Author: louis santos

Egyptian God / Female Viking Warrior

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Tattoo Artist Manchester

Egyptian God / Female Viking Warrior

In this drawing, I tried to express myself in mythology, going a bit further by mixing 2 legendary Mythology cultures, including the Egyptians and the Vikings. Egyptians were very aligned to the after life, and understood that life is a lot further than we could imagine. I have watched many documentaries about Egyptian mythology and I must say that it has blown me away, on how advanced they were technology wise.

This drawing was done in A2 size, which is probably my favourite size to work with. The reason why I love to draw on A2, is the space it allows me to get lost in the drawing, I used to draw a lot on A3, however, io started to realise how limited I was due to space in the paper. When I first tried A2, It felt right, and I was able to add more ideas to my drawing, and have more freedoom, due to how much space I had.

Drawing also allows me to try different ideas before attempting someone’s skin, drawing on a paper, it allows me to see if a new idea works out or not, before putting it on a client. Drawing also makes me a better artist, teaching me how to problem solve when dealing with a tattoo.

I do believe when you tattoo, you are still drawing on skin.

Bury Tattoo Studio

Phoenix Feminine Tattoo

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Large Feminine Phoenix tattoo

What an experience I had doing this thigh feminine Phoenix Tattoo. She approached me with the request to draw a phoenix for her customised, I happily accepted the request as I love drawing, and she seemed happy to go ahead. As our consultation passed by, she mentioned to me, that, she made the same request to other tattoo studios, and they mentioned she had to bring the image ready for them to tattoo. And she insisted, could you design something customised for me, and they insisted saying no, we need the image ready for us.

I believe, getting prepared for my clients, getting a design customised specially for them, and understanding and getting in to what they want done, is one of the most exiting parts about being a tattoo artist. Some Tattoo Artists mite enjoy Tattooing, however, I enjoy every aspect of it, including cleaning the studio, to make me feel comfortable and my clients comfortable, looking after my clients, making coffee and tea, making videos, learning new skills, painting, drawing. All things around tattooing I enjoy working on, that’s why, any tattoo request for me, I see it as an opportunity.

I believe, the more time I spend planning a tattoo, the better it comes out, so spending time making sure the design is as good as it can be, its imperative. I have designed the head of this Phoenix, about 7 times, erasing and erasing, until I was happy with it. This inspiration came from when I heard the story, about how “Smaug” the dragon from “The Hobbit” the movie was designed, apparently they designed that Dragon 100 times before they went ahead with the final design. When I heard that, everything made sense to me, based on how good that Dragon actually looks, if you have not seen The Hobbit, I would recommend, that dragon is out of this world.

Manchester Phoenix Tattoo

Cover-up tattoos in Bury Greater Manchester

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Gladiator tattoo/ Cover-up tattoo in Bury, Greater Manchester.

Cover-ups is a type of tattoo work I’m passionate about. A cover-up tattoo is for sure a challenge, so I do like to have a consultation with the client, as the client has a lot of explanation to do, based on how I feel the consultation, I make my mind up about taking the work or not. I choose if to do the cover-up or not based on how patient my client is, as a cover-up tattoo requires a lot of patience, and I have to feel comfortable with the client, in order to wish to spend long time in the chair with them.

When you need a tattoo covered, unfortunately you do have a problem. So your first step is to find a tattoo artist in Greater Manchester, who you will resonate with their work, you need to book a consultation with them, have a good chat about your issue, and then the tattoo artist will decide weather is a good fit to go ahead with your request or not.

Some clients, when I have a consultation about their cover-up tattoo, I can see their request is very challenging based on how dark their tattoo is, how large the tattoo area that needs covering is, however, the client is so nice, that I take the request, as they have such a good attitude, where it gives me hope and inspiration to help them. I try to say that your attitude, will dictate how good your tattoo is, and when someone has a good attitude towards their tattoo, booking a consultation, giving me the opportunity to look in to their request, making an appointment, giving me the opportunity to plan their tattoo request, being patient during the process, letting the process flow naturally, having faith that the tattoo will be done eventually, allowing me to work in a good frame of mind, all those good qualities can only take you to one path which is a good quality successful tattoo.

Greater Manchester Tattoos

Egyptian Mythology Manchester

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Egyptian Mythology is a style of art close to my heart, they had a fascination system of beliefs, myths and spiritual rituals. I believe egyptian mythology was a culture where they got closer to explain the mystery of the universe.

The cicles of nature, the afterlife were the life purpose of the pharaos. Egyptian Mythology is rich with symbolism, reflacting the cycles of life, death, and re-birth.

