RISD’s First-Ever Tattooing Course a Success

The hum of tattooing machines resounded in a third-floor Illustration studio last fall, as students concentrated on the designs they were creating in Introduction to Tattooing, RISD’s first-ever tattooing class. Instructed by alum Adam Krueger 04 IL, the immersive introductory course blended theory with hands-on practice, enabling students to create original tattoo designs that consider real-world applications. “There is a direct through line from the core coursework Illustration students focus on at RISD—drawing, painting and visual concepts—to art forms like tattooing,” says Department Head Robert Brinkerhoff. 

Rather than working on skin, which was expressly forbidden in the course, students tattooed on silicone sheets and Petri dishes, a material choice that slows the process, makes it more intentional, and heightens precision. “Fake skin doesn’t accept ink as easily as real skin,” Krueger explains. “It’s time-consuming and requires patience that ultimately allows students to build muscle memory.”

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One assignment included translating a 3D still life of an apple with a sculptural nose into a tattooed image, pushing students to think about form, shading, and blending black ink, which they worked with exclusively throughout the semester. “When you learn to do smooth shading, you can easily transition to color,” Krueger says. The Petri dishes became small experimental canvases. In another exercise, students created three designs in smooth gradients of black ink, exploring how subtle shifts in pressure and speed affect the brightness of the image. 

Throughout the semester, the group learned about the rich global, spiritual, and cultural history of the medium of tattooing and studied American traditional tattoos, which have specific rules around line weight, color, and composition. This provided the class with a deeper understanding of how tattooing has evolved over centuries. 

Later in the course, students worked on a cover-up challenge in which they were given designs that imaginary clients no longer liked and had to transform them into something new. Redesigns usually need to be 30 to 50 percent bigger than the original and rely on contrast and strategic composition to distract the eye. “The assignment prepared them for real-life, professional scenarios,” Krueger notes. 

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They also worked on fake skin and addressing different skin tones. “You need to adapt your designs when working with darker skin: more contrast, fewer subtle grays,” Krueger explains. Working on darker skins required the students to favor thicker lines, higher contrast, and white highlights to make the images pop. 

All enrolled students were Illustration majors, and nearly all seniors, and when registration opened last spring, the course filled within hours with a long waitlist. “That level of enthusiasm reinforces the idea that students crave diverse opportunities to make art with focused attention on materiality,” says Krueger. “And there’s no medium more material than tattooing, no canvas more real than the human body.”

Kaylee Pugliese / Top image: Work by student Yichen Liu
January 12, 2026