One of the hottest trends in the tattoo world in recent years has been blackout tattoos – solid-black tattoos that cover arms, legs, and other body parts. Some love these tattoos, some don’t – it’s a highly personal subject, But one thing’s for sure – everybody will love Esther Garcia’s take on blackout tattoos.
Garcia is a Chicago-based tattoo artist who’s created her own version of the blackout tattoo. Instead of simply covering a whole area in black ink, Garcia adds beautiful, intricate nature-inspired designs to the black-covered arms and legs. She tattoos gorgeous, realistic birds, flowers, and butterflies on a pitch-black background that only helps her designs pop. The contrast between the vibrant colors of the floral design and the black is just mesmerizing.
Garcia, a self-taught tattoo artist of twenty years, created this style almost by mistake. She’d been known for her floral designs, and blackout tattoos are a great way to cover up old tattoos. So when a few clients wanted to tattoo her work on top of old tattoos – she came up with the idea of tattooing her design on a black background that will cover up the no longer wanted tattoos. But what started as a technical solution to a problem has become a new style – and now folks are coming to her studio and specifically ask for birds and flowers on solid black backgrounds.
