some black work

[L_Pease]

Here's a dump of some black and grey. Forgiven helped me out with posting links and not pics. Thanks forgiven.
http://onfinite.com/libraries/1023613/821.jpg
http://onfinite.com/libraries/967254/a35.jpg
http://onfinite.com/libraries/1053366/180.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x307/jinxthirteen/Draven.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x307/jinxthirteen/USSRoosevelt.jpg

[hotdiggitydawg]

Very nice work there MR Pease!

[jjbbuzz]

i agree , very good b&g work there..

[junkyman]

Really nice work man, I really dig your style!

[kellyink]

excellent stuff!!

[Slider]

Definitely excellent work...love the portraits, they show a lot of spirit/personality of the subjects...

[wickedstylesink]

awesome stuff man ..
where are you located ?

[L_Pease]

thanks for the kind words guys. Wickedstylesink I'm in Muskegon MI.

[SPANISH SCOUSER]

your portrait work is excelent,i am trying to get in to it my self,up to now i have only done 2 one on my self of my sister http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l248/spanishscouser/?action=view&current=mari.jpg and the other of a customer's dad http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l248/spanishscouser/?action=view&current=port2.jpg the likeness on both are good but they lack the realism that i see on your work,if there is any advice you can give me will be much appreciated

[L_Pease]

your portrait work is excelent,i am trying to get in to it my self,up to now i have only done 2 one on my self of my sister http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l248/spanishscouser/?action=view&current=mari.jpg and the other of a customer's dad http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l248/spanishscouser/?action=view&current=port2.jpg the likeness on both are good but they lack the realism that i see on your work,if there is any advice you can give me will be much appreciatedI'm not too sure where to start because it's all important. There should hardly ever be any hard lines in portrait work. There aren't in real life so I guess that would be the most important thing to remember. Recreate only what you see and not what you know something looks like. The eyes are the "window to the soul" they say, so you have to make them believable so as to draw the viewer into the piece. Learning to tattoo out of focus is a very difficult thing to do, but it will pay off big in almost any large or detailed tattoo you do.

The pics you posted here aren't bad for starting out with portraits. I feel strongly that before anybody tries to tattoo a portrait they should learn the ropes in either pencil or charcoal. The biggest thing I see missing in the pics you posted is depth. They both look a little flat because there is very little shading in them. You have to look at the reference photo and determine the lightest tones and they are what you will leave as open skin with some white highlights. The eyes, mouth, and most times the nose will be the key features to focus on. Be sure to use a full range of values throughout the tattoo as you see them in the reference photo. With black and grey tattooing you are trying to recreate an image just as if it were a black and white photo so leave almost nothing untouched. I mark out the important shapes with dotted lines and the main features with full lines when I make the stencil. That way I know what is needed to define the rough image then I will fine tune the tattoo by adding the subtle shadows and darken the darkest areas last. Once you make something too dark, everything has to be darker in proportion. With portraits it's best to undershoot the overall darkness and sharpness then once it is fully healed you can go back and tighten it up.

[SPANISH SCOUSER]

thanks for taking the time to help,the reason i did try my hands on portraits was beacose i use to do them on pencil beafore i starting tattooing but i do find it a bit harder wen using needles,i use a 5 liner for some outline and blod lines and a 7 mag for shading i can see what you say about the lack of depth but still unshore wen it comes to b@g just in case a go to dark

[L_Pease]

I'm the opposite. Since I've been tattooing I have become extremely lazy in other mediums. I would rather tattoo a portrait or anything for that matter, than draw it and color it with pencils these days. I know how easy it is to blend and get gradual fades with a tattoo machine and with pencils it takes time to do it just as smooth. It's strange, I feel more comfortable with a tattoo machine in my hand ha ha.

Just work on your shading when you're doing smaller tattoos. Try different techniques when shading where you're going to add color and find what works for you. Then you can apply it to larger black and grey work. If you experiment with a B&G tattoo, there is no place to hide any bloopers you may make.

[SPANISH SCOUSER]

thanks again L_pease.

[L_Pease]

no problem. Next time I do a detailed B&G piece I'll try to remember to take pics at various stages to show how I progress through a piece.

