3D Tattoos, or 3 dimensional tattoos, are exactly what they sound like. They are meant to look like they are 3D even though they are created in a 2 dimensional, or flat, medium. It takes great skill and a lot of thought and planning to get a 3 dimensional tattoo to be believable. Some 3D Tattoos are technically called a 3D tattoo, but aren’t as successful at fooling the eye. Those tattoos are still obviously 2 dimensional. The following list, however, are tattoos that actually trick the eye into believing that it’s truly popping off of the wearer’s skin. Even though we know they are tattoos, and that they are lying flat on skin, our eyes can’t make sense of it.
For a successful 3D tattoo, it’s important to consider the placement. The right placement will make the artwork more believable. Because the 3D effect needs more than just a nice drawing, working in shadows and highlights are crucial. Creating the shadows onto the placement in a believable fashion takes patience and skill from the tattoo artist. Working with different skin tones is also important, to create just the right contrast to make the tattoo truly 3D looking, almost as if it’s not a tattoo at all, but its own living, breathing existence that happens to be sitting or popping out of the wearer’s skin.
If you are thinking about getting a 3D tattoo, but not sure exactly what you want, or can’t fully visualize it as 3 dimensional, this list is a great place to start. Check out these 10 most eye catching 3D tattoos:
This illusion is impressive. It’s not easy to create that concave, relief effect.
Part man, part guitar, all incredibly 3 dimensional.
If it was a real 3D snake, it’d bit ya!
