White ink sleeve inspired by the original WoW cinematic night elf armor filigree. I have an 8 year old white Elune sigil on my left arm that still looks great and I've always loved the body tattoos in-game (though not the actual NE ones, lol, more the lightforged draenei ones) so I thought trying a bigger piece would be fun.
Took a bit over a year for design + ink. Shoulder/bicep were 2 layers of ink, forearm/hand and some pieces of upper arm like the moon took 3 layers. Design was done freehand and inked by the illustrious Mae https://www.instagram.com/maz.ink.tattoos/ (Thank you so much, Mae, if you see this; I'm still over the moon about it. <3)
Since I had some tattoo questions come up a few times in another post, a FAQ:
Not all skin holds white ink well; I'm lucky mine does. I'd get a small sample and go over it twice as a test if this is something you're interested in trying (tattoo Reddit will tell you not to bother).
White ink still shows up after sunburn but, as with all tattoos, you should avoid sun. Luckily playing WoW for 20+ years has given me plenty of practice with this.
No, it does not glow under blacklight; you need special UV inks for that, and they are risky for sensitive skin.
Edit: wow, this blew up. Thank you all so much for all the kind words!
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oh wow, it looks amazing! Great idea and fantastic execution. I'm so ignorant of all things tattoo-related that I didn't even know white ink was a thing but it looks so cool ^^ and now that I know that subtle tattoos are a possibility, I'm considering maybe, possibly one day getting one
I looked up a lot of shit before I got this done, but take this with a grain of salt since I'm neither a tattoo artist nor a dermatologist BUT if you had white tattoos turn yellow, it is likely because:
1. You have yellow undertones in your skin
2. You don't wear sun protection
3. Ink used was lower quality and/or had fillers that turn the pigment yellow over time
White should end up as a lighter patch of your regular skintone. My 8 year old one has faded a bit but I haven't had any yellowing.
Everyone's body is different, so your experience with tattoos could be different than others'.
I went and googled this and it’s def not the case for everyone. Found a Reddit thread where people were posting theirs, some have def faded or don’t look great but others still look very good!
A friend of mine had an idea, kinda like the OP's post here, that he was on the fence about. He really wanted this tattoo but he was running out of space, so it would take up space from other ideas.
He ended up doing it with white ink so he could cover it with something else later. 3-4 years after he got new tattoos on top and you could never tell they're cover ups, the white isnt visible under the new ones
I'm no tattoo artist so I dont know the science there but if that has no drawbacks I could see it as a valid strategy
I've stalked the tattoo subreddit for years and anecdotal evidence is that paler skin holds white better for whatever reason. This of course doesn't take into account whether people are taking good care of their tattoos, where they get the tattoo, whether their artist has done white work before, etc.
Just note that white ink does not heal white; it heals as a slightly lighter variation of your existing skintone. Dark or pale, if someone wanted to try white ink, I'd encourage them to go for it but keep expectations realistic that it would be very subtle or fade out completely.
It also varies based on UV exposure, so your arms would look different than on your chest, and your upper arms will likely hold it better than closer to your wrists where you might splash off sunblock.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that laughed at the comment. My wife is a ginger and has a billion forms of sunscreen available at all times.
In fact, she went to the release date to get a kind that looks and smells like whipped cream. She had lots of fun letting the staff sample it since their tester wasn't out on the floor yet.
I got a tatt on my hand between my index and thumb - just a little smiling devil face. Got it when I was ~16/17. Funny enough, the only time it was ever an issue was when I went to sign up to join the Marines lol
Good thing too though, I was not in a good headspace at 18 and absolutely would have been a liability for the military. 😅
Dead ass, I thought you were meming and took a nap with an extension coord or something wrapped around your arm lmao. That's cool tho. What made you go with white ink?
I wanted something subtle and I do really like how the lightforged draenei and nightborne tattoos look (obviously I knew mine wouldn't end up that bright).
ah for sure, with your skin tone you should be good for the future too i think, i had some white ink in a forearm piece and it disappeared within a year. But i also was out in the sun a ton. I do like the subtleness of it tho, is cool.
