Hannah Newman · Portfolio
Five pieces from the junior-artist bench at Apollo — fine line, hand-drawn script, minimalist symbols — shown at full scale.
A small-scale working portfolio. Healed tiles sit alongside fresh pieces so you can see how hairline work actually ages on skin. Twelve directions describe what each piece is made of; six styles, five placements, eight pairings, and the first-session recipe tell you whether Hannah's bench is the right match for your piece.
How to browse this portfolio
Small-scale fine-line portfolios reward a careful eye. Five notes below help you read Hannah's book for line weight, negative space, and scale — the design math that separates a clean fine-line piece from a scribble.
Fine line lives in the weight of the stroke. Look at the consistency — the line should hold the same weight from start to finish, no thickening at the ends, no thinning in the middle. Hannah's line weight is where her apprenticeship showed.
Small-scale fine-line work lives as much in what isn't tattooed as in what is. The negative space around a hairline botanical or a script line carries half the design. Hannah's pieces use negative space on purpose.
Hand-drawn script is different from font-based lettering. Hannah's script is drawn, not traced from a Google result. Look at the letter-to-letter rhythm — that's where the hand shows up.
Pieces under 2 inches are the category Hannah anchors. If you scroll and every tile is small, that's intentional — this is where her book lives. If you want a 10-inch piece, another Apollo bench is the right match.
Three tiles, not thirty. Pick pieces from the gallery closest to the line weight, scale, and placement feel you want. Hannah uses the three as a reference for the design math, not a template.
Fine line is a hairline. The weight has to hold from end to end or the piece fails.
Script is hand-drawn, not traced. The letter-to-letter rhythm is where the hand shows up.
Negative space carries half the design. A small piece that fills every pixel reads as a scribble.
12 pieces from the portfolio
Twelve specific pieces from Hannah's working book — the categories she most often books, with scale, placement, and session notes.
Single-needle, single stem
A single-stem botanical — two leaves, three petal shapes, clean negative space. The category that anchors Hannah's fine-line book. One session. Shown healed at 4 months.
Word or short phrase, custom
A word, a name, or a short phrase hand-drawn rather than traced from a font. Hannah draws each piece specifically for the wearer. One session.
Single icon, careful negative space
A single symbol — a moon shape, a bird silhouette, a geometric icon — rendered minimally with intentional negative space. The symbol carries the meaning; the line serves the symbol.
Line-based memorial, personal scale
A small memorial piece — often a date, initial, or single-stem botanical tied to a lost person or pet. Hannah's memorial consultations run longer than a standard fine-line booking.
A word with a flourish
A short word or name paired with a hairline botanical element — a stem, a leaf, a small flower. The pairing gives the word more presence while keeping the overall piece small-scale.
Two pieces, one design
A partner-matching piece where two small designs share a visual logic. Hannah builds these at the same sitting with the same stencil math so the two pieces actually match.
Connected botanical elements
A small panel of connected botanical elements — stems, leaves, and small flowers flowing across 3 to 4 inches. Still line-based, still hairline, but at the upper scale of Hannah's book.
Line-based geometric symbol
A geometric icon — a triangle, a line-based sun, a simple sacred-geometry symbol — rendered with fine line. The geometry is the design; the line is the tool.
Line-based animal silhouette
A small animal — a bird, a small mammal, a line-drawn pet — rendered as silhouette or outline work. Hannah's line-based animal pieces favor gesture over detail.
Small stars, connecting lines
A constellation rendered as small dots connected by hairline lines. A common Hannah request; often tied to a birth month, a relationship, or a specific moment.
Short word, architectural letterforms
Lettering built as line-work rather than traditional script — architectural letterforms, small caps, or a hand-drawn mini-serif. A different vocabulary from cursive script.
Entry-point piece, small and personal
Hannah's most-booked piece type: a first-tattoo client choosing a small fine-line botanical, symbol, or short word as their first piece. Built to land gently and heal cleanly.
Six categories represented
Hannah's portfolio clusters around six sub-categories of small-scale work. Pick the one your piece wants to live in.
Hairline, single-needle, delicate
The category that anchors Hannah's book. Single-needle work at small scale. Hairline botanical pieces, line-drawn symbols, geometric small-scale work. Honest caveat: single-needle work ages faster than bold lines. On stable skin it holds; on high-flex skin, plan for a touch-up at year 7 to 10.
Hand-drawn, not traced
Script is a distinct skill. Hannah hand-draws every piece rather than tracing from a font. The letter-to-letter rhythm is what separates drawn script from a font tattoo. Personal names, short phrases, and single words all live here.
Single symbol, careful negative space
A minimalist piece is a single idea rendered with the least ink necessary. Negative space carries half the design. Hannah's minimalist pieces are often first tattoos — small, considered, intentional.
Under 3 inches, detailed
The scale category Hannah specializes in. Pieces under 3 inches that hold detail, meaning, and line weight. Small-scale work is a specific skill set — it's not just a bigger piece shrunk down.
Single-stem, illustrative
The sub-category where most of Hannah's fine-line book lives. Single-stem flowers, small leaves, delicate branches. Botanical illustration at a scale that reads as personal rather than statement.
