Sacramento Tattoo Artists

Featured Sacramento Artists

Here are some of the best Sacramento tattoo artists and shops according to our research. If you think we should add anyone to the list or if you see anything that should be edited, contact us by clicking here

Sacramento Tattoo Artist Penguin Rafferty 3
Sacramento Tattoo Artist Penguin Rafferty 5
Sacramento Tattoo Artist Penguin Rafferty 6
Sacramento Tattoo Artist Penguin Rafferty 8

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White Buffalo Gallery

Tattoo Profile: Sarah “Penguin” Rafferty is a tattoo artist at White Buffalo Gallery in Sacramento, CA. With over 10 years as a graphic artist previous to tattooing, her style is filled with saturated bright colors, whimsical characters and tightly designed pieces.

Her influences can be seen in her use of bold lines, bright colors and love of weird yet cute and macabre designs. She enjoys drawing creatures, animals and cartoon characters. This is perfect for character’s from Disney, Pokémon, Anime as well as mythical and adorable animals and pet caricatures.

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 20

Chuck James

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 5
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Nick James

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 7
Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 8

Eric Goodman

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Ryan Dugi Lewis Tattoo Artist
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Ryan El Dugi Lewis

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Tayler Wooten

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 14

Red Xone

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Dixon Hogan

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 15
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Timpac Cyrus

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 18

Nicholas Black

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 22

Liz Miller

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Sacramento Tattoo Artist Brent Patten 4
Sacramento Tattoo Artist Brent Patten 2

Forever Tattoo

Tattoo Profile: Specializing in all traditional styles of tattooing, our goal is to give you a timeless tattoo that you will be proud to wear for the rest of your life. We use 100% natural pigments, brand new needles for every tattoo, hospital style sterilization, and a sterile work environment.

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Sacramento Tattoo Artist Jaye 4
Sacramento Tattoo Artist Jaye 3

Soulution Ink Tattoos

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Sacramento Tattoo Artist Tyler 4
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Bonehead Tattoos

Tattoo Profile: Since 1996, Bonehead Tattoos and Piercings has offered unique art and piercings in a clean, professional environment. Currently, Bonehead offers a friendly staff of male and female artists and piercers available for walk-ins and appointments.

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Sacramento Tattoo Artist Liz Miller 3
Sacramento Tattoo Artist Liz Miller 2

Relentless Tattoo

Tattoo Profile: Established in 2007, Relentless Tattoo strives to give everyone who walks through the door quality tattoos in a friendly welcoming environment. The shop is open everyday from 12-10pm. Walk-ins and appointments welcome.

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 24

The Skull Museum

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Sacramento Tattoo Artist Chris Brusby 2
Sacramento Tattoo Artist Chris Brusby

River City Tattoo

Tattoo Profile: River City Tattoo is the original premiere tattoo studio in Old Sacramento. A professional environment with a comfortable atmosphere. Our roster of artists are specialists in their work, who take pride in their art and trade.

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 27

Reclamare Gallery and Custom Tattoo

Tattoo Profile: Each artist at Reclamare has a very unique focus and a specific style. Make sure you take the time to look at each artists gallery section to find an artist and a style that you feel will fit best for your idea. We ask that you email the artist directly if you have any questions.

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White Buffalo Tattoo Gallery
White Buffalo Tattoo Gallery 1

White Buffalo Gallery

Tattoo Profile: We want to remember to keep what motivates and drives us, central to our daily lives and close to our hearts. We want to live our lives in line with these ideas and to pass them on to our children. Art is sacred and beautiful; and we want to share these gifts we have with those around us in our community. We want to remember our roots and our past, and honor our ancestors. Art is extremely powerful and can transcend language, culture and even time. This gallery was created with that principle in mind and this tattoo shop was created with that as its core.

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Sacramento Tattoo Artist Greg 3
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Monster Ink Tattoo

Tattoo Profile: Remember, these tattoos are on you for life so make sure you choose your artists wisely. Do your homework and find the artist who fits with what you want. We’ve each done all styles but we each have out own style. So come by and talk about an idea you need us to bring to life and bring any photo reference to help direct us, our doors are open to all.

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 33

American Graffiti Tattoo & Piercing

Tattoo Profile: Known for its American Traditional tattoo style, American Graffiti is a custom shop with tattoo artists who are well versed in all aspects of tattooing. Whether it’s a custom design or something you find in one of the many books of designs available to look through at American Graffiti, trust that you will receive the best work professional tattooing has to offer.

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Sacramento Tattoo Artist Gary Burton 2

The Exotic Body

Tattoo Profile: The Exotic Body Tattoo and Piercing is located in Sacramento, California and is one of Sacramento’s premiere studios. We’ve worked, very hard, to provide Sacramento with a unique alternative to the other shops in town. All of the artists who work out of The Exotic Body are well known in Sacramento and they represent the best that our industry has to offer- check out their portfolios and bios!

