Glitch Tattoo, Complete Guide for One of  the Most Odd Tattoo Styles on Earth

Well, this guide is a huge thing for me, because glitch tattoos are one of the most odd tattoo styles on earth and, you know, I do love weird things.

And this guide is going to be easy, really easy.

• First, I’m going to explain to you what a glitch tattoo is with very simple words.
• Then, a lot of tattoo designs so you can feel the glitch and get inspired.

Sweet, isn’t it?

What Is Glitch Tattoo?

A glitch tattoo is a regular tattoo but with visual distortions, that can be in several ways, for example:

• RGB Shift, because when you use the red, green and blue colors within the correct alignment you create like some bug.
• Distortion with Static Lines, like when you have something broken in a digital screen.
• Fragmentation, you know, in the tattoo, some parts are going to be missing or not in the right places.
• Pixelation, sometimes, but not in 8 bits art, something like a regular design with some pixels here and there.
• Datamosh effect, maybe one of the hardest to get, it’s an effect when a video is corrupted, basically.

Maybe it is a little hard to explain and, because of this, I want to show you a lot of examples so you can get the idea.

A lot of Glitch Tattoo Designs for You

Yes, let’s go to the complete list, because there are a lot of possibilities in glitch tattoos!

Flame-like Glitch Tattoo

Here is the first example of a glitch tattoo for this guide and, as you can see, with a wonderful design.

This is like a flame or fire tattoo with something like a bat in the bottom part, but done with RGB shift, and, because of this, you see the tattoo misaligned, causing something like an odd 3D effect I do love.

The final result is something like when a print impression goes crazy.

This tattoo is done by Nyahzul Art, a remarkable tattoo artist very focused on glitch and illustrative tattoos working in two different studios, White Rabbit Tattoo Studio and 1983 Art Studio, both in New York, and I think you should follow his Instagram account.

Ghost Tattoo in Soft Glitch Style

On this one, the glitch effect is not so weird like in the first one, but I want to show you some other possibilities, maybe not as bold as the first, but very sweet and cute, like this one.

As you can see, this is a cute phantom listening to music in a glitch style, with very thick lines and a nice blackwork in the silhouette, and a fantastic movement feeling.

This tattoo is by Barbara Otsuka, an amazing woman tattoo artist, working at Pierrot Ink, in São Paulo, Brazil, and she is very focused on cartoon tattoo style, in fact, she has a lot of pokemon tattoos on her Instagram account. It’s really remarkable!

Human Body Tattoo With Glitch Distortion

And now you can see a human body tattoo with another soft and sweet glitch effect.

Yes, you can see the body and even the bones inside and, just near it, the glitch one, a little bit blurred, with some squares and lines giving the tattoo this soft distortion effect.

This wonderful piece of work is done by Sophie, a very talented woman tattoo artist based in Australia, focused on fineline and illustration tattoo.

You should follow Sophie, she has a lot of masterpieces at her account.

Spiderman Glitch Tattoo

Look at this wonderful Spiderman tattoo but with lots of glitch effects, it’s fantastic, isn’t it?

You have the misalignment, the blur and a lot more things for making a regular Spiderman tattoo something unique, bold and truly fantastic.

I do love the colors of the tattoos, moreover the cartoon and illustration style and the linework, specially in the spider in the bottom of the tattoo with this distortion effect.

This fantastic work is done by another very talented woman tattoo artist called Fakete Dorina. She is based in Budapest (Hungary) and you should follow her.

Sculpture Glitch Tattoo

And look at this magnificent tattoo!

This is a realistic tattoo about something like a roman sculpture, with a perfect shadowing and a lot of dotwork done like a master but, in the meantime, with some glitch effect in the entire tattoo, like something is not working good on this signal.

This distortion was one of the basic effects for a glitch tattoo, and it’s really hard to do it with this finish.

This tattoo is done by Amanda Piejak, a magnificent woman tattoo artist focused on illustration style with this fineline, shadowing and dotwork perfect personal style. She is co-owner for Vidok, a tattoo studio in Poznan, Poland.

Smile Glitch Tattoo

Here you can see a very simple but bold and very effective tattoo in glitch style.

If you think on the tattoo design, there is just a smile with a couple of X instead of eyes, and that’s all.

But, when you put this simple tattoo with very thick and bold lines, a wonderful blackwork and this glitch effect with these colors, well, this becomes a masterpiece.

And this masterpiece is done by William Taylor, a fabulous tattoo artist with this very personal style like simple illustration tattoo with very thick lines and saturated colors.

You should follow him.

Butterfly Glitch Tattoo with a lot of Effects

What do you think if I tell you this is just a butterfly tattoo?

Yes, that’s all, a butterfly tattoo with a wonderful glitch effect.

Because, as you can see, the butterfly starts with a black and white design, and then, it starts its deformation with some RGB colors, and with a perfect circle just below this main part of the design, with very bright colors.

