Meet Tia Naayem, an LA-based tattoo artist with an extremely versatile style. Surreal, abstract, warped or realistic—she seems to have done it all as seen on her Instagram page, which features nearly 1,400 posts of various tattoo designs and is followed by 77,300 people.
While all of her designs are captivating, folks online have started gravitating towards a particular kind of tattoos—the ones where the image is warped.
You see, these aren’t your run of the mill tattoos—they come to fruition under certain conditions, namely when the person with the tattoo bends their limbs. Only then does the full message start making sense.
Either that, or you have a very visual mind and can piece it together regardless.
In an interview with Bored Panda, Tia elaborated that she actually used to work in film, but one fateful tattoo appointment changed that:
“[I] felt like I was missing a creative outlet, so I was drawing all the time trying to get something creative done. Eventually, I got a tattoo from an artist and became enamored with the process and how involved it is with both art and biology. It became fascinating to me.”
Tia continued: “I decided to buy a machine and try it out as a hobby just to see what could come of it! I loved the process so much that I kept doing it, and here we are!”
“I’m inspired by so many different artists, there’s so many amazing Tattooers and everyday objects that inspire me. I try to draw what I love.”
Each knee piece that Tia designs is actually entirely custom-made to fit a person’s leg. She explained that it’s a collaborative process of sorts: sometimes she comes up with phrases together with the client, but there are occasions when the clients themselves bring a phrase they already had in mind, or even go with something Tia thought of.
“I’ll generally see the way their body works and stencil the piece around their flexibility and go from there!”
“It usually takes anywhere from around 3 to 5 hours depending on the client’s skin, the amount of details and the size we go with,” added Tia. “Some people are really relaxed throughout and we can get through it quicker. [Others] are in more pain and we have to take frequent breaks.”
