Born in Russia in 1989, Ilya Kuznetsov worked at an Italian fabric store after earning a degree in costume design from Smolensk State University. A tattoo artist friend urged him to use his drawing skills in the tattoo industry as he barely made ends meet. Self-taught in this new discipline, Kuznetsov began taking tattooing more […]
Tag: dotwork
Kirk Nilsen, a Tattooist Inspired by the Ancient World
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 […]
Stippling Tattoos by Choi Yun
Choi Yun, 27, is not a fan of the term “dotwork.” Instead, she employs precise stippling to achieve intense gradient shading and reduce tattoo machine impression marks. She has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Chugye University, and her parents have always encouraged her to pursue her dream of becoming a tattooist right out […]
Ilya Cascad: Interview with Precision Tattooist of Ornamental Illusions
A native of Russia and resident artist at the acclaimed Love Machine studio in New York City, Ilya Cascad works hours on end to finalize geometric, motion illusion patterns on the bodies of his clients. “Symmetry” and “precision” are words that best describe Cascad’s tattoos, done in black ink; however, recently implementing color to arm […]
The Illustrative Blackwork of Bruno Santos
Brazilian tattoo artist Bruno Santos is not your regular late bloomer. He was already signed as a professional football player in Brazil when he surrendered to the call of tattooing. Not many people can put teenage football star and kickass tattoo artist in the same resumé. As impressive as that sounds, it wasn’t as easy […]
The Amazing Bodysuit: Tattooing by Black Symmetry
Tattoo artist Black Symmetry (aka Lewisink) is known for being in his Paris studio all year round and rarely does event appearances, so we were lucky he was coming to the London Tattoo Convention to finish a bodysuit on his client e.r_i_c from Switzerland. Prior to the event, Black Symmetry worked 200 hours (divided in […]
Beautifully Bold: The Tattoo Art of Effedots
Clients traveling from Canada, Malta, Israel and beyond come to Italy to get tattooed by Effedots—spending two to five days getting their skin decorated and patterned. In 2016 the artist’s work was known for its red-and-black pigment combinations but now strictly in primitive black; bold and beautiful with a mix of solid (blackout) designs and […]
10 Artists Using Dotwork to Create Meticulous Tattoos
The dotwork style of tattooing has a rich history that goes well beyond contemporary culture and is deeply embedded in ancient societies. There’s evidence that the Egyptians used simple stippling to adorn blue faience figurines known as “Brides of the Dead.” The tattooed objects featured geometric patterns that ran in horizontal bands across the figure’s […]
An Interview with Sophie Brown, a Rising Star on the UK Tattoo Scene
At twenty-two Sophie Brown, from Warrington, Cheshire, a town in England situated between famous cities Liverpool and Manchester, is a promising artist on the UK tattoo art scene. In a short space of time, she has won several prizes and had work featured in Total Tattoo magazine. Sophie is also my cousin. Despite our shared […]
5 Inspiring Stippling Artists
Invented by Giulio Campagnola in about 1510, the ancient technique of Stippling has been popularly used in the fields of engraving and sculpture. It is often confused with the similar process known as Pointillism. The major distinction between the two is that Stippling uses a single colour whereas the latter can be created with multiple colours like George […]
