Saturday, March 17, 2018

Color vs. black and grey tattoos


Here is all color- Lot's of mixing here- Black, blue, white, yellow and water to blend this the way it is. 
It occurred to me that I haven't written more about the differences between color tattoos and just black and grey tattoos- there is actually a big difference between the two, from the technique/application and healing process.
Some people know right away if they are a color person or black only-
I will get right to it.
Black ink on skin is way easier to work in and heal. The black ink is very watery and goes into the skin easily. Healing it is usually very easy going too. The skin processes it  within a few days to a couple of weeks and generally has a thinner 'scab' then color. Although the dry semi-crust on your tattoo during the healing is dead skin that falls off to reveal fresh rejuvenated skin. Black pigment is like tattooing water in the skin compared to color, which I refer to being like honey. When you put color pigment in the skin- the pigment is so full-bodied that it's like pushing honey into the skin, the skin has way more to take in, and process/heal which takes longer- a fully saturated colored tattoo can easily take two weeks to two months to heal and cure- as I call it.
Here is a client photo- I love these. This is a black and grey piece that is actually an opaque grey- adding white ink to the black thickens the pigment, thus this technique would be considered to be more on the color side. I also used mild white high lights in it for another dimension. 

This piece is done in all black ink with water.

 The colored ink needs to get adjusted and settled in the skin, which can take some time. Ink is pretty foreign to the skin but our bodies are used to a certain amount of toxins these days from pesticides to hair dyes (chemicals) to free radicals and pollution. So a healthy person with healthy skin can heal ink no problem. A lot of the times just straight water rinsing once or twice a day will ensure a good heal- moisturizing it when it dry once a day is a nice move too.
Anyway, lately these days there is a big call for just black tattoos, like line work only. That's a nice look and maintaining it, re-doing it, or touching up, is really straight forward and when they grey out in the future it looks kinda primitive and natural. Some people don't like how color tattoos 'fade'. But really over time they all do. However, if you have color and you have to get it re-done for normal preservation some don't want to go thru the process again.
At the end of the day it is all about personal preference and you should just choose to do whatever you'd like. If you have super sensitive skin, it may be easiest to go with black and grey...
Some black only pine needles. Very simple. Less is more often times.






1 comment:

  1. Depends on the them you want. If you want lively, color is good. If you want sad, you can try black and grey.

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