Curious

[Tiresius]

Hi all! I have two tattoos, one on each ankle and am contemplating my third. This time however, I'v become seriously obsessed with the whole subject! Thus, I'v been viewing and examine tattoo pics non-stop. I have a booking with an artist whose work I love but have to wait a whole year.

In the meantime, I have the following question: some tattoo artist's work seem SO vivid and the colour SO saturated, that I can't work out if its a difference in style and technique or whether they actually use a different ink. For example Giena Todryk, and Marcin Aleksander Surowiec. 

We all know there are many brilliant artists out there - some of which are more to my taste - but few seem to achieve the sheer pigmented strength of these.

Any opinions?

 

[Tiresius]

Follow up: about a week ago I messaged the parlour I am booked in with to ask the same question. I left out the part about lots of brilliant artists etc, so it was just asking how those two artists would have achieved such a vivid effect, whether it was technique or ink. I never got a reply so I'm wondering if I committed a grave faux pas as I'm pretty ignorant of tattoo etiquette. If I did, how do I do damage control? 

[Graeme]

Are these tattoos you have seen healed in person or are they pictures of fresh unhealed tattoos you've seen on instagram?  Because only one counts.

[Tiresius]

All on the internet, I'm afraid. But I assume many artists stick up pics of tattoos that are fresh and unhealed because they look the brightest then? So then these should not be so much MORE bright, right?

http://thevandallist.com/giena-todryk-tattoo-artist/

[marley mission]

@Tiresius welcome

couple thoughts - @Graeme has good points

healed and hairy is gonna always look different 

better actually

but i do think you can get a good grasp of the tattooers work on IG

as for asking about inks - yeah i wouldnt

i dont think you need to do 'damage control'

just move on

basically - if you arent a tattooer - you dont need to worry about those type of things

as least i dont - just find the right tattooer...and get tattooed

repeat :)

[Tiresius]

Yes, it does seem like few tattoo enthusiasts think much about the ink... Presumably the variety/brand of ink does not impact that much on the final visual impact. However, I am always startled by just how vibrant some pieces (like the Todryk ones) look. Those startling hues just floor me!

I was a bit disappointed by the way my 2nd tattoo healed in that the colour faded dramatically in a couple of weeks. It has the same saturation as one I had nearly 10 years earlier.

Edited July 22, 2016 by Tiresius

[Graeme]

51 minutes ago, Tiresius said:

All on the internet, I'm afraid. But I assume many artists stick up pics of tattoos that are fresh and unhealed because they look the brightest then? So then these should not be so much MORE bright, right?

http://thevandallist.com/giena-todryk-tattoo-artist/

Here's the thing about pictures of tattoos on the internet: that may or may not be what the tattoo actually looks like.  Maybe it looks like that.  Maybe it's been adjusted in Photoshop or with some kind of filter.  This isn't unheard of.  For me, I'd rather see tattoos in real life, preferably settled in for a number of years before I determine who makes really bright tattoos or not.

[Tiresius]

I chose the artist I booked with by searching through online portfolios. Is that not the way it is usually done? #FairlyClueless...

 

[kblood]

theyre just warning you to be aware that some photos online are fresh vs healed...

 

 

[mmmsarah]

8 hours ago, marley mission said:

just find the right tattooer...and get tattooed

I guess the question is how do you find the right tattooer if all you have is online portfolios which may be only fresh, new tattoos?

[marley mission]

45 minutes ago, mmmsarah said:

I guess the question is how do you find the right tattooer if all you have is online portfolios which may be only fresh, new tattoos?

i think it gets you in the ballpark - and more important is understanding what a lived in tattoo looks like - people think that a tattoo is going to sustain that day 1 look - and it doesnt

i myself think lived in looks awesome - but like i said - some folks are expecting something else i think

[Tiresius]

Perhaps then it's more a theoretical question than one that has a bearing on work I'm going to have done. Does an artist like Todryk use a different variety of ink, or is the effect a matter of technique, OR are all the pics of this artist online actually digitally enhanced?

I'm still curious! :D

[Graeme]

3 hours ago, mmmsarah said:

I guess the question is how do you find the right tattooer if all you have is online portfolios which may be only fresh, new tattoos?

Call me old fashioned, but good ol' face to face interaction works pretty well for me.  When I get tattooed I tend to talk tattoos with my tattooer, I see the tattoos they have and ask about them, I find out about the people they have been tattooed by, who they like and respect in tattooing. And then I try to seek out those people.  I am probably in the minority here but I wouldn't get tattooed based on portfolio or Instagram alone.

