Tattoo 101 Part 11: Watercolor Style Tattoos

In the past few years there has been a major boom in the Watercolor Style of Tattoos. The great thing about this style is that "messy is good". The style works because it is so free and it can take on so many different images. With such a fluent style and vibrant pigment selection, the opportunities become endless.
As with everything else in Tattoo, the success is in the execution. That being said we will be taking a look at what makes a watercolor style tattoo good and what makes it bad.

The first factor that determines if a tattoo is good or not is how will this tattoo look in the next 10-20-30+ years as it ages. How the tattoo will look as it ages will rely on the foundation that it was designed on. The foundation in designing tattoos includes but is not limited to the use of the full value scale (Blackest black to Whitest white and everything in between), Body flow (Tattoos should move with your body not against it), Color contrast; Effective use of background, foreground and middle ground. All these things and more should be taken into consideration during the creative process by your artist.

For today we will only be looking at the use of Blacks in the tattoo as this is the most important element to the Watercolor style being effective in the long term.

The use of dark colors and a pure Black in balance with the Mid tones and lighter is what helps "hold a tattoo together" over time. The use of black in a tattoo is what makes bright colors appear bright and a tattoo that does not use black, or a comparatively dark color in substitution, will be pale in comparison. Take a look at the difference between tattoos with and without the use of Black.

These first two pictures are examples that do not use black and have only a couple small areas with a somewhat dark color. This is not enough to "hold the tattoo together" over the years.

The following two pictures use a balanced combination of black, dark colors with brighter, lighter colors (100% of the value scale). Notice how much more vibrant this tattoo appears even though both used basically the same color pallet and the only difference is that these ones make better use of black.

Watercolor tattoos may just be a fad that will come and go but if your thinking about getting one of your own, be sure to make an educated decision on what your next piece of body art will be. Arm yourself with the knowledge of knowing what makes a great tattoo look great and you will only get great tattoos!

        **THINK BEFORE YOU INK**

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