There's been a lot of scarification type "tattoos" done with lasers over the last couple years. But, this is a temporary alternative that is not new, but still involves lasers.
Temporary airbrush tattoos have been around for a while, and there's even an entry in Wikipedia, but all the airbrush stencils I've ever seen have been pretty lame. Enter the laser, where it can cut custom stencils on demand. Seen above: an electrocuted man stencil.
For a short film project I'm currently working on, there was need for the main actress to have tattoos. With the help of Alex from Sidmore Bluffs, I cut several stencils on the laser, and he applied them with a standard airbrush and temporarily tattoo ink. After the application he rubbed standard baking flour on the skin to give it a matte finish.
The result is quite good and I was impressed with the whole process. With custom laser-cut stencils you can apply a lot of tattoos with speed and quality.
