My 3rd Black n Grey piece

[TickTatToe]

I know I can see a few things I would have done different but I'm chuffed with this one. Any comments will be appreciated.

[Ladedeth]

I think that is pretty freaking awesome dude!

[theprofessor]

Not bad at all dude. Work on more grey values, lights and darks, so that your work can just snap out all that more. Good job keep it going.

[TickTatToe]

thanks for the comments :) I'm hoping it will show more of the greys as it heals. It was only done yesterday. Next one I will use less black.

[FORGIVEN]

nice work man !! i cant tell but if you used this technique but on alot of my black & grey work I'll highlight w/ white ...good job !!!

[Valdar]

Looks good from what I see.
Forgiven said he uses white to highlight b&g work sometimes, take the advice it works great. Also I will sometimes use a light (robins egg or powder) blue to highlight my b&g work. A lot will depend on the piece you are doing though.

[Grafx]

Looks good from my house as well brother :wink:
Great job for the third one.
What liner ink did ya use?
And what size needle for the fill?

[TickTatToe]

it took some guts for me to post that tattoo pic up after being given loadsa shit from another forum. you guys don't know what you've done for my self esteem. i know it's far from perfect and i have taken on board what was said about white highlights and also the blues idea and will be trying both on future tats. I used starbrite liner ink with a tight 9rl i filled with a 9rs and also tried a 14mag on some of it as the guy was very obliging. i snagged a cple of times when i started with it but soon got the hang. btw i'm a female but when ur firing compliments 'dude' hits the spot just fine. the smile on my face when i read the first comment would have lit up a dark alley.

[gooey.uk1]

how long you been at it tic tat

[TickTatToe]

7 months

[gooey.uk1]

thats excellent for 7 months
ive yet to do a black and grey ive been at it for 6 months
everyone wants tribal and lettering at the moment but when i get to do 1 i'll post it

[TickTatToe]

Tribal is my ..whats the word i'm looking for?.... well lets just say I have nightmares about it lol. The points are the hardest thing to get right. filling it in is the easy bit. I love doing animals and flowers and stuff cos they are a lot more forgiving. Silly thing is I can get my Old English lettering perfect now and don't have trouble with the points etc on that, it's just the tribal points so I figure it must be all in my mind, a confidence thing maybe. I found a few tips on here about it like lifting as I get to the point but I found the easiest way way to get the point is in one movement ie go into it and out again in the same line. Still not confident with it though but getting better.

[gooey.uk1]

I'm the opposite my tribal is spot on now
but because i get so few pics with colour i'm still not to confident on them but i have a big eagle backpiece to do on sat so i'm really looking forward to that
as for the points on tribal i take one line to the point then take the next line to the same point from the opposite direction if you get my meaning

[Ladedeth]

btw i'm a female

Sorry about that...good to see another female around

[Valdar]

Taken? Damn Both of them? so much for that idea! lol
tictat have you tried using flats while doing b&g shading?

[TickTatToe]

Got some flats on order so I'll let you know how it goes :) Thanks to the info on the forum I tried riding the needle today.. fekkin awsome :) The detail was so much easier without all that ink splogged everywhere.

[Grafx]

I tried riding the needle today.. fekkin awsome
For me, thats the "only way to fly" Just remember to pay closer attention to your penetration depth. just do it on little pieces at first or be carefull pulling loooooooooong lines. You may notice that you will have a tendency to pull up(out of the skin) slightly as your line runs(if it's a longer one) Depending on how you hold your machine hand while your runnin.
Just keep an eye on the depth and make sure they are good and solid. :wink:

[Qwertyu]

I just tried riding the needle on the last piece I did.
It was a tribal on a womans calf. I set the needledepth as I usually do (to ride the tube) and got to work. Then I got a blowout on the first few lines (which I could easily cover fortunately) and had to back off a little bit. The rest went just fine (no problems in getting solid lines), but I am going to check up on the tattoo when it has healed to see if the lines still hold up or if I didnt go deep enough.
If its looking good I’ll be riding the needle from now on - much easier to follow the lines.

[Grafx]

I set the needledepth as I usually do (to ride the tube) and got to work.Then I got a blowout on the first few lines (which I could easily cover fortunately) and had to back off a little bit.

I'm a little confused at your explanation, please correct me if I'm reading it wrong.

If you set the depth as you do when riding the tube how did it blow out?

