Flash days are our absolute fave. We love the excitement of heading to a tattoo studio to see the flash (tattoo designs, FYI, read more about that here) on offer. Picking a small design which is a set price so there’s no drama or anxiety about what you have to pay. It’s one of the most fun ways to get tattooed. But you know what we love more than that? Flash events that offer FREEEEE tattoos. Yep. Tattoos that will cost you absolutely nothing.
We couldn’t believe it when the invite landed in our inbox. Tattoo app Tattoodo is hosting a weekend-long event in Shoreditch, London, on Saturday 22 April and Sunday 23 April. Not only is there free tattoos but there’s also drinks, merch, music and competitions.
We’re lucky enough to be attending the VIP night on Friday 21 April, with FREE tattoos from our from Horror Issue cover Star, tattooist Emily Malice (you can see her flash sheet over on her Instagram) and tattooist Teide. Look out for stories over on our Instagram!
There will be another ten – INCREDIBLE – tattooists tattooing over the two-day event – which is open to anyone…
Sophie’s flash that will be available for FREE on Saturday
“This is a compilation of my favourite tattoo imagery, inspired by American traditional and Chicano designs through the years,” says Sophie Rose Hunter, who’s tattooing at the event on Saturday.
Flash by Alex Rufio, available on Sunday
“I’m super excited to be joining the team at Tattoodo for their London launch! The platform they have created makes connecting with clients and managing their bookings massively easier. This event will show that it’s easier to access quality tattooing. I drew a range of classic tattoo ideas in a contemporary design so that clients new and old can get timeless tattoos to be proud of. I’m really looking forward to meeting new tattoo fans and tattoo veterans!” says Alex Rufio who’s tattooing on the Sunday.
Matty Magee will be tattooing from this flash sheet on Saturday
“These are classic designs to be applied with love and consideration. I’m excited about the event: meeting new people and tattooing are two of my favourite things to do, the perfect recipe for a lovely day,” says Matty Magee who’s tattooing on Saturday.
The event will be open to the public on a ‘walk-in’ basis throughout Saturday 22 April (12pm-7pm) and Sunday 23 April (12pm-6pm). The Tattoodo Flash Weekender is partnering with drinks sponsor Sailor Jerry. To grab a free ticket for Saturday or Sunday, head over to Eventbrite.
Location: 149 Shoreditch High Street London E1 6JQ
Bongjin Jeon (he/him) creates bold black work tattoos at Tenderfoot Studio at 199 Cook St #103, Brooklyn, New York 11206. We chat to the tattooer about his journey into the tattoo world, art style and proudest moments…
Tattoo artist Bongjin JeonFloral tattoo by Bongjin Jeon
How long have you been tattooing and how did you get started in the industry? I’ve been tattooing for around one and a half years. I’ve always been into tattooing since I was young.
During the pandemic, I approached my favourite tattoo artist and asked if he could be my tutor – he accepted and that was when everything started.
How has your experience of the tattoo industry been so far? Are there any moments or stories that stand out? It’s been great so far honestly. It’s been better than I expected and I’ve not regretted it.
A moment that shocked me the most was when the boss of this huge tattoo shop in our shop’s neighborhood wanted to get a tattoo from me even though I was in an early phase of tattooing. It was a big compliment for me – it convinced me that I’m doing the right thing in the right way!
What inspired you to become an artist? Do you have a background in art? Frankly, I wasn’t into ‘art’ when I was child. I was more of an athletic student. But at the same time, I was interested in something distinctly different in many areas like comics, music, doodles and of course tattoos.
Then I realised I liked fun, goofy and creative tattoos the most. After realising that, I went to art school and learnt how to draw, craftmanship and how to market myself – all of these have been the root of my career.
What’s your first memory of tattoos? My first memory, always cracks me up. I did the tattoo on an old friend after learning to tattoo from my tutor. It was lettering on the clavicle so I had to stand up leaning forward all the way during the whole session. Of course I had practiced on fake skin before that day but still, it was somewhat overwhelming and a lot. Fortunately my tutor was with us so everything was under control. It was a pretty chill and fun time; my friend and I still laugh about that day.
How would you describe your style? My tattooing style is called black work with bold outlines. It’s from solid black to zero for strong contrast. This strong contrast makes tattoos alive and also surreal at the same time. It feels like these tattoos are about to jump or move around and I love that.
What inspires your designs? I always find fun in the paradox and unusual, especially when two different things or styles are put together, like serious and dark drawing styles with silly subjects like a Pikachu.
