Top 9 Tattoo Shops in Chicago and 25 Tattoo Artists (2024)

The first one we want to feature in this guide is Emily Fong, the owner of Evergreen Studio Chicago.

As you can see, she is a really talented tattoo artist focused in black and grey tattoos, and we can say we do love her realistic style, especially the botanical and animal realistic illustrations.

• Black and Grey Tattoo.
• Botanical Tattoo.
• Realistic Tattoo.

The second one from the Evergreen Studio Chicago crew is Alexandra Winthrop, another very talented woman tattoo artist, this time, focused in dark illustration.

We do love her color palette and how she can mix something very organic with the dark side, making her tattoos an unique experience.

We do love Alexandra’s work, obviously.

• Dark Illustration Tattoo.
• Color Tattoo.
• Realistic Tattoo.

The third on the list is Alyssa Carbonara, with a completely different style.

Yes, Alyssa does illustration tattoos too, sometimes in color, sometimes in black and gray, but is something more organic, harmonic and delicate, and we do like her personal touch.

So, if you are looking for a tattoo like this, Alyssa is your person!

• Illustration Tattoo.
• Color Tattoo.
• Botanical Tattoo.

And, if Alyssa’s work was delicate, you have to see Seulgee one, because this amazing fineline tattoo artist is on another level in terms of delicateness.

We do love Seulgee’s fineline tattoos and the detail level she can ink into the skin, and we think just a couple of photos can say more than our words, right?

• Fineline Tattoo.
• Animal Tattoo.
• Botanical Tattoo.

If you do like fineline tattoos as we do, you are going to love Yarik too.

As you can see, Yarik’s art is about fineline tattoos with a ton of fantastic ideas to get inked. We do like her tattoo style, more than a personal brand, and we think she is going to do great things in the tattoo industry.

• Fineline Tattoo.
• Animal Tattoo.
• Botanical Tattoo.

Maybe more in the most traditional illustration tattoo style you can find Sara Phillips, working on the Evergreen Studio Chicago crew too!

As you can see, Sara’s art is about bright colors and nice bold black lines.

We can say we do love her color palette for botanical ones.

• Illustration Tattoo.
• Color Tattoo.
• Botanical Tattoo.

Yes, inside Evergreen Studio Chicago there are a lot of nice tattoo artists working in fineline and botanical tattoos, but you know, it is just because they are too good at doing that!

Here is another example.

Her name is B. and we do love her art, what do you think?

• Fineline Tattoo.
• Botanical Tattoo.
• Chicago Tattoo.

And, last but not least we want to introduce you to Erica.

Yes, she is a tattoo apprentice, but, you know, if we want to feature a tattoo shop because we think they are doing the best job in town, we want to feature all the crew!

• Black and Gray Tattoo.
• Illustration Style.
• Chicago Tattoo.

The first one from Speakeasy Custom Tattoo is Brigitta Backside.

She is a very talented tattoo artist, and we do love her portraits and realism designs, especially the “a little creepy” ones.

As you can see, she has an unique color palette and the final result is just awesome.

• Color Tattoo.
• Portrait Tattoos.
• Dark Tattoos.

We do love Amber Jane Strange tattoos, because they are like artwork, you know.

She performs top on botanical tattoos, especially in large ones, like sleeves, because her final result is very clean and she can mix bold lines with dotwork giving the composition her own personal brand.

What do you think about it?

• Botanical Tattoo.
• Large Tattoos.
• Chicago Tattoos.

Well, Xenia is the third one from the Speakeasy crew we think you may know, but Xenia is different because she can do almost everything very well.

Color, black and gray, watercolor, botanical, portraits… It seems there are no tattoo styles with secrets for Xenia.

And this is a very, very nice thing, isn’t it?

• Color Tattoo.
• Black and Gray Tattoos.
• Chicago Tattoos.

And, if you want a black and grey tattoo, maybe Sera Alana is your tattoo artist.

Sera Alana is the last one for the Speakeasy Custom Tattoo on this list but, as you can see, her artwork is amazing.

We can say she has her own character to ink, and this personal brand is a very good point but, you know, Sera is fantastic with all illustration tattoos.

• Illustration Tattoo.
• Black and Gray Tattoos.
• Chicago Tattoos.

Another nice tattoo shop in Chicago is Tatu Tattoo, with seven different tattoo artists focused on several styles.

And we want to feature Cierra from Tatu Tattoo Chicago crew.