This astonishing piece of work is done by Hangang, an incredible tattoo artist focused on micro realism and fineline, with tons of wonderful tattoos at his Instagram account.

He is based in Townsville, Australia.

Spiderman Mark Glitch UV Tattoo

Yes, another Spiderman tattoo in glitch tattoo style but, this time, only the Spiderman mark, and in the chest, a very bold placement for this tattoo, isn’t it?

This tattoo is wonderful, not just for the design, the placement or the fantastic glitch effect in the spider legs, even for the colors.

This tattoo glows in the dark too, because it’s done with some UV ink, and this is a complete wow, isn’t it?

The tattoo is done by Alli Tattoo Art, an outstanding woman tattoo artist focused on cartoon and manga tattoo, with a very personal illustration style, and she is based in México DF.

Glitch and Blackwork Tattoo

And, when you combine a perfect glitch tattoo style with some blackwork and, moreover, an abstract design, this is what you get.

And I do love the final result.

This tattoo design is very bold, with a lot of perfect blackwork and some glitch distortion, made with mastery by Thomas Acid, an extraordinary tattoo artist working at Studio Dogwood Tattoo, in Alkmaar, in The Netherlands.

He has a very personal style you should follow.

Scream Mask in Glitch Tattoo Style

I think everyone here can recognize the Scream movies mask, isn’t it?

But, you know, maybe the Scream mask is something a little old, until you get tattooed with one with some glitch effect, isn’t it?

I love the pixelation and the lines distortion in the entire design, it is amazing.

This tattoo is done by Kaya Kyoungseo Min, a fantastic woman tattoo artist working at Kaya Garden Tattoo, in Australia, and she is focused on illustration style, with some abstract delightful designs.

Hyper Realism Hand Tattoo with Some Glitch Effect

Good one, isn’t it?

This time is when a hyper realism tattoo goes with glitch, a very hard work but, when you do it properly, the final result is astonishing.

I do love the shadowing effect and the detail level for the hyper realism part, done with a lot of talent, by the way.

This tattoo is done by Ted Flintstxne, a jaw-dropping tattoo artist focused on microrealism and fineline with a lot of very good pieces of work at his Instagram account, based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Skull Colored Tattoo with Glitch Tattoo Style

These two tattoos about skull tattoos with a lot of glitch effects are just a thing, isn’t it?

I love the realism details in the teeth and how this realism and illustration style is mixed with this huge glitch effect with those colors.

These two tattoos are done by Archie Bronson, a stunning tattoo artist owner of Blood Orange Tattoo, in Seattle, Washington, and he is focused on illustration tattoo style with some weird designs or effect, and I do love it!

Hannya Mask with Glitch Effect

And now, let’s mix a very traditional Hannya Japanese tattoo style with some glitch, and the result is going to change your mind.

Because, as you can see, this mixes a perfect Hannya mask tattoo with some RGB glitch and, moreover, this blur effect very hard to get in a tattoo.

This tattoo is done by Adams Ramen, a very talented art nomad working all along South East Asia, focused on illustration style but with Asian touches, of course!

Blurred Face Glitch Tattoo

Well, this is another thing, isn’t it?

There is a tattoo artist called Adri Reigada very focused on this blurred face effect, and this is truly inside the glitch tattoo style but, you know, with a very special touch.

And, personally, I do love this wonderful effect, because, for me, a tattoo has to be unique and personal.

He is based working in a tattoo studio called Blanco Roto in Barcelona, Spain, and I do think you should follow him.

100% Glitch Tattoo

Stop for a second here, because this tattoo is a glitch masterpiece.

On the one hand, you have a realistic tattoo base with a wonderful sculpture-like design.

Moreover, you have some geometric and lettering elements, like a draw studio design.

Then, you have all this perfect glitch effect and this mouse pointer with a lot of pixelation.

And this is how a perfect glitch tattoo is done.

This tattoo is done by Glitxi, a wonderful tattoo artist focused on glitch tattoo, and a real master of this tattoo style, and he is working from Brazil, in Natal city.

Blurred Eyes Glitch Tattoo

Look at this beautiful piece of work!

This time, a blurred eyes tattoo (I do love this blur effect, to be honest) with different saturation points and a lovely dotwork and shadowing effect.

Just magic!

This tattoo is done by Jeff Mc Dowell, another remarkable tattoo artist, this time, focused on this realism (or hyper realism) tattoo style. He is working at Studio Olive, a private tattoo studio in Groningen, The Netherlands.

Is a Glitch Tattoo for You?

I hope the answer is yes because, as you have seen, there are tons of very nice tattoo designs with different glitch effects, and it can be an astonishing piece of work in your skin.

I hope you enjoyed this guide!

Some FAQs for Glitch Tattoo: