Inking your love: pet portrait tattoos

When he started his practice, Nick Solomon wasn’t surprised clients kept asking for portraits of their pets. “Who doesn’t love their pet?” he said. Six years later, demand has skyrocketed. “Now pet portraits make up 95% of my workload,” he said. “I’ve done over 1,000 pet portraits.” He even has repeat clients getting more than one pet tattoo: “It’s never the same pet twice, but often a new pet.”

Indeed, Solomon is seeing a trend that has taken hold across the country. Pets are family members, and more pet parents are commemorating the special bond they have with their furry pal by getting a tattoo of them. 

66% of American households currently have a pet, and 32% of Americans have a tattoo. So it makes sense that there is overlap.

But even more telling is the reason people get tattoos. According to the Pew Research Center, 69% of Americans with tattoos got one to honor someone or something — and who doesn’t want to carry their pet with them wherever they go?

Solomon, who grew up with pets and recently lost his rescue cat Mitten, has seen the lengths pet parents go to for the perfect pet portrait. “One client of mine drove from Pittsburgh, about seven hours, for his piece, and after the tattoo, drove straight home,” he said. “It was a super meaningful and somewhat tragic piece as the pet had passed unexpectedly between him booking and when he came in for the tattoo. Thankfully he has found a new pet friend, and he’s coming back in a few months for a second portrait.”

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He said some clients prefer to get paw prints, nose prints or ear outlines instead of their entire pet. “They are more subtle and better suited to some client’s tastes,” he explained. “ I can do portraits as small as 1.5 inches, but that can still be intimidating to someone with very few tattoos.”

Pet tattoo artists have their own style and area of expertise. Take Jia Kim, a pet tattoo artist in San Francisco, for example. She does colorful, realistic depictions of animals that look more like photographs. NANA, a tattoo artist in Los Angeles, focuses on the details. “The style requires perfect presentation and expression,” it says on the website.

Many have dedicated and large social media followings, something Solomon attributes to his success. “TikTok has really expanded my exposure,” he said.

Solomon specializes in the fineline style, which means he uses thinner needles for more intricate designs. He sets himself apart by only working in black and white. “Some fineline artists might disagree, but I’ve been tattooing for 16 years and can attest that color work just does not hold up at this size,” he said “Every tattoo will change and fade over time but you can expect maybe three times the lifespan with black and gray versus color work.”

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He is also famous for planting an Easter egg in his tattoo: an outline of the pet parent reflected in the pet’s eye.  “It wasn’t a conscious decision at first,” he said. “Once I realized what I was seeing in the photo it made it really important to me to make it a prominent feature.”

One of the best parts of his job is celebrating the bond between the pet parent and pet. When pets are no longer alive, getting a pet tattoo can be a “great way to approach the healing process,” he said.

But he also encourages clients to depict their pets while they are still around. “Sometimes it’s nice to have the association with the pet's life rather than their passing,” he said. “And the pet can see the piece!”