I love to draw Egyptian mythology, based on my urge to create something new within the Egyptian Mythology perspective. Drawing new images related to egyptian mythology, it gets me ready with better ideas, which i can deliver the idea to the tattoo process, when practising drawing the style you are about to tattoo, it enhances the creative part on the tattoo, creating a better looking tattoo.

Tattoo Studio Bury

Manchester Tattoo Artist

Black and Grey Tattoos and Art

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Black and Grey Tattoos and art

Greater Manchester, Bury

Hello everyone, and welcome to my weekly tattoo blog. Everyday I wake up in the morning, I feel lucky and grateful, that life is giving me an opportunity to start again, life blessed me to be around artists who have the same philosophies as me, and I have never felt a part of a Family as I do now. Sometimes, life will have to move from where you are, in order to bless you, and make you prosper.

In this blog I would like to touch a subject close to my heart, which is black and grey art and tattoos. Black and grey is a style of tattoo that caught up my attention in the beginning of my career, by an artist called “Bob Tyrell”. Bob Tyrell was a tattoo artist who really blew me away with his realism black and grey tattoo looks. Before Bob Tyrell, there was an artist called “Paul Booth” who used to tattoo, horror, dark related tattoos, but Bob Tyrell took all that to the next level.

As the time went by, I started to travel, and finding out other black and grey artists, like Robert Hernandes, Victor Portugal, Carlos Torres, and my passion for black and grey tattoos expanded even more. Each of those artists, had a touch of their own style, and I discovered that the best way to build your own style in black and grey tattoos is to enhance your drawing abilities.

So I started drawing black and grey images, and understood that, drawing a black and grey image, it makes me understand how light falls, and it teaches me how to better deal with the human body. Sometimes I’m very grateful I still draw, not only for personal pleasure, but I can fell myself becoming a better artist.

Black and Grey Tattoo Artist Bury

Choosing your tattoo artist

Small Tattoo in Bury Lancashire

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Small tattoos in Bury Manchester

I was private for many years in Leeds, and coming to Manchester, I have gone back to work in a public studio, and I have to say, I’m really enjoying. I’m really enjoying the challenge, working in a public studio, there are a lot of responsibilities, and one of them is, doing a walk in. We are a walk in tattoo studio in Bury, Greater Manchester. However, I do understand the responsibility involved in order to take a walk in , you have to be able to make quick decisions, you have to be able to change their idea in a short amount of time.

Zara walked in the studio this week, I was busy working on a video with a friend of mine, however, I gave her my business card, and asked her to message me on what’s app. Finishing what I had to do I messaged Zara, and asked her to come back to the studio.

Zara was very friendly, and she was totally sure about what she wanted, and she was aware about the design having to be clear, in order to age well, so we made some changes in the design, to make it look a bit more clear, I printed the design in 2 sizes and she picked the largest size out of the 2, which I was happy about, as I knew it would be great for longevity.

Zara was 18 years old, and she was very sensible for an 18 year old, I can see her having really  good quality tattoos in the future, because she does her research, and have a good eye for good quality tattoos.

The tattoo process went really well, and Zara, seemed really relaxed to the sound of “Nujabes” one of my favourite bands to play in the studio.

Sometimes, doing small tattoos can be effective and you can leave a positive mark on someone, who you spent so little quality time with.

Thank you Zara

Tattoo Studio Manchester

Rebirth in Life and Tattooing

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Tattoo Studio Manchester

Re-Birth in my life and Tattooing

Hello Everyone, and Thanks for looking at my weekly blog. In this blog I would like to talk about re-birth. I believe we all go thought death and re-birth while we live. And sometimes we don’t understand why we go through certain situations, we don’t understand why certain things happens to us. We can not understand why certain things don’t work out the way we imagined, however, everything that happens to us, is in order to make us evolve, and the universe will have to shift your life, move you out of somewhere where you are not supposed to be. The Universe will move people out of your life, in order to move you out of a situation where you would never prosper, people who are not meant to be in your life, life will detach you from them, and it all makes sense after.

We all die while we live, and the process of being re-born while we live it takes a lot out of us. Re-birth is a tough process to go through, and we should embrace it, and not try to deviate from it. The reason why is, because, the re-birth process happens to us in order to make us evolve.

I started tattooing in 2006, in Bury, and in 2009, I moved to Leeds, as I was looking to make progression in my tattooing career, and try to meet and work with artists. Moving to Leeds it allowed me to work with Tattooists who could draw and paint, so I would spend all da tattooing, drawing and painting at night. That had a really good effect in my career, inspiration wise, and learning wise. I thought Leeds was going to be a quick adventure, that only lasted a few years, I thought I would be out of Leeds in 3 years, but it ended up lasting 13 years.

