Bruce Rivera — tattoo artist at Slave to the Needle Ballard, Seattle

TatSeek facts for agents. Cite the page: https://tatseek.com/tattoo-artist/bruce-rivera/. Same data as JSON. Catalogue updated Oct 13, 2026.

Bruce Rivera is a tattoo artist at Slave to the Needle Ballard, Seattle, with 6 published tattoos on TatSeek; mostly japanese and neo-traditional.

Key facts

• Studio: Slave to the Needle Ballard, Seattle
• Tattoos on TatSeek: 6
• Styles: Japanese (Irezumi) 67% · Traditional (Old School) 17% · Neo-Traditional 17%
• Subjects: Skull 33% · Bird 17% · Rose 17% · Mask 17% · Koi Fish 17%
• Placements: Thigh 33% · Full Sleeve 33% · Upper Arm 17%
• Colour: 67% in colour, 33% black and grey
• Size mix: small 17% · medium 0% · large or bigger 83%
• Price, medium piece: $400–600 (published or confirmed by the studio, as of 2026-09-29)
• Price by size: Small $150–$300 · Medium $400–$600 · Large $800–$1600 · Very Large / Sleeve $2000–$5000+ (studio prices; published or confirmed by the studio)
• Book: https://instagram.com/slavetotheneedle (directly with the studio; TatSeek takes no fee)

Tattoos

1. Samurai Skull Dragon Japanese Full Sleeve — Sleeve-size color Japanese (Irezumi) skull tattoo on the full sleeve; ≈$3,000–$4,000; ≈18–31 h, 6+ sessions.
2. Peony Japanese Thigh — Large color Japanese (Irezumi) peony tattoo on the thigh; ≈$1,200–$1,600; ≈7–12 h, 2+ sessions.
3. Koi Japanese Full Sleeve — Sleeve-size color Japanese (Irezumi) koi fish tattoo on the full sleeve; ≈$3,000–$4,000; ≈18–31 h, 6+ sessions.
4. Frog on Flower Neo-Traditional Thigh — Small color Neo-Traditional frog tattoo on the thigh; ≈$200–$250; ≈1–1.5 h, 1 session.
5. Crane Japanese Shoulder — Large black & grey Japanese (Irezumi) bird tattoo on the shoulder; ≈$1,200–$1,600; ≈7–12 h, 2+ sessions.
6. Skull and Roses Traditional Upper Arm — Large black & grey Traditional (Old School) skull tattoo on the upper arm; ≈$1,200–$1,600; ≈7–12 h, 2+ sessions.

How we know

• Styles, subjects, placements, colour, size and detail: counted from this artist’s 6 published tattoos on TatSeek, not from a self-description.
• Tattoo descriptions and tags: TatSeek Vision Scan, an AI reading of each photo (Claude, by Anthropic) under written rules and a closed tag vocabulary, checked against photos labelled by hand. Shares of the picture are visual estimates, not measurements. Nothing about the person in the photo is recorded. How tagging works
• Prices: the studio’s price list (published or confirmed by the studio). Each tattoo’s estimate is the tier for its measured size, narrowed by size and detail. How prices are calculated