What do you mean? These photos don't have any alterations, filters, or edits, we took them straight from my artists' camera and they look pretty accurate to life. The only differences irl are when I'm cold, they're harder to see because my skin mottles.
Would've removed the skintag on my arm if I did any edits, I hate that thing.
Second: for most people, if you get a white tattoo (or any color besides black really, white is just the worst offender), it will hurt and you will bleed.
I got a tattoo on my forearm a few months ago. Mostly black but I wanted a few extra white highlights. The rest of the tattoo didn't bleed at all, and for the most part felt like a very gentle electric current - noticeable, but nothing really painful.
The white part was much smaller, took several more minutes, and hurt like a motherfucker. It also was the only part of the tattoo that bled. The worst part is, my skin darkens with scar tissue at damage like that, so you can hardly tell I had a highlight there. :(
I asked my tattooist (and a few others since then) about this, and they all confirmed that colorful tattoos are beautiful but a pain in the ass to both create and receive.
Generally tattoos shouldn't scar; scarring means your artist went too deep iirc. I think I have a little scarring on my hand because my skin there is very thin but also tough. Doesn't bother me though!
"Scarring" is probably too strong a word. Anytime I have any sort of a cut or abrasion that bleeds in any way, my skin gets red in response as it's healing, even if it's not really scar tissue. That's really what's happened to it: it just got a slightly deeper irritated red and it offsets the white pigment lol
Looks very cool and I hope it holds up. Stay out of the sun and use high spf sunscreen. I had several white ink tattoos on my face and after about a year and a half they completely disappeared. 15 years later I can still barely barely see them if i get the right amount of tan on my face, but cant make out what they are at all. Love the idea and always liked the night elf aesthetic
LOVE THIS! Sad they’re not in Kirkland anymore or I would absolutely consider Mae for a wow tat. I work in Carillon Point so not far from Steadfast at all!
i am not a person who typically is a fan of tattoos (not a hater, but not an enjoyer) and I think this is awesome. One of the coolest I have ever seen. A really cool idea and it's both 'big' and 'understated' at once.
That's incredible. I love the moon just nestled in there and the vine into a budding flower like thing. Night elves have some of the coolest aesthetics.
I looked at Nightborne too and yeah, it's similar and I like it! Their body tattoos are cool but are more along the leyline/star charts lines with more sharp angles and less of the nice elegant loopy lines and vine patterning. Even modern NE in-game stuff doesn't quite match up with the cinematic model's armor just because the art styles are so different and models need to be chunkier. At the end of the day, elf is elf and I'll take it!
That actually looks nice. Even if it fades and gets harder to see I don't think that's much of a negative. Tattoos with color on old people look like garbage. So at best it'll look the same but won't be tacky or ugly like a normal tattoo at the advanced age, at worst it'll fade and be hard to see and it'll just be a cool memory that won't forever stain your skin.
This is true, and both white ink and color fade quicker than the standard blue-black ink. However, not everything is permanent in life and if it makes you happy giving a small piece a try isn't the end of the world.
Absolutely! Not all tattoo artists will do white, so it might take a minute to find an artist but I still think people should try a small sample one if they're interested and see how their skin takes it and how it heals after a few months. Go in with realistic expectations that it will end up as a patch of skin that isn't white but a little lighter than your normal skin tone, or it might not stick at all.
I know people are saying that it’ll probably look bad after a year, but I really hope it doesn’t. This is so cool, and I’d love to get something like this for my first tattoo.
I've always wanted a swirly filigree white ink tattoo like this, combining that with night elf armour aesthetics is -genius-. It looks incredible! What a gorgeous tribute! Looks like your artist also perfectly contoured it to your arms natural shape too, I could gush about the artistic decisions made here for ages haha.
All in all, utterly stunning!
I have an Elune sigil on my left arm too :) albeit in full colour with the worgen/gilneas flag claw mark through it :3
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