{"id":2366,"date":"2025-10-02T12:02:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T19:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=2366"},"modified":"2025-10-02T12:02:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T19:02:38","slug":"innumerable-dots-form-bright-bold-gradients-in-nano-pontos-entirely-handpoked-tattoos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=2366","title":{"rendered":"Innumerable Dots Form Bright, Bold Gradients in Nano Ponto\u2019s Entirely Handpoked Tattoos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ponto-2.jpg\" alt=\"Innumerable Dots Form Bright, Bold Gradients in Nano Ponto\u2019s Entirely Handpoked Tattoos\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the hands of Argentinian tattooer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pontotattoo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nano Ponto<\/a>, lush gradients and surreal compositions emerge from layers and layers of tiny dots. Entirely self-taught, Ponto never learned to use the machines typical for many artists working in the medium. He instead embarked on an experimental journey 13 years ago that has since produced a vibrant catalog of designs, from a grayscale eye crying primary colors or a vivid beam shooting from a flying saucer.<\/p>\n<p>Ponto shares that while his process is typically slower than that of artists who utilize machines, his tools and approach are simple. \u201cI just have to layer dots until I reach my desired saturation and look, which varies from skin to skin and the tattoo\u2019s characteristics,\u201d he says. \u201cI use several kinds of needles to play with dot width, resolution, tattooing depth, ink saturation, and a few more variables to create my designs.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ponto-5.jpg\" alt=\"a white arm with a tattoo by Nano Ponto of a vibrant gradient beaming from a flying saucer\" class=\"wp-image-463158\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>While based in Buenos Aires, Ponto has spent the past few years moving between Europe, Mexico, and the U.S. Travel has been essential to his development from the beginning because most artists work with newer technologies and don\u2019t share the same technical approaches. \u201cTen years ago, it was key for me to start traveling to meet other handpoked tattoo artists to share experience and knowledge, as there was no one in Argentina I could do this with,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<p>Ponto\u2019s latest travels have brought him to Brooklyn, where he\u2019s a guest resident this month at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ateliereva.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Atelier Eva<\/a>. Find more about his availability and bold designs on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pontotattoo\/\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ponto-3.jpg\" alt=\"a white arm with a tattoo by Nano Ponto of a vibrant gradient circling a planet\" class=\"wp-image-463156\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1638\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ponto-9.jpg\" alt=\"a white arm with a tattoo by Nano Ponto of a vibrant landscape gradient\" class=\"wp-image-463162\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ponto-4.jpg\" alt=\"a white arm with a tattoo by Nano Ponto of a vibrant gradient within a black and white eye\" class=\"wp-image-463157\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1638\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ponto-10.jpg\" alt=\"a white arm with a tattoo by Nano Ponto of a vibrant landscape gradient\" class=\"wp-image-463182\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ponto-7.jpg\" alt=\"a white arm with a tattoo by Nano Ponto of a vibrant gradient crying from a black and white eye\" class=\"wp-image-463160\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1638\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ponto-8.jpg\" alt=\"a white arm with a tattoo by Nano Ponto of a vibrant volcano gradient\" class=\"wp-image-463161\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ponto-11.jpg\" alt=\"a white arm with a tattoo by Nano Ponto of a trio of green comets shooting from a galaxy\" class=\"wp-image-463183\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/members\">Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2025\/10\/nano-ponto-vibrant-handpoke-tattoos\/\">Innumerable Dots Form Bright, Bold Gradients in Nano Ponto\u2019s Entirely Handpoked Tattoos<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/\">Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the hands of Argentinian tattooer Nano Ponto, lush gradients and surreal compositions emerge from layers and layers of tiny dots. Entirely self-taught, Ponto never learned to use the machines&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}