Computer Arts

special report spring 2017

computerarts.creativebloq.com

a

round 2010 I was hanging out with
a group of tattoo artists discussing the
rising popularity of tattooing. We thought
it was a wave that would soon crash
leaving only the diehard behind. How
wrong we were! In the last seven years the tattoo
world has exploded. With the help of television
as well as social media tattooing has been dragged
out of the shadows and into the global spotlight.
Where once it was looked on as an outsider art
form it is now considered at the forefront of
creativity and development.
If you look back over the history of art
whenever an art form becomes popular it attracts
artists from outside of the medium – artists
who recognise that there is potential to play and
expand their own creative path. This is true for the
current trend in tattooing; one where commercial
illustrators and designers are crossing over into the
tattoo world. And conversely where tattoo artists
are lending their skills to commercial projects.

designing the outcome
Nomi Chi a tattooist and visual artist based in
Vancouver showed an interest in illustration
early on. At the tender age of 12 she was trying
to sell commercial art and at 15 Chi discovered
tattooing through a combination of a rebellious
teenager’s attraction to the subversive side of art
plus the burgeoning growth in tattooing and the
run of tattoo-related television shows and social
media. Chi attended university where she studied
illustration but over the years found that she had
distanced herself from illustration as an applied
art and moved into an area that straddled the line
between gallery art and illustration.
“Tattooing seemed like a pretty organic
development although at the time I was determined
to do concept art for video games and movies” says
Chi. “I had a lackadaisical apprenticeship which
I landed through sheer luck. At the time I had very
little knowledge of tattooing or tattoo culture and
I had only ever seen a tattoo machine once before.”
Martha Smith a tattoo artist based in
London who studied Illustration at Camberwell
College of Arts also found the move into tattooing
a natural progression of her artistic development

• the freedom of process found within tattooing
  being just one aspect she was drawn to. While at
  college Smith quickly realised that the course was
  incredibly concept-led. Preferring process-based
  work she started printmaking and it was with this
  medium that she began developing an aesthetic
  that would later translate into tattoos.

although comfortable

with tattooing Nomi

chi thinks maintaining

a healthy level of anxiety

about her work helps

her stay humble.

many of chi’s tattoos

feature animals or hybrid

animal/human forms.

this piece entitled maybe she’ll live

so long that she Will Forget about

me was done in gouache and ink.