What are your biggest artistic influences? One of the biggest is from the movies. I draw movie scenes and characters sometimes but also just get influenced by the mood of a movie whether that’s the emotions or sense of humour of it. I mainly take inspiration from comedy movies, like Step Brothers, 21 Jump Streets, The Office, The Hangover…
Another influence is nature. I’m obsessed with going to parks and I get ideas for flash tattoos by watching animals and plants there.
What do you like to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? My tattoo style itself with bold lines is fit for something strong, solid and that stands out. And I believe there’s a charm to these strong subjects being funny and silly with a small twist. So far, my works have been 50/50 serious themes and funny themes. I’d love to work on these silly goofy tattoos with bold lines more by collaborating with clients who have similar tastes with me.
How do you see your tattoos evolving in the future? I’m thinking about adding other line thicknesses, especially thinner lines for more abundant details depending on designs and sizes. I also may start putting some colours in depending on themes.
What was your first tattoo? To be honest, I don’t have any tattoos myself so far. I know some people in this industry will disagree and hate this, but I can take it. In my opinion, having zero tattoos and a bare body is also one kind of body design in the tattoo sense. Not having any can stand for having a cool one.
Where’s been your favourite place to travel and tattoo? I would say New York is a pretty decent city for a tattoo trip. New York is one of the cities that has the most old and also new tattoo artists and shops in the world in smaller areas compared to other big cities. This means each tattoo artist has gotta be competitive. In terms of the city itself, I think New York gets underestimated like people saying New York is overrated.
Another city I’d love to travel to is Madrid. I want to experience working in another atmosphere with New York like weather, people and buildings.
What’s the tattoo scene like where you are? I’m working in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I’d say Bushwick is pretty vibey and has a good atmosphere with fancy bars and restaurants but also calm to walk around at the same time. That’s my favourite part.
Most shops in Brooklyn are new and young so you can find new styles of tattoos easily in this town. Tattoo artists are also young and usually chill. Come through, we won’t bite!
What do you do when you’re not tattooing/drawing? Besides tattooing, I play soccer and tennis for my back and wrist pain from tattooing. Or I love to go to big and small parks in my neighbourhood and lie down. I always say the best part of New York is parks.
What moment in your career are you most proud of? When clients come back and get a tattoo from me again. It always feels like a big credit and I’m so happy about it. And also lots of my tattoo flash designs are designed as patch works. So if a client gets another tattoo or even more from me, it would look better together. This makes me proud and increases my happiness.
Make sure to follow Bongjin Jeon (@telephonepole2) on Insta for more bold tattoos.
We sat down to have a chat with tattoo artist Paula Castle, who owns Black Sheep Tattoo in Bristol. Paula is one of the most passionate and creative people in the tattoo world. And our chat covered everything from her fave subjects to tattoo to the deep-rooted misogyny in the tattoo world and the importance of safe spaces. Make yourself a cuppa and settle in for the ride…
We absolutely adore your tattoos, tell us more about them, your style and any themes that people love coming to you for…
I did my version of a crying heart as a sticker in 2017. Then in 2020, one of my clients said to me, I want your sticker tattooed on me. I loved doing it. And if I really enjoy doing a tattoo, my favourite thing to do is come up with different themes for that design. It’s just a really fun and interesting way to work. When people give me challenging themes, it’s fun working out how to do it or how to represent something. The crying hearts are especially fun to theme.
Drag queen, Divine themed crying heart tattoo
I’ve also done a few tickets, too. I’ve done a couple of those as memorial tattoos. It’s a nice design to incorporate dates into, without it being overtly memorial. I did one recently that was a ticket for a festival that my client had been to with her dad, and she lost her dad during Covid. I put a few important dates into the ticket. The problem with things that are obviously in memory of somebody is they lead to people asking questions. Sometimes that might be welcome, but for some people, they never feel comfortable sharing that stuff. Some people want something that doesn’t scream RIP.
Another fun design I’ve done recently is a rear view mirror tattoo – another design that’s good to add themes to.
Do you have a favourite tattoo that you’ve done? Or a favourite by someone else that you can’t stop thinking about?
There’s a tattooer called Josh Todaro who does traditional pieces. He did a portrait of Adam Sandler from The Wedding Singer – and Oh My God. “Somebody kill me please”. And it’s my most favourite tattoo I’ve ever seen. I just love it so much. One of those tattoos I wish was on me. I still look at it all the time.
As for me, it’s such a hard question to answer. But I just did my first ever Muppet tattoo – Miss Piggy from Treasure Island. I just kept giggling the whole way through tattooing it, because I absolutely love The Muppets.
One of the reasons I love tattooing so much is because my favourite tattoo is always the most recent one I’ve done. It just feels like that’s constantly continuing forever – it doesn’t get old.
Do you have lots of regular clients that always come back to you?
