How Local Specialists Are Healing, Protecting & Personalizing the Art of Ink
Tattooing is an intensely personal art form. The design is chosen, refined and worn on skin for good. Dig around on Instagram and you’ll find striking portfolios and packed appointment books. But when you look deeper, you’ll find a smaller kind of work that is rising in demand. Work that is being performed at the highest level across Central Ohio, built around comfort, safety and specific human needs rather than aesthetics alone.
Here are five Central Ohio tattoo specialists reshaping what the industry can do, well beyond their own city limits.
1. Andie Schroeder, LME, at Donaldson Plastic Surgery
Paramedical & Cosmetic Tattooing
Andie Schroeder, LME, at Donaldson Plastic Surgery leads two disciplines that don’t often live under the same roof. On one side, she performs paramedical tattooing: scar camouflage and stretch mark tattooing that color-matches pigment at multiple depths to blend an old mark back into the surrounding skin. On the other, she handles the time-saving side of cosmetic tattooing in Columbus, Ohio, including lip blushing, eyebrow tattooing and permanent eyeliner that trims minutes off a morning routine for years at a time.
Patience and precision tie the two together. Andie treats both as a highly personalized and iterative process. On her Instagram, she talks about building color and shape across layered sessions instead of rushing a single pass. She brings the same steady, judgment-free presence to a stretch mark consultation as she does to a lip blush.
Patients navigating a C-section scar or a mark left by self-harm are often carrying more than a skin concern into the room. Andie has the unique ability to hold that conversation with care, without making it heavier than it needs to be. For many patients seeking this service, this approach is as much a part of her work as the needle itself.
2. Permanent MakeUp by Anastasia
Shaded Winged Eyeliner
Anastasia of Permanent MakeUp by Anastasia has built a loyal following based on excellent work. But she has perfected one specific skill better than anyone else: winged eyeliner that reads as soft rather than severe.
Her technique layers shading into the wing so it holds a defined, structured line without the harshness of a solid tattooed shape. This small distinction makes a significant difference for clients who want definition without drama.
But don’t worry! Anastasia isn’t afraid to go bolder than some of her peers when a client asks and is ready for it. And her reputation around Columbus consistently points to the same thing: precision, patience and a steady hand on one of the most unforgiving areas of the face to tattoo.
3. Eda Erkal from The Good Brow
A Queer-Owned Space Built On Trust
Eda Erkal opened The Good Brow in 2021 as a queer-owned studio built on a simple premise: everyone deserves to feel safe and seen while getting work done on their face. That mission matters in a city with one of the Midwest’s largest queer populations per capita, and it shows up in the day-to-day work as much as the messaging.
As a four-time certified cosmetic tattooer, Eda specializes in a variety of cosmetic tattooing techniques, but her powder brows are considered elite, along with her corrective brow work and removals for tattoos that didn’t turn out the way a client hoped. Cover-up and correction work requires a different skill set than a first-time tattoo. The artist has to read old pigment, then work around the prior technique to make the magic happen.
It can be difficult to rebuild trust with a client who may have had a difficult experience elsewhere. But it’s a niche Erkal has built an entire practice around, and one Central Ohio clearly needed.
4. Burned Hearts Tattoo & Art Co.
Judgment-Free Tattoo Cover-Ups
Not every entry on this list is built around a single artist. Burned Hearts Tattoo & Art Co. is a full boutique of artists who share a dedication to covering up the tattoos people no longer want with no judgment in their hearts.
Their team reworks faded ink and blends old designs into new ones with the aim of helping clients “replace old symbols or names with new designs that hold fresh, meaningful significance.” There’s no lecture about the original tattoo and no assumption about why it needs to go, just a collaborative process toward something a client is proud to wear again.
The studio also keeps famously flexible hours, welcoming appointments whenever an artist is available. This says as much about their client-first approach as the work itself.
5. Hannah at Hanami Aesthetics
Skin Health & Relaxation Before Tattooing
Rounding out the list is someone who actually doesn’t tattoo at all. Hannah, founder of Hanami Aesthetics in Grandview, spent a decade in esthetics before earning a psychology degree and briefly working in mental and behavioral health. That background shapes how she approaches skin.
So, why is she included in this list? That answer is simple: Her signature “Made to Bloom” facials pair hands-on skin preparation with a slower, more intentional pace — which makes these professional, customized spa facials a natural precursor for anyone about to sit for cosmetic or paramedical tattooing around the face and neck.
Getting a calm, healthy canvas before a needle ever touches it isn’t glamorous work, but it’s foundational. Some of the best tattoo results begin with healthy skin. Hannah’s presence on this list is a reminder that Columbus’ tattoo scene is strong enough to support skincare specialists who prepare the groundwork of exceptional outcomes, while the tattoo artists in the area continue to break new ground.
Five different specialties. Five different neighborhoods. One shared idea: the best work in this industry doesn’t stop at “wow, that’s a gorgeous tattoo.” It’s the niche, the necessary, and the deeply personal that are putting Central Ohio’s tattoo scene on the map.