10/15/2026
Remember throwback Thursdays?! That was a better era on IG…🥲
You all loved the last shiny throwback tattoo of Brian’s we posted so here’s another one, a chrome chess piece tattoo on the forearm. Polished, reflective, and small enough to sit nicely on the outer forearm.
Many of the chrome tattoos that go viral on Instagram (the ones people send to us like “is this real or AI?!”) get their shine and contrast from heavy white ink use (and editing…where did the pores and hair follicles go? 🤔). Those fresh photos look insane, but white is the least stable ink in tattooing. It is translucent, it fades faster than darker pigments, and it can turn yellowish with age and sun. As the white softens, the shine goes with it, and a piece that looked like polished metal can start to look flat.
Brian builds chrome differently, with value and contrast, using the full range of black and grey and letting the skin itself carry the brightest highlights. The highlights are set hard against deep blacks so the metal seems to bend light around the mane, the nose, and every ring of the base.
Brian shaded the whole piece with only two needles: an 08 3RL and an 08 5RL, no magnums. Every reflection was built pass by pass with liners. That is why this kind of chrome is built to last: when the shine comes from contrast instead of a layer of white on top, the effect lives in the structure of the tattoo.
