blue stripes, but they haven't been filled in like his legs.
Knowles hopes to have his ribs done in a manner similar to his legs and ultimately plans to ink himself right up to just beneath his chin.
But his face is where he draws the line.
"I deal with the public every day and people might judge," he tells The Huffington Post Alberta.
Knowles, who has built a public persona as "Mr. Avatar" (he has a YMCA card with the name on it, and a Tim Hortons coffee lid posted on his Facebook recently had "M. Avatar" written on it), doesn't have many words to explain his love for the film or the character who was brought to life by actress Zoe Saldana.
He saw the movie 20 times in IMAX and another four times on a smaller screen and was touched by its parallels between the world of Pandora and our own — particularly its similarities to the oilsands.
But Neytiri is at the centre of his love for the film. He even calls it an obsession on his website.
"It's just something that came over me, or something that clicked in my mind, I don't know, I really can't describe it," Knowles says.
Knowles admits that the tattooing has garnered some strange looks, but says people have grown used to it over time. Even his 18-year-old daughter has had misgivings.
"She got kind of weirded out because I'm always flashing people," he says.
But everybody loves his truck, he says. Knowles has spent almost $4,000 decorating it with images of Neytiri and Jake Sully, the U.S. Marine who falls in love with her in the film.
"It's the most photographed truck in Alberta," he says. "Everywhere I go there's always somebody taking a picture of it, or with it, so I'm proud to drive that around anywhere."
The truck made the rounds of social media this week, when a user posted a shot of it on Imgur. It also drew several comments on Reddit.
![]( "Hosted by imgur.com")
He also has a collection of memorabilia that includes "Avatar" mugs, posters, bedsheets and more.
Knowles isn't 100 per cent certain how far he plans to go with the inking.
"My hair is falling out, I might as well just shave it off and do my hairline," he says.
But one of the biggest reasons why he's doing what he does is he wants to keep the hype up for three sequels that are set for back-to-back releases from 2016 to 2018.
"A lot of people right now i'm finding really don't care anymore," Knowles says.
"I'm just keeping it fresh in their minds."
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The carpenter, originally from Pictou, N.S., has spent as much as $24,000 transforming his body into a tribute to the 2009 fantasy film and its female lead, the Na'vi warrior-princess Neytiri.
Photos on his Facebook and personal website show his lower body inked in different shades of blue to look just like the inhabitants of the fictional planet, Pandora.
Check out photos of Raymond Knowles' ink, his truck and his "Avatar" collectibles:
The work has been completed with incredible attention to detail — his legs even have the white dots that illuminated the aliens' bodies in the film.
His upper body is no less detailed. There are two tattoos of Neytiri on his chest, one of them laying a hand on a flying mountain banshee. The sides of his torso also have blue stripes, but they haven't been filled in like his legs.
Knowles hopes to have his ribs done in a manner similar to his legs and ultimately plans to ink himself right up to just beneath his chin.
But his face is where he draws the line.
"I deal with the public every day and people might judge," he tells The Huffington Post Alberta.
Knowles, who has built a public persona as "Mr. Avatar" (he has a YMCA card with the name on it, and a Tim Hortons coffee lid posted on his Facebook recently had "M. Avatar" written on it), doesn't have many words to explain his love for the film or the character who was brought to life by actress Zoe Saldana.
He saw the movie 20 times in IMAX and another four times on a smaller screen and was touched by its parallels between the world of Pandora and our own — particularly its similarities to the oilsands.
But Neytiri is at the centre of his love for the film. He even calls it an obsession on his website.
"It's just something that came over me, or something that clicked in my mind, I don't know, I really can't describe it," Knowles says.
Knowles admits that the tattooing has garnered some strange looks, but says people have grown used to it over time. Even his 18-year-old daughter has had misgivings.
"She got kind of weirded out because I'm always flashing people," he says.
But everybody loves his truck, he says. Knowles has spent almost $4,000 decorating it with images of Neytiri and Jake Sully, the U.S. Marine who falls in love with her in the film.
"It's the most photographed truck in Alberta," he says. "Everywhere I go there's always somebody taking a picture of it, or with it, so I'm proud to drive that around anywhere."
The truck made the rounds of social media this week, when a user posted a shot of it on Imgur. It also drew several comments on Reddit.
He also has a collection of memorabilia that includes "Avatar" mugs, posters, bedsheets and more.
Knowles isn't 100 per cent certain how far he plans to go with the inking.
"My hair is falling out, I might as well just shave it off and do my hairline," he says.
But one of the biggest reasons why he's doing what he does is he wants to keep the hype up for three sequels that are set for back-to-back releases from 2016 to 2018.
"A lot of people right now i'm finding really don't care anymore," Knowles says.
"I'm just keeping it fresh in their minds."
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