I’m constantly impressed by the submissions I receive for Inked Wednesday. I’ve seen more styles of tattoos than I can recall, but this is the first time I’ve had a whole gallery of watercolor ink to share. I’m in love. This week is all about Russell Van Schaick. His artistic style includes subtle gradients, dreamy lines, and a notebook feel—I mean the latter as a compliment. It’s like I’m flipping through an artist’s paper portfolio, but Russell captures that vibe with ink on skin.
You only have to look at his work to see what I mean. Behold, this lovely Appa from Avatar: The Last Airbender:
Do you see all the different colors happening in his fur?!
I’m into the layout of this BB-8 tattoo. I mean, Mickey and Minnie balloons? Come on.
The gallery below is loaded with more of my favorite examples of Russell’s work. You’ll find Disgust from Inside Out, Harley Quinn, a clever Harry Potter design, and more. Of course, you can see Russell’s entire portfolio at Instagram—and I recommend doing so. He’s based out of the Hart & Huntington Tattoo Shop in Orlando, but if you’re in New York, you can catch him at the New York Tattoo Convention from March 31-April 2.
If you have nerdy ink on your skin or you’re a tattoo artist that applies pop culture, STEM, music, or other nerd-inspired ink (tl;dr: I want to see basically all the tattoos) on a regular basis, then please hit me up because I’d like to highlight you in a future Inked Wednesday gallery. You can get in touch with me via email at alratcliffe@yahoo.com. Send me photos of the tattoos you’d like me to feature (the higher resolution, the better) and don’t forget to let me know the name of your tattoo artist if you have it, as well the name of the shop he or she works out of. If you are the tattoo artist, give me links to your portfolios and/or Instagram accounts so I can share them with our readers.
Images: Courtesy of Russell Van Schaick
