“There are infinite possibilities for my tattoos,” he explained to the BBC, “and working freehand means that my pieces will look beautiful on your body from any direction.” Instead, he draws on the skin using a ballpoint pen.

This particular piece took him two days of inking, with a process that avoids stencil machines. Here, the negative space is vital, as it illuminates his subject matter. In it, the Kyoto creative cloaks his client’s skin in large areas of black pigment. Gakkinįreehand tattoo artist Gakkin has been in the industry for nearly 20 years and developed a dark yet visually-intricate style during that time. Gakkin’s work is the star of the short film “ Gakkin Tattoo,” which intersperses his tattoos with dark imagery. The figures are blank slates that allow us to imagine anyone in their place. In both Dotyk’s tattoo and the activist branding, they capture the anonymity that negative space brings. Here, his design happens to be similar to the Women’s March logo-although this tattoo was produced well before the march took place. Dotykĭotyk, aka Pawel Indulski, is known for his minimalist-style tattoos that incorporate stippling to form bold shapes within negative space. Above: Matt Cooley blends contemporary with traditional in this romantic tattoo.Īside from negative space, some of Dotyk’s latest tattoos create an illusion that they’re emerging from within the body. Here are 10 artists taking the concept of negative space and highlight it in their tattoos. Likewise, the FedEx logo looks much more interesting when you realize its secret hiding in plain sight: the space between the “E” and the “X” form an arrow. When emphasized, an ordinary vase becomes two elusive portraits. The optical illusion Rubin’s vase is one of the most well-known examples of the power of negative space. But when this area is considered, it can transform how we look at something. If it’s not adding anything meaningful to an image, then it might as well be invisible. Oftentimes, negative space goes unnoticed. You’ve already seen it-you just needed a name for it. The term “ negative space” is one of the first things you learn in art class, but it’s an innate concept.

Tattoo dead space