Tattooed Face Paint

Today’s tattoo of the day is this amazing piece by Oleg Shepelenko. Shepelenko is a Russian tattoo artist based in Rostov-on-Don and holds ten years of experience in the industry. Specializing in color realism, Shepelenko is best known for his fun and creative twists on the images found in many of his tattoos.

Take a look at today’s pick. The idea of the standard portrait gets a makeover, literally, when Shepelenko tackles it. This tattoo features the drab appearance of someone over worked and tired, as seen in the suit, grim expression, and the (probably stress induced) receding hair line, however, Shepelenko decked him out in sugar skull makeup adding both humor and irony to the piece. Adding sugar skull makeup to a portrait is nothing new, but doing it in the setting of the tattoo Shepelenko had at hand adds a whole new fun element to the package.

Another interesting feature of this piece is Shepelenko’s use of depth. As the piece focuses more in on the actual makeup covered face of the man, the depths and dimensions begin to flatten more into the traditional depths and dimensions of a real sugar skull. This cool addition to the piece is also something rarely found in portraits with sugar skull aesthetics. It’s a cool and unique way to combine two very common tattoo imagery elements without falling into their typical cliches.

For more incredible work by Oleg Shepelenko, make sure to check out his artist’s page right here.