When riding the needle, The needle depth(the amount of needle sticking out of the tip when the a-bar is down) should be longer that riding the tip. Therefore, you won't want to touch the tip to the skin as it will go too deep(blow out). I set my normal depth and then set it another nickel "at least" deeper. The tip never touches the skin at that depth.
I have a clear view of the line I'm following(If using a stencil) and the line I have already run to see that it's setting well.
If you aren't used to riding the needle, you may have the tendency to "Plunge" Thats bad. Go slow, and pay close attn.

What type of grips are you using ?
They heavier the grip (re: Steel) the more you will have to be extremely carefull when riding the needle. Until you get used to the lack of depth support that you had when riding the tube.

[Qwertyu]

Sorry for the confusion - I’ll try to explain better (english isnt my main languague...)

I was going to ride the tube as I always do and set the needledepth for that purpose. But when I started I got blowouts on the first two lines (I guess she must have had very thin skin...) so I lifted the tip a little bit. I wasnt riding the needle like you would normally do (I didnt feel confident enough to to that yet), but doing something in between. And it worked out really well - I didnt have any problems with it and I could see the lines better, even if I just lifted the tip a little bit. Now that I have that experience (and if it looks good when it has healed) I am going to increase the needle depth a little and ride the needle.

I AM going to be very carefull!!!
I’m using steel grips, but it felt very natural to me - I have been airbrushing since I was 13 (22 years...) and that has helped me a lot, in getting used to work with a tattoo machine.
And about the "plunge" - I always "sweep" into the skin when continuing a line so i dont get dots of ink on a line (I have seen a few those from others).

[Grafx]

Phew!
I feel better now. For real, I was a little worried for ya there for a minute.
Can't beat airbrushing. Too bad we cant blow a little air before we start laying ink. :lol:
Well, I guess we can just blow "Hot air" instead.
Let us know how the next one goes.

[TickTatToe]

yes i did only ride the needle on small details of the piece. I tried on one today to pull a longer line riding the needle and it was a bit wobbly (easy to correct though as I did it where it was going to be covered up) The one I did first was a phoenix rising from some flames and by the time I'd got the wings in I was starting to lose the head stencil so I re-applied it and rode the needle for the head. Until I get more practice I will keep it for short lines in detailed work but it's one dicipline I will definately be working towards perfecting

[FORGIVEN]

hey T.T.T. , be carefull with the flats they're a whole different animal !!! I'm sure you'll be fine , just that they will tear somebody up alot quicker than a mag , pay close attention to the angle of the needle . :D

[TickTatToe]

ok will do forgiven :shock: I've still got a few slices of pigskin in the freezer for new set-ups ;) btw where did you get my picture from :lol:

[Anonymous]

Wow looks great you go girl you should be proud of that one the person you put it on has to love it :D

[gooey.uk1]

the eagle lad bailed on me today his car broke down and now he's skint
so it's gonna be a couple of weeks now but 2 tribals to do today at least it's good practice lining and filling

[TickTatToe]

hope you got the deposit lol

[leonard]

great job i dont remember doing as well at 7 months your starting out good. as far as shading try to go from lightest to darkest meaning like one drop of black and the rest of the cap water then two drops and so on even if the grey looks to light you can go back and darken with the next shade up just be carefull not to overwork the skin. your lines will come out alot clean for tribal if you bring down the grouping just a little try using like a seven i like to use a five to line. i really do like the peice though.

[TickTatToe]

thanks Leonard :) I do only use small grouping for tribal but I still struggle with it :cry: I have been using a 3 or a 5 liner depending on the size of the piece and filling with a 5rs . I'm getting some great practice at filling just now cos a guy came in with all this tribal outline which he got overseas and he wants it all filling in :) done 3 sessions so far and still got about another 5 hours left on it.

[Papa Gee]

Sounds like a huge piece TTT. Have you thought about going to a mag needle grouping? I was leery of using a magnum needle at first but when I discovered the 5 it was like a light bulb flicking on in my head. Just worked out perfectly. It's a small grouping but it covers a lot of area pretty quickly.

[TickTatToe]

It is huge!It covers both arms down to just below the elbows and goes across the front of his chest. I have tried a mag but am not comfortable with it yet. Been using a 9rs on this fill-in cos it's big stuff.

[gooey.uk1]

you want to try a 5 mag for fill in the ink goes it alot quicker and once you get the hang of it it'sin first pass no need to go back to it when you've wiped it down and risk overworking the skin