Inez Janiak creates tattoos that look as though they’re drawn with charcoal or pen. The Poland-based artist has seemingly ripped her designs from the pages of a sketchbook and flawlessly translated them onto human skin. The bold yet unsure lines—which vary in weight line like the drawing tool—retain their energetic look and feel, like they’re […]
Tag: Black Ink Tattoos
Erotic Body Art by Sad Amish Tattooer
Note: Contains nudity. Sultry and self-indulgent, Sad Amish Tattooer’s art captures sensual candids. Sweet, funny, graphic, orgasmic, his sketches explore a world of physical pleasure. Subtle details in the tilt of a knee or the placement of hair really sell the energy of each moment. He’ll play with shifts of perspective to set the tone […]
Etching-Inspired Tattoos by Robert Pavez
Robert Pavez is a self-trained tattoo artist whose formal training lies in graphic design—which is also where his career started. From 2007 to 2014 he was a print designer, seeing tattooing as a hobby. After developing his illustrative style—whose influences include geometry, etching, and artists like MC Escher—he began tattooing full time in Chile. “I […]
Delicate and Precise Tattoo Art by Mr. K
Tattoos are a luxury. That’s the opinion of Mr. K, a resident artist at Bang Bang Tattoos, New York. Formally trained at Parsons School of Design, his career evolved from corporate graphic design to streetwear fashion, before picking up a tattoo machine last year. A lover of fine art, some of his first works were […]
Digimatism: A Future Visual Language by Stanislaw Wilczynski
Moscow-based tattoo artist Stanislaw Wilczynski produces shape-centric imagery that is born out of the Digimatism movement. Digimatism, a combination of the words “digital” and “suprematism,” describes his bold abstract assemblages that are created with the help of the computer. This contemporary approach has a historic bend to it by recalling artistic movements from the early […]
Guga Scharf’s Erratic Line Tattoos Inspired by Sketchbook Drawings
Many tattoo artists create drawings and paintings off the skin, and Guga Scharf is an example of how the two worlds intersect. Borrowing imagery from his pencil and ink sketchbook, he translates the surrealist, minimal aesthetic into his tattoos. Erratic lines and squiggles decorate his characters, which are used as both a device for shading […]
10 Artists Creating Powerful Tattoos Using Only Lines
Tattoos, like fine art, offer another way in which to express ourselves through visual imagery. The line, especially, has had a long history—prehistoric, in fact. Evidence of its existence first appeared in cave drawings in Southeast Asia, and according to researchers, some of them could be around 35,000 years old. Tattooed lines have a long […]
Dark and Dramatic Tattoos by Johnny Gloom
Grief is a recurring theme in Johnny Gloom’s artwork. Her heroines in heavy black convey the weight of human suffering, often crying or collapsing into the arms of death. Some smoke in solitude, apathetic or guarded. Others dramatically surrender to the pain of heartbreak. Johnny looks into her own darkest feelings when drafting a design. […]
Bold, Text-Heavy Tattoos by Luxiano Street Classic Will Not Be Ignored
Traveling tattoo artist Luxiano Street Classic has only been working for a few short years, but his bold style has made striking impression with people around the world. The designs are a riff on the American Traditional aesthetic, but skip the shading and go for solid shapes. They incorporate mask-like imagery of skulls, devils, and […]
10 Artists Who Create Striking Geometric Tattoos Spanning the Body
Geometric shapes are the building blocks of our world, and their brilliant simplicity makes them a popular choice for tattoos. Their historical acknowledgement reaches as far back as ancient Greece, a civilization that gave the field its name—geo- meaning “earth” and –metron meaning “measurement”—and studied spatial relationships. Geometry was revolutionized by Euclid, the man considered […]