Watercolor tattoos have become very popular, and if social media is any guide, this trend isn’t going away anytime soon. So long, standard black-ink body art. Take a peek at Instagram, where there are more than 1.4 million posts with the hashtag #watercolortattoos. 

These kinds of tattoos are probably familiar to you; they feature bright color swirls that appear more like paintings on canvases than like they were inked into someone’s skin. According to tattoo artist Melody Mitchell, “a watercolor tattoo is a tattoo that uses textures that replicate the aesthetic of watercolor or brushstroke paint.” Since tattoo artists are “mimicking the textures that different mediums of paint create” on skin, she explains, this technique does call for a high level of ability and attention to detail.