A Look Back at History

Charles Huurman is the owner and head tattooer at Utopian Tattoo Tribe in Kilkenny, Ireland. Best known for his color fantasy and color realism, he is always delivering high quality tattoos with intricate twists and turns throughout them.

Take a look at this beautiful full back piece above. The watercolor-like background flows beautifully with the ink blot-like nature added to the center figure. This overall painterly style makes the piece feel more like it was done in paint and pen ink rather than tattoo ink, which is a fun and unusual effect While the focus of this piece seems to be the center girl, the most interesting part of the piece is that she is hovering over a war scene. By her head flies fighter planes while below her lays barbed wire next to a gun-wielding soldier complete with a British World War I helmet and gas mask.

Once the viewer realizes that there is a war scene being depicted, suddenly the color palette makes a lot more sense. These bright, beautiful watercolors are being seemingly tainted by the black ink splotches, just as the world was all around during WWI. This cool use of symbolism, which is also paired with some cool artistic references, is one of the major reasons we love Huurman and his work.

For more incredible full back pieces make sure to check out some of our top picks right here. And if you want to see more tattoos that incorporate a watercolor aesthetic, click right here.