I was approached by Matthew in the studio, he had arrived from near Blackpool to spend the weekend in the Arcade Club in Bury, I remember it was quiet late in the day, so we made an appointment the following day, he forwarded an image of a feather.

The following day, in his appointment, Matthew started talking about the reason why he came to Bury, to visit the arcade Club, and I resonated with his interests straight way, as I’m a gamer myself, not as much as I used to as when i was a kid, but sometimes, after you tried so much, worked so hard, and need a brake from reality, what a great opportunity, to grab a controller and loose yourself in another world, or dimension if you can call it, and that is possible with gaming.

When we started talking about the Tattoo, Mathew let me know that, the feather was from his bird Zazu, who unfortunately passed away recently. Matthew showed me images of Zazu, so I could match the colours of his feathers in the Tattoo in Greater Manchester. I always put a lot of effort when I do my Tattoos, but when it is something sentimental to someone, it is different, because, it means a lot to that person, a pet can be a part of someone’s family, and become a family member, and I can completely understand that, as animals have the ability to love unconditionally and that’s true love in my point of view.

Zazu was Matthews first parrot. He says, I got him because he was so small and i lived with my parents, so I could only have a small bird, but he turned out to be the biggest bird I know, in terms of character and pluckiness.

Matthew had Zazu for nearly 12 years, and he got him from Liverpool when he was a baby. He was a South American Pacific Parrotlet. He had babies of his own, and he was a great Dad.

He was loving like a little pocket sized hug, he would always sit with us, on a night and share tea and watch tv with us when we went to bed, says Matthew. He was just a truly awesome little bird.

When I was Tattooing Zazu’s feather on Matthew, he got a bit emotional, that’s when I realised how important that Tattoo was from him. That’s when you realise how important your job is, to deliver something on someone’s body for life, that’s going to remember them daily of someone who had an important roll in their journey.

I have had memories doing sentimental Tattoos on customers. I have had a lot of memories from clients Tattooing their loved ones who passed away. But Pets are just as important to people as humans are, they seem to resonate with them in a deeper level, and have this unconditional love journey, which it is how all love should be, unconditional.

I would like to dedicate this post to Zazu.

Colour Realism Tattoos

In this post I would like to focus on colour realism Tattoos, so I’m not going to focus on just one tattoo, instead, I’m going to explore colour realism tattoos I have been doing in Manchester lately, and showing some past work as well, and bringing back some old memories.

My passion for colour realism started in the beginning of my career, meeting Mike de Vries, at Tattoo Jam 2009, I’m sharing the picture I took with Mike de Vries at Tattoo Jam, on that day I bought his book,” lets be realistic” I still have his book signed by him.

I will never forget the moment I opened Total Tattoo magazine around 2007-2008 and saw Mike de Vries work, he was the first Tattoo Artist to transform hyper realistic images into Tattoos, and one of the reasons why I went to Tattoo Jam 2009 was because I wanted to meet and watch Mike de Vries Tattooing.

When you are the first artist to create a new way of art or tattooing, is very impactful and you end up being a catalyst to a certain tattoo style or art style. Myke de Vries is definitely the catalyst of Realism in Tattooing. Realism is a style where you have to make an image believable to the eye to be realistic, and also consider longevity. Considering longevity is adding contrast to the image, however, when approaching a realistic tattoo, the realism part of it is very subtle, so even in the subtle areas, the Tattoo Artist has to find a way to contrast the subtle areas in order to achieve longevity.

In this post I’m sharing an important moment when I met Mike de Vries, and I’m also sharing videos of realistic tattoos I have been doing lately. One of the realistic colour tattoos I have been doing in Manchester, has been a cover-up tattoo.

When approaching a realistic tattoo in a cover-up, planning is really important, the planning is imperative in order to make sure the darks and lights are balanced equally. Having a equal quantity of darks and lights in a tattoo, 50 per cent light and 50 per cent dark, is a beautiful balance, and a rule that works in every tattoo, even when is not a cover-up tattoo.

Planning a tattoo darks and light can take a bit of the Tattoo Artist’s time, but it makes a difference in the outcome of the tattoo, as when a Tattoo Artist is in the middle of a Tattoo, doing more darks than lights, or less darks than lights is very easy to not get the balance right, or close to what it should be.

To do Colour Realism in Tattooing, I use Dermaglo Tattoo Colours. Its an amazing Tattoo pigment, and the best Tattoo colours I have ever came across. I will do a separated post about Dermaglo Tattoo colours.

Category: Realistic Colour Tattoo

Bird Tattoo