So how does the tattooist go from just a stencil to a wonderful bright and vibrant tattoo?Look at the picture above. What do you see as far as line work? How about shading and color blending work? A lot of new tattoo apprentices neglect the basic steps of the tattoo process and because of that their pieces turn out blan. Time and commitment to the piece needs to be the most important to the artist. First the choice in needles is the most important of decisions the artist must look at when doing a tattoo. Most of the time I prefer the 5 Round Shader to any of the tight liners such as the 5,7 or 8. 5 round shaders give a nice crisp line and is one of the most forgiving needles when it comes to lining. It rarely ever shows shaky lines. So as a beginner and even some of the most advance artist will use this choice every time they can when outlining.
After the needle has been chose and the outline has been done the next important most over looked step is your power line. An artist has to put the most time in the outline. Without a crisp good looking outline the tattoo will not have a good look regardless of how much someone shades. People like when the tattoo comes alive on the skin. Showing your definition through power lines is one way to do it. An artist does not power line the entire piece. You power line your piece according to your light source.
After your power lining then comes your shading part. It is also important to remember that black in itself does not give good shade. I always use the color that I'm going to be making the piece up with the black. So if I'm using blue I'm mixing it with the black to start my shade off. It is also called muddying it up with black. When I go into my color blend this helps with a natural transition. When I start the color blend I never dip in water to change colors. leaving the needle muddy lets all those previous colors used create a natural progression of color instead of a person seeing where you started one color and moved to the next. Really the only time dipping is needed is when you change out to frost a piece with white. Other then that stay away from dipping unless you want to lighten one of your colors.
Next time you tattoo remember the steps involved with tattooing. Remember that each and every customer depends on you knowing what you are doing. Take your time on the outline and everything else will follow.