Dot Work and Stippling Tattoos

Ink tells timeless stories

Dot work and stippling tattoos are unique and intricate styles of body art that use a technique of creating patterns and images entirely out of tiny dots or small, closely spaced dots. These styles require immense precision and patience from skilled tattoo artists who meticulously place each dot to form shading, textures, and depth. Dot work and stippling tattoos can create stunning visual effects, giving the impression of intricate patterns, gradients, and even realistic images. The meticulous nature of these tattoo styles allows for incredible attention to detail, resulting in mesmerizing and visually captivating pieces of body art. Whether it’s a small accent or a full design, dot work and stippling tattoos offer a distinct and eye-catching alternative to traditional shading techniques.

  • Forearm tattoo featuring a stylized geometric bird with vibrant pastel colors, including pink, yellow, and orange, set against a black outline.
  • A forearm tattoo depicting a branch with two leaves and a small flower bud.
  • Geometric tattoo of a mountain and a lake within a diamond shape on a person's forearm, featuring dot work and line details.

Stippling and Dotwork Tattoos

Stippling and Dotwork Tattoos became one of the most popular tattoo styles in 2017 and isnt showing any signs of fading out. The intricacies  and detail of the dotwork tattoos have cultivated a large demand for this style. This style is characterized by its use of small dots to form patterns, images, shapes, and shading. Known as stippling when used for shading, this technique has been used in different mediums of artwork such as paintings, drawings, and engravings for thousands of years. In tattoos, dotwork is done using black, grey, or even red ink to precisely construct designs and establish shading. When used with lines and blends, dotwork tattoos achieve striking effects.

How are Dotwork Tattoos Made?

Since dotwork tattoos are made using hundreds or even thousands of tiny dots, it is a precise and time-consuming process. The placement of each dot relative to each other is critical to the effect the dissolving effect with negative space of the tattoo. And not only must they be precisely placed with each other, but they must work in tandem with the placements of the dots as a whole. This is what gives dotwork tattoos they ideal features. When done with patience, this style can establish 3D designs better than many other styles.

Since dotwork tattoos are composed of dots in repetition, regular tattoo guns are not always the best option. The precision required for the dots is often achieved by hand poking, which can take longer than regular tattoos. When done by one of our specialists, it creates a truly captivating design that could not be accomplished by any other style.

The Best Place to get a Dotwork Tattoo

This style of tattoos are most often used for geometric, mandalas, spiritual, and religious designs. But due to the high level of detail and shading that stippling can accomplish, this style can be applied to almost any type of tattoo. At Redemption Ink, we have several All-Star artists that live for the dotwork tattoos and are ready to give you more information on the process and collaborate with you on this truly unique style of body art.