FURFUR continues to deal with the current state of affairs in the world of tattoos. Not so long ago, we talked about Soviet prison tattoos, which have become a special fetish in the West. Today, as an alternative to the old school that has set the teeth on edge, we will talk in detail about another technique in which the emphasis is on dots - dotwork.
|
With the most careful execution of finishing work, each point is set separately - therefore, such work takes a long time, is expensive and requires a lot of patience from the master. There are quite a few application methods - a dotwork tattoo is done both with a classic induction machine and with hands (the so-called hand-poking). Dotwork requires not only patience, but also skill from the tattoo artist - poorly set dots turn blue and blur. But a good finish not only looks great, but is also better preserved - due to the free skin between the points and the stability of the point itself: the points usually go deeper under the skin. There are not so many people in the world who can do high-quality dotwork. And the real masters can be completely counted on the fingers. |
Dotwork can be called both style and technique: in its purest form, dotwork is an ornament using dots. Dotwork itself as a technique can be used in any direction - even in the same old school |
Wizard comment
|
Ivan Hack First of all, you need to be a mathematician and be able to calculate a drawing, build ornaments in vector graphics. Dotwork is just a tool |
Dotwork is a tool, and then a multifaceted world of ornaments and mathematics opens up to you. To do this professionally, you need to either have a mathematical mindset or be an illustrator designer. Every day I have to build elements in vector graphics, think over the composition, calculate the perfect symmetry. Here is one person in Kyiv who draws everything by hand, draws everything with a compass and builds according to the ruler. Unfortunately, I don't have time for this. In this regard, my mathematical education was very useful to me. I don't dot one at a time, but fill in large areas in several passes, and that's it. It wasn't easy, I I tried to develop my own techniques so that the dots do not intersect and line up in unnatural rows, but easily and organically lie on the skin. In the future, the process went already easier, on the machine. |
Unfortunately, due to the increased popularity of dotwork, many inexperienced craftsmen began to take up work in this technique. I am constantly approached by people who want to fix their low-quality tattoos. It is not always technically possible. But if a person begins to get tattooed in this style, then it is difficult to stop him.
8 top dotwork artists
It is believed that dotwork as a technique was invented by the Englishman Xed le Head - so, at least, he claims. If he is a little cunning, then, without a doubt, it was he who brought the genre its popularity: today the direction is as closely associated with his name as jeans are with Levi Strauss. In the 1990s, Xed was the first to start filling the body with repeating ornaments using only geometric shapes.
Another pioneer of the genre is the Danish tattoo artist Colin Dale, who also practices other traditional techniques with might and main - for example, stitching (“sewn through” the skin). Dale is engaged in "traditional tattooing", as Colin himself calls it - he set up a studio in the center of Copenhagen, where he invites all tattoo artists working in ethnographic styles without using a typewriter - from Borneo style to Japanese techniques. The style of Dale himself could be called neo-Ordic with a predominance of Celtic motifs - runes, pictograms, and so on.
There are many touching stories associated with him. For example, one day, he went to Sweden with one of his clients to get her face tattooed, as it was forbidden by Danish law. On another occasion, he tattooed a 103-year-old woman.
If the iconic Xad le Head and Colin Dale are closely associated with the British and Scandinavian schools, then for the Belgian center for the development of dotwork, the main name is Daniel Di Mattia. Dan works for Calypso Tattoos and belongs to the old school of tattoo artists with over 20 years of experience. Dan is considered one of the best black and dotwork tattoo artists. The largest body of work remains the body of his ex-wife Marisa, a famous tattoo blogger Needled.com and author of a series of books on the art of black and white tattooing.
At this stage, the popularity of the genre is associated with the American artist and tattoo artist Thomas Hooper. A series of documentaries about the Gypsy Gentleman tattoo begins with him. Today, Thomas is so famous that posting his tattoos in your tumblers can be bad form. Thomas actively exhibits as an artist and participates in the fashion industry - he collaborates with designers Helmut Lang and is one of those tattoo artists whose work is liked even by those who usually do not approve of tattoos.
