Michael DeMatty

Many artists have noticed an increase in text tattoos. These tattoos are simple, unadorned, super clean, and increasing in popularity. These are a few examples of tattoos i’ve done in the last month, the most difficult of which was the long poem, (done on adult film star Tony Vega,) which packed so many words in such a small space with a specific font of varying line thickness, that it had to be done meticulously with a tiny 3 needle liner, which took 2 hours just to outline it. (A second session will be done to fill in the letters completely with black.)

One of the most controversial questions in tattooing is can you do an all white tattoo? For a long time the answer was no, but white ink has come a long way in a very short time, (provided you use the right brands of ink,) and now the answer is definitely yes. I recently did this white dove tattoo on a wrist. Not only is it possible, but now you can even tattoo white ON TOP OF BLACK INK, (though it may take a couple touchups to look good.) White also works much better now on dark skin than it used to. Some of the most elegant tattoos i’ve ever seen are all white. It is the ultimate in delicacy and subtlety. If you’re looking to get an all white tattoo, and you go to an artist who says, “Sorry, that won’t work,” just go to a different artist. (The same goes for getting a tattoo without a black outline!)