9545 Reseda Blvd. unit 2, Northridge, CA (818) 700-2818

shading

he guys so i have been tattooing for near on 3 years have recently finished an apprentiship and am now currently working at a great tattoo studio , however my old mentor shut his studio to re locate and have been at a new shop for 6 months i currently work with a tattooist that specialisies in Japanese , a lot of what he does is alien to me he is some what self taught and stuck in his ways ! not that its a bad thing but i feel its hard to learn anything from someone that thinks they know everything!!!! my question is this please would someone shed some light on realistic roses i am seeming to get somewhat lost with the shading areas understandably, depending on which way the light is hitting the flower etc ? but the issue is making up my mind either to stating with a light to work onto a mid tone shad or reverse it im rather confused as i ve always worked at old skool peces and recently want to move onto realisim please can some one help anyway ? x


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RE:shading

You might want to try a value study before starting the tattoo if you have time in graphite. This will allow you to know where to put your darks and lights. Try using bugpins with a softer hitting machine. I use a aaron cain bottle opener running at 110 - 120 cycles per minute. Allows me to put in the solid black and is slow and soft enough for blending. If its color you're working in, a value study could definitely help out. Drawing it allows you to understand where to put tones. Getting it right on paper will help you get it right on skin. I pre-make my black and grey wash in cups before tattooing. mid size cups, solid black, 9-11 drops with distilled water or witch hazel for a dark grey, 4-6 drops with water for mid tone, and 3 drops with water for lightest tones. I whip shade to blend. Bigger pieces require bigger mags so the transition of tones will be smooth and less peppered looking. Same with color just match like colors of tone like power purple all the way to light magenta or fuschia. Just remember contrast, smooth gradation, and depth create the realism.
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