Portfolio

Matt Dunn’s Tattoo Styles

  • Chicano Style

    Chicano tattoo style is a distinctive black and grey style with deep cultural roots in the Mexican-American community. It's known for intricate shading and imagery reflecting themes of faith, family, struggle, and cultural identity. These tattoos often feature religious iconography like the Virgin of Guadalupe, portraits of loved ones, and symbols of cultural pride.

  • Traditional Western Style

    Western tattoos often symbolize freedom, adventure, and the rugged lifestyle of the cowboy and western cultures. Known for their bold designs and vibrant colors, they often incorporate elements such as horses, guns, and symbols of the American frontier. Popular styles include tribal, realistic, and watercolor tattoos.

  • Japanese Style

    Japanese tattoos, known as Irezumi or Wabori, are a traditional art form with deep cultural roots in Japan. They are characterized by bold designs, vibrant colors, and motifs drawn from nature, mythology, and folklore. Common elements include dragons, koi fish, cherry blossoms, and hannya masks, often rendered in large-scale, full-body designs.

Colorful traditional Japanese style dragon tattoo on person's shoulder and arm, featuring a green dragon with orange accents, surrounded by clouds and smoke.
Colorful tattoo of a dragon with orange and blue scales wrapping around the person's arm, along with pink flowers and green leaves.
Tattoo of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the chest, with a rainbow-colored bird and a tiger tattoo on the right arm, and some Roman numerals on the lower right side of the chest.
Colorful drawing of a green dragon with orange accents and a fierce expression, surrounded by fish with orange and yellow striped fins, on a white background.
A traditional Japanese tattoo-style illustration of pink peonies, green leaves, gray clouds, a blue butterfly, and a brown gnarled branch.
A colorful, surreal illustration featuring various fantastical creatures, including a fish, a frog with rocket eyes, and a zombie-like figure, with smoke, flames, and a skull in the background.
A colorful drawing of a fish with orange and yellow striped fins and spots, wearing a blue polka dot headscarf with a large eye, and holding a red ball with a blue feathered tail. The drawing includes other fantastical elements and smoky clouds.
Colorful illustration of a blue-skinned humanoid figure with long hair, kneeling with eyes closed, surrounded by stylized clouds, flames, a skull with green flames, a fish with yellow and blue patterns, and a green crocodile with an open mouth.
Tattoo of a night sky with stars, clouds, and pine trees on a person's upper arm.
Tattoo-style illustration of a dragon with a skull face, horns, and yellow eyes, intertwined with a green and red snake, with gray clouds in the background.
A man with a colorful traditional Japanese dragon tattoo on his left arm, standing indoors. The tattoo features a blue and orange dragon surrounded by clouds and cherry blossoms. The man is wearing a black tank top with a graphic design of a snake an
A surreal illustration of a blue-skinned humanoid with long black hair, wearing a blue outfit, floating above a burning skull emitting smoke and flames, with colorful osvokes nearby.
Black and gray tattoo of a stylized face with sunglasses and a beard on the person's arm.
Tattoo of Kermit the Frog's face with a wide open mouth, green skin, and large eyes, with the word "VIVID" around the neck area.
Black and grey tattoo of cherry blossoms and leaves on upper arm.
Close-up of a traditional Japanese tattoo depicting a fierce dragon with a lion-like face and a cloud background
Colorful tattoo of purple and pink flowers with green leaves on person's arm, featuring detailed line work and shading.

FAQs

  • Matt does walk-ins whenever he can (he works Wednesdays - Sundays). Please email him directly at TsunamiMatt13@gmail.com (or call the shop and see if he picks up the phone).

  • Tsunami is mask friendly, and some of their tattooers are masking during the tattoo appointment (it's our chance to pretend we're dentists!). Please check in with your tattooer about what their masking preference is for your appointment.

    On the day of your appointment, please be free of symptoms (no fever or cough). If you or a family member are experiencing symptoms prior to your appointment or are COVID positive, please reschedule. We promise, we won’t be mad.

  • Not necessarily! Matt does walk-ins when he can (see the first FAQ).

  • In 99% of cases, yes we can! Figure out who should do your tattoo (see that FAQ above) and drop us a line.

  • Maybe. For scars, it depends on how old, how raised, and where they are. For birthmarks, it also depends on where they are, and whether they are purple and hairy or petite and mauve.

  • Everyone heals at a different rate, but the great consensus is that a tattoo is done peeling, flaking and itching in about two weeks. It may take another two weeks for your skin to return to its normal consistency. DO NOT PICK AT YOUR TATTOO OR ITS SCABS

  • Your healthy body is a healing machine, and the less you do to get in its way, the better. The most important thing that you can do for your new tattoo is to keep it clean. This does not, however, mean washing it every five minutes because that would dry it out. Just keep it clean, as a referee would say. Leave the bandage on for a few hours or until you are ready to go to bed (whichever comes first.) Wash your hands. Run water over the bandage either in the sink or in the shower. Peel the bandage off slowly in the shower/sink. Gently soap and rinse your tattoo. Pat your tattoo dry with a clean towel. Put a pea-sized amount of unscented lotion on your tattoo. Do this once or twice a day for two weeks. MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS ARE CLEAN! The lotion will keep your tattoo from drying out. DO NOT PICK AT YOUR TATTOO OR ITS SCABS. Once your tattoo is healed, the only thing that will destroy it is the sun, so put on sun-block it when you go to the sun. And if you’re going to Mars, put on Matt Damon. He can do anything.

  • You should get a good night's sleep before you get tattooed. We've gotten tattooed when we were tired, and it was no fun.

    You also shouldn't get totally wasted the night before you get tattooed. We’ve seen people get tattooed when they were hung over, and it did not look fun.

    You should eat breakfast, lunch, or something in the hours leading up to your tattoo. Your blood sugar can drop right before (or while) you get tattooed, and if your blood sugar is already low, you might pass out. That’s no fun.

    If you have a severe cold or the flu, you should consider rescheduling your appointment. We won't be mad. We promise. We’ve gotten tattooed when we were sick, and it was no fun. And let’s face it: we’re all about fun at the shop.

  • Yes. No. Maybe. It depends. Tattooing is by no means comfortable, but the discomfort is bearable. I have always likened it to a hot-pinch, but hey, that's me. How many people have been hot-pinched anyway? The bottom line is that if you feel somehow incomplete and feel like you're not "you" without a tattoo, you ought to get it where you want it, pain be damned. The pain will soon pass, and then you'll have a great tattoo right where you wanted it, right?

    The late, great Felix Leu said that the best anesthesia for getting a tattoo is wanting a tattoo. Ne'er were truer words spoken.

  • According to Maine State law, you must be 18-years-old with a government-issued ID that says so. No college ID, no parents co-signing, no friends vouching for you, no sawing off your leg and counting the rings. Government-issued ID means: valid driver's license, passport, military ID, or Bill Clinton (or any ex-president) vouching for you.