First green-screen tattoo

The first tattoo artist to incorporate an area of chroma key into a design is Josh Herman, who inked a small television with a green screen on to Tyler Smith in Denver, Colorado, USA, on 21 July 2018. When viewed through a smartphone app, the green area of the tattoo is replaced with video.

The idea of a chroma-key tattoo was popularized by an image of Rick & Morty staring into a swirling green vortex designed by Roy (Lee) Rowlett that went viral in August 2018. Rowlett asserted at the time that his design wasn't the first use of such a device, crediting Smith as the first tattoo artist to use it. Tattooist Velle Worthy also enjoyed social media coverage around that time from her design of a woman wearing green-screen spectacles.