The Crazy, Hyper-Realistic Tattoos from Artist Steve Butcher

Looking to get seriously tatted up? Your best bet is probably to head Down Under.

Meet Steve Butcher, a New Zealand native who is changing the tattoo game in a big way. While there are a lot of amazing artists out there, the level of detail Butcher is able to achieve is truly unbelievable.

It looks like a photo! I can't get over it.

While Butcher has totally mastered the craft of tattooing, it was not always his intended career. Butcher only began tattooing five years ago. Before that, he was in art school focusing on painting and drawing. In an interview with SullenTV, a YouTube channel dedicated to showing off the work of the international tattoo community, he mentioned that he has always been an artistically inclined person, even in childhood. He attributes a lot of his support to his grandmother, the woman who he memorialized with his first tattoo.

No, this is not his grandmother's tattoo.

Given his artistic background, he began teaching himself to tattoo while in school on the recommendation of a friend who had seen one of his realistic paintings. The fact that he taught himself this amazing skill makes the final results that much more impressive.

When he is not tattooing, Butcher enjoys acrylic painting, although he has recently dabbled in oil as well.

Butcher gains a lot of his massive international fan base through his social media profiles. His Instagram currently has over 459K followers, and his Facebook has over 164K. If you're interested in realistic tattoos, make sure to follow him online. If you're in the market for some ink and you happen to be in Auckland, New Zealand, you can email Butcher for an appointment at stevebutchertattoos@gmail.com.

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