These Japanese Woodblock-Inspired Tattoos Are Gorgeous Works of Art

#TattooGoals.

By Lilian Min, Cosmopolitan

The last few years have brought a number of tattoo trends into the spotlight: delicate floral tattoos, teeny-tiny tattoos, and watercolor tattoos, to start. But Maxine Gautron, a French tattoo artist who goes by the handle @brinditattoo, has his own truly unique style of bold, Japanese woodblock art-inspired designs. And they are really, really something:
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As seen on Design Taxi, Gautron's tattoos borrow heavily from the Japanese ukiyo-e, "floating world" style. The style gets its stark but detailed imagery because of its material process. Each image is either stamped from carefully carved wood or meant to evoke that printed feeling. Perhaps the most famous example is Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa:

Wikimedia Commons

In fact, Gautron has even drawn the Kanagawa wave in his work:

 

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But Gautron takes this concept to a totally new level by mixing in very, very modern influences and imagery. Dinosaurs, UFOs, and The Simpsons didn't influence 19th-century Japan, but they make quite the impression in his work.

A lot of the rest of Gautron's work also incorporates a lot of Japanese art-style influence, but frankly, everything in his book is pretty amazing:

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