In his large-scale works, Thomas mixes natural and geometric patterns and combines them with oriental motifs and birds. You should contact them in one of the most interesting tattoo parlors in New York - Saved Tattoo.
As a rule, all the main tattoo artists are on good terms with each other - Jondix from Spain, for example, is friends with Cooper and Xed le Head. By the way, they did more than one tattoo together - those clients were lucky.
Jondix is praised for its accuracy and detail. He started tattooing with small drawings and even in his large works he continues to show small details. A diploma in architecture gave Jondix a love for geometric forms, and a Spanish origin - a bias in mysticism. He can be called the main protagonist of the European esoteric tattoo with a pronounced interest in the East - Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and mantras appear in his works every now and then.
Thomas Thomas works in the legendary studio Into You Tattoo of the great Alex Binnie - the teacher of Xed le Head. Thomas often visited this salon, he studied there himself. Thomas is dissatisfied with almost all modern masters and has developed his own version of the neotribal style. His work consists of a huge number of lines and dots and looks very detailed, but has almost no details as such. Thomas' signature style has become a closed pattern that looks like one piece - like an optical illusion suit that starts on the back and goes to the arms and legs.
Mark Reidman studied with Gerhart Wiesbeck, one of the main masters of the old school. In his works he combines tribal and ethnic motifs, optical illusions and the Orient. His tattoos are almost always done in black and red. He also became famous for his special love for swastikas: he called his first tattoo parlor “Swastika”, which caused a big stir in Germany. Not so long ago, Mark closed his salon, protesting against the mass production of tattoos, in addition, he stopped attending tattoo conventions and traveling - in general, the word "eccentric" suits him like no other. He now sees one client a day and believes that tattoos should become a more personal and memorable experience. For the same reason, he does not make blanks, but draws directly on the body.
Michael I. Bennett, a tattoo artist from California, has recently joined the dotwork world. By itself, do-it-yourself work in America is not so widespread - except for exceptions, such as Cooper, this practice has remained more and more European.
Michael belongs to a new wave of tattoo artists - those who discovered this style around 2008. Michael gets tattoos at the famous California studio 2Spirit Tattoo. While Bennett likes Jondix, Cooper, and Xed le Head, Coleman's heavy lines and soft shadows are his biggest influences, leading Bennett to call his tattoo style "traditional."
Dotwork tattoo (English dotwork - “dot work”) is a style of tattoo in which the drawing is performed using a special technique and consists of dots. Due to the different density of points, a gradient is created and the transmission of light and shadow. Tattoos can be completely dotwork, or they can be integrated with other styles. For example, in combination with blackwork (large areas of black dense color).
Blackwork technology is considered complex. Only with great experience and a high level of professionalism can create high-quality dotwork tattoos.
Distinctive features of Dotwork Tattoo:
- predominantly black color
- symmetry
- geometricity
- large size
At the same time, it should be noted that the style and technique of the master can be used as an expressive means, going beyond the usual signs of style.
Popular Plots Tattoo Dotwork
Tattoo Dotwork Ornaments
The ornament requires high skill and a good sense of symmetry. The master needs to create a harmonious sketch, and then transfer it to the skin, taking into account the anatomy and features of the skin. Dotwork ornaments can be located on almost any part of the body and are universal for both men and women.
Animal Dotwork Tattoo
If you combine a favorite plot for a tattoo and a progressive tattoo style, we get bright contrast tattoos in the dotwork style. The drawing should be large so that all the details and nuances are clearly read on it.
Tattoo Dotwork Abstraction
Dotwork style fits very organically into abstract tattoos. If the ornaments are a structure with a symmetrical composition, then they can be chaotic, asymmetrical, but at the same time look stylish and non-standard.
Men's Tattoo Dotwork
Men most often choose. It can be a sleeve that combines other styles, or it can be a mandala on the back or. With the help of the dotwork technique, the depth and volume of the picture is very well conveyed.
Women's Tattoo Dotwork
Girls prefer ornaments and mandalas on the shoulder and. Dotwork looks very unusual in a tattoo with natural motifs, for example, in a tattoo with animals or nature. Even in a small sketch, using dots, you can create beautiful transitions and an airy effect.
