Intermediate Tattooing Tricks Series 1
Establishing Distance in Your Tattoo Design
Creating a sense of distance is going to be tough here. The stands of aspen are made up of very pale colors that are almost the same in the foreground and background.
Solution
Since the scene breaks into such strong horizontal zones, grab you tattoo machine and begin using vertical strokes to suggest the structure of the individual trees. At the end, details will pull out the foreground.
Step One
There really isn't much to tattoo here, so just mark down the divisions between the major color zones. Prepare ink colors of yellow and mauve; with yellow pick out the central portion of the tattoo, and apply the mauve to indicate the far distance. Working with a broad selection of inks—here mauve, burnt sienna, yellow ocher, alizarin crimson, new gamboge, and Hookerss green light—begin developing color masses.
Step Two
Add the pine trees to the central zone. Using your tattoo machine, continue to use vertical strokes and minimize detail. If this section becomes too fussy, it’s going to be just about impossible to get across the feeling that it's located behind the pale aspenin the foreground.
Step Three
With a darker green, indicate the shadows that fall on the pine trees. This is the time to begin defining the aspen trees as well. Continuing to use vertical strokes with your tattoo machine, lay down intermediate ink tones over the paler ones you've already established.
The Finished Tattoo
Solution
Since the scene breaks into such strong horizontal zones, grab you tattoo machine and begin using vertical strokes to suggest the structure of the individual trees. At the end, details will pull out the foreground.
Step One
There really isn't much to tattoo here, so just mark down the divisions between the major color zones. Prepare ink colors of yellow and mauve; with yellow pick out the central portion of the tattoo, and apply the mauve to indicate the far distance. Working with a broad selection of inks—here mauve, burnt sienna, yellow ocher, alizarin crimson, new gamboge, and Hookerss green light—begin developing color masses.
Step Two
Add the pine trees to the central zone. Using your tattoo machine, continue to use vertical strokes and minimize detail. If this section becomes too fussy, it’s going to be just about impossible to get across the feeling that it's located behind the pale aspenin the foreground.
Step Three
With a darker green, indicate the shadows that fall on the pine trees. This is the time to begin defining the aspen trees as well. Continuing to use vertical strokes with your tattoo machine, lay down intermediate ink tones over the paler ones you've already established.
The Finished Tattoo
To achieve the final colors, build up the horizontal color zones with inks of deeper value. Then, as a final touch, add in the spindly tree trunks with your tattoo machine.
This will give the textured effect that suggests the look of a hillside forest. These passages of light greenish-yellow ink also help pull the foreground out toward you. Because they're more brilliant than any of the other hues used, they seem closer and more immediate.
Without these scraggly branches, the entire tattoo would flatten out. Added at the very end, they quickly establish the foreground. Emphasizing one detail like this often sharpens all the spatial relationships that you've set up.
This will give the textured effect that suggests the look of a hillside forest. These passages of light greenish-yellow ink also help pull the foreground out toward you. Because they're more brilliant than any of the other hues used, they seem closer and more immediate.
Without these scraggly branches, the entire tattoo would flatten out. Added at the very end, they quickly establish the foreground. Emphasizing one detail like this often sharpens all the spatial relationships that you've set up.
Creating a Snowy Motif Tattoo
Here you want to capture the mood created by the overcast sky, yet maintain the brilliance of the snow. Value relationships between snow and sky can be extremely difficult to capture in a tattoo design.
Solution
Instead of concentrating on the patterns formed by the snow, begin with the sky. To pull these two areas together, the ink used for the sky can pick out shadows in the snow.
Step One
After you draw the outline with your tattoo machine, ink the area above the horizon and lay in the sky with a graded tone. Don't feel bound to match the colors that you see exactly. Here, for example, the purplish ink immediately creates the feeling of a cold winter day. Intensify the ink close to the horizon, and put in the small trees in the background. Put down the dark brown foreground with diagonal strokes, in addition to applying some white tattoo ink to indicate the snow covered hillside.
Step Two
Continue to develop the darkest values, inking the trees closest to the foreground. Leave some part of the skin untouched to suggest how the snow hugs the branches. As you ink, simplify the shape of the tree as much as possible there's already enough going on here.
Step Three
Using slightly lighter hues, finish tattooing the trees that lie in the background. Analyze how the light reflects off the masses of snow in the branches, and color in their shadows. As you work, keep in mind the direction of the light, building up the shadows in a logical way.
Finished Tattoo
Solution
Instead of concentrating on the patterns formed by the snow, begin with the sky. To pull these two areas together, the ink used for the sky can pick out shadows in the snow.
Step One
After you draw the outline with your tattoo machine, ink the area above the horizon and lay in the sky with a graded tone. Don't feel bound to match the colors that you see exactly. Here, for example, the purplish ink immediately creates the feeling of a cold winter day. Intensify the ink close to the horizon, and put in the small trees in the background. Put down the dark brown foreground with diagonal strokes, in addition to applying some white tattoo ink to indicate the snow covered hillside.
Step Two
Continue to develop the darkest values, inking the trees closest to the foreground. Leave some part of the skin untouched to suggest how the snow hugs the branches. As you ink, simplify the shape of the tree as much as possible there's already enough going on here.
Step Three
Using slightly lighter hues, finish tattooing the trees that lie in the background. Analyze how the light reflects off the masses of snow in the branches, and color in their shadows. As you work, keep in mind the direction of the light, building up the shadows in a logical way.
Finished Tattoo
When you look closely at the branches of the trees, you can see how many colors have been used— very few of them greens. Browns, ochers, and blues are much more resonant than most greens, and help convey the brooding quality of the purplish winter sky.
The purple ink used to depict the sky and the shadows on the ground pull the two areas together. The portions tattooed ink-in-ink seem much softer and farther away than the area just beneath the tree.
The purple ink used to depict the sky and the shadows on the ground pull the two areas together. The portions tattooed ink-in-ink seem much softer and farther away than the area just beneath the tree.
Creating Patterns Using White Tattoo Ink
They're really isn't much to hang onto here. Everything in the background is soft and muted, and the pine needles in the foreground are obscured by snow.
Solution
Make the snow dominate your tattoo design. First, work out the subtle gradations in the background, saving the snow for the final step. It's hard to figure out where to begin because, except for the snow, everything is closely related in value. If you look closely, though, you can see the directions in which the masses of needles move.
Using your tattoo machine, lay in the background with muted colors, following the radiating pattern of needles spreading out from branches. Next, work on the dark needles closest to you. The patterns formed by the snow are the focus of your tattoo, so think them through before you begin.
Solution
Make the snow dominate your tattoo design. First, work out the subtle gradations in the background, saving the snow for the final step. It's hard to figure out where to begin because, except for the snow, everything is closely related in value. If you look closely, though, you can see the directions in which the masses of needles move.
Using your tattoo machine, lay in the background with muted colors, following the radiating pattern of needles spreading out from branches. Next, work on the dark needles closest to you. The patterns formed by the snow are the focus of your tattoo, so think them through before you begin.
At first, the whites seem equally important, but if you look carefully, you'll see that only those in the foreground really stand out. Tattoo them first, using white ink to suggest how the snow settles, apply the color onto the needles. For the snow in the background, use a large tattoo needle that has been properly sterilized, moving it quickly and lightly across the skin.