This week, Things&Ink interviewed realism tattoo artist Itallo Santos about his craft. We didn't commission it, didn't prompt it, didn't pay for it. He just described his job — and it reads like the founding document for InkStencil Pro.
01
On accuracy:
"When someone asks me to tattoo the face of a loved one or an animal that is part of their family, I am working with something that has a very important meaning for that client. That's why it is essential for the likeness to be extremely accurate."
Read that again. Extremely accurate. Not "a good interpretation." Not "in the style of." The face of someone's loved one, on their skin, forever. If the likeness is off, it isn't a stencil problem — it's a different person's face.
That's the portrait test, and it's the entire reason InkStencil Pro exists: the AI-generated stencil must match the source picture exactly. Anything less is a fail.
02
On workflow:
Asked whether he works from photos clients share, Santos said: "Yes. I usually start with the idea and references that the client sends to me."
That's our homepage. Client sends the blurry screenshot; the artist's job is preserving the likeness exactly. Santos describes the problem — the hours of redrawing, the pressure of getting every detail right, the responsibility of carrying someone's story on skin. We built the shortcut: blurry photo in, clean thermal-ready stencil out, in about eight seconds.
03
On the pressure:
He calls the pressure of reproduction "exactly what I enjoy about realism. It challenges me to pay attention to every detail and strive for the highest level of accuracy possible."
We agree about the goal. We just don't think it should take all night. The artist's eye still makes every call — the tool hands back the exact linework in seconds so the artistry starts sooner.
That's the whole argument. When a working realism artist describes his craft unprompted and lands on the exact words our product is built on — extremely accurate, references the client sends — that's not marketing. That's the industry telling you what the job has always been.
Try it free — 10 stencils a month: https://inkstencilpro.com
Quotes from "Behind every tattoo, there is a story and a person trusting me to represent it on their skin," Things&Ink, September 26, 2026: https://www.th-ink.co.uk/2026/09/26/behind-every-tattoo-there-is-a-story-and-a-person-trusting-me-to-represent-it-on-their-skin-interview-with-itallo-santos/