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.