Straight answers to the things that stop people booking a tattoo — from the first idea to a healed tattoo. Each guide points you at real, credited work in the catalogue, and health guides quote dermatologists who specialise in tattoos.
Blackwork — solid, graphic, maximalist
Blackwork shares the same solid-black palette but skews more graphic and less tied to a specific cultural tradition.
Dotwork is a technique that many ornamental pieces use; Blackwork shares the black palette but favours large solid areas; geometric work swaps decorative motifs for pure shapes.
How to choose a tattoo placement: visibility, pain, how each area ages, working with body shape, and how size and placement go together.
It's a technique, not a subject — dotwork shows up constantly in geometric patterns, mandalas, and sacred-geometry pieces, but also in realistic shading and ornamental blackwork.
Nine stages from a vague idea to a healed tattoo. Every guide ends with a link to the next step, so you can read them in order — or jump straight to where you are.
The worries people mention most — and where the honest answer is.
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Health guides quote dermatologists who specialise in tattoos word for word. New to the words? See the tattoo glossary. How guides are written and corrected: editorial policy.