Style
Fine line tattoos
Fine line is the style people most often ask for and most often get wrong somewhere else. The linework is only half the job. The other half is judging what a given design will look like once it has healed and settled.
What holds, and what does not
A single pass of thin line in a well chosen spot can stay crisp for a very long time. The same line packed with detail, placed on a high movement area like the side of a finger, or shrunk below a certain size, will blur as it heals. The ink migrates slightly in the skin, which is normal, and fine detail is what shows it first.
So the honest version of this conversation is about scale and placement. If your reference is a drawing on paper, it usually needs to be bigger on skin than it looks like it should be.
Botanical and illustrative work
Flowers, foliage, animals and loose illustrative pieces suit fine line because they can carry open space. The negative space is doing as much work as the line.
Healing
Fine line heals fast, and it also shows aftercare mistakes fast. Picking a scab off a thin line takes the line with it. The aftercare page covers it properly, but the short version is: leave it alone.
Examples
Fine line tattoos from this studio
Photographed at the Tongarra Rd shop. Nothing here is stock imagery or another studio's work.
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Fine line tree of life over a colour band. Thin linework needs a steady pass and a light hand. -
Lilies down the spine in fine line and greywash, with red drawn through as a loose second layer.
Who to ask for
Artists who take this on
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Skye Gallagher
Artist
Fine line, botanical and illustrative work, and black and grey animal and portrait pieces.
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Brad
Artist
Clean, precise linework across a wide range of subjects, and the artist most often named in the studio's reviews.
Other styles
Have a look at the rest
Talk to us about a fine line piece
Give us the idea, the rough size and where on your body it is going. If you are not sure whether it will work at that size, say so and we will tell you.
- Ring the shop
- (02) 4257 8288
- Open
- Mon to Fri 10:00 to 5:00pm
Sat 10:00 to 4:00pm, Sun closed