Pet tattoos in Knoxville

A pet tattoo is one of the most personal pieces you can get. Julie has done cat portraits, matching cat tattoos, playful cartoon pets and small paw prints.

Portrait, cartoon or symbol?

• Portrait: a realistic likeness of your pet’s face. It needs a good photo and enough size, usually about the palm of your hand or bigger.
• Cartoon or illustrative: your pet’s personality in a simple, fun style. It can be much smaller.
• Outline: a fine-line trace of your pet’s silhouette, ears or a favorite pose.
• Paw print: small, simple and easy to place on the wrist, ankle or behind the ear.

How to take a good reference photo

A portrait can only be as good as the photo it comes from. A few tips:

• Shoot at your pet’s eye level, not from above.
• Use daylight from a window and turn off the flash, which flattens fur and turns eyes white or green.
• Get in close, so the face fills the frame and you can see each eye clearly.
• Send several photos. Julie can take the ears from one and the expression from another.

If your pet has passed and you only have old or blurry photos, send all of them anyway. Julie can work from several to build one clear likeness.

Using your pet’s real paw or nose print

For a memorial piece, many people use their pet’s actual paw or nose print. Your vet can make one, or you can press a paw onto paper with pet-safe ink. Julie can turn it into a stencil, so the tattoo is the real shape.

Adding names and dates

A name, birth and passing dates, or a short phrase can sit under the portrait or in a banner. For a memorial, a favorite toy, collar or flower makes the piece feel more like them. See the birth flower tattoos page if you want your pet’s birth month flower.