Blackwork or American traditional, realistic or geometric: Whatever your style, the Louisville Tattoo Festival has you covered — covered in ink, that is.

From Friday, March 21 through Sunday, March 23, the Kentucky International Convention Center will play host to hundreds of tattoo artists + other vendors for contests, merch — for emphasisand of course a whole lot of tattooing.

Tickets to the festival added a link — they tend to perform better earlier in the articleare $25 for a single day, or $50 for a three-day pass. The festival doesn't handle any individual tattoo bookings — you'll want to contact your artist directly to schedule a slot.great tip

There are six featured artists at this year's festival:

Dave Tevenal — a graffiti-like style
Bob Jones — large-scale, full-color tattoos
Jessica Canvas — check out this artist if you love portraits.
Alexandra Fische — our favorite is this little creature
Freddie Brown — he loves putting animals + plants into his work
Jordi Pla — these ultra-realistic portraits almost jump off the skin.

Check out the full list of over 200 artists. If you find one whose style you like, be sure to make an appointment.

Once you're ready to show off your new or existing ink, here are a few of the contests you can enter:

Best fresh tattoo
Best healed tattoo
Worst tattoo (sponsored by Removery Tattoo Removal)
Tattoo of the day

If you're not looking to get inked yourself, you can get a vintage-style photo by River City Tintype, shop oddities from Unorthodox + Bony Oddities, or snag some local art of the non-tattooed variety from Cry Baby and Little Haunted Dream House.