Best Realistic Tattoo Artists On Instagram

Choosing what symbol you want on your tattoo can be quite difficult, especially when you have a lot of things to choose from. Some people are fans of a cartoonish and more abstract symbolism in the ink, while others prefer some realism, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

If you want to make a serious tattoo that you will show off and feel bold with, you should either go for a minimalist pattern or a realistic design that will help your curves stand out. In this article, we’ll talk about realistic tattoo artists on Instagram, and how their widely liked tattoos can help you come up with a design of your own.

What does a realistic tattoo entail? Realistic tattoos will appear less vibrant and colorful than cartoonish tattoos that are filled with strong colors and shades. Nevertheless, realistic tattoos, if not inked in black and white, will rather look softer and more natural compared to cartoons, anime, and abstract designs.

We were searching for the most dedicated, detail-oriented, and stellar tattoo artists on Instagram that can convey the emotion and crisp details put into realistic tattoos. Don’t worry, these tattoos look just as great as when they were made, even after months of the healing process.

What’s even better, if you live in a relatively close area to these tattoo artists, you could even contact them on the page or website and see to book an appointment if they’re open to making one. Keep in mind that tattoo artists with too many followers may be closed for appointments, so you’ll have to either wait and see when they’re open again.

10 Best Realistic Tattoo Artists

Let’s look at the tattoo artists that can design and sketch the best designs that will look stunning, and as if they represent the separate world itself.

Kir Tattoo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kir_tattoo/

If you’re looking to immerse into the world of realistic tattoos that look better than real, then visiting Kir tattoo, or #kirtattoo hashtag will immerse you into much more than just that world. Kir specializes in making animal tattoos such as lions, gorillas, wolves, and other animals from the wilderness.

We’re impressed and amazed with the details that go into the skin wrinkles, eye details, expressions, and lion mane for example. It’s like the artist is trying to convey emotions while making the tattoo happen. Besides animals, other designs are worth checking out.

Although this tattoo artist could be out of reach for you, we’re sure that their designs will inspire you to come up with your tattoo, especially if you’re looking to get a bigger one. Animal tattoos are a masterpiece, especially if you want them inked as a part of an arm or leg sleeve.

Martins Tattoos

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martins_tattoos/

Martins exceeded our expectations when we saw how good he is at bringing animated characters into reality thanks to a realistic approach to ink and shading. We’ve seen anime and game characters like Princess Mononoke, Abe, Link from the Legend of Zelda and other characters get quite a realistic shadowing and lines which look better than if the characters were already real.

We also like how realistic tattoos look regardless of the skin color of the client. Once they heal, tattoos look exceptionally good, as if there was no healing or scabbing process behind them. Finally, the textures of the tattoos look fabulously detailed and thoroughly done, the lines are precise, and the shading reflects the one found in the character.

Martins has 21K followers which may be significantly less than some other tattoo artists on the list, but his great work got him to this list.

Ezequiel Samurai

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ezequielsamuraii/?hl=en

This Barcelona-based tattoo artist doesn’t only bring reality to tattoos, it also awakens the cultures and traditions through exceptional and professional work that he does. With years of activity and over 300K followers on Instagram, Ezequiel has proven his expertise in the world of making realistic tattoos come to life, and even more other tattoo designs.

Our favorite tattoo piecework that Ezequiel has posted on Instagram includes realistic tattoo sleeves of an Asian woman, as well as the realistic tattoo designs of ancient Greek and Roman statues and monuments that are an essential part of their cultures.

We know that the artists of that time didn’t have it easy when they were making these designs. Still, the tattoo itself also demanded a lot of patience, hard work, skill, and finally talent. Most tattoos use black and white design, which also gives them a minimalist hue, and allows the artist to focus on details that aren’t normally always visible.

David Vega

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david_vega83/?hl=en

This is another tattoo artist with over 300K followers, and an even richer portfolio and experience that allowed him to get where he is today. His realistic take on tattoos is our favorite. Still, it’s worth mentioning that it’ll appear slightly darker to people who are not into the dark reality design.

David has focused on some innocent aspects of tattooing like butterflies, nature, eyes, and much more. However, his most popular designs include tattooing portraits of other people on skin. Imagine that you’re an artist and that body is your canvas. Can you ensure that you’ll reimagine the complete portrait on a tattoo design? David does exceptional work at that, with designs being authentic and corresponding to the original picture. That’s the most realistic part about the tattoos that he makes.

Yarson Tattoo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yarson_tattoo/?hl=en

With 226K followers, Yarson is one of the most popular Instagram profiles when it comes to remaking tattoos of famous people. He does the repairs, while also making great tattoos from the scratch. It’s a tattoo studio, where all tattoo artists are experts at inking celebrities with impeccable similarity.

