Pet tattoo: turn your dog or cat into a tattoo

Beloved dogs and kittens can be transformed into beautiful pet tattoos. Get to know the style!

It could be your best friend or, perhaps, your furry child. It doesn’t matter what you call your pet, we know it’s family. That’s why it deserves a special tribute. How about turning your dog or cat into a tattoo?

This is a very common request around here and our artists simply LOVE doing pet tattoos. So let’s talk in a little more detail about this much-loved type of tattoo.

How to turn a pet into a tattoo

The first step for this kind of tattoo is to select good photographs of your pet. It’s very important to choose high-quality photos with good lighting, even if they were taken with a cell phone. Select 3 to 5 photos from different angles and poses so that the tattoo artist can get to know the main characteristics that make it unique.

You then choose the style of tattoo you like best to feature your dog or cat. There are many different styles of pet tattoo and here are our favorites:

1. Minimalist

In the minimalist style, we only reproduce the outline of the complete silhouette, head or ears. It’s done only in fine lines, without adding shadows or textures.

 

2. Minimalist with details

A variation on the minimalist style, here we include some small details in the drawing, such as eyes, muzzle and collar.

3. Single line

This style of tattoo reproduces the outline of a photograph in just one line. The drawing is all sketched out without lifting the pen from the paper, producing a minimalist tattoo full of personality.

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4. Fineline

For a fineline pet tattoo, we created a personalized drawing with fine lines and very light shadows to represent your puppy or kitten in a very delicate way. It’s a drawing styled by the artist and isn’t a realistic reproduction, as it’s done with less detail and can also include elements that weren’t originally in the photo.

fineline tattoo studio Zero21 Porto

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5. Blackwork

In the blackwork style, we use lines in different thicknesses, textures and lots of shadows to create a totally personalized design. To complement the tattoo, we can also include elements of adornment, such as florals and frames.

Zero21 Porto blackwork tattoos

6. Realistic

For a realistic tattoo, we work with the most faithful reproduction possible of a photograph. That’s why, for this style, the selection of the photo is the most important decision. The pet can be portrayed with its whole body or just its head, including details such as a collar, bow, name tag, etc. Because of the amount of detail applied, this type of tattoo requires a minimum size of around 7cm.

Zero21 Porto pet tattoos

7. Mini realistic

In this style, we do a realistic reproduction of a photo of the pet on a small scale. This type of tattoo includes a little less detail than the realistic style, so it’s not possible to add elements. Usually only the head is done.

8. Paws

Another way of paying tribute to your pet is to use its paw prints to create a tattoo. To do this, we need the paw prints already on paper. You can get the paw prints by dipping the paws in ink and pressing them lightly onto the paper (wait for them to dry well so they don’t stain). The tattoo can be done in black ink or with spots of color, watercolor style.

 

Now that you know all the pet tattoo styles, how about booking your session? Send us a message to ask for your personalized quote or, if you have any questions, we can chat via WhatsApp.

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