Tattoo Life May/June 2024

Cover girl: Sydney Dyer

Sydney Dyer is a ten-year tattoo veteran coming from the plains of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Her passion for anything inked goes way back, embracing every opportunity tossed her way and navigating the turbulence to ascend in her career. She is not just a tattooer; she’s a shop owner, a wanderer, a friend to strangers, hoarder of memories, and, most noteworthy, the first Canadian contestant on the latest season of Ink Master.

Chat at the top with Sway

Eclectic and multifaceted, English artist Sway soaks up creative inspiration from every encounter, experience or contact with cultures and traditions to which he feels spiritually drawn. And that is how it was with the Asian cultural traditions which led him to develop his style which has everything that has ever touched him and led him to incorporate it all into the Traditional tattoo of his culture, from ancient Bon imagery to Tibetan Buddhism.

Daniel Velasco: Neo Traditional with a Surrealistic twist

Originally from Colombia, Daniel Velasco has been tattooing since 2009 and loves to transform his elaborate skin creations into a sort of “Surrealist Comic”. Up until now he has worked in some shops in Madrid and Bilbao and this is going to be a landmark year for him since he will be taking the major step of opening his own shop together with his girlfriend/manager. We caught up with him and talked about his Neo Traditional with a Surrealist twist.

Marina Goncharova: recharging for the next step in the artistic life

From Saint Petersburg to Thailand following a passion which spurred her to fulfill her dream of living in Asia. An eclectic tattooist, she blends her “base” of American Traditional and Japanese with experimentation and collaboration with other colleagues who push her in the direction of Tribal Black. While she chats with us in this interview, Marina Goncharova confesses that she is on a beach beneath the palm trees, in that slow-paced lifestyle which gives the mind space to find the next step in her artistic journey.

The sinuous black of Nyoung

His name is Jinyoung Choi but on his social accounts and in tattoo he is known as Nyouung. He’s part of the Kodzunak Tattoo Shop in Seoul and what impressed us about him was his style which is all about two dominant colours: black and yellow, a contrast in aesthetic terms as well as of joy and darkness, expressed through simple designs tied to Oriental custom and tradition, where curves and sinuous lines are the opening of his game.

Seven Tattoo Studio. The Black and Grey community of Las Vegas

Don’t go calling it a tattoo shop, because that is not the spirit in which this phenomenon on the tattoo scene was born and reared. Seven Tattoo Studio in Las Vegas is a community that revolves around the Black and Grey style, the desire to give their best as artists, each with their own particular inclinations, and to communicate their project to the outside world with all the technology and professionalism available.

Portfolio: The surrealistic Deco Dream Suite

The name she goes under on Instagram is DecoDreamSuite, her work is all about showcasing diversity, which she highlight with vibrant colours and a surreal atmosphere. We introduce you to the photographs of DecoDream, a visual researcher, creator of portraits which border on the surreal thanks to amusing details.

The twisted surrealistic heads of Roberto Diaz

He goes by the name of Roberto Diaz Arte del Caos. His is a macabre chaos, dark, whose protagonists, portrayed in a realistic manner close to the style of seventeenth century religious painting, present that part which best reveals their humanity, their face. But it is deformed, at times doubled, surrealistic and macabre, like a vase of flowers showing the harshest aspect of life, death.

Tattoo Mix: A selection of the best in every style… and much more!