Dotwork tattoos in Seattle

About dotwork tattoos

Stippling, building tone from small dots, is an old technique in drawing and printmaking, including stipple engraving. Tattooers adapted it for skin, and dotwork became closely tied to geometric, mandala and ornamental tattooing, as well as to blackwork illustration that imitates old prints.

The artist controls darkness by dot density: tightly packed dots read as nearly solid, scattered dots as a soft fade. That gives dotwork a grainy, tactile texture you can't get from smooth shading. Some clients find it gentler than packing solid color, though sessions are slow because each dot is placed individually. Hand-poked tattoos also often use a dotwork approach.

Dotwork gets an aging score of 3 out of 5. Dense dotwork holds up well, and the dots blend into a smooth gradient as they settle. Very light stippling at the edges of a gradient is the first thing to fade, and dots placed too close together can merge into patches. Bold design structure underneath the dots helps the piece last.

Defining traits

• Shading built from individual dots
• Grainy, engraved texture
• Gradients controlled by dot density
• Mostly black ink
• Pairs naturally with geometric and ornamental designs