We continue our series of articles where we want to introduce you to the different tattoo styles that exist today. And as we always say, yes, there are dotwork tattoo artists who have their own style, but all styles and tattoos come from techniques and styles superiors. We want to talk about these styles. Today we will talk about one of these modern tattoo styles, the dotwork tattoo style, that have only been around for a few years.
As the title of this article quotes, we want you to know the Dotwork tattoo style, also known as “Dotted or Pointillism”. Its history and origin is directly related to the technique of pointillism in painting. Pointillism is a pictorial style that emerged more than 130 years ago, around 1880, by the French painter Georges Pierre Seurat. Of course, we have to extrapolate this pictorial style to the world of tattoos In this case, there has been a gap in recent years, especially since minimalist tattoos have become fashionable.
Dotwork is a technique that requires the artist to tattoo multiple dots to create an image or visual effects. The technique is often used to create entire images, even portraits, or for the shading. Dotwork tattoo designs are very varied and the use of this technique is found in different types of tattoos. Especially are very common in geometric figures, although it can also appear in tattoos in the style of the old school. And although for many it is not defined as a style as such, but rather as a technique, because of its popularity and evolution within the world of tattooing, we can say that it is accepted as yet another tattoo style.
A true Dotwork tattoo serves as a kind of template or stencil, more typical of graffiti. The dots would begin to perform the function that the aerosol in the stencils performs. The vast majority are made in black, although we can find some designs that combine colors or have details in different shades. Shaded and diluted shades of black are also commonly used.
A clear example of other tattoos related to dotwork are minimalist tattoos. Many of them have dotted areas and well, you could also say that a minimalist tattoo is “too easy” and that therefore could not be defined as a good tattoo. However, tattoo artists do not agree with this way of thinking. Any tattoo, if it reflects the client’s idea, will be correct.