We do like Cierra’s artwork because her illustration and black ink tattoos are just awesome, as you can see in the pictures right here.

Moreover, she can perform perfectly in lettering or in more traditional tattoos, so Cierra is always a very interesting tattoo artist to contact, isn’t she?

• Illustration Tattoo.
• Black Ink Tattoos.
• Traditional Tattoos.

First on this list from Logan Square Tattoo is Lizzie Duggan.

She is a very talented tattoo artist focused on illustration tattoo with black and grey ink, usually in the most traditional or drawing related way.

We can say she has her own “personal brand” because there are a lot of designs that you can bet were inked by Lizzie.

And that is the point!

• Illustration Tattoo.
• Black and Gray Tattoos.
• Personal brand.

KAE, from the Logan Square Tattoo crew too is the first one on the list working with microtattoo style.

This is a really hard style because you cannot fail, you have to be perfect.

And KAE is perfect with her designs.

• Micro Tattoo.
• Black and Gray Tattoos.
• Chicago Tattoos.

Well, it is not easy to choose some tags for Speck Osterhout, because she can do illustration tattoo, black and color, botanical, old school tattoos and many more, but we can say we do love her larger tattoo designs.

She can do fantastic complete arm sleeves tattoo and we can say, with Speck, the larger, the better.

• Illustration Tattoo.
• Black and Gray Tattoos.
• Color Tattoos.

You know this kind of tattooer who makes art on the skin?

Well, Francisca Loredo is in that club.

She is really focused on realistic style and we can say she does it PERFECT.

The detail level of her work is astonishing, as you can see.

• Realism Tattoo.
• Black and Gray Tattoos.
• Chicago Tattoos.

And, talking about illustration tattoos made perfect, we want to introduce you to Carmela too.

The tattoo style is completely different, because Carmela’s art is not about realism, more in illustration/drawing style, but the level is quite similar.

We do like the way Carmela owns the dotwork technique and the bold lines she can get.

Just art, another time.

• Illustration Tattoo.
• Dotwork Style.
• Black and Grey Tattoos.

And now we want to introduce you to Esther García, owner of Butterfat Studio, maybe the best name for a tattoo shop in this list.

We do like Esther García’s artwork because it is really organic, does not matter about black or color ink, illustration or ornamental tattoo, and this is very difficult to achieve.

What do you think about it?

• Illustration Tattoo.
• Organic Tattoo.
• Chicago Tattoo.

And, talking about fineline and harmonic tattoos, we can add “delicate” to define CrispyAura tattoo artwork.

As you can see, from one line tattoo style to more traditional ones, all of them with a personal touch.

Nice work there, CrispyAura!

• Delicate Tattoo.
• Organic Tattoo.
• Chicago Tattoo.

The first one is Anna Hasseltine, a very nice woman tattoo artist focused on black and grey tattoo, especially in the most traditional one, you know, illustration tattoo very similar to drawings.

We can say we do like her artwork very much.

• Illustration Style.
• Black Ink Tattoo.
• Chicago Tattoo.

And, in the same tattoo style but with a very different touch you can meet Kelsey Moore, the second one from the Ash & Ivory Tattoo in Chicago.

Kelsey’s tattoos are in illustration tattoo style too, but her designs usually have thick bold lines and a lot of black ink, giving the composition something unique and very eye-catching.

• Illustration Style.
• Black Ink Tattoo.
• Bold Tattoo.

Angela Koscal has a very special way to ink the skin, and you can bet you are right to say she has her own personal brand.

She does perfectly fine portraits and realisms style with a very personal color palette, and we do love her funny tattoos.

So, Angela, keep going 🙂

• Illustration Style.
• Colorful Tattoo.
• Funny Tattoos.

And, if you want a different tattoo style, don’t worry, we have an alternative option 😉

Sarah Spread is the name of this tattoo artist.

Technically her work is just illustration tattoo style, black inked usually, but we can say she stands out of the crowd when the tattoo design is a little dark and creepy, because she can do it perfectly and beautifully.

We just do love it!

• Illustration Style.
• Dark Tattoo.
• Black Ink.

Inside Artistic Minds Chicago tattoo shop we want to feature a very special tattoo artist there.

Her nickname is TattuMami and she is very, very talented.

She can do almost everything fine, but we think she can get breathless with her portrait tattoos, in black and gray or color ink.

• Portrait Tattoos.
• Black and Gray Tattoo.
• Color Tattoo.