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Matt - Neotrad Tattoos

Matt - Neotrad Tattoos

68.6K followers@matttruiano

About

Neotraditional tattoo artist - Art Nouveau digital painter - NYC @eternalink pro team artist

Portfolio

More skulls and florals please. I dig doing this stuff. Having muted boney colors contrasting with dumb bright simple shapes makes me happy. ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ #skulltattoo #mementomori #neotraditionalskull #neotradskull #neotrad
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
6.1K
Ricky asked for an “under the sea” themed tattoo with that also included dagger. My first thought was to do a pirate skull and treasure with the skull being stabbed by the dagger. After a few emails back and forth, brainstorming ideas, we settled on an octopus. I took to my sketch book and started doodling tentacles in different angles and positions to get loose and learn a few things. Once I felt like good about those practice sketches, started laying out a design Little does Ricky know, the first version of the tattoo design actually had a human eye in the center with the octopus tentacles wrapping around it. It looked pretty cool but my gut was telling me that it wasn’t going to get the final approval. I drew over the human eye with the octopus eye and added the shape of the head to it and it made so much more sense. Ricky came in to NYC from North Carolina for this piece. We originally had booked for 2 sessions as I thought we would need about 8-10 hours for the back of his calf. But we were able to bust this one out in just a single 6 hour session, saving him another trip up north. What do you think about our choices?
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
2.8K
New growth from a decaying skull⁣ ⁣ #skulltattoo #neotrad #neotradskull #neotraditionalskulltattoo
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
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Honest Abe tattoo looking good after a year in the skin.
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
2.6K
Left is healed 3 years. It’s taken a beating sitting on the top of the forearm in the Carolina sun. We lost some of the orange tones (typical) but over all I am pretty happy how this is looking.
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
2.5K
More like this please
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
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I’m looking to start and possibly finish some bigger projects this year for anyone committed to making an honest effort in it. Message me if you’re into doing a back, chest, arm or leg sleeve.
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
1.5K
Erica first came to me with a beautifully executed black and gray tattoo on her forearm. It was solid, well-designed, and clearly done by a skilled artist. But she had a new vision—she wanted her upper arm tattooed in color. After completing the upper arm in vibrant colors, she took a step back and realized something was missing. The contrast between her colorful upper arm and her black and gray forearm felt incomplete. That’s when she made the decision—she wanted me to sleeve her entire arm in color. Curious, I asked if she would have gone back to her original artist for the color work if they had been open to it. She said, “Yes… but she refuses to do any color at all.” That put me in an interesting position. Normally, I hesitate to take on rework or recolor projects, because most of the time, the original tattoo is lacking in quality or structure. But in this case, the foundation was rock-solid, making my job much smoother. I wasn’t fixing a bad tattoo—I was simply evolving it. Out of respect for the original artist, I’ll keep their name anonymous for now—unless I get the green light to share. What do you think, did I improve or ruin this tattoo?
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
1.3K
A pair of matching tattoos for a pair of lovers. Originally Kathy and Anthony wanted 100% matching tattoos. Over the course of 4 sessions we bounced back and forth between them. Starting with Anthony doing linework and black shading, then doing the same amount on Kathy. Followed by coloring in Anthony’s piece. When it was time to color Kathy’s arm, she decided to change the pallet so they have matching tattoos but still have individuality to them. The idea is loosely based off the lovers tarot card which represents love, deep connections, and attraction. This card embodies the idea of unconditional love and the concept of twin flames. It signifies a strong bond and harmony between people.
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
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A pair of forearms for Anthony. This is the start of 2 sleeves. I designed these together to maintain a unified color pallet between the pieces.
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
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Healed back piece we completed in 2020. I am on the journey to updating my portfolio with better quality, large pieces. If you have any completed pieces by me and would like to either come by to a shop to take some healed photos, or send me some of your own, I’d love to have them. Also if you’re interested in starting a big project, I’m looking forward to adding more large scale work to my portfolio. Message me so we can have a chat.
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
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This red riding hood and wolf back piece is about 2.5 years healed. I used the lantern soft box from @honesttattooer and a photo background I grabbed for a few bucks on Amazon. I am on the journey to updating my portfolio with better quality, large pieces. If you have any completed pieces by me and would like to either come by to a shop to take some healed photos, or send me some of your own, I’d love to have them. Also if you’re interested in starting a big project, I’m looking forward to adding more large scale work to my portfolio. Message me so we can have a chat.
Matt - Neotrad Tattoos
570