As Editor-in-Chief of Inked Magazine, I can easily argue that I spend more time looking at tattoos than anyone else in the world. My social media feeds are covered in tattoos, my day-to-day business is covered in tattoos, and the bodies of most of my co-workers and many of my friends are covered in tattoos. Every time there’s anything remarkable about a tattoo, my phone explodes and friends and family go, “Holy shit, did you see something [insert celebrity name here] been tattooed?”
So as we sat around trying to put together some end of year lists, I got the idea to do the best tattoos of the year. Which, if you think about it for more than a millisecond, is an impossible task. Millions of tattoos are created every year, it would take a Herculean effort to see even a fraction of them, let alone list them all properly. But let me tell you this, as I appreciate each and every one of you wonderful readers, I have made this Herculean effort at great sacrifice for my personal health. It was both a labor of love and a test of human will, but I did it only for you. You’re welcome.
OK, you got me, that was a lie. I haven’t seen every tattoo produced this year, nor have I done any scientific rankings. Literally all I did was sit at the computer, scroll through Instagram, and try to remember who’s been doing some really sick shit this year. This is 100% my personal opinion, which you should know by now is the most important opinion of all, so why should I include anything else in my decisions? Anything I like is clearly the best, and anything that didn’t make this list is terrible by definition.
Without further ado, here are the 22 Best Tattoos of 2022! If you have a problem with any of them, you can meet me outside of Inked NYC on New Year’s Day and we’ll take care of it Gangs of New York style. Street brawls really don’t exist enough in today’s society, but that’s another topic for another time. May I proudly present the only tattoos of 2022 that matter!
22. Manh Huinh
This tattoo broke my brain the first time I saw it, so much so that I wondered if someone had put some LSD in my seltzer water. It turns out that they didn’t and that Manh Huynh is simply a creative genius doing things that either Hanna or Barbera ever dreamed of.
21. Hood
It’s no secret that Hoode has been the artist of choice for blackouts for quite some time, but what if one day he finds a different color ink in the shop and decides to try a blueout? Boom. Saturation is one thing, but look at that insanely straight line connecting blue and black. Goddamn.
20. Marqui Watling
The colors. The placement. The simplicity. There is so much to love here.
19.Shi-ryu
This bodysuit is still a work in progress but I don’t hesitate to share it. It’s insane. The person who got this tattoo is so much tougher than I will ever be.
18. Zlata Kolomoyskaya
I personally love silly tattoos. This kitty is so whimsical and adorable, and Kolomoyskaya’s black and gray realism is on point.
17. Hannah Flowers
I’m a fan of well-done neo-traditional tattoos. What I really love about this piece is the way Flowers was able to trap moisture on the woman’s face. Most of the time tattoo artists try to do this, they fail. Such a beautiful tattoo.
16. Edit colors
Wow. Seriously, that’s all I have to say about it. Wow.
15.Derek Turcotte
Reptar! Spongebob! Arnold! All that! This leg sleeve just inspired me to watch Nickelodeon cartoons for hours. Doug must be in there somewhere, but other than that, no complaints.
14. Opals
The level of detail in these little rectangles is absurd. It’s hard to believe that this is a tattoo and not just a sticker.
13. Kitchen tattoo artist
That’s a surprise. Despite Google officially declaring this to be the greatest tattoo of all time, it only comes in at number 13 for me this year. The Sucky Panther is iconic and this is probably my favorite out of hundreds of them I’ve seen.
12. Kat Abdy
There is so much going on in this back piece that it would feel jumbled and confusing if done by a lesser artist. Abdy, on the other hand, absolutely kills it with this back piece. I especially love all the different textures.
11. Bert Krak
I’ve seen hundreds of Bert Krak tattoos over the years and I’ve been impressed with all of them, the man is consistent but this is the first to have my jaw hit the floor. There are 66 skulls on this man’s skull, in case you were counting.
10. Pony Lawson
Pony Lawson is the only tattoo artist I know who only drinks Margarita. Mexican restaurant? Margarita. Sushi spot? Margarita. A pub with a bathroom that looks like a super fund website? Margarita. The man has a brand and stays true to it. Of course, he also has his other brand based on being a great tattoo artist. His take on this Jeff Koons artwork is tremendous.
9. Gustavo James
Have you ever seen a tattoo on someone else and thought, damn, that person must have the exact same brain as me? That’s exactly how I felt when I saw this Jason Voorhees do his best impression of Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything while trading the boring Peter Gabriel song for him One of the best Menzinger songs. This tattoo reigns so damn hard.
8. The Leisure Bandit
Mandala tattoos are so 2021, Nelson mandala tattoos are the way of the future. It’s so smart and incredibly stupid at the same time, I love it to death.
7.David Corden
This realistic kitty fits so nicely into this cozy little place, it reminds me of every single Bodega cat I’ve found among items on a shelf. You don’t see realistic gap fillers very often, and when you do, they’re rarely as well done as they are here.
6. Kelly Doty
Kelly Doty is on my list every year. Creatively, there are very few tattoo artists who do what she does every day. Jessica Rabbit is a character you’ve seen 50,000 times, but you’ve never seen her like this here, have you? It’s really hard to put into words how impressive it is when an artist reinterprets an iconic image while making it recognizable and groundbreaking at the same time.
5. Mat rule
I’m fortunate to work just meters away from Mat, so I see his brilliant creations on a daily basis. I’m always blown away by how delightfully silly his tattoos are, but this Michelangelo/Handsome Squidward mashup might just be the greatest of all time.
4. Sarah Rosa
Is there anything better than a crisp tattoo with fine lines? The answer is no, no there isn’t. these rules.
3. Spider Sinclaire
There’s no eloquent way to say this, so I’ll just be blunt — Spider Sinclaire’s tattoos are getting so damn tough. They all seem to have sprung from the fever dream of a D&D-obsessed teenage Metalhead in the best possible way. This belly piece is flawless.
2. Dan McWilliams
Listen, I know Squirtle is far from the coolest Pokemon, but I don’t care. I love the little guy. So when I saw this Dan McWilliams tattoo, I squealed — yes, I, a grown man, squealed — with delight.
1. Myke Chambers
This snake here is called Slithering Sam and is a delight. It’s by far the biggest tattoo of the entire year, possibly the entire decade. And do you know why? Because it’s on the arm typing that exact sentence as we speak. I told you this would be a biased list so of course the number one tattoo is the tattoo I got a few weeks ago. But even if I didn’t put my thumb on the scale to make my tattoo a winner, Myke Chambers is responsible for some of the cleanest traditional tattoos in the whole country.