"Micro" Tattoos Part 1: And why they are garbage.
I suppose I’d have the bring this back to 2016. In the beginning of 2016 I started seeing lots of tattoos walk through the doors that were just outlines of things, with very little shading. The shading itself was very spotted and not smooth. This wigged me out considerably because coming up in tattooing in Canon City, Colorado, the prison capital of the United States, I saw this stuff all time. These kinds of tattoos were being worn by former inmates that had been released from prison. Their tattoos were generally just line work with we as tattooers call, “pepper” shading. Peppered like pepper on a steak: scattered and spotty. I had previously received a tattoo that was very similar, and from day one, I never liked the peppered look, and when I started living in Canon City, I saw so many people with the same kind of work. As I later learned, this type of work, usually performed with a makeshift needle (usually a guitar string) and a motor of some kind (like a cd player motor). The inmates couldn’t control the speed of the motor and when trying to get tattoos done as quickly as possible before the guards found out, it made their tattoos have that peppered effect.
As I started to tattoo, trying to gauge what a quality tattoo was, I looked to the biggest names in tattooing and it occurred to me that if the biggest influences were doing smooth shades and blends, and people from prison were doing this spotty work, then it’s obvious that the spotty prison stuff wasn’t of quality. Back to 2016. People started walking in with these designs that were lines and peppered shading. Lazy and low quality is how I saw it. Maybe even cheap. I got the feeling a lot of people were wanting a tattoo, but looking for a cheap solution, and I was always taught, “Good tattoos aren’t cheap, and cheap tattoos aren’t good.” That’s a Sailor Jerry quote right there. These minimalist tattoos seemed nothing but lazy and cheap to me. I would explain the history of all this and ask people, “So, you want me to make it look like a prison tattoo?” And they would say, “If that’s what it is, yes.” And we would all laugh.
As the year went on, more and more of it appeared. Enter 2017. As 2017 started to roll out, I began seeing the previous years’ trend, but smaller. And on a very low occasion, I’d be asked to do some tattoos that were very similar, but heavy in black shading. I didn’t know how to approach this style of work at first, and then after practicing it, I learned it was basically a Traditional tattoo, but instead of putting color into the design, just do more black. I called it “Super Traditional.” I later found that there was this wave of new tattooers that were really refining the style and called it Blackwork; which many of us made fun of because it would be like calling what I do colorwork, or portraitwork, newschoolwork, etcetera. Seemed redundant, but I digress.
When you’re tired of saying the same thing every day, just make a picture and point at it instead.
By 2019, and many tattoos of the minimalist and Blackwork style under my belt, there was still one looming monster. The minimalist tattoos that kept getting smaller and smaller, and then to the point where I finally made a print showing an example of these tiny tattoos and how they would age over time. Clients would call these tattoos, “Micro” Tattoos. Forever that has ever been, tiny tattoos have been frankly, garbage. I know there’s a small batch of tattooers that have leeched off of the popularity of “Micro” tattoos and gained thousands of followers and fame. They have tattooed celebrities and been on TV, and of course made oodles of dollars tattooing, ultimately, garbage. And don’t kid yourself, you know that these celebrities aren’t going into any Joe Shmoe and paying $60 for a tattoo. I’ve seen these "artist of the celebrity” tattooers charging $400-600 for 3x3” tattoos that don’t age for shit. Let’s be real with each other; plus I don’t know any other way to be.
Now, you might ask, “Atom, why is a micro tattoo garbage?” They don’t age well. The blur together and lose all clarity and definition over time. And in order to get them to hold through time, the artist has to tattoo them light so they don’t blur, but then they just fade and look like crap, again with no clarity or definition. One version is dark, one version is light. Either results in what so many of us feel is a bad tattoo.
As time goes on, I ask myself is there a way to accomplish a better tattoo and make it small? Sure. I can put color in it; color color, or true greys, or even flesh tones to give the illusion that it’s “empty”. The colors will hold the lines apart from each other. I consider not doing them at all as to keep the client from receiving a bad tattoo that they may be upset with in the future, but who am I to make that call for them? I mean, it is my name, and my product, basically my brand. If tiny tattoos don’t meet the standard of quality I like to put out, then “micro” tattoos are definitely off the menu. They are easy to cover though… Hmmmm… I also consider letting my feelings go entirely on all fronts and just do what the client asks, make that money, and be done with it. I honestly don’t know what the correct answer is. Like everything, it’s a client to client basis. And that’s what makes this job so hard; knowing when to press the issue, and knowing when to shut up from the beginning.
What I know for sure is this, pricing. The price of a tattoo at 3-4 inches, would be the same if that same art was 1.5 inches. It’s the same amount of work, just smaller. Actually, more difficult because I’m trying to do the same image smaller, and you run the risk of overwork and increase the chance of scarring. I figure it this way, just get a real tattoo. Not these trinkets and charms. If you want a charm, buy a bracelet. If you want a tattoo, get a tattoo.
It’s easy; look at a portfolio, choose the art you like, let the artist make it badass, pay them.