An action-packed fusion of science fiction and the Wild West, Borderlands has won fans over with its thrilling graphics and intense storyline.
This vividly-colored game takes place on a mysterious and troubled alien planet, with a stunning array of characters and themes to display in your next work of art.
Released in 2012, Borderlands bases its premise on a loosely colonized planet plunged into despondency at the hands of criminals, aliens, and corruption. This wildly heart-pumping game has won admiration and fans the world over, all lured in by the incredible artwork and plot. Fortune-seekers, convicts, and mad scientists abound in this fast-paced, space-aged shoot-em-up. Characters of the game posses distinct personalities and unique skills, further endearing the game’s dynamic to fans. With such an illustrious range of subjects to choose from, a tattoo connoisseur will likely find more than enough topics of interest.
Fans of the game will undoubtedly be drawn to the unique design and graphics the game possesses. From the creatures to the characters to the much-coveted loot, Borderlands offers a cornucopia of colorful visuals for an admirer of the game to choose from. Set in an exciting and dangerous space-scape, a Borderlands tattoo may well appeal to any man who takes an interest in the unknown and uncharted. To those looking for a colorful and inspiring addition to their ink gallery, a Borderlands piece may well be of interest.
Borderlands Symbol Tattoos
There’s some cracking Borderlands symbols amongst this group. They perfectly execute simple basics, whether it’s bright color opposing negative space, softly contoured traditional black and gray, the suitably wild use of heavy black and red ink or strange patterns in a nod toward trash polka, or even just a modest symbol filled out by bright color or a simple contrasting background effect. Each of these tattoos created fantastic opportunities for artists to play with technique and color, resulting in tremendously fresh pieces of body art.
Claptrap Tattoos
He may be an annoying robot with weird human tendencies and a continuous flow of aggravating chatter, but Claptrap makes a hell of a muse for tattoos. The examples above showcase a range of applications in color, shade, and perspective. For me, the more successful images are the ones that stray from his humble yellow covering and ink, such as the innovative take on R2D2 above, or the top hat and mustache disguises. The other you can notice up close is the range of skill levels from the artists – with such a popular image you get to understand how deft color work and fine detailed technical applications set some tattoos apart from similar pieces.
Lillith Tattoos
The Sirens in Borderlands are bad ass female characters with mysterious powers. They are physically distinguished by elaborate tattoos (not to mention they can move whole cities with energy). Lillith, a star character throughout the series and heroine to all, is the most powerful siren (there can only be six at one time) and at one point the literal key to Borderlands survival. These three tattoos take different paths in expressing her on skin, but operate fully within the conventions of their style to bring Lillith to life. The first is classical black and gray, working with shadow and subtlety to sketch a finely detailed piece. The second goes full neo traditional, operating with flat fill augmenting vivid and bright color palettes, the backing of red and virulent yellow show Lillith on a graphical par with the game itself. The third piece goes somewhere in between, offering deft shade and color but create balance through contrasting shaped borders and strong black line technique.
Handsome Jack Tattoos
Handsome Jack. He’s the ruthless yet hilarious megalomaniac bastard operating as the central villain throughout the Borderlands universe. I love him like a brother. These tattoos impressively bring him to life. Personally, for video game characters like Handsome Jack the best tattoos are done with neo traditional sensibilities. There’s always bright color choices, inked and filled in crisply and single toned. These then get fattened out with sharp, self assured black ink outline. The zany stuff is pretty cool too, but getting video game clarity in your ink makes a huge difference when comparing between pieces.
Vault Hunter Tattoos
A nice collection of Borderlands playable heroes known as Vault Hunters. I particularly like the middle one of Aston (the soldier) who has been given a completely different look and feel through an alternative sketch style of tattoo. It’s a beautifully delivered piece featuring great variety in shade and wonderful attention to detail given tremendous support with the wonderful abstract tree alternatively depicting the right half of his face.
Psycho Tattoos
Psychos are Borderland’s cannon fodder, like orcs in LOTR, zombies in the Walking Dead, or Kenny in South Park. This group of tattoos is essentially variations on the same two images – from the video game covers of the original Borderlands, and Borderlands 2 – done either in black and gray or neo traditional style color. The last one differs from the rest by opting for a Picasso-esque mix of surrealism in the psychos unconventional colorful construction.
Borderlands Compilation Tattoos
A cool array of combination images from within installments of the Borderlands game universe. There’s the ubiquitous psychos, vault hunters, big boss Jack, and even Moxxy, a popular NPC who looks like a cross between a hooker and clown but with hacker and a penchant for booze and firearms. How that dude from He-Man – the weird and annoying wizard creature Orko – made it into Moxxy’s atmosphere is a question I doubt will ever be answered. The tattoo above, and awesome take on a realist skull with Native American headdress full back tattoo – with one side ‘normal’ feathers, and the other bristling with an arsenal full of guns. This is a sensational piece of tattoo concept innovation paired with painstakingly detailed shading technique.
If you enjoyed these killer Borderlands tattoos click on the links below for other video game tattoo galleries and content: