On July 16, 2021, a roughly 60-second video was posted on social media that includes a São Paulo-based tattoo artist who stated individuals typically believed his means to duplicate shadow and lightweight in 2-dimensional tattoos, making them seem third-dimensional, was inauthentic. The video, which was produced by 60 Second Docs and translated from Portuguese to English through subtitles, included this narration by the artist, Duda Lozano:
Lots of people suppose it’s faux or it’s manipulated in some way. That’s gratifying as a result of it means you’re on the proper path. […] I do embroidery tattoos. For a very long time, I’ve been on the lookout for a method to distinguish myself from different tattoo artists. And three years in the past, I had the thought of doing the patch tattoo model. You must grasp shadow and lightweight.
As you may see, the video included a number of cases by which fingers rubbed or touched the tattoos to seemingly show that they had been flat on somebody’s pores and skin as a substitute of textured like precise embroidered patches.
To research additional, we studied the artist’s Instagram and Facebook pages, the place he posted quite a few photographs and movies of the “embroidery tattoos” over the course of months.
One video by which he was tagged presumably confirmed his work being stretched out throughout somebody’s pores and skin because it was rubbed, proving the tattoos lacked depth that might make them third-dimensional. One other clip apparently confirmed him within the technique of giving an “embroidery tattoo” utilizing a regular tattoo machine and different instruments to make the everlasting physique modification.
Snopes additionally discovered profiles by INKED, {a magazine} that highlights tendencies within the business, and My Trendy Met that highlighted Lozano’s items — proof that, once more, confirmed the realness and credibility of his artwork. The latter publication — which goals to advertise “visually beautiful photographs” throughout quite a lot of platforms, resembling images and science, in response to its bio — stated:
Similar to an actual embroidered patch, Lozano’s pop culture-inspired work has thread traces that mimic the satin stitch in addition to the binding that retains the perimeters from fraying. […]
Earlier than he started his tattoo profession, he labored with logos and embroidered shirts. Lozano thought that this might intersect with tattooing, so he inked a Garfield patch design as an experiment. “The identical day I improved the method by making the Courage the Cowardly Dog [tattoo].” He hasn’t stopped since.
We reached out to Lozano to study extra about how he created the optical illusions. We’ll replace this web page if we hear again.
Nonetheless, we discovered no proof of any digital manipulation or Lozano utilizing practices that might not apply to different kinds of tattooing, resembling neo-realism or conventional line work. (Actually, based mostly on his social media pages, he was additionally able to these types.)
For these causes, and contemplating the proof outlined above, it’s “True” that the so-called “embroidery tattoos” are genuine physique modifications that appear to be third-dimensional stitched patches however are literally flat on individuals’s pores and skin, like all different tattoos.
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