Icons, geometry, meaning
Line-based symbols — geometric icons, small moon phases, constellations, sacred-geometry elements. Meaning carried by the symbol, rendered with the same hairline approach as botanical work.
Selected work
Each piece is a specific appointment — real line weight, real placement, real healing. Tiles are sized to preserve the photograph's aspect ratio.
Five placements the portfolio clusters around
Fine-line work asks for stable placements. Five body zones anchor most of Hannah's book.
Inner · wrist-to-elbow
Hannah's most-booked placement. The inner forearm holds fine-line work cleanly — stable skin, visible when desired, intimate in feel. Most botanical and script pieces land here.
Inner wrist · base of thumb
Micro-scale placement. Small symbols, single letters, minimalist icons. The wrist moves, so line-based work here asks for a careful healing window and often a touch-up at year 5.
Behind ear · upper neck · collarbone
Intimate placement for smaller symbolic or botanical pieces. Visible when the wearer chooses, invisible when hair covers it. A common first-tattoo placement.
Ribcage · sternum · underbust
Private placement for more personal pieces. Script, botanical panels, and memorial pieces cluster here. More painful than the forearm, but the placement reads as intentional.
Ankle · foot · inner ankle
Micro-scale placement. Constellations, small symbols, minimalist icons. Line-based work on the foot asks for careful aftercare because the foot moves and the piece ages faster.
Scale tiers represented
Hannah's book spans micro (1–2 inches) to the upper fine-line range (4–5 inches). Four tiers cover what each sitting actually takes.
Eight pairing notes
Small-scale fine-line work isn't for every piece. Eight notes below describe who Hannah's bench is built for and where Apollo routes when another bench is the better match.
Route to Blue Mason, Apollo's founder bench. Hannah's scale caps at 5 inches; Blue's portfolio covers 3 – 12 inches in fine line and beyond.
Route to Raa for photorealistic rendering. Fine line and photorealism are different crafts; Raa's portfolio is the match when realism is the ask.
Route to David DaVinci for painted-portrait work. Portrait work has a minimum scale that exceeds Hannah's book; David's portfolio is the match.
Clients booking their first tattoo. Hannah's bench is Apollo's default for first-timers booking small fine-line or script. Fine line is the style category this book anchors.
Clients building a collection of small tattoos over time. Hannah's scale and calendar suit this pattern — small pieces spaced across months, with a consistent hand across the collection.
Clients booking hand-drawn script. Single words, short phrases, personal names. Pulls into script lettering as a style category.
Small memorial pieces — a date, an initial, a single-stem botanical tied to a lost person or pet. Hannah's consultations for these run longer than a standard fine-line session.
Partners booking matching small fine-line pieces. Hannah books these same-day same-sitting so the stencil math holds across the two pieces.
Consultation
Fine-line consultations work best when the sentence, the scale, and the three reference tiles are ready. Six questions below frame the booking.
Pick three tiles that come closest to the line weight, scale, and placement you want. Bring them into the consult. Hannah uses the three as reference for the design math, not a template.
Describe the piece in one sentence. "It's my mom's handwriting." "It's the plant from my first apartment." "It's a date that matters." The sentence is the tattoo.
If yes, Hannah will walk you through aftercare, healing, and what to expect in the chair carefully. First-tattoo consultations run slightly longer on purpose.
Hannah's range is 1 – 5 inches. Below 1 inch detail won't hold; above 5 inches another Apollo bench is usually the better match. Be honest about the scale at consultation.
Placement decision before design decision. Inner forearm, inner wrist, behind ear, ribcage, ankle — each asks different things of the design and the healing.
Hannah's new-client calendar runs 3–6 weeks out — faster than the senior Apollo benches. Deposits hold sessions. Most pieces are booked as single-session appointments.
Below 1 inch, detail compresses out. Above 5 inches, another bench is the better match.
Small pieces aren't easy pieces. Small pieces are their own skill set.
The portfolio is a catalog of pieces that have been lived with — not a menu of ready-to-order designs.
Common misconceptions
Most mis-bookings with Hannah trace to one of these eight patterns. Catching them before consultation routes the booking correctly on the first try.
Hannah's book caps around 5 inches. Fix: if the piece wants to be large-scale fine-line, route to Blue Mason's bench. If it wants to be small, Hannah is the match.
Below about 1 inch, detail compresses out of fine-line work. Fix: scale the piece to 1.5 inches minimum, or simplify the design to a symbol that can hold at smaller scale.
Hannah hand-draws script; tracing a font flattens the letter-to-letter rhythm. Fix: bring a reference for the style feel; Hannah draws the letters specifically for you.
It doesn't. Single-needle work ages faster than bold outline work. Fix: plan for a touch-up at year 7 to 10 on mobile placements, and accept a gentle fading as part of the style.
Script has a legibility floor. Fix: cut the text to one or two words, or scale the piece larger. Hannah will tell you the legibility math at consultation.
The palm, fingertips, and inner foot don't hold fine-line detail because the skin sheds too fast. Fix: route the piece to a stable placement — inner forearm, ribcage, behind ear.
