Solid Color and Black

Solid Color and Black

The first tattoos you will be doing when you are ready will be tribal and
solid color work. For the most part, you’re going to be lining with an eight or
a five. The idea of solid color is like the sponge I explained earlier. The
longer you hold the sponge in the water the more it will get wet. The only
problem is a tattoo needle can damage the skin to the point of scarring if
you’re in the same spot too long. Scar tissue gets is characteristics from
having a lack of elasticity like normal skin. If you scar a tattoo then the
pigment will come out as the tattoo heals and touch ups will be more difficult
because the scar tissue will cause you problems. If you are tattooing
something about the size of a card deck then you will be able to shade and
color with the needle you lined with. Any tattoo bigger than a deck of cards
should be finished with a mag unless there is a lot of detail. Let’s look at
coloring a small tribal solid black. You should line the tribal with and eight.
The advantage of tribal is that you shouldn’t be as concerned about the
outline; it’s all going to be black anyway. A lot of tribal tattoos you see will
have a darker outline than the fill work in the center. You can avoid this by
lining the tribal lightly then sharpening the edges with an eight once it’s filled
in. Let’s say the tribal tattoo is the size of a playing card. The best way to
look at solid work is in sections, sort of like filling in a very small checker
board. Work from the bottom up. When applying the pigment you want to go
in small circles like the test in school with a number two pencil. If you fill in
with slashes or by going back and forth you will be able to see the needle
marks. The best way to practice the circle motion is to take a sheet of paper
and try to fill the entire page with pencil. Practice trying to get the coloring
on paper smooth so you can’t see the pencil marks. You will be able see that
the best coverage will be circles about a sixteenth of an inch wide. It takes
forever but the tattoo will be high quality.
You must have a light hand, if you push too hard or go too slow then
you will just turn your client into a piece of ground chuck. You can also
practice your fill work on a banana since the banana will look the same as
skin. If you are digging then the skin will look chewed up. You should be able
to see the tattooed area about the same quality as a non tattooed area. The
finished product should be smooth to the touch. If you can see holes, ruff
spots, or ditches in the skin where you lined them you are just playing
butcher. Start out light, you can always ad to a tattoo but you can’t take
away. It won’t take long for you to find the speed and pressure you need to
have a nice smooth fill. As you tattoo it will seem faster to just go back and
forth like your coloring with a marker, but after the tattoo heals the needle
marks will show though, I promise. The human skin can only absorb so much
pigment, like the sponge it will simply stop taking its fill. If you don’t cover
the area well enough then the areas you did get will seem darker leaving the
tattoo looking splotchy. Take your time and feel it out. With a mag you can
go much faster but you have a higher risk of damaging the skin. Once you get
efficient with a mag, a tattoo that takes an hour to fill with an eight will take
about fifteen minutes, it will also heal twice as fast and dark. After you fill in
the largest portions of the tattoo then you should do the darkening close to
the line work. Take your time and smooth the outside edge as you fill in. With
the circles you should get as close to the lining as possible then fill in and
smooth out the edge like you were doing the outline. A good trick to ensure
you have a good solid coverage is to apply water to the skin. The water will
reflect the light and let you see areas where the fill is too light. Make sure to
wipe the water off before continuing to tattoo.
Solid color will be the exact same process. You should have one cup of
water per color. When you change colors dip and run the machine in the cup
of water up to the washout. Hold it running under the water until most of the
pigment comes out. You may have to wipe the tube and needle off with your
paper towel to clean it off all of the way. Tattoo pigments mix, so if you
don’t wash out all of the blue and dip in the yellow, you will tattoo green.
This is also why the pigments should be set up in the order of darkest to
lightest. If your tattooing a gnome with a blue hat and a yellow vest then you
will want to fill in the bulk of the blue using small circles, then do the blue
edge work to smooth it out. Next you would rinse out the machine and apply
the yellow in the same way. Blue is darker and thicker pigment than Yellow. If
you tattoo yellow first, then the blue will soak in the opened skin and dye the
yellow to green permanently. Red will turn yellow to orange, and red will also
turn white to pink. So you would apply the pigment starting with red, then
blue, yellow and finally white if you are using these pigments. Because of the
pigments being so thick and having the ability to dye the other colors you
should be very careful of the order you tattoo. There are always exceptions to
the rules; Some times you can use this to your advantage which I will get
more into with the advanced lessons.
While you are tattooing the skin will turn a reddish color due to the
irritation the needle causes. This will later come to be an advantage but with
color it can throw you off. If you are applying white then a minute or so after
the application, the white will turn pink for a couple of hours. Yellow is the
worst about this because the addition of the red tint will make it look like
orange. So you should apply the orange first so you can see where it is going,
then use the yellow. Orange is thicker; you should use it first anyway so you
don’t stain the yellow a different color. Anytime you use a large amount of
white or yellow you should explain to your client that it will look off color for
a few hours so they don’t loose faith in your ability. It will take some time but
you’ll see which pigment is thicker and needs to be applied first.
Chapter 12
Mag Use
A mag is a tattoo needle with two rows, one on top of the other.
They’re stacked as you would stack soda cans laying on there side, four on the
bottom and three on top for a seven mag. The two rows are spread apart
more than a round so the pigment dispersal is a little smoother. It would be
like comparing a fine point pen to a magic marker. The little detailed stuff is
for the pen while the magic marker is for larger jobs. The mags are made by
soldering your needles in a row and laid out flat. Solder at the back, next use
a single edge razor blade to weave the needles. One on top, one on bottom,
then one on top, ect. Then with the razor in place another layer of solder is
applied to hold this configuration. A stacked mag is where they lay four down
and solder them, then lay three down and solder those. Then they solder the
two layers together. This would be to make a seven mag stacked. Because
they are closer together they are smaller, so a nine mag stacked will fit in a
seven mag tube tip. Proper use of a mag is at an angle. You want the mag to
lay flat on the skin, but lay it down so it penetrates at a slight angle. If you
try to use a mag straight on the skin like holding it will pinch the client and
stick in the skin causing the needle to jump. If the needle is flat on the skin
then you need to elevate the eye loop till you have about a forty degree
angle. You should drag a mag, not push it. What this means is that you should
pull the machine away from the tip of the tube, similar to driving a car in
reverse. If you push the mag forward it will have a tendency to go under the
skin making it difficult for the needle to retract and move forward again.
Solid coloring with a mag is very similar to coloring with a lining needle. You
want to color in the circular motion but due to the mag being wider like a
paint brush you cover more area faster. Think of using a mag like using three
lining needle side by side to color. If you go slower then you will cause more
damage to the skin. Pay attention to the texture of the skin by wiping away
all the extra pigment while you tattoo. It takes practice but you can turn a
mag on its side to use the edge needles like a liner. This will make filling in
close to the line work a lot quicker. One way to practice using a mag needle is