Dotwork is a special style and technique of tattooing, which got its name from the English word dotwork, which literally means “dot work”. Thus, it is not difficult to guess that a do-it-yourself tattoo consists of many dots applied at a certain interval, from which an incredible and original underwear pattern is formed.
Dotwork has its roots in ancient times - African cave drawings dated 6-7 millennium BC are proof of this. They depict people whose skin is decorated with an ornament of dots. It is also believed that the dotwork style was inspired by the neo-impressionist direction of painting of the late 19th century - pointillism, based on drawing a picture on canvas with dotted strokes.
The popularization of dotwork in our time has contributed to the English tattoo master Xed le Head. In the 90s of the XX century, he was the first to start tattooing black and white dots in the form of geometric shapes, and soon his masterpieces gained worldwide fame. Looking at the photo of his works, one cannot but admire the amazing dance of dots, from which not just a drawing is formed, but the whole picture.
Dotwork is very different from other styles of tattoos and has certain identifying features, the main of which are the abstractness of the pattern and high contrast, which allows you to see the tattoo even from a long distance. Tattoos in this style can be performed in various colors, but the main ones are still considered to be red and black. Using only these two colors contrasting with each other, professional masters are able to achieve volume and saturation of the wearable pattern, resulting in a stunning result.
The dotwork style has no boundaries, with it you can even make such a large-scale tattoo as a portrait, which will look much more impressive than in any other style. The undoubted advantage of dotwork tattoos is their abstractness, thanks to which they have a more lively look and do not get bored over time.
However, only talented professionals can do a do-it-yourself drawing. Work in this technique is complex and requires certain skills and abilities. In Russia, it is just beginning to be mastered, although there are several masters who are improving in this direction. In order to fill such tattoos, it is not enough just to have a typewriter, either a mathematical mindset or design inclinations will be required.
Tattoo artists working in the dotwork style have to build elements in vector graphics, calculating the perfect symmetry and carefully considering the composition. The result of their painstaking work are large-scale tattoos. Pictures of small size are almost never created from dots, since this does not make sense: dots look ideal only when there is enough space for them, because when drawing a picture, the distance between the dots is taken into account, which, depending on the details of the picture, increases either decreases.
To perform a dotwork tattoo, any sketches are used, but the main motifs of such tattoos are ornaments based on geometric shapes, patterns and colors, as well as religious symbols. Dotwork goes well with many styles, acting as a great backdrop for old school or trash polka.
The dotwork style is the best fit for those who want to stand out with a truly original body painting. With such a tattoo, the attention of others will be ensured, because each drawing, in fact, is a unique masterpiece.
Dotwork is that unique case where a dot does not mean stop. On the contrary, it all starts with her! The most fantastic projects grow from a point and are embodied in something incredible. Lines and even completely filled areas help to enhance the effect and create a "frame" of the composition, and blotches of contrasting colors help to add depth. Black is always taken as the basis, and red and blue contrast with it, and in exceptional cases - purple, turquoise, yellow and other colors. The most popular forms for dotwork are a circle, a rhombus, a triangle and all kinds of abstractions consisting of these figures. Although the geometry does not limit the range of style possibilities. It is closely associated with engraving and graphics, ornamentation, new school and blackwork. No other way allows you to designate shades and midtones so beautifully, which is why “dot work” is always unique! Despite the fact that the process is laborious, the technique is ideal for volumetric drawings. Sometimes the patterns are folded into sleeves, sometimes they fill the shoulder or the entire back at once. The spectacle is unique and incredible! Finding a worthy example in modern tattoo catalogs is not difficult.
Dotwork tattoos for men
The point style is subject to strict logic, and does not accept randomness. That is why it is good for voluminous projects: sleeves, tattoos on the calf, shoulder, back. The dots create a shape, allowing you to make perfect transitions from dark to light without rough and sharp borders. Almost everything can be depicted in this technique: from a pattern in great detail to a portrait. In men's dotwork sketches, there are images of animals, marine life. Wolves, owls, foxes and lions are embodied in luxurious drawings and adorn their owners. Check it out by visiting the Tattoo Academy gallery.
