Hello

[Ponto Tattoo]

Hi, my name is Nano and I am a handpoked tattoo artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina!

If you are interested, you can look at my work in my instagram account @pontotattoo

Greetings to everyone! :cool:

[Graeme]

I've looked at your Instagram. Why don't you have any tattoos?

[Ponto Tattoo]

I've looked at your Instagram. Why don't you have any tattoos?

Hi graeme, I have a skin condition and wasnt able to get a tattoo yet. Wether i`ve been a fan of tattoos since I was a child, at the age of 15 I was told to have a skin condition which could turn badly if I got sored, so tattoos could do me bad. Now that that this condition is super stable and know that hand poked tattoos do less harm to the skin and heal quicker, better in certain manner, I am really looking forward to get tattooed. Honestly, I can`t wait. Been waiting to get tattooed for so much time you can`t even imagine. I am lucky this year I will be travelling to get tattooed by some really good hand pokers. Take a look at the work of Trigscovil, ToT the Tattooer, Grace Neutral, SlowerBlack, Welfare Dentist, etc.

[DJDeepFried]

I don't mean to be rude, but can you explain this style to me? I understand tebori. It's part of a longstanding tradition and tattooers say that it gives you better color saturation or something like that. But I'm not seeing anything in these tattoos that's different from what can be done with a machine except they seem a little bit sloppier (and slower to put on probably). Or is it just that handpoked tattoos are cool?

[Ponto Tattoo]

I don't mean to be rude, but can you explain this style to me? I understand tebori. It's part of a longstanding tradition and tattooers say that it gives you better color saturation or something like that. But I'm not seeing anything in these tattoos that's different from what can be done with a machine except they seem a little bit sloppier (and slower to put on probably). Or is it just that handpoked tattoos are cool?

Of course! Hand poking techniques have been practised by different cultures around the world. You have tebori, Sak Yant, Ta Moko as the more well-known. But there certainly are others not that popular and, in my case, I tattoo with a hybrid technique that comes from India and Brazil. The technique I use combine the ancient approach of tattooing by hand with the benefits of using sterilized needles, proffesional and safe tattoo ink, which weren´t that common in the past, etc.

As far as I know tattooing this way is less harmful to the skin, because you certainly pierce the skin less ammount of times than a machine does. That leads to a quicker healing, a less painfull (not in tebori, sak yant or ta moko) tattoo session. Also, when the tattoo heals it never bleeds, nor repells ink, you know? It heals in dry manner, it looks "healed" the day after and a few days later it starts to develop a really fine scab that its quite hard to come off by accident. Usually, even big tattoos heal completely in less than two weeks. So that is a good point for not bleeding out the ink and losing pigmentation and also to avoid the risk of getting the tattoo infected.

Another good part of tattooing this way is that people relax a lot during the tattoo sessions, as there is no noise coming from a machine, and tattooing doesnt hurt more than removing hair with tweezers. Yes, you certainly take more time that it would take to get the same tattoo with a machine, but its not like you need to do 10 tattoos per day.

You see, it`s a different approach, a different way of doing it and its from this tattooing techniques that "machine tattooing" was developed from. It represents the origin of tattoos, it about resembling that approach.

You say you`ve seen sloppier tattoos, but have you checked the work of the handpoked tattoo artist I mentioned in the other comment? You have to sepparate what is a "home-poke" (more commonly referred as "stick and poke") from "hand-poke" tattoos. Hand poke englobes all the non-machine tattooing methods, but home-poke is more specific to tattoos made at home by people with certainly no knowledge about tattooing, sterilization, and so. You get my point, right? Unfortunately, people think that these "home-poked" tattoos are what can only be done without machine, and that just isn`t accurate/true.

[bongsau]

@Ponto Tattoo

eh welcome to LST, from Western Canada

Interested to see what kind of discussion this generates!

I suppose why I am not drawn to this new age stick/poke style is that the tattoos are too soft for my taste. The lines appear thin, the designs empty and the shading isn't as full when compared to machine tattoo. But I guess that is also what appeals to some people.

I had the opinion that these types of tattoos were a bit superficial, but my good friend (who I mentioned in the other thread with SlowerBlack tattoos) changed my opinion and his arms are looking quite full after many years. It's a good clean and simple look for him. I guess we will see in time how they age and hold up.

I am the opposite and drawn to full, heavy, wild, and colourful tattoo. I like the loud noise. A quiet rotary that's turned down makes me uncomfortable. Tattoos are loud, heavy and scary, but that's just me. Lots of people are just tattoo tourists which perhaps get some of us heavy tattoo trekkers bent out of shape. I'm into tattoo for tattoos, not art.

I disagree that stick/pokes heal more effectively. It's just the nature of the design and application. A machine doing simple clean lines with light shading will also heal very easily. That being said I just got my hand tattooed by the one of the heaviest tattooist in town and it continued to ooze and bleed for 2 weeks, heavy thick scabs always dry, cracking, almost like a deep wound. The scab is only slowly coming off only now (3 weeks later) and I've lost zero ink, the intricate design is still there which I am a bit perplexed by. But that's because my tattooist has fine tuned his application - technique and his machines - that tattoo ink is packed with precision below the skin and ain't going anywhere.

