Anyone who’s been paying attention for then last fifteen years or so knows who Paul Booth and Guy Aitchison are. People who follow the industry at all should know names like Filip Leu, Tom Renshaw, and Deano Cook. But there are a lot of names you might not be familiar with and if you’re a serious collector these are names you need to know. Disclaimer: This is by no means a complete list, but more of a study guide for anyone fascinated by this artform.
Bob Tyrrell has to be one of my all-time personal favorite black and gray realism guys. He’s been on a number of television shows but when I talk to people about him they tend to not know the name, google him.
Shane O’Neill does amazing b&g as well as color realism, the guy’s all-around phenomenal.
Mike Demasi, Mike Devries, and Nikko do some of the best color portraits in the world.
Okay, so trying to describe everyone’s style is going to take years, I’m just going to list some tattooers I think you should take the time to get to know…
Phil Holt; Joshua Carlton; John Montgomery; Josh Wood(s?); Jay Chastain; Josh Ford; Sean Herman; Brandon Bond; Joe Capobianco; Jime Litwalk; Aaron Cain; Brian Brenner; St. Marq; Stefane Chaudisagues; Gunnar; Grime; Nate Banuelos; Liocifer; Craig Driscoll; Trevor Mcstay; Leo Zulueta; Sabado; Juan Puente. That should be enough to keep you kids occupied for awhile. I’ve tried to list every possible style specialist from traditional American and Japanese to biomech to realism. When you silly kids get through checking these guys out let me know and I’ll continue to feed the beast.
Wildo.