I love, love, love building relationships with clients. I enjoy time with people that I’ve tattooed before, because it’s like catching up with an old friend. I’ve got some people that I’ve been working with now for the best part of my career. I’ve seen people move through life in such positive ways – going through beautiful moments like marriages and buying houses and having children. Then likewise, I’ve had long-term clients who sadly lost parents or gone through other stuff and I’ve been able to offer them support.
It’s been interesting, I was diagnosed with ADHD last year, and so many of my clients are also neurodivergent. I’d love to understand if there’s a correlation, whether neurodivergent people gravitate towards other neurodivergent people without really knowing that they’re doing it, you know.
Tell us about your shop, Black Sheep Tattoo in Bristol. We know tattoo shops can sometimes feel like intimidating places if you’ve never been in one before.
I try my best to make the studio safe and welcoming for everybody, but also I’ve taken as many steps as possible to make it really clear who we don’t want here. I think that’s just as important. We’re trans friendly, queer-owned, female-owned – it says female-owned on my sign outside – like I’m very upfront about it. I don’t want people in my studio who are going to make not only my artists, but any other clients feel uncomfortable. And that’s always been of the utmost importance to me. The clients that we have here really reflect that.
We have eight artists and a studio manager and tattooers who do regular guest spots. Then we also have The Tooth Pixie, who does a couple of days a month offering tooth gems. And Amanda who comes one Saturday every month and does brow lamination and eyelash tinting. When it comes to body modification, it it isn’t just about permanence. I love integrating to offer more than one service. Which brings people into a tattoo studio who’ve never thought about tattooing before, and might have a preconceived notion of what a tattoo shop is like.
‘Even now, you open a tattoo magazine and every advert has got a half naked woman in it’
Breaking down those kinds of social barriers is still something that’s really important. We have a responsibility to tattooing – and especially tattooing for women. It’s still an extremely male-dominated industry and it’s misogynistic, from a systemic point of view. Even now, you open a tattoo magazine and every supplier advert has got a half naked woman in it – it needs to stop.
We’re ready for change, why isn’t it happening quicker?
It’s those little micro aggressions of misogyny in advertising and in, you know, the percentage of sponsorships and things that go to men over women in the industry, that leads to inappropriate behaviour with clients in studios, and sexual assault and sexual violence against female clients and artists.
These things can’t be fixed by me opening a studio and not standing for that behaviour in my studio, the only way to fix the problem is to address the people doing the things in the first place. It’s not on us to fix it. But it is the responsibility of the suppliers and the media that work within tattooing to fix the systemic misogyny within tattooing, because it’s not acceptable anymore. And it needs to stop.
It’s been gorgeous to chat, and we loved you getting on your soapbox about the change that’s so needed. Anything else you want to share?
It’s my tenth year tattooing this year. It feels like such a milestone. It’s definitely been a roller coaster. But it’s so hard having your own studio. If I had been able to find a space to work in that was like mine, I would absolutely not choose to be a studio owner. If anybody’s really unhappy where they are, don’t think that the solution is to have your own place. It isn’t always the answer. But yeah, all I ever wanted was to have somewhere that I could truly be myself – like, you know, somewhere not to feel embarrassed all the time. That’s all I ever wanted was to not have that feeling anymore.
Tattoo artist Grigorii Butrin @butrin.tattoo creates incredible realism tattoos in Germany. We chatted to the tattooerabout his journey into the industry, tattooing style and influences…
How long have you been tattooing and how did you get started in the industry? I’ve been tattooing since 2014-2015. I started it like a hobby when I was in my last year of medical college, because I realised that I wanted to be an artist.
I had been drawing all the way through school and I entered my work into city and school drawing contests. While I was at medical college I would always help with the creative decoration of information stands and themed banners for teachers of multiple disciplines.
What inspired you to become an artist? Do you have a background in art? I saw the works of Dmitriy Samohin and Den Yakovlev on the internet and I was shocked. At that moment I started to understand what I wanted to do with my life.
From around 4-5 years old I would spend a lot of my time drawing and making sculptures. I was also watching videos on YouTube, like Alexander Ryjkin’s channel and creating my own drawings.
How would you describe your style? My style is grey wash realistic tattooing, but it’s not copying. To make an image I use my experience during the drawing process so I don’t make a 100% copy of the image, so it’s academically a realistic tattoo.
What inspires your designs? I’m usually have an inspiration from music, movies and designers. I’m also the biggest fan of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. His art is unbelievable and his work with shadows is perfect. So, perhaps he is the reason why I work with deep shading.
Can you tell us about the process behind your tattoos? The most important part of my work is making a good design. You need to think a lot about anatomy, composition and dynamics in your design – 90% of a good project is a good design.
