Another person I could have included in my post about Iestyn Flye’s scar work and upcoming seminar with Ron Garza was the brilliant and aptly named blackwork tattoo artist Matt Black who works at London’s Divine Canvas, since he has some eye-catching skin-removal on his nose by Iestyn. Even though you don’t see this type of facial scar that much, it has a strong historical basis and in fact Maori mokos, which are based on their wood carving art, were first done as “skin carving” before they became the more commonly seen “normal” tattoos.

I hope seeing it and similar pieces will encourage more people to explore this artform on their faces. The nose seems to really carry the scar well — although I would urge people to only go to the best for this sort of thing… Your nose is not a piece of anatomy you want someone learning through trial-and-error on!!! Here is a recent picture of Matt’s face showing both the scar and the rest of his amazing facial tattooing.

But I also wanted to share two recent blackwork tattoos that Matt has done. I’m not sure who the hand work is on, but the chest is on another great body artist, Damien Voodoo, who has an incredible collection of work that I will certainly show more of in the future. You can find Matt at divine-canvas.com along with many other top-notch artists specializing in (but not exclusive to) the modern neo-tribal tattoo style. By the way, look carefully at these tattoos and you’ll see they’re not just a “boring old solid fill” — it’s actually a dense field of dotwork.