Kirk Nilsen’s early works were motivated by customer demands for Mehndi designs, while he avoided drawing inspiration from cultures other than his own. Nilsen has been influenced by historical European buildings, medieval art, folk art, and textile art since he began tattooing in 2007. His mandalas tattoos are more symbolic and intricate, emulating specific examples […]
Author: The Tattoo Journalist
El Nawal’s Black-Ink Tattoos Embody Energy
Alberto Hartleben is known as “El Nawal” in the tattoo community. A Guatemalan native who has lived most of his life in Brazil. In 2021, he co-founded a private tattoo studio in Houston, Texas, where he currently resides and works. As a tattoo artist, he employs black ink due to its beauty and longevity. In […]
Interview with Jehoo on Stylized Reinterpretations of the East
Jehoo was born in 1980 in Pohang, South Korea. After studying electricity in high school, he supported his family as a mechanical engineer for the steel industry for a decade. After ten years, he decided to become a tattooer, but due to a lack of apprenticeships in his country, he was forced to learn independently; […]
Kiwa’s Color Mandala Tattoos
Kiwa, a college dropout, abandoned his music degree to pursue a tattooing career because he was more interested in drawing and having his artwork significantly impact human bodies. For the past nine years, he has been tattooing professionally, fusing Hindu and Buddhist mandalas with color spectra seen in traditional Korean culture and architecture. They also […]
Soosoo’s Tattoos Reflect Color and Film Scene Analyses
From Kubrick’s classic “2001: A Space Odyssey” to Gondry’s bizarre “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” tattooer Soosoo analyzes particular scenes and recreates them with a fresh color palette. Her aesthetic is characterized by its meticulousness and painterly quality.Additionally, “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Life of Pi,” and “Django Unchained” are often requested movies. Soosoo […]
The 2022 Santa Rosa Tattoo Expo, from Cartwright to Hendricks
The 30th Annual Santa Rosa Tattoos & Blues (April 22–24, 2022), one of the world’s longest-running tattoo events, was filled at the Flamingo Resort in Sonoma County, California. Spectators were eager to return to a physical location conducive to socialization and recreation, and tattooers wanted to resume their work after a few years of hard […]
Pauline’s Flowing, Evocative Line Art
Before exploring tattooing, this 27-year-old artist studied environmental sculpture at Seoul National University. Pauline, a well-known Korean tattoo artist, began his career in 2015 and has since done numerous guest spots in Asia and Europe. His art is characterized by figural distortion, scribbling lines, passion, and movement. Pauline’s delicate tattoos are influenced by Austrian art […]
Tattooist Basil’s Poetic Geometric Art
While micro tattoos are not for everyone, there is a sizable global market for this work, with South Korean tattooists in high demand for their meticulous talent. Basil is another emerging tattooist who incorporates art and design elements into her geometric tattoos. A customer sends visual references (photographs of birds, flowers, or landscapes), and she […]
Interview with Abii about Porcelain Paintings to Tattoos
While Abii earned a degree in scenography from Sangmyung University in 2011 due to her love of reading plays and visualizing theatrical sets, her student hobby was porcelain painting, which influenced her career choice (resulting in six years as a professional porcelain artist). Her interest in tattoos sprang from a desire to see her works […]
Tattooing Beloved Pets: An Interview with Kimria
The South Korean film industry, like the tattoo industry, is thriving. South Korea is a fine-line micro tattooing powerhouse because the quality and skill are exceptional, as demonstrated by Kimria, a Seoul-based artist specializing in pet portraits on skin. Kimria, who works in black-and-grey and color, discusses her passion for assisting clients in reconnecting with […]