iPad and Procreate masterful combination for tattoo artist Joey de Boer

Dabbling and scribbling with raging pen on paper is cute. But if it helps arty users of Apple’s iPad to get the most out of the can, tattoo expert Joey de Boer from Amsterdam is a guideline. He immediately designs your tattoo on a tablet, as it turned out with OMT editor-in-chief Mark Hofman, who received one. Colleague Dennis Mons, stood by and chuckled like a clerk.

It’s a bizarre article, admittedly, but I’m writing this partly while my colleague is moaning (not too bad)… Did I taunt Mark about potential pain? Definitely. But did everything go smoothly? Erm yes. It wasn’t too bad and nowadays a tat is quickly designed and set, and the Apple iPad helps with that.

Tattoo design is brilliant on iPad with Procreate

Getting a tattoo is not easy. Especially when the first one has to be placed, the run-up can be quite nervous. The design is already a challenge, let alone setting it.

But in all honesty: thanks to the iPad, scribbling on paper is a thing of the past. The ease with which Joey de Boer, one of the best tattoo artists in Amsterdam, made a perfect design for my buddy Mark was nothing short of impressive.

Feel free to take this as a review, because I pored over Joey’s designs and was simply blown away. Everything Mark didn’t want or wanted was adjusted in seconds on Joey’s iPad in Procreate. Erasers, brushes and brushes were turned on and off with childlike simplicity. It blew my mind. It was painting.

Pleasantly, Joey showed in Procreate how fast he could draw a beautiful butterfly, but only on the left side. The iPad and Procreate took over the other side. Perfect symmetry. Mark was impressed, but was not waiting for a butterfly, no matter how flutteringly colorful it was.

However, Joey showed how easily complex designs can be made quickly. “I can draw both sides on an iPad with Procreate, and the design replicates itself on the other side. The funny thing is that while tattooing I forget that when I still have to do the other side.”

Mess around as much as you want on your Apple iPad

Working with layers and the choices of bezels, paintbrushes and, for example, airbrush effects also make a tattoo a painting. “On a canvas you quickly lose 120 euros,” says Joey. “Now I can make a huge sketch for a client and print it without wasting paper.”

Tight lines that are straightened are also a big advantage. “My clean lines are guesses when I design. But the clean lines are great if the software understands when it becomes a straight line or a circle. My iPad and Procreate take care of that.”

But Joey also knows that AI is quickly taking over the world. “For the same money you throw all my work into an AI construction. Then you can take a Joey de Boer tattoo design. The only thing I can do about it is get that tattoo myself. For the time being, we do not yet have AI robots that do that.”

So a kid can do the laundry when it comes to designing. Surrounded by people who have a huge passion for creativity, it is contagious to use Procreate.