 

I also have a fair bit of experience getting tattooed and we all have to jump in somewhere so take my remarks as you will.

[marley mission]

@Graeme absolutely the experience level helps - i enjoy talking tattos with tattooers as well - or just sometimes listening as tattooers talk to each other

at this point - when i get tattooed - most of the time tattooers want to see what i have and talk about what they have which is quite fun

this is why i think its crazy that someone would want to wear headphones while getting tattooed - you're missing all the good stories

 

[Graeme]

1 hour ago, Tiresius said:

Perhaps then it's more a theoretical question than one that has a bearing on work I'm going to have done. Does an artist like Todryk use a different variety of ink, or is the effect a matter of technique, OR are all the pics of this artist online actually digitally enhanced?

I'm still curious! :D

Just read this thread:

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/2288-what-makes-a-good-tattoo/

 

A lot of the tattoos you linked to don't seem to be well-structured I wouldn't count on them holding up in the long run anyway.

[Tiresius]

Unfortunately I can't think of any polite way of asking to see healed photos of work an artist has done! Though I would be VERY interested. I'm realising that ALL of the pics that have so wowed me are MOST likely to be fresh and unhealed.

[mmmsarah]

1 hour ago, marley mission said:

this is why i think its crazy that someone would want to wear headphones while getting tattooed - you're missing all the good stories

I never wanted to wear headphones for my tattoo, there was some great chat in the studio, but I needed some heavy music the last hour or so to get through the pain!

I would definitely be interested to see examples of very bright/watercolour style tattoos a few years down the line. They are so popular at the moment but I don't think I've ever seen an "aged" one 

Edited July 22, 2016 by mmmsarah
wanted to add something

[Tiresius]

My last one went right round the ankle bone and I was trying to stop my leg muscles jumping most of the session. Music, chit-chat? Guess I need to work on pain tolerance!

[Dan]

30 minutes ago, Tiresius said:

My last one went right round the ankle bone and I was trying to stop my leg muscles jumping most of the session. Music, chit-chat? Guess I need to work on pain tolerance!

when I had tattoos around both ankles done,I felt terrible for the artist as I couldn't stop the involuntary leg jerks from happening ,he had to lean on my leg hard to get it done.it wasn't a pain thing,it was the leg jerks.

[Tiresius]

It was both, I guess. But when the pain was worse the involuntary jumps got stronger too. So it took a lot longer than we were expecting.

[SStu]

Certainly, some artists are better at "saturating" their ink than others. That is probably the difference between your 1st and 2nd tattoo.

Getting healed pictures will be tougher, as most artists never see a good portion of their work again, once it walks out the door.

A healed picture can have a filter applied to it, too.

None of this will assist you in guaranteeing a VIVID tattoo, of course - it just gives you as much info as the rest of us has . . .

 

[Tiresius]

Edited July 22, 2016 by Tiresius

[Tiresius]

Even if this ^ is unhealed it seems really impressive to me. It is by Giena Todryk and is typical of the hues that Giena achieves.

I'm not going for a Todryk tattoo, but I am just amazed at them anyway :) 

I guess its more theoretical curiosity because I'm not sure anyone in the county I live in does that. 

SStu, I guess that is true! Unless one attends many tattoo conferences and immerses oneself in the society and culture, one is just not exposed to that much fabulous work.

(Sorry Graeme, I'm just seeing your last comment now! I will have a look at the link you refer to!)
 

Edited July 22, 2016 by Tiresius

[oboogie]

That's definitely fresh. And it is definitely not going to look that way when it heals.

[polliwog]

Some of the visual impact of that tattoo has to do just with knowledge of color theory, i.e. putting complementary colors, like orange and turquoise, next to each other.  But yes, that's a fresh tattoo.  A lot of styles that are popular on the Internet right now (like virtually everything featured on Buzzfeed) really depend upon the tattoos being fresh in the photographs.  We don't know what that tattoo will look like in 10 years; certainly the colors will be much more muted, and some might fade faster than others.  If you look at an actual bound portfolio in a shop, look for healed examples of an artist's work.  I've gone back to local shops a couple times now so that the tattooer can take a photograph of a tattoo that I've healed. The livedinttattoos Instagram account is also great in terms of giving you an idea of the variety of ways a tattoo might age. I do sympathize with anyone who feels like they don't have access to a lot of healed examples of good tattoos in person because virtually nobody I hang out with regularly is interested in tattoos.  Another good option might be to go to a convention; you'll certainly see all kinds of lived-in tattoos there...

Edited July 22, 2016 by polliwog