Zia

A selection of realistic and darkside black-and-grey and colour pieces.

Zia is a Realistic tattoo specialist at BKK INK, at the studio since 2020, focused on realistic and darker "darkside" work rather than spreading across many styles. He often draws his pieces freehand directly onto the skin.

His path began at art school, where he was studying while also playing in a band. One day he decided he wanted to get tattooed, and a friend from the band bought a machine to do it. That was the spark: Zia rushed out to buy his own machine to tattoo his friends, and immediately felt he had a real aptitude for it.

He never stopped improving, first tattooing out of his own studio, then working in other studios, including in France and Australia, before joining BKK INK. Today he no longer enters competitions except for the very largest international conventions, as he is now more often invited to judge on the national scene.

Zia specialises in Realistic tattooing, realism and photorealism, reproducing a face, an animal or an object with the tonal depth and detail of a photograph, built through smooth gradients rather than bold outlines. He is also drawn to darker, darkside pieces.

Realism lives or dies on values, which is why realism artists tend to specialise; the thousands of repetitions needed to judge contrast and saturation on living skin are not transferable from line-based styles. Learn more on our Realistic tattoo Bangkok page.

New to realistic tattoos? The Wikipedia overview of photorealism explains where the style comes from.

Zia came to tattooing through art school and a music band, then taught himself the craft after a bandmate bought the first machine. He felt an immediate aptitude and never stopped refining it.

He tattooed first out of his own studio, then worked abroad, including in France and Australia, before settling at BKK INK, where he now favours realistic portraits and darkside pieces drawn freehand on the skin.

Zia has placed in several Thai and regional conventions. The nominative awards on record are:

• Phuket Bike Week Tattoo Convention 20112nd place, Best of Color
• MBK Tattoo Contest 20121st place, Best of Color
• Pattaya International Tattoo Convention 20132nd place, Best of Color
• Arghh Warghh Yarghh Tattoo Contest 20121st place, Best of Sleeve

Zia specialises in Realistic (realism / photorealism) tattooing at BKK INK, and is also drawn to darker darkside pieces. For other styles, our team can match you to the right specialist among our twelve artists, see the full team.

Request a free consultation and tell us your idea, reference images and rough size. Pricing is by time with a ceiling agreed beforehand: 1,000 THB in materials per session plus 3,000 THB per hour, maximum confirmed before we start.

Our team works in English, French and Thai. Every station uses sterile, single-use equipment opened in front of you. The studio is open daily 12:00–23:00 at 143 Thanon Tanao, right at the end of Khaosan Road.