[SPANISH SCOUSER]

no problem. Next time I do a detailed B&G piece I'll try to remember to take pics at various stages to show how I progress through a piece.

that will be great,it will make it easier to understand than just words

[kingkreations]

that's some good advice on portraits pease, I still haven't gotten up the cojones to do one yet, and I have 3 people that want them done. I'm interested in seeing how you progress through one. I lost my grandfather not too long ago and I'm thinking of getting a portrait of him done. I'll have to get with you when I get some money together and come see you.

[L_Pease]

I have a guy and girl coming from Detroit tomorrow. Where you at in Detroit? I used to play hockey there.

[kingkreations]

I'm on the west side of Detroit. Right outside the Southfield area.

[Necro J]

Awesome! That's realy good advice you give for working on any black and gray work. 12 years ago I first saw Paul Booth's work and I was just amazed at his shading and I always wondered how he did an outline. It's true depth and realism in any black and gray that makes a good tattoo.

[wickedstylesink]

thanks for the kind words guys. Wickedstylesink I'm in Muskegon MI.
damn well if i ever travel out that way ill have to hit you up and get some work

[SlickSquid]

cool work LPease that Monroe is type sexy bruh!
I love the skull too

[fattatoo]

L...that is some sweet art you've done there boss!

[B.Mullins]

Excellent work man.They all look great,but ya gotta like all the little details on the aircraft carrier.

[the colorist]

i like the 1st portrait .you captured the likeness very well.the subtleness of the shading helps in the realism.try using less solid heavy black lines on portraits and photo realistic pieces.use a medium graywash as your outlining ink.it tends to heal light like a graphite pencil

[L_Pease]

I guess I don't see what you mean as the only black lines in the portraits are the names under them. Anything you're seeing that looks black on your screen is about 20%black and 80% water. These are all fresh pieces and those lines I assume you're referring to heal looking like light pencil lines.

[black raven]

I'm the opposite. Since I've been tattooing I have become extremely lazy in other mediums. I would rather tattoo a portrait or anything for that matter, than draw it and color it with pencils these days. I know how easy it is to blend and get gradual fades with a tattoo machine and with pencils it takes time to do it just as smooth. It's strange, I feel more comfortable with a tattoo machine in my hand ha ha.

Just work on your shading when you're doing smaller tattoos. Try different techniques when shading where you're going to add color and find what works for you. Then you can apply it to larger black and grey work. If you experiment with a B&G tattoo, there is no place to hide any bloopers you may make.
I'm with ya on this one pease, lazy here too,very rarely do i pick up any colored pencils or paint anymore,i feel i can be more creative with a tattoo machine. nice black and grey... by the way, draven has got to have one of the biggest mellons i think i ever seen ,,,lol

[pookie]

I'm the opposite. Since I've been tattooing I have become extremely lazy in other mediums. I would rather tattoo a portrait or anything for that matter, than draw it and color it with pencils these days. I know how easy it is to blend and get gradual fades with a tattoo machine and with pencils it takes time to do it just as smooth. It's strange, I feel more comfortable with a tattoo machine in my hand ha ha.

Just work on your shading when you're doing smaller tattoos. Try different techniques when shading where you're going to add color and find what works for you. Then you can apply it to larger black and grey work. If you experiment with a B&G tattoo, there is no place to hide any bloopers you may make.


ive heard this from a few tattoo artists, just hopin i can stay on the art side of things with pencils and paint.

[the colorist]

I guess I don't see what you mean as the only black lines in the portraits are the names under them. Anything you're seeing that looks black on your screen is about 20%black and 80% water. These are all fresh pieces and those lines I assume you're referring to heal looking like light pencil lines.
after a second look i guess your right.i guess I'd need to see the rest after they are healed.the 2nd portrait doesn't look as subtle as the 1st.there seems to be more graduations from dark to light in the 1st than there is in the 2nd and the Monroe piece

[L_Pease]

Yeah, the big headed portrait is on a really pale skinned guy and the Monroe reference pic had spots where definition was required so I went with that pencil line technique in spots where needed...the reference was only about 3 inches tall too. There used to be a healed pic of the MM tattoo on Rosie O'donnel's website. The girl that has the tattoo met her and Rosie liked her tattoo and asked if she could take some pics. I know I know it's Rosie O'donnel...at least somebody liked it hehehe.

