Although fineline tattooing has been around for a long time, it has become a staple style in a tattoo artist's repertoire due to the improvement of modern rotary tattoo machines. Tattoo artists can now create tattoos with astonishing precision that resemble drawings made on the skin with a technical pen, thanks to constantly improving tattooing technology.
Choose a fineline design if you want a classy and understated tattoo. These designs are often tiny, monochromatic, and utilized frequently to create a delicate appearance. Fineline tattooing emphasizes form and outlines over color, shading, and texture by using clear straight, or curved thin lines without gradations in shadow or color to portray 2D or 3D things. Nevertheless, regions of solid pigment and dots can also be employed in addition to lines. These tattoos may incorporate a staggering amount of intricacy without being overtly so.
People have additional design possibilities thanks to more accurate needling. The standardization of needle groupings and the quality of the needles' material has allowed modern artists to explore the fineline style as it requires precise equipment.
Fineline tattoos are less stressful on your body and heal faster than color tattoos, requiring longer and deeper skin penetration to completely absorb the color. This tattoo style is challenging since it's simpler to err than with wider lines or other less accurate tattoo designs. From the artist's perspective, having a highly steady and accurate hand is the greatest obstacle to working in fine lines. There isn't much leeway for a mistake. An artist also needs to understand how tattoo pigment works within a person's skin. Over time all tattoos will "bleed" a bit, meaning the color and lines will spread out and become slightly blurry. This is a natural process that happens within your body and is unavoidable. A professional tattooer will understand this and be able to talk with you about what a design may look like after it heals, in six months, in two years, and five-plus years. It is a non-negotiable fact that your tattoo will look different in all these intervals, so make sure your artist can explain that to you. An artist may desaturate some of the pigment to limit how much spread the line will have over time. This will lead to a slightly lighter line, less bleed, and leave room for touching up the piece down the line if you so desire.
As always, you should ask to see examples of your artist's work as well as healed pieces and pieces with some age to them. As fineline tattoos grow in popularity, so does the amount of artists doing them. While many can train to have a steady hand and execute them well, there is no substitute for the knowledge that comes with experience from a seasoned professional who has seen what a tattoo looks like and ages like throughout their career.
All photos in this post are examples of fine-line work by our resident artist, Jeremy Golden. Jeremy loves tattooing nature inspired designs with black and grey, blackwork and intricate fine lines. To book with Jeremy, follow the link to his page and hit "contact."