We don't always have to agree to generate good discussion.

I'd encourage you to get a machine tattoo, if only for the experience. It may give you some insight how to progress your hand technique if that's your focus.

Anyway, good luck as you become a tattooed person.

Cheers

[Ponto Tattoo]

@Ponto Tattoo

eh welcome to LST, from Western Canada

Interested to see what kind of discussion this generates!

I suppose why I am not drawn to this new age stick/poke style is that the tattoos are too soft for my taste. The lines appear thin, the designs empty and the shading isn't as full when compared to machine tattoo. But I guess that is also what appeals to some people.

I had the opinion that these types of tattoos were a bit superficial, but my good friend (who I mentioned in the other thread) has most of his work exclusively stick/poke (mostly by SlowerBlack) changed my opinion and his arms are looking quite full after many years. It's a good clean and simple look for him. Jenna did a boxer girl on another good friend. It took probably 5x as long as a machine could have accomplished but it turned out quite amazing and full. This friend has a bunch of machine tattoos, she just wanted a new and different experience.

I am the opposite and drawn to full, heavy, wild, and colourful tattoo. I like the loud noise. Even a quiet rotary that's turned down makes me uncomfortable. Tattoos need to be loud, heavy and scary, but that's just me. This made me understand that everyone has their own tattoo journey. Lots of people are just tattoo tourists which perhaps get some of us heavy tattoo trekkers a sour taste.

I disagree that stick/pokes heal more effectively. It's just the nature of the design and application. A machine doing simple clean lines with light shading will heal very easily. That being said I just got my hand tattooed by the one of the heaviest tattooist in town and it continued to bleed for 2 weeks, heavy thick scabs always dry and cracking, almost like a deep wound. The scab is coming off only now (3 weeks later) and I've lost zero ink, the intricate design is still there which I am a bit perplexed by. But that's because he has fine tuned his technique and that tattoo isn't going anywhere.

We don't always have to agree to generate a good discussion.

I'd encourage you to get a machine tattoo, if only for the experience. It may give you some insight how to progress your hand technique if that's your focus.

Anyway, good luck as you become a tattooed person.

Cheers

Thanks a lot for your words man! What you say makes sense to me, totally. The kind of tattoo you get depends on the type of tattoo you want. I`d like to add that there are also machine tattoos that look like what you said (soft, thin and empty), take a look at the "single needle" techique used by people like Dr. Woo, Tattooist Doy, (a lot of korean tattooers are mastering this technique if you search about it) and others. Also, there are hand poked tattoo artist that like heavy, thick, solid lines and shadings (like Slowerblack or Grace Neutral). So at the end all comes to the style of tattoo you`d like to have or tattoo, if you are a tattoo artist.

In my experience I`ve found that handpoked tattoos get darker and fuller overtime, like a machine tattoo does. That is because of the normal behaviour of the ink in the body, it tends to grow a little bit. And that is something I like a lot, I love to see old tattoos that have gotten really heavy and darker, but still delicate and with the original textures and richness, beacuse it also adds contrast and definition. Its a really nice thing to see!

Thanks for encouraging me, I think of it everyday, seriously. If I ever get a machine tattoo, I`d love to have the work of @brody_polinsky , do you know him? I am blown away by his thick lines patterns, that heavy line that resembles textile aboriginal art. Check him out!

[marley mission]

interesting stuff

i def am interetsed in getting a hand poke style tattoo at some point - and I think it would be from the collector perspective too - agree alot with @bongsau on his points in his posts

funny too I think the biggest factor in healing my tattoos has been location - the one i just got is in the stomach / hip area - been a week - its healed - barely peeled - and I have had the tough scabby ones too - i dont think its the tattooer or what i do - i pretty much dry heal - anyway - only my thoughts from my own healing perspective

quick question for you - i know you are soon to be hand poked - will you ever try other forms of tattooing - as either client or artist - i ask because it sounds lke your condition is no longer a potential concern

and i do stick (no pun) to the idea that i wouldnt be tattooed by you if you have no tattoos - just my personal preference and opinion that it would - not bother me - but it would be a factor that would influence me to look elsewhere - being a fan of tattooing yourself - i'm suprised that this would suprise you

anyway - welcome to lst

[DJDeepFried]

Thanks for your thoughtful response @Ponto Tattoo! I just checked out your stuff on Instagram. Not my style but very well done. The tiny tattoo seems to be en vogue right now especially for folks who only want one or two.

[Patchybeardo]

Hello Nano, pretty curious style of yours, i like it tho, keep it going!

[jackbrizuela]

I am a big fan of hand poke style of tattooing. Actually we have a native tattooist here in the Philippines, she is very famous because she is the last of they're tribe's tattooist. Sadly social climbers here or the so called collectors chose to commercialize the art form than to preserve it.