I did have opportunities to leave Leeds before 13 years, however, I did not make decisions based on what was best for me, I made decisions based on what was best for me and others I worked with, and those who I worked with, were making decisions that was best for them. Anyway, you live and learn, and I’m glad I had that lesson earlier in life, and I evolved from it.

I feel like Leeds was a school for me, where I learned a lot, however, I feel blessed, that I was able to have the opportunity to start again, leave everything behind, and starting again, somewhere where it feels like home. Even knowing, I’m not born in the UK, when I first arrived to England in 99, I came straight to live in Greater Manchester.

Thank you Leeds for the lessons, and I understand that everything happened in order to make me evolve, I’m still going through a process of healing and moving on, as it was 13 years, however, I’m grateful that I’m having the opportunity to start again.

I feel like Manchester resonates more with my sort of work and style, and I feel like tattoo fans understand and appreciate my work in Manchester. I did have a good time also in Leeds, and I met some incredible people, who became my friends, however, for my tattoo career, Manchester is more in harmony with me as a person and an artist.

Tattoo Artist Manchester

Moving from Leeds to Manchester

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Tattoo Artist Louis Santos Moves to Manchester, Ready for New Challenges

Louis Santos, a well-known tattoo artist from Leeds, is making a bold move to Manchester, bringing with him years of experience, skill, and passion for the craft. After establishing a strong reputation in Leeds, Santos is ready to take on a new challenge in the bustling tattoo scene of Manchester. His move has been eagerly awaited by those who admire his work, and he’s looking forward to sharing his expertise with a new audience.

A New Chapter for the Tattoo Artist in Manchester

Santos’ decision to move to Manchester was not made lightly. Having spent several years honing his skills in Leeds, he built a loyal clientele who appreciated his unique designs and attention to detail. However, he felt it was time to push his limits further and explore a new environment that offers fresh opportunities.

“When you’re comfortable in one place for too long, you stop growing,” Santos said. “Moving to Manchester is about challenging myself in a new city and learning from the tattoo culture here. I’m excited to see what Manchester has in store for me as a tattoo artist.”

Manchester is known for its thriving arts scene, and tattoo culture is no exception. With many talented artists already working in the city, Santos knows he’s stepping into a competitive market. But he’s not intimidated—instead, he sees it as a chance to bring his unique style to a new audience and to learn from the creative community in Manchester.

Lessons from Leeds: What Louis Santos Brings to Manchester

Throughout his years in Leeds, Santos developed a distinct style that combines intricate line work with bold, vibrant colors. His designs range from traditional tattoos to modern and abstract pieces, appealing to a wide variety of clients. One of the most important lessons he’s learned is the value of truly listening to his clients. For Santos, tattooing is not just about putting ink on skin; it’s about creating a piece of art that reflects the client’s vision and personality.

“I’ve learned that being a good tattoo artist isn’t just about technique,” Santos explained. “It’s about communication and understanding what the client wants. You have to make sure that they feel comfortable and confident in your work.”

In addition to this client-focused approach, Santos brings a dedication to continuous improvement. He’s always refining his techniques and exploring new styles, making sure his work stays fresh and relevant. As he moves to Manchester, he’s eager to absorb influences from the city’s diverse tattoo community, which is known for embracing a wide range of styles, from minimalistic designs to bold, avant-garde pieces.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Louis Santos as a Tattoo Artist in Manchester

While the move to Manchester presents new challenges, Santos is more than ready to take them on. His reputation as a talented tattoo artist from Leeds will surely help him as he starts to build a new clientele in Manchester. He’s already made connections with local studios and artists, and he’s excited to collaborate and learn from them.

“Manchester has a fantastic creative energy,” Santos said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how my work evolves here and to becoming part of this incredible community. It’s not just about tattooing—it’s about connecting with people, learning from them, and growing as an artist.”

For anyone in Manchester looking for a skilled, passionate tattoo artist, Louis Santos is certainly one to watch. With his wealth of experience and dedication to his craft, he’s sure to make a strong impression on the city’s vibrant tattoo scene. His journey from Leeds to Manchester marks the start of an exciting new chapter in his career, and he’s ready to embrace all the opportunities and challenges it brings.

Tattoo Artist Manchester

Female Viking Warrior

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I had a lot of fun drawing this female viking warrior, it was an idea i spent time planning on a sketch, before i translated to the full A1 paper size. This drawing is for sure the biggest one i have ever approached, and i have to say that i much prefer to draw on a bigger paper size. Drawing it allows me to explore new ideas to tattooing, and show to clients looking for a different tattoo, that is possible to be creative and achieve a unique look with the tattoo. Nowadays there are so many tattoo artists copying images from google, and its all good. I just care for achieving something unique, and to be able to do that, it requires free time dedication, which i understand not everyone is willing to dedicate free time to art. However, me as an artist, this become natural.

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