[gator258]

I'm not too sure where to start because it's all important. There should hardly ever be any hard lines in portrait work. There aren't in real life so I guess that would be the most important thing to remember. Recreate only what you see and not what you know something looks like. The eyes are the "window to the soul" they say, so you have to make them believable so as to draw the viewer into the piece. Learning to tattoo out of focus is a very difficult thing to do, but it will pay off big in almost any large or detailed tattoo you do.

The pics you posted here aren't bad for starting out with portraits. I feel strongly that before anybody tries to tattoo a portrait they should learn the ropes in either pencil or charcoal. The biggest thing I see missing in the pics you posted is depth. They both look a little flat because there is very little shading in them. You have to look at the reference photo and determine the lightest tones and they are what you will leave as open skin with some white highlights. The eyes, mouth, and most times the nose will be the key features to focus on. Be sure to use a full range of values throughout the tattoo as you see them in the reference photo. With black and grey tattooing you are trying to recreate an image just as if it were a black and white photo so leave almost nothing untouched. I mark out the important shapes with dotted lines and the main features with full lines when I make the stencil. That way I know what is needed to define the rough image then I will fine tune the tattoo by adding the subtle shadows and darken the darkest areas last. Once you make something too dark, everything has to be darker in proportion. With portraits it's best to undershoot the overall darkness and sharpness then once it is fully healed you can go back and tighten it up.



Your black work is excellent and is something I hope to be able to do someday. Your advice above is great and I'll give it a try. Been practicing mostly on pigskins until I get comfortable enough with my machines before trying realism on people. I'm finding it very difficult to get smooth gradients on pig ears.

Here are a few shots of my practice work. (http://tattoo.linkgen.net/pig.html) Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Terry

[L_Pease]

Gator, it's hard to explain in words how to get smooth gradiations, but I'll try and explain my way in a nutshell. I usually use a long stroke, sorta' fast running soft hitting machine with a 7-9mag. I like to start out with mostly water with a touch or two (literally, touch your black with a fingertip and then touch a cap of water) to see how the persons skin is going to take the black. Some will look very dark with very little shading so better to be cautious. I like to start light and soft and then build up to darker tones by applying very little needle (like using a paintbrush) with more of a black-water ratio untill it looks like it's about there. Then I finish thing off by sharpening up with straight black for the contrast and detail.

The pig ears in your link look pretty scratchy or blotchy. I have never worked on a pig ear so I can't really tell you if that is a factor. It looks like you were shading with a machine set up for lining. Try and roll back your voltage and get a feel for just sort of sketching using only the needles and not the tube. If you're using round shaders,work more upright or learn to use mags as they make for much smooter shading. Just start light and soft and build up. This is where you can use staining to your advantage. It mostly comes down to feel though and that comes from experience. You can also learn about building your tones by using a brush with water and black drawing ink. It is nearly identical to tattooing b&g as far as working the different gradients. You can build an ink weash just like a b&g tattoo.

Hope this helps you out.

[gator258]

Gator, it's hard to explain in words how to get smooth gradiations, but I'll try and explain my way in a nutshell. I usually use a long stroke, sorta' fast running soft hitting machine with a 7-9mag. I like to start out with mostly water with a touch or two (literally, touch your black with a fingertip and then touch a cap of water) to see how the persons skin is going to take the black. Some will look very dark with very little shading so better to be cautious. I like to start light and soft and then build up to darker tones by applying very little needle (like using a paintbrush) with more of a black-water ratio untill it looks like it's about there. Then I finish thing off by sharpening up with straight black for the contrast and detail.

The pig ears in your link look pretty scratchy or blotchy. I have never worked on a pig ear so I can't really tell you if that is a factor. It looks like you were shading with a machine set up for lining. Try and roll back your voltage and get a feel for just sort of sketching using only the needles and not the tube. If you're using round shaders,work more upright or learn to use mags as they make for much smooter shading. Just start light and soft and build up. This is where you can use staining to your advantage. It mostly comes down to feel though and that comes from experience. You can also learn about building your tones by using a brush with water and black drawing ink. It is nearly identical to tattooing b&g as far as working the different gradients. You can build an ink weash just like a b&g tattoo.

Hope this helps you out.



You are correct, on some of them I did use a round shader with my liner machine. I have recently setup two other machines for shading and purchased some 7 and 9 mags.

I will give your techniques a try. Thanks again for your insight.

peace...