HOW TO CREATE AN ARTISTIC TATTOO:
Think in broad artistic terms, Light , Color, and Design when you approach a tattoo. There is a distinction for a tattoo, bright solid colors and thick bold lines. I had always tried to break the mold and have changed the course of the industry when I did because THE CUSTOMER WANTS ART! Well, lets be fair now, some of the highend customers want art...a lot of the young kids just want a tattoo.
If you want art, then ask for it. Search it out, we covered that already...but for the tattoo artist you must deliver an artistic INTERPRETATION of the classic tattoo that the customer requested. What does that mean exactly? Light, Color and Design. Light, means light source and DRAMATIC shadows. Often in the application of the art dramatic shadows means strong darks and bright highlights with all the shades of grey in between. Try to achieve at least 5 different shades of grey plus strong black and near white light in your tattoos. (To really get in there and develop an artistic name for yourself double that number to 10 shades.)
How to achieve these shades: Rather easy. One technique that works very well in a speedy way is to fill out a few ink caps with strong black ink. Do the quick outline and then start with the darkest shades (before finishing the outline.) Keep one ink cap full of undiluted ink. Work until the black is nearly gone and then spray your green soap into the cap to dilute the ink remaining. Use this cap with the diluted ink until done and then again refill with the soap until there is nothing left in the cap.
When you apply these shades you have to work very quickly. After the first lawyer of the strong undiluted black ink for dramatic shadows then work the greys with the diluted ink at the edges of this strong shading. Follow again with the ink that you diluted for the second time at the edges of the shading you just put in. This method creates a strong shadow and then a lighter shade just beyond it without a lot of time and wear on the customers' skin. If you work the other way with a build up of the shading from light to dark you tear the customer all up, take a long time to work and cost yourself money. By working in this method described then you can achieve many layers and levels of shading quickly and efficently.
At this point I usually go back with the strong undiluted ink that was saved and finish the outline. Thick and thin lines are smoothed out and finished off. Usually there are many lines that are hidden with the shading and I determine if they need bolstering or if they should be left alone. (The less outlines visible the more realistic the tattoo looks.)
Finally the last bold touches of darks are laid in for drama. After the darks, the lighter greys, the lightest greys then the bold outlines I work back into the light shades and strong darks to smooth and polish the shading. If there is a strong dark I will blend it out so it blends into the lighter shades. If there are large areas of one or two shades of grey I will put in a bit more in places with the strong dark ink. This creates modulation and varriety with the shading.
For the most artistic tattoos have the customer go home and heal for a couple of weeks, no less than seven days. Then when they return you will be able to see how they heal, how many light greys stayed and how many varriations there are in the shading of the tattoo. Work back in with strong dark ink or even brown to add yet another layer of grey shading. Then lay in the color. Strong and bold at the darkest areas of shading and then into the second layer of shading. After the second layer of grey shading lighten the tattoo with another lighter color. For example red and then light yellow or orange then yellow.
Design: This is the layout of the tattoo and where the area of most interest or Focal Point is located. Every piece of art has a focal point and a composition. Composition is the path the viewers' eye takes in the piece of art. The focal point is where the viewers' eye rests and returns to constantly. Creating a focal point is really easy, we will get into how to do this more specifically in another Issue of Tattooszine.com but for now just understand that there are only 8 ways to create a focal point. For now use color and or line to create it.
With line use a broken line, or the thinnest or thickest line in a clever way in your tattoos. For instance if you have a line around the edge of a face and for the side of the nose away from the light then change them up. Make the line in the nose thicker yet broken so that it is not a solid line. Leave a little bit of space and you will create interest for the viewer in that single line, simply because all the other lines will be solid and connected except that one. By choosing where you placed the broken lines you can make the viewer look where you want them to look and when.
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