In the digital age, social media has revolutionized how we interact with art and, as a result, empowered tattoo enthusiasts. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have given tattoo artists a stage to display their work, engage with their audience, and stay current with trends. This fusion of social media and tattoo art has pushed artists into the spotlight and allowed individuals to feel more connected and informed about various tattoo styles and artists worldwide.
In McKees Rocks, Marisa Rae Mathews operates under the name Electra Baby Tattoo, offering stunning American traditional and neo-traditional work. Despite being fairly new to tattooing — she got her first tattoo five years ago — Mathews has gained a substantial following on TikTok and Instagram.
The New Jersey native says she relocated to Pittburgh for school but dropped out “because college wasn’t for me.”
“I was in between things for a minute,” says Mathews, who now works out of Yunker Street Studios. “At one point, I was bartending, working in clubs, and having an existential crisis. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and I was getting pretty heavily tattooed then, so my partner asked, ‘Why don’t you look into tattooing?’”
Mathews acknowledges that, unlike TikTok, where she has accrued over 80,000 followers, Instagram followers are more valuable to advertisers because of their high engagement level with the accounts they follow. She favors TikiTok because it feels more personal and communal.
“I prefer using TikTok to connect with my clients,” said Mathews. “I think TikTok is a special platform because people on the app do not feel like they’re being marketed to. I’ve noticed that a lot of TikTok users do not want to feel like they’re watching an advertisement. They want to feel like they’re connecting person to person versus watching TV and seeing an ad like Instagram.”
Mathews stresses the importance of tattoo artists staying informed and continuously educating themselves to keep up with ever-changing trends. She comments that various styles, such as watercolor and glitter, have had their moments of popularity. By staying updated on new machines and techniques, artists can ensure they provide the best service to their clients.
She states that TikTok has helped her stay up-to-date with trends. Even so, Mathews favors traditional and neo-traditional tattoo styles for various reasons.
“I’m covered in traditional, so I love traditional tattoos. I think they hold up the best. They’re classic. There’s a lot of rich history behind them,” she explains, likening them to “renovating a Victorian house instead of just painting all over white and making it a modern farmhouse.”
In American traditional tattooing, the line weight is usually thicker and simpler, employing approximately five colors: black, brown, green, red, and yellow or gold. Blue and purple have also been incorporated into some traditional tattoo styles.
Neo-traditional tattoos, on the other hand, align more with a nouveau style and often showcase images of women’s faces, leaves, subtle color blends, shadows, and moons. They boast expanded color palettes and diverse line weights, distinguishing them from their traditional counterparts and making them a visually striking art form.
Regardless of the type of tattoo a client gets, Mathews suggests doing plenty of research and ensuring that an artist’s style aligns with their vision. Platforms like TikTok can be a great tool for this, and she emphasizes that an artist’s tone on social media is as significant as their talent.
“How tattoo artists speak about their clients online is also really important,” she explains. “I do come across some tattoo artists now and then who are just making very passive-aggressive posts about their clients being too early or late or the way that they’re moving way too much in the chair. Additionally, looking out if people change shops every month or every other month. Switching shops is a normal thing, but every couple of months is a red flag.”