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 37

Side Show Studios

Tattoo Profile: Our artists are amazing! They come from a variety of different art backgrounds, giving the studio a supportive environment for fostering creativity. Stop in sometime to check out the gallery space if you are wanting to get a feel for our studio.

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Sacramento Tattoo Artist Boss Tom 2
Sacramento Tattoo Artist Boss Tom 1

Fallen Angel

Tattoo Profile: Established by Tom Cooney (Boss Tom) March 5th 2001, Fallen Angel Tattoo is Sacramento and Citrus Heights most referred and award-winning custom studio. Our male and female artists love to draw custom tattoos, so everyone leaves with a unique piece of art (no flash). Each of our artists specializes in a specific art style, from realism to neo-traditional to graffiti, so check out the photos and find which artist best fits your style.

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The American Tradition Tattoo

Tattoo Profile: All of our artists have over 10 years servings the greater Sacramento area. The shop is located on 19th street, in the original location of what was American Graffiti, which Ryan Tanton owned & operated from 2008-20014. Back where it all began, The American Tradition continues; built on honor, respect, and pride in the tattoos we make and for the clients we serve. We love tattooing and our goal is to give our customers the best possible tattoos & experience we can.

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 41

Legacy Tattoo

Tattoo Profile: Legacy Tattoo was founded in 2006 by Jackson and is located in beautiful East Sacramento, CA. Legacy is a custom electric tattoo studio that offers a diverse collection of artists specializing in popular styles of tattooing such as; American traditional, Japanese, black & grey, realism, portraits, and more.

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Sacramento California Tattoo Artist 43

Capital Ink

Tattoo Profile: Located in the heart of Old Sacramento, Capital Ink Tattoo houses a staff of exceptional artists specializing in traditional, realism, old school, neo-traditional and other styles.

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The capital of California, Sacramento is the seat of Sacramento county and is located in the northern part of California. You can find Sacramento sitting along side the Sacramento River and in the Sacramento Valley. Sacramento is about 45 miles north of Stockton and around 90 miles to the north and east of San Francisco. For the most part, Sacramento is flat, but as you move eastward, the land slowly rises as it approaches the Sierra Nevada foothills. Winters in Sacramento are foggy and damp while in the summer you are getting, long dry, hot summers with cool spells.

Being one of the oldest incorporated cities in the state, Sacramento sits in the heart of a metropolitan area constructed of four counties. You can find Carmichael, North Highlands, Citrus Heights, Roseville and other suburbs north and east of the city.

There are quite a few very popular tattoo shops in and around Sacramento, but the one that most people in the area have heard of is Poke A Dotz Tattoos and Piercings. What makes Poke A Dotz different than most of the other studios that you’ll find throughout the city is their blend of experience, friendliness, and affordability. Every artist on their floor has at least six years of experience, so you will never have to worry about ending up with someone who is new to the business.

Poke A Dotz Tattoos and Piercings is an excellent tattoo studio, but it’s not going to be for everyone since you should pick your shop based on your needs. It’s very tough to find the absolutely perfect shop, so you will want to think about what’s most important to you. Is cleanliness the most important thing or are you more focused on finding a tattoo studio in Sacramento that has consistently high ratings? You will want to do a little bit of research online to narrow down your choices and then you will want to visit the two or three spots that you like the most based on that research.

A lot of people prefer to pick their tattoo shops based on the artists that they employ to ensure that they work with artists who have styles that make sense for their designs. Some of the more notable tattoo artists in Sacramento include Chuck James, Liz Miller, Julio Ferrer, Oak Morgan, Nicholas Black, and Dixon Hogan. These artists and quite a few more are why Sacramento has come to be known as one of the best cities in the state to get a tattoo. They all are helpful to anyone that sits in their chairs and they each have a style that has helped them to stand out from the bunch.

When you’re searching for tattoo artists in Sacramento, there are some things you should keep in mind to make the process a bit easier on yourself. First off, it’s a good idea to get a good feel for each artist’s style by looking through 10 or more of their past designs. It’s also a good idea to see how long they have been working at their craft so you can be sure that you are in capable hands. Taking these extra steps, which really only takes a couple of hours, will greatly up your chances of winding up with the type of tattoo that you really want.

What’s great about Sacramento is that it’s pretty easy to find top notch tattoo artists and tattoo studios in the area. The extra competition that has popped up over the last decade or so has made it to each artist works hard to improve their skills and give their customers the best tattoos that they possibly can. If you are looking to get a tattoo in Sacramento, be sure to know the type of tattoo that you want to get and then search for shops and artists that are known for making for specializing in those types of tats.