What do you like to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? My favourite thing to tattoo is portrait work. I really like to do this and usually my customers come for this kind of work.
How do you see your tattoos evolving in the future? I think I’m gonna add a lot of stuff from drawing in my style in the future. Also I’m gonna make more colour realistic stuff to make a collaboration between different styles.
What was your first tattoo? Do you still like it? The first tattoo I did was an anchor on a shoulder in the old school style. Yes I still love it, because it’s my first one. One day I’ll make it much better, but for now I and the guy I did it on are still in love with it.
Where’s been your favourite place to travel and tattoo? It was Israel. I was there in 2021; a really beautiful place with beautiful people. I was there for 3 months and I still get inspiration from this place.
Do you have any travels or guest spots planned? No, but I guess maybe the USA in the future, because there are a lot of artists I am inspired by there.
What do you do when you’re not tattooing? I spend my time with family, drawing and also I love photography.
What moment in your career are you most proud of? It was the moment when my teacher, Alexander Oberov, said he was proud of my work.
Make sure to follow @butrin.tattoo for more amazing black and grey tattoos.
27-year-old tattoo artist Sion works at Vism studio in L.A. We chatted to the artist about herinfluences, beautiful knot tattoos and desire to follow the natural curve of the body with her tattoos…
How long have you been tattooing and how did you get started in the industry? I was based in Seoul when I first started tattooing, now I’m in LA. It’s been around 10 years. Growing up, I was exposed to tattoo culture through the influence of my tattooist mother. I believe this naturally inspiredd me to start my career as a tattoo artist. Before this, I was a student.
What inspired you to become an artist? Do you have a background in art? Although I didn’t have any art related career or background in art before I got into tattooing, I gained interest in the world of tattoo thanks to my mother. Ever since then, I’ve worked hard to become a tattooist with a unique style.
How would you describe your style? What drew you to colour tattoos? My tattoos hold the story of our daily lives, fond memories, and relationship between individuals. These are all expressed through my work in the style of Korean traditional elements – main being the ‘norigae’. I believe creating the most natural flow that suits each individual’s body and its curves is important.
Each colour holds a different symbolic meaning in Asian culture and as I put a lot of emphasis into the significance, colour tattoos became my signature style as well.
You tattoo a lot of knot tattoos, can you tell us about these? The main elements that I use in my design are traditional knots and strings. Korean traditional knot symbolizes Korea’s native spirit of relationship between individuals (Yinyeon, 인연).
I think knots that are intertwined with flowing strings resemble our lives and their unique stories. I want to express each and every story my clients bring to me by intertwining their special memories and elements that they are fond of with the knots.
What inspires your designs? Does your heritage influence your art? Of course! I grew up very close to Korean culture and its stories, architecture and clothing (Hanbok). I believe this has influenced my style a lot.
Can you tell us about the process behind your tattoos Although it’s important for the tattoo to be made with my own artistic insights (designs, composition and elements etc), it’s equally important for my clients to be fully satisfied with the end result.
To achieve this, I make sure to deep dive into my client’s needs through thorough discussion and also make revisions on the day of the appointment after adjusting the size and the flow of the design on the client’s body.
Precision and hygiene is also key in terms of the actual tattooing, which I believe all tattoo artists also put extra effort into.
What do you like to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? I like tattoos that naturally flow with the placement while maintaining the significance of each element. For this reason, I am working hard on creating designs that are more tailored to the structure of the body and I will continue to do this in the future.
How do you see your tattoos evolving in the future? I want to continue to listen to all my client’s stories and express them in my designs, learn from each other’s experiences, and gain understanding of various cultures.
Where’s your favourite place to travel and tattoo? I personally love traveling to places where there are strong and unique natural and architectural characteristics. One of my goals is to travel to various places around the world as much as possible.
Do you have any travels or guest spots planned? Traveling to various places is a joy of my life! As I’ve recently moved to LA, I don’t have plans for the guest work at the moment but it would be great if I can get the opportunity in the near future.
What was your first tattoo? Do you still like it? How has your tattoo collection developed since then? My first tattoo is from my mother and it’s a word tattoo that includes a phrase of my favourite poem. It’s not in a place where it’s visible but it’s good to be reminded of the poem that I like from time to time! After this tattoo, I have been getting tattoos that encompass the memories I wanted to capture at a certain time, or from artists that I like.
What do you do when you’re not tattooing/drawing? Since I was a child, I have been fascinated by traditional culture. So I watch a lot of historical dramas and movies. I also deep dive into and study the field that I get hooked on. Besides this, I also like playing games to chill my brain!
What moment in your career are you most proud of? Though each and every moment is special, I am most proud of myself when my loved ones, especially my parents who show endless support, are also proud of me and the work I’ve done.
