Lil Dich: painting, abstraction and tattoos

A composition can hold different kinds of marks

The design shown here is a collaboration by Lil Dich and Zori. It combines a butterfly, a dark rectangular passage and loose sweeping marks. The contrast between an identifiable subject and abstract gestures gives the eye several ways into the image.

This is a drawing intended as a tattoo design, rather than a photograph of a finished tattoo. The shared authorship is part of the work: it should be read as a collaboration, not attributed to one artist alone.

Talk about what the reference does

If you are drawn to a painting or other artwork, explain what interests you: its movement, an uneven edge, a contrast or the way shapes are arranged. That gives the artist more to work with than an instruction to reproduce every detail.

Think about how much space you want the tattoo to occupy and how closely you want the marks to gather. The surrounding skin becomes part of the composition, particularly in a design that uses open or gestural passages.

These influences are part of a wider individual language. Our essay What do you call this tattoo style? explores how an artist’s own signature develops beyond a category.