DTA Tattoo artist
Dan, aka DTA Tattoo, is a tattoo artist from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, whose tattoo style blends traditional foundations with a distinctly cartoony edge, heavily influenced by late ’90s and early 2000s cartoons.
“I would say my tattoo style blends a mixture of traditional with a more cartoony style heavily influenced by cartoons from the late 90s, early 2000s. That paired with anything remotely nerdy that I can incorporate. I love colour work but will always have a soft spot for simple black and grey traditional style shading.”
DTA Flash
Some of DTA’s Flash includes Warhammer, Guinness, Runescape, and even designs inspired by misheard song lyrics!
JOURNEY To Tattoo Artistry
The Inspiring Story Behind Dan’s Transition Into Bold Traditional Art
Art has always been a constant in DTA’s life, spending years painting and drawing purely as a hobby, and as he collected more tattoos, his own artwork naturally began to lean in that direction.
Although tattooing had always been something he wanted to pursue, he initially stayed in a stable teaching career, unsure of how to make the leap.
Eventually, after talking about tattooing endlessly, his partner stepped in and encouraged him to take action — pushing him to paint seriously, build a portfolio, and start approaching studios. That push proved to be the turning point, leading him to where he is today.
I have always painted and drawn as a hobby, the more I got tattooed, the more my own style of drawing started to swing that way.
It was something I had always wanted to get into, but really wasn’t sure how and I was in a very stable teaching job. Eventually, talking about it all the time, my partner had enough and forced me to actively paint and prepare a portfolio and get out there and start asking around studios; and here we are today!
Building A Tattoo Legacy
Tattooing full time since September 2022 as part of the team at Township Tattoo. Prior to that, he completed around a year and a half of apprenticeship experience at another studio, where he began refining his skills and translating his long-standing artistic style into tattooing.
DTA’S Evolving STYLE
Rather than consciously choosing a tattoo style, his approach developed naturally over more than 15 years of drawing in journals and painting purely for enjoyment.
As he transitioned into tattooing, the next step was adapting that existing style to skin and weaving in design ideas inspired by his personal interests — many of which lean heavily into the nerdier side of pop culture, including Warhammer and classic computer games.
Style Born Naturally
“I didn’t ever really choose a style. I had always drawn and never really with the intention to tattoo so the way I worked just developed naturally over maybe 15 years of drawing in my journal and painting for pleasure. As I began to tattoo the next step was really applying that to how I tattoo and then incorporating designs and ideas from my own hobbies which are all incredibly nerdy, a lot of Warhammer and old computer games.”
Warhammer, in particular, holds a special place in DTA’s heart as it was something he grew up collecting, painting, and playing alongside his twin brother. Even now, it remains a way for them to spend quality time together.
That connection has only deepened since introducing his partner to the hobby, with quiet evenings spent painting miniatures together becoming a regular ritual.
his traditional-styled Warhammer tattoos
One day, after casually sketching a frog reimagined as an Imperial Guardsman, he shared the design and received an overwhelming response.
Encouraged by the positive feedback, he created even more frog-themed Warhammer designs — and from there, things quickly took off.
Today, he’s well known for his traditional-styled Warhammer tattoos, occasionally dropping in a frog motif for good measure, blending humour, nostalgia, and craftsmanship into a style that’s uniquely his own.
“I’ve had a soft spot for Warhammer since I was a kid, it was something me and my twin brother would collect paint and play together. Even now, it’s something we do to spend time together. For that reason, it’s very close to my heart, even more so now as I’ve gotten my partner into it and we make time to just hangout quietly together and paint minis. I started off one day randomly sketching a little frog as an imperial guardsman, I got so many positive messages about it I did even more frog based 40k designs. Since then it’s kinda popped off and now I do a lot more traditional styled Warhammer designs, with the odd frog dropped in now and again for good measure!”
Address
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
dta.tattoo.xiv@gmail.com