Small fine-line matching drifts fast when booked on separate days. Fix: book same-day, same-sitting. Hannah's matching bookings are designed as one appointment with two chair times.
It isn't. Hannah doesn't duplicate her own portfolio. Fix: reference a tile for style, scale, and placement; the design math produces a new piece built for your reference.
First-session recipe
Eight decisions a first fine-line session should make on purpose. Built around a first-timer booking with Hannah's bench.
Personalization
A symbol is not a tattoo. A tattoo is a symbol plus a specific plus a private. Use the gallery to lock the symbol; the second and third layers get built at consultation.
The base design — botanical, symbol, word, or icon. This is the visible layer. What a stranger sees. Most clients start here and stop; the pieces that stop here read as generic fine-line.
A specific flower, a specific word, a specific date. This is where the piece stops looking like a category and starts looking like the wearer. Hannah builds this at consultation — it's the work you can't pull from a reference board.
What the piece marks for you. Nobody else needs to know. A tiny botanical might be a memorial; a short word might be a boundary. The private layer is what keeps the piece from feeling generic.
Matching pieces
Small-scale matching drifts fast when the sessions are separated. Four notes below cover what Hannah asks of matching groups before the stencil goes on.
Couples booking small matching pieces. Hannah books these same-day, same-sitting with one shared stencil. Small-scale matching drifts fast when the sessions are separated.
Close friends booking matching symbols, constellations, or small botanical pairings. Same design approach as partner matching — same-day, same-sitting, shared stencil math.
Siblings or family members matching small memorial pieces for a lost relative. A date, an initial, a botanical tied to the person. The memorial consultation runs longer than a standard matching booking.
A single client building a collection of small pieces across months or years, with Hannah as the consistent hand. The design math across the collection is planned at the first or second booking.
FAQ
Eight questions covering booking, style coverage, junior-artist designation, minimum scale, larger-piece routing, session length, aging of fine line, and what to do when the portfolio doesn't match.
Apollo consultations with Hannah are booked through the studio's consultation form — describe the piece in a sentence, upload 2–3 reference images (ideally including three tiles from this portfolio closest to your piece), note your placement and scale, and the studio routes the booking. New-client consultations run 3–6 weeks out — faster than the senior Apollo benches. Come to the consult with the sentence, the references, and an honest scale and placement in mind.
Fine line, hand-drawn script, minimalist symbols, and small-scale botanical and figurative work. The book clusters under 3 inches, with some pieces up to 4–5 inches. The gallery does not cover large realism, cover-ups, tribal, or full-sleeve work — those belong on other Apollo benches. If your piece is small-scale fine line, script, or minimalist, Hannah's bench is the match. If it's larger or heavier, the studio routes elsewhere.
Hannah is Apollo's junior artist — past the apprenticeship stage and booking clients independently, but still working under the mentorship of Blue Mason and the senior benches at the studio. Her portfolio is her own book; her consultations are her own process; her sessions are her own chair time. The junior-artist designation reflects years-at-the-chair rather than quality — her small-scale fine-line work is a specialty the senior benches don't compete with.
About 1 inch is the floor. Below that scale, even hairline detail compresses and the line weight flattens. If you want a piece under 1 inch, Hannah will walk you through what the design actually reads as at that size at consultation — often the honest answer is to scale up to 1.5 inches or simplify the design to a symbol that can hold at micro-scale. The goal is a piece that still reads at year 5, not just at day 1.
Up to about 5 inches, yes. Beyond that scale, Apollo usually routes to Blue Mason's bench — his portfolio is built around the 3 – 12 inch range and beyond. Hannah's book, calendar, and bench setup are optimized for small-scale work. If you're unsure about scale, book a consultation with either bench and the studio will route correctly. The match matters more than the bench.
Most Hannah pieces are single-session. A micro piece (1–2 inches) runs 1–2 hours in the chair. A small botanical or short script piece (2–3 inches) runs 2–3 hours. A medium fine-line piece (3–4 inches) runs 3–4 hours. The consultation maps the expected sitting time before the booking so there are no surprises on the day. Hannah does not split small pieces into multiple sessions unless the design specifically requires it.
Fine line ages with some fade — that's part of the style. Single-needle work sits at the limit of what skin holds over decades; on stable skin (inner forearm, ribcage, behind the ear) it holds cleanly for 10 – 15 years before a touch-up becomes worth considering. On high-flex placements (inner wrist, foot, fingers) it fades faster — plan for a touch-up at year 5 to 7. Hannah tells clients this at consultation so the expectations are set honestly.
The studio routes you to the right bench. Apollo has Blue Mason for traditional, tribal, cover-ups, and larger fine-line work; Raa for photorealism; David DaVinci for classical portraits; and two piercers for body work. If your piece is outside Hannah's small-scale fine-line categories, she'll tell you at consultation and route the booking. The match matters more than the bench.
Ready to bring the sentence into a consultation?
Apollo consultations with Hannah work best when the scale, placement, and three gallery tiles are picked in advance. If the piece is small-scale fine-line, script, or minimalist, her bench is the match. If it's larger or heavier, the studio routes to the right bench.
