Tattoo Artistry in the Digital Age: From Skin to NFTs to?

What if Starry Night were a tattoo?

The simple answer is that no one would know about it. When we think of the word, "starry" + "night", a great deal of people imagine dark blue and swirling white. But if Van Gogh tattoos Starry Night on a hairy Dutch guy, we'd be imagining something else.

The world of tattooing has long been an art form associated with the transient nature of life. Created on living canvases, tattoos are deeply personal, living and eventually disappearing with their hosts.

But with the advent of digital technology, tattoo artists have the potential to immortalize their work and extend their reach beyond their immediate clientele.

As we step into an era where art forms transcend physical barriers, tattoo artists are exploring innovative ways to document and share their work. Today's artists aren't just creating on human skin; they are turning their art into NFTs, Procreate Swatches, and intricate designs, ensuring their tattoo artistry lives on for future generations, groups, tribes, communities, or fans.

The emergence of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, has already swept across the physical artwork realm. These digital tokens provide proof of ownership of unique items or pieces of content, stored on a blockchain, making it possible for artists to monetize their digital work.

Enter: Procreate Swatches of Today as Tomorrow's Design Templates?

Procreate, a powerful digital illustration app, is gaining traction among tattoo artists for its ability to create detailed and customizable color palettes, known as swatches. These swatches can be utilized to create an exact digital replica of the color scheme used in a physical tattoo, thereby capturing the artist's vision with remarkable accuracy.

Let's break down the process further:

First, the artist designs a unique tattoo and renders the same design using Procreate, leveraging the app's powerful toolset. They meticulously craft a custom swatch to match the ink colors used in the tattoo, including specific details about the brand and type of ink for each color.

This digital file, complete with the design and color specifications, could then be transformed into an NFT. The artist, in this case, would need to upload this file onto a platform that supports NFT creation and transactions, like Ethereum. The process involves 'minting' the digital file into an NFT, which is then stored on the Ethereum blockchain.

The minting process essentially converts the digital file into a format that can be added to the blockchain. Once added, this NFT, like all other transactions on the blockchain, is immutable and publicly verifiable. It effectively creates a digital certificate of authenticity and ownership that can be bought, sold, or transferred just like any other asset on the blockchain.

This process not only ensures the permanence of the tattoo artwork in the digital realm but also opens up an avenue for artists to create a new type of artwork that can be collected, traded, and appreciated globally and across generations.

But what if tattoo artists could take this a step further?

Imagine an artist creating a unique design for a client. Alongside the tattooing process, they create a digital package containing the final design, the RGB color code for each color used (including the specific brand and type of ink), and other environmental factors that might influence the piece. Upon completion, the client doesn't just walk away with a physical piece of art on their skin, but a digital, permanent copy of the artwork as well.

In the event the client is or becomes famous, the implications of this concept become even more intriguing. Fans, often numbering in the millions or even billions, might desire to replicate the tattoo of their beloved icon. They might bid on the "Tattoo NFT package," receiving not just a simple image but a comprehensive guide to recreating the tattoo exactly.

Further extrapolation leads us to consider the possibility of a generational tattoo - a design that evolves, is improved upon, redesigned, remastered, and reinterpreted over generations. This could create a community of people united by shared symbolism and artistry, a modern tribe identifiable by their shared digital ink.