History Channel’s Vikings is one of the most compelling, visually stunning dramas on television, a show that captured our attention since it first aired, always leaving us eagerly waiting for a new episode of the saga of Ragnar’s band of Viking brothers. Ink enthusiasts as we are, we couldn’t miss the awesome traditional vikings tattoos that adorn the show’s protagonists skin.

So, knowing almost nothing about the Nordic tattoos, we looked some information to put us in touch with this beautiful traditional tattoo style and this is how we found an amazing and very skilled tattoo artist in the person of Peter Walrus Madsen, whom we can include without any doubts in our lists of ‘kick ass tattoo artists from around the world’.

Three words come to our mind when we look at Peter Walrus Madsen’s tattoos are technique, clarity and quality . Defining himself as an ornamentalist and dot worker, Peter is able to adapt its technique to ornaments from any time, place or culture (although the Scandinavian symbols are the ones that made him well known and in high demand, being already booked until 2015).

The Danish ink artist has a background in special effects and the skills to use the body as a 3d canvas, knowing its dynamics and flow which helps him to work intuitively and efficiently directly onto the client’s skin, augmenting natural lines and curvatures. Peter is inspired by Nordic and Scandinavian folk art, Middle Eastern sacred geometry and the structure of the human body, combining these influences beautifully in a style that is both a nod to ancient tribal designs and modern tattoo styles.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words so check out the image gallery below with a few of our favorites pieces wearing its signature. If you want to see more vikings tattoos by Peter Walrus Madsen, visit his tattoo’s shop website meatshop.dk or  Facebook page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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photo © Peter Madsen 

If you’re feeling the itch for your first tattoo, or maybe the second or third one, check out the following tattoo artists for some ink-spiration. Just be warned, their works are so beautiful that might just tempt you to travel far and wide for your very own.