The landscape of British tattooing has been changing for the better constantly over the past few decades. More and more Brits are getting tattooed by the kind of talent that has never even existed until now.
Whatever style of art you personally enjoy, be it watercolour, oils, surrealism, geometry, cartoons, calligraphy, or Japanese anime, all of it can be captured on the skin by the immensely talented UK tattoo artists working today. And the most wonderful thing is that more and more of these immensely talented artists are women.
The UK’s Best Female Tattoo Artists
Female tattoo artists are taking up more and more of the tattooing landscape in the UK and that is a wholly fantastic thing. More art, more talent, more skills, more beauty. So, let’s take a look at ten of the best female tattoo artists working in the UK tattoo industry today.
Ali Burke
Ali’s art is unmistakeable. She has a unique and frankly magical eye for capturing the world as it exists and the world of fiction in her artwork. If you’re looking for a tattoo that incorporates adorable animals, bright flowers, or anime characters, you have to go to Ali for her uncanny ability to blend bold colour with soft tones.
There’s an atmosphere to her tattoos – they appear kind, sweet, made with love and affection. And all of this matches Ali’s own personality and attitude towards her work. She’s a kind, enthusiastic, and incredibly friendly artist. After a few hours with her, you get the best tattoo and a new friend. We know from first-hand experience, and we also know that she is one of the finest female tattoo artists in the UK today.
Find Ali on our list of artists of geeky tattoos!
Dani Green
Based in Edinburgh, Dani Green is one of the most electrifying and striking female tattoo artists in the UK right now. Her work is bold, bright, colourful, and playful; inspired by everything from natural landscapes and creatures to more nerdy designs reminiscent of Japanese and western pop culture.
The way that Dani Green sees and implements colour into her tattoos is inspiring, and the imaginative ways that she plays with her inspiration to create something wholly new and entirely her own will stay with you for a long time. Dani Green is one of the UK’s most beloved and celebrated tattoo artists for a reason. You need only glance over her work to see why!
Kate Selkie
My god, there may not be a UK-based female tattoo artist working today, with a more unique art style than Kate Selkie. We often use the comparison of human skin to canvas when talking about tattoos, but Selkie actually has the remarkable ability to make skin seem like canvas.
She doesn’t tattoo so much as she paints. Specialising in animals, flowers, and plants with an alluring blend of absolute realism and subtle interpretation, she creates something unmatched by any other UK tattoo artist. Her work is something truly special, and if there’s one woman who can make a name for herself with a unique style, it’s Kate Selkie.
Lois Clayton
Based in Essex, Lois Clayton is a UK tattoo artist who specialises in vibrant and colourful tattoos based on Pokemon and Nintendo characters. She takes beloved characters and puts them in original and imaginative scenarios, such as ramen bowls, keychains, or bites of sushi.
Clayton’s tattoos are both dedications to, and unique takes on, the beloved characters that so many of us grew up on, have been inspired by, and continue to find so much joy and comfort in. And, thanks to the sheer creativity on display in her tattoos, and the fact that the brightness and positivity found in these characters emanates so boldly from her work, you can’t help but smile at every single piece she creates.
Lala Inky
Lala is a quirky, sweet, and wonderful female tattoo artist with a delightfully nerdy side to her tattoo art. Both of us at Books and Bao have been lucky enough to get tattooed by her, and it’s always a fun, relaxing, and exciting experience.
Her work is unabashedly nerdy, adorable, usually bright and bold. Our own tattoos from her (one above) are great examples of that. Lala is great at taking something nerdy, whether it be Japanese or Western and putting her own unique spin on it, customising it, and bringing it to life in real bold beauty. She’s also fun, and being tattooed by someone who’s fun and a good chat takes half the pain away.
Stephanie Melbourne
If there’s one word that sums up Stephanie, it’s ‘dynamic’. A quick scroll through her impressive Instagram page reveals a range of styles and topics, from cartoony portraits to true-to-life shimmering rubies; from animals to anime. She’s diverse and her work is exciting. There’s a life and an animation to her tattoos that really make you feel like you’ve been given something exciting, not just a still image. Something, well, dynamic!