It’s no secret that many celebrities inspire us every day, with many of them being our regular role models we follow and whose lives we’re trying to mimic in the process. Some people can go as far as to get a tattoo done on their arm, leg, or some other part of the body.

The most popular celebrity shading tattoos that Yarson Tattoo does are tattoo sleeves, which is great if you want to get a tattoo of a movie cast or a popular rock band. It’s still good if you want to add the full body of some artist, and lyrics to their most popular single if they’re a singer.

There are endless possibilities, and we like that the tattoo designs are accurate and authentic with those that they were inspired after too.

Nikko Hurtado

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkohurtado/?hl=en

If you’re looking for inspiration from a tattoo artist with huge expertise and portfolio, Nikko Hurtado with over 1.7 million followers on Instagram is more than worth checking out. This profile, which is worth every praise has a myriad of different tattoo designs.

We fell in love with the designs that also show a realistic approach to designing tattoos. The artist focuses mainly on the cinema culture and artists. If you take a look at his Salvador Dali tattoos, as well as the Professional tattoo, you’ll see that every shadow, every reflection, every detail is accurately depicted.

What we also like is that there is a special tattoo pattern that displays them as if they’re some kind of canvas art that needs to be painted. It’s visible that the artist utilizes multiple techniques to make the art more appealing and stylish, but we’re truly satisfied with how accurately and precisely the realistic tattoos look.

Steve Butcher Tattoo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevebutchertattoos/

We can’t begin to show how much we admire the tattoos that Steve Butcher studio does. Based in Southern California, the tattoo artists exceed all expectations when it comes to children’s portraits, celebrities, but even the realistic landscapes of the California forests that were burning in the wildfires.

There’s special attention to details, especially when it comes to combining different shades. As you can see, Steve doesn’t only specialize in marking black and white tattoo designs. He does an exceptional job at blending different shades, which perfectly sync with the skin tone of the person who’s getting the tattoo.

We think that’s nowhere easy to do. The gallery doesn’t only contain realistic tattoos, there’s an inspiration for pretty much anything you need when coming up with your tattoo.

Artigano Tatuatore

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artigiano_tatuatore/

Even though it’s hard to believe that some people who do exceptional work on tattoos have only 11K followers, it’s possible to believe when you’re a hidden gem on Instagram.

This tattoo studio doesn’t only help bring custom designs to life. It also designs its own tattoo designs that it sells to the clients. This comes greatly in handy when you don’t know what kind of a tattoo to get, and then you let the artist pick something cool-looking for you.

It’s worth mentioning that on this profile you won’t only find realistic and real-life designs. You’ll also find cartoon and 3D characters that are done with great detail, to the point they nearly look real. Still, some realistic designs were too good to go unnoticed.

You can see the combination of different styles, shades, and ink widths when looking into the depth of each tattoo. They undoubtedly took a long time to tattoo, but they look out of this planet no matter how you look at them.

Our personal favorites are animal tattoos. That’s because they were designed with such depth, that it looks as if they’re staring into your soul.

Yoshioka Tattoo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yoshioka_tattoo/

No matter which skin type you have, regardless of the size of the tattoo and style you want, Yoshioka tattoo studio will make your design as realistic as possible, to the point it’s not a tattoo but a real object you can touch and feel.

The studio designs all sorts of different designs that could catch your eyes. Starting from simple objects like clocks and compasses, they’ll bring the human face into life, while also depicting the souls and personalities of different wild and domestic animals.

The wolf tattoos look fabulous. They depict different epitomes and emotions. The eye depth looks impeccable, to the point as if the wolf is present in your room and measuring you with their eyes. Additional animals like tigers and lions don’t lack any details as well.

There are also other designs such as regular people on tattoo sleeves, as well as statues. All in all, this profile is quite underrated and deserves even more popularity.

Tobias Augustini

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tobiasagustinitattoo/

The last on our list, but important is Tobias Augustini, who has a fascinating feed full of inspirational work and tattoo designs. It’s also a suitable tattoo channel for inspiration if you’re into darker and gothic-like tattoos that give a hint of fantasy.

The tattoo artist works mainly with tattoo sleeves that depict different faces, that resemble Nordic warriors and the Vikings. In one of the tattoos, we can also see the Allfather Odin, who is the supreme god in Norse mythology.

Other designs also feature feminine figures with great detail to jawbones and cheekbones, as well as great depth in the eyes. There are various other tattoos in the profile. However, character design is the most impeccable highlight of the whole profile.

Lastly, we also noticed some animal tattoos. However, it’s worth noting that the most prominent design is mostly black, so this style of inking is the best if you have a black dog, or are looking for a darker animal like a bear or wolf. It’s hard to pick which designs are better, animal or human portraits. We’ll let you design if you visit Tobias’ feed.

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