13 incredible examples of watercolour tattoo art

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If there's something that never goes out of fashion in the world of design, it's tattoo art. Designers simply love getting inked up with awesome tattoos, and tattoo artists are forever pushing the boundaries of what can be done; check out these mind-blowing 3D tattoos, for example.

Right now, though, we're obsessed with watercolor tattoo art, in which artists recreate the unique look of watercolor paintings in tattoo form. It might look easy but it takes an enormous amount of skill to convincingly ink a replica of the distinctive colour washes and paint splatters that you'll find in a watercolor painting; here are 16 amazing examples by some of the world's leading practitioners.

01. June Jung

Watercolour washes and geometric outlines

June Jung was one of the early adopters of the watercolour tattoo art trend, and has gone on to gain a worldwide reputation for her work. She starts out with realistic-looking designs and adds watercolour effects around them. June appeared in an episode of The Art of Ink, talking about her inspirations and approach. Watch it below.

02. Joanne Baker

Baker also shares her initial sketches on her Instagram

Joanne Baker is a tattoo artist at Semper in Edinburgh, UK. She specialises in animal-based watercolour tattoo designs, and her Instagram account includes majestic crows, delicate seahorses and an angry-looking seagull (someone has to love them, we guess). She also shares her initial sketches, which are works of art in themselves. This rainbow-hued jellyfish design took two days to complete. 

03. G.NO

G.NO's beautiful floral watercolour work

This sprawling floral work is a good example of G.NO's signature style. She also specialises in delicate, miniature tattoos and work that looks botanically accurate. G.NO is at Tattoo People in Toronto. 

04. Russell Van Schaick

Russell tackles unconventional subjects

Describing himself as an "abstract watercolor tattoo artist", Florida-based Van Schaick's tattooing journey began in Minnesota before he took the leap down to the sun-filled land of Florida. He is currently based out of Hart & Huntington in Orlando and says he's still learning. But, with stunningly vibrant works of body art with lines that flow and colours that bleed into one another so effortlessly, it's clear he's nailing it so far. 

05. Candelaria Carballo

Candelaria Carballo's work shows her eye for fashion and style

Carballo has her fingers in many pies; from make-up artistry and tattooing to painting and illustrating. There really is nothing creative she can't master. The Argentinian artist, has a penchant for whimsical, pastel coloured watercolour skin art, and we adore the "rough around the edges" sketchy line-work, very reminiscent of mid-century fashion illustrations.

06. Rodrigo Tas

Tas is a trained graphic designer

Tattooist and graphic artist Tas draws on any surface he's presented with. He's tried his hand at everything, including teaching and is a qualified graphic designer – but since he discovered the pull of the tattoo machine he's never looked back.

Tas' designs blend his eye for graphic qualities and design with his experience with illustration, motion design and art history. The São Paulo-based artist takes up surprise guest slots all over the country.

07. Alejandra Idarraga

Alejandra also creates murals and sculptures

Alejandra Idarraga is a Colombian tattoo artist based in Miami, working at Tattoo&Co. As well as being a tattoo artist, she also creates murals and sculptures. Idarraga's tattoo work ranges from intricate, geometric designs to vibrant watercolour tattoo art, complete with paint splashes and drips.

08. Lianne Moule

UK-based artist Lianne creates picture-perfect watercolours on skin

Lianne is a versatile artist who works across a variety of media, but her speciality is watercolour tattoos imbued with breathtakingly realistic sunlight effects.

Driven by a love of nature and bright colours, she creates her work by first making a watercolour study to use as a reference that she then painstakingly recreates in tattoo form, making sure to include hard-to-imitate spills, splashes and drips by way of a signature. You can find her at Immortal Ink in Chelmsford, UK.

09. Victor Octaviano

Victor creates his stunning works straight onto clients' skin

Hailing from Brazil, tattoo artist and self-taught illustrator Victor Octaviano has been exploring the possibilities of creating a watercolour look in tattoo form for a while now. He loves the challenge of conveying the look and texture of watercolour paintings in his tattoo work, mixing up sharp, energetic brush strokes with gloriously liquid washes, splatters and stains.

10. Ivana Tattoo Art

You'd be forgiven for thinking someone took a paintbrush to this person's arm

Currently living and working in Los Angeles, Ivana is a multi award-winning tattoo artist who's in demand at tattoo conventions worldwide. She describes her work as innovative, sophisticated, and eclectic; a mixture of multiple genres combining funky, bright colours and abstract elements with street style and high art. We love the expressive splashes of colour in this playful image of a Japanese doll.

11. Dêner Silva

If you've wondered about the sort of work that goes into creating a watercolor tattoo, this video from Brazilian tattoo artist Dêner Silva should cast a little light on the process. It shows him creating a distinctive Cheshire Cat tattoo, starting from a reference work that he turns into a line art transfer, and then painstakingly inking the design. Impressive job!

13. Ondrash

Ondrash's sought-after tattoos are as individual as his clients

It's not easy to get an appointment with Ondrash. A versatile artist and tattoo artist with a background in fashion design and conceptual art, he likes to give every client his full attention and so only takes one booking a day at his studio in Znojmo in the Czech Republic, taking time to understand what his client is after, create a reference painting. Only then does he go to work with the needle to create a tattoo as individual as every customer.

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