Stephanie blends neotrad tattooing with more modern and fun subject matter, showing that tattoos can be fun, sweet, and adorable.
Ellis Arch
Ellis can do an awful lot. Her range of style and her approach to tattooing is more than impressive. From black-and-white minimalism to brutalist bold blacks and sold colours to intricately shaded and coloured true-to-life people and creatures.
She’s the kind of artist you can approach with a vague idea and style, and she can make it into something real and tangible that you’ll fall in love with. Whether you like your tattoos loud and bold, or soft and delicate, she can do it. There’s a strength and fluidity to her art that’s unmatchable. Just look at how she captured our beautiful boy Oscar!
Lucy O’Connell
Lucy is another incredible UK tattoo artist who can do almost anything. If you have a favourite character from a film – real or animated – she can capture it on your skin like nobody else.
If you’re looking to celebrate your love of animals, people, or natural things, she can celebrate it with you. Or if you just want to look even more beautiful, she can help. Her art is versatile; it’s living, breathing, exciting art that’s hard not to get lost in.
Her strengths are in her variety and her intricate ways of capturing the heart of the thing she’s tattooing. She’s clearly an artist whose love for tattooing is equal to her skill.
Claudia de Sabe
Claudia is nothing less than a thundering legend in the UK tattoo artist world, especially among female tattoo artists. Originally from Italy, she gifts lucky lovers of tattoos everyday with mind-blowing, gorgeous artwork. Claudia takes the most traditional aspects of tattooing, from the UK, USA, Japan, and so on, and makes them sharper, more exciting, more modern, and more beautiful.
If you love your neotrad designs, Claudia’s interpretation and unique spin cannot be beaten. And it’s not hard to argue that she does traditional portraiture better than any other UK tattoo artist.
Sadee Glover
If you have a love for pets, beautiful wild creatures, and the prettier things in life, Sadee can map them to your skin for life, making you even more beautiful than you already are. Her ability to blend the bolder, harsher lines and colours of traditional work with the subtler intricacies and details of modern tattooing is impressive, demonstrating control, a keen eye, and a love for the art of tattooing.
She’s also incredibly gifted at portraiture with a colourful, neotrad twist. Sadee is one of the great female tattoo artists, for sure.
Georgina Liliane
There’s a softer, darker, more pastel-esque tone to Georgina’s artwork that relaxes you if you gaze at it for long enough. Her beautiful style, which is very much unique to her, is so unmistakably Georgina.
This means that she is, seemingly effortlessly, set apart from the rest of the UK’s female tattoo artists by virtue of being wonderfully herself. Like a nature and landscape painter, she captures the intricacies of living, moving, breathing things and transfers them into tattoo art with seamless beauty and splendour.
Amy V Savage
You’d be surprised how few artists can switch between black-and-grey and colour work without losing an inch of quality and dynamism. Amy is one of those rare and special artists. She has an eye for the deep yet simple artistry in things of the natural world, and celebrates them through her art.
Whether you prefer your art to be bold and bright, or softer and darker, she can deliver on both styles with grace and panache. Look closely, and take in all the wonderful intricacies of her work. And take your time.
Keavy
Based in Cumbria, Keavy is one of those wonderful female tattoo artists who excels within the cheerful, cute, and bright world of tattooing (our favourite place to be). Her art pops with bold, happy colours; it takes a lot of influence from the happier side of pop culture (kids’ cartoons and Pokemon, for example); and it makes you happy just to gaze on it.
She does also dabble in black and grey work but, in our opinion, it’s her brightest and most vibrant pieces that help her to stand out in a crowded industry. Bubbly and bright, we can’t get enough!
Clara
Bristol-based Clara is a new and fresh face in the UK tattoo world, but she has burst out of the gate with an immediately recognisable brand. Clara’s colour palette, style, and design themes are all her own, and having a unique brand of your own is what tattoo art is all about these days. She’s as savvy and she is talented!
If you’re into pastel tones, smaller pieces, and cute themes inspired by storybooks, nature, a big of old school tattooing, and generally happy vibes, you need to get a tattoo from Clara asap!
If you want to check out some of the best men tattoo artists in the UK today or tattoo artists in South Korea, then look no further.