History of Sacramento

Sacramento’s early inhabitants were the Maidu people. The explorer from Spain named Pedro Fages visited the valley in the 1770’s, and out of his Christian beliefs, he named the river after the religious sacraments. In 1939, John Sutter, a pioneer from Germany, was the man to establish the Nueva Helvetia colony (also known as New Switzerland). This was a land grant from Mexico and after that, he started to build Sutter’s Fort, a palisaded trading post, in 1840. In his community, the Swiss were the main people that populated the area and it ended up being successful as a refuge for pioneers from America and an agricultural center until the beginning of the Gold Rush in 1849. Sutter was building a sawmill northeast of the city and about 35 miles out. It was located close to Coloma on the American River where James Marshall, Sutter’s chief carpenter first found gold and it was on January 24, 1848. After this spread, Sutter’s property was infiltrated by thousands of prospectors in search of gold. Because he was in a great deal of debt, Sutter’s sons laid out the plans to the city as we know it after Sutter deeded the land out to his kids.

Sacramento grew at a fast pace by profiting from the mining trade. It was also the location of a riot by armed squatter’s fighting the legality of the grant gifted to Sutter. In 1854 Sacramento had a population of more than 10,000 so it was chosen to be the capital of California. Sacramento had to take preventative measures by building levees and other masonry construction pieces because in the early decades of the city, it was badly damaged by many fires and floods. A center of transportation by river, a streamer service was formed by Sutter and Sacramento was the main western terminal for the first California railroad and the Pony Express. Even more important than that, merchants from Sacramento named Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Collis P. Huntington, backed the building of the Central Pacific Railroad monetarily. The railroad went from the city to the east and was the last piece to the transcontinental rail link when it was connected to the Union Pacific Railroad in May of 1869 in Promontory Point, Utah.

In the year 1862, Sacramento was the home to the Central Pacific Railroad Central Shops, and they were they biggest employer in Sacramento until the 1950’s. During the second World War, around 5,000 people were working there. West of the Mississippi River, there weren’t many industrial sites that were bigger than the shops. Until the shops closed in 1993, almost every part of rolling stock from the Central Pacific was either serviced or created in the shops. The shops are now one of the biggest urban infill projects in the nation being 245 acres. The plans for this area is to house a development of mixed use that wraps around the core of the history packed shop buildings. The oldest one goes all the way back to 1869.

In the early 20th century, the Sacramento river was dredged which provided seasonal access for ships to the sea. Then in 1963 a newer canal was opened and connected to the San Francisco Bay. This allowed Sacramento to be a deepwater port all year long.

Sacramento’s population continued to grow at a steady pace after the heyday of the Gold Rush and began to grow at a faster clip after the first few decades of the 20th century. What drew people to the city was the expanding agricultural related industries from the region and the installations from the military. The land surrounding Sacramento started being annexed (this includes North Sacramento in 1964) which increased its size exponentially between the years 1940 and 2000. At the same time, the population of Sacramento almost went up four times what it was. With the influx of new residents, citizens of European descent now only accounted for less than half of the population when it had previously been the large majority. At this point, the fast growing component in population were that of Hispanic descent and they accounted for more than a fifth of the total population. In addition, you will also find large groups of people with Asian ancestry and African Americans.

Sacramento: The Contemporary City

The center of the regions agricultural production, Sacramento deals in beef cattle, poultry, dairy products, wheat, vegetables and fruit (notably pears, tomatoes and grapes), corn and rice. On top of the government services and agriculture for an economic base, Sacramento has grown into computer software production, metal production scientific instruments, electronics manufacturing and tourism. Some other industries in the area include aerospace, printing and publishing, wood product manufacturing and food processing. You can also find an international airport in Sacramento just northwest of city center.

There are plenty of things to do if you were to visit Sacramento. You’ve got great historical sites to visit, beautiful scenes of nature’s variety and a plethora of great food and entertainment. Sacramento is also home to the Kings of the NBA so if you are interested in watching some professional sports, Sacramento can provide that as well.

Sacramento, California has a rich tattoo history. Featuring shops such as Soulution Ink Tattoos, The Exotic Body, Forever Tattoo, Side Show Studios, River City Tattoo, and Legacy Tattoo, Sacramento is a great destination if you’re looking for some new ink. With a population of around 473,000, there are lots of potential customers for the parlors in town. Yelp currently lists 106 different shops when searching for “tattoo” in Sacramento. Google Places lists 333 different tattoo shops in the Sacramento area, which shows how competitive the city truly is. When doing research for your artist, we suggest not paying too much attention to price because quality is much more important when you’re going to be living with the artwork for the rest of your life.

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