the short version
- 3 in 4tattoos people picked were black ink.
- ~2xflowers got picked almost twice as often as they show up in portfolios.
- 76clients for every artist who lists "minimalist" on their profile.
how we got this: 521 people in socal scrolled real tattoos by artists on goodwork and tapped or saved the ones they liked, between april and september 2026. that's 3,019 picks. how we counted.
finding 1
most clients want black ink
tattoos people picked were black ink: blackwork or black & grey.
clients picked black ink even more often than artists post it.
color still has its people. about 13% of picks were color-forward styles like traditional, neo-trad and japanese. it's a smaller crowd, but there are fewer artists competing for it too.
what to do with this
- if you do black & grey or blackwork, put it first on your page. it's what most people are looking for.
- if you mostly do color, you don't need to switch. just know your best pieces are doing more of the work.
finding 2
fine line is the other big one
clients picked at least one fine line, minimalist or linework piece.
picked a fine line piece specifically.
what to do with this
- if you do fine line, minimalist or linework, use those exact words on your profile so clients searching for them find you.
- small pieces count. a lot of these picks were small, simple work.
finding 3
flowers get picked almost twice as much as they're posted
about 1 in 4 picks was a flower piece. only about 1 in 8 photos in portfolios is.
of clients picked at least one flower tattoo.
321 of 521 people. it wasn't one viral photo: the picks were spread across 148 different flower pieces.
what to do with this
- if you like drawing florals, a flower flash sheet is an easy win.
- post your flower pieces on their own instead of saving them for a collage.
finding 4
a few more things clients picked more than you'd expect
each of these got picked more often than it shows up in artists' portfolios. "2x" means clients picked it twice as often as it appears.
back and shoulder are where the tattoo in the photo was, not where the client said they want theirs.
finding 5
some styles have way more clients than artists
we counted how many clients picked each style, then divided by how many goodwork artists list that style on their profile. a high number means lots of interest and not many artists saying they do it.
clients per artist who lists the style
out of the 31 goodwork artists who list any style. this is our roster, not every artist in socal.
the gap is mostly about words. lots of artists call their work "fine line" or "black & grey", while the pieces clients tap are often tagged minimalist, linework or illustrative. one more: about 1 in 9 clients picked a cybersigilism piece, and no artist on goodwork lists it yet.
what to do with this
- list every style you actually do, not just your main one. if your work is minimalist, say minimalist.
- if you do cybersigilism, say so. right now nobody on goodwork does.
on goodwork
show these clients your work
list the styles you do so the clients looking for them find you. free to list. 15% only on the first booking of a new client goodwork finds for you. repeats and your own link are 0%.
list your styles freefinding 6
socal is a little different from everywhere else
we compared the 521 socal clients with 382 people outside california who used the same app.
more surrealism in socal.
7.5% of picks vs 4.5% outside california.
less japanese in socal.
3.8% of picks vs 7.3% outside california.
everything else (fine line, realism, neo-trad) was close enough to call it the same. inside socal, los angeles county and the rest of socal picked basically the same things.
the fine print
how we counted
a "pick" is one person tapping or saving one tattoo photo, counted once. picks come from 521 goodwork clients whose location was in southern california, from april 19 to september 23, 2026.
what to keep in mind
people picked from photos we showed them, and we chose which ones. 58.8% of picks went to the work of 8 featured artists. so read this as "when shown local artists' work, socal clients picked…", not as everything socal wants.
style and subject tags come from goodwork's image tagging, not from the artists. blackwork and black & grey overlap.
most of these people found goodwork through instagram ads in spring and summer 2026. location is by county, from their connection.
test and staff accounts, and anyone with an artist profile, are left out. we didn't measure budget, size or first tattoos, so there's nothing here about those.
want prices instead? our state of tattoos report has what artists on goodwork actually charge.