Alex: Dotwork and Graphic Tattoos in Vienna
Alex works at True Canvas with classic dotwork and precise linework. Before tattooing, she spent more than ten years in graphic design, from a branding agency through to team leadership. Her palette is deliberately limited to black and red, with no greywash and no additional colors. What interests her isn't only how a motif looks as an illustration, but how it behaves on the body.
Dotwork and graphic motifs in black and red
Art was never a decision for Alex. It was the starting point.
She began at an art school at the age of seven and later graduated from the Academy of Design and Arts with a master's degree in graphic design. Between those two points there is no break, just a straight line.
Ten years in front of a screen
Before tattooing became the center of her work, Alex spent more than a decade in visual design. A branding agency, UX and UI, and eventually team leadership. Along the way came techniques that sit further apart than they first sound: etching, painting, corporate identity, logo design.
What stayed with her is a way of seeing. Alex thinks in composition, contrast, negative space and balance before she thinks about a motif. That shows up directly in a tattoo, because skin raises the same questions a page does: what carries the image, what supports it, and what is allowed to stay empty.
Why she switched
Alex has tried a lot of ways of making things. Tattooing gave her something none of them could: a direct connection to another person.
A logo doesn't look back. A tattoo does. The moment someone sees their piece in the mirror for the first time is still her favorite part of the job, and it's the reason another creative direction turned into a change of profession.
Point by Point
Alex works exclusively in her own visual language: graphic, built from precise linework and classic dotwork.
She places every dot individually and builds a motif out of contrast, spacing and open skin rather than out of gradients. Dots and lines don't merely coexist in her pieces, they reinforce each other, and that is where her handwriting comes from.
How the technique works, how it ages and what it suits is covered in our article on the dotwork tattoo.
Black and Red
The palette is narrow, and that's on purpose.
Alex works with black and red. No greywash, no white, no additional colors. A deliberate choice for a classic, pared back range that makes any of her pieces recognizable as hers straight away.
Red isn't decoration here, it's a tool. It sets a second tone against the black, guides the eye and separates layers from one another without making a motif look colorful.
Flora, fauna and a subtle surreal twist
Her favorite subjects come from the plant and animal world, usually with a subtle surreal twist.
That's the point where a botanical drawing turns into something else. An animal that isn't quite one. A plant behaving differently than it should. The twist stays quiet. It doesn't tip the motif into fantasy, it gives it a second reading.
Designed for the body, not for paper
Every motif is made for a particular placement and a particular person.
That's more than a phrase. A design that looks balanced on screen can tip on an arm, because the body moves and the surface curves. So Alex isn't only interested in how a piece works as an illustration, but in how it sits, how it moves along and what it looks like when someone raises their arm.
From Warsaw to Vienna
Alex has been tattooing for five years and has worked in Warsaw, Paris, Cologne, Brussels, Dublin and other cities across Europe.
Vienna is where she decided to stay. The city became her second home, and True Canvas her studio.
Dotwork Tattoos with Alex
If you have a motif in mind that lives on structure and contrast rather than soft gradients, Alex is the right artist for it. The same goes if the combination of black and red appeals to you, or if you're after an animal or plant piece that isn't quite what it looks like.
For an inquiry it helps to send your idea, a few references, the placement you have in mind and a rough size. Everything about the technique is in our article on the dotwork tattoo.
You'll find more of her work on Instagram. For an overview of the whole team, see our artists, and we regularly host international guest artists in Vienna.
Send us your idea, your references and the placement you have in mind through our inquiry form.