the TATTOO ZINE.com

Consider these aspects when you see a flyer by a Big Biz company that is trying to replicate what artists have been doing since the beginning of people. We need the real artists to do their thing, and they need you to help them live by buying it.

What do you think? Let me know.

Submit your reply to this article to SUBMISSIONS@TATTOOSZINE.COM OR MASTERPIECESTATTOOS@MSN.COM

PHOTOS VS VIDEO

BY DG WILSON (C) OCT. 2007

In today's market for tattoos there is only one way to quickly show a customer their photos, in a scrap book. I suppose there are other ways to show off your work to prospective clients, like framed photos, but there is a real lack for a tattoo artist to adaquately show the best of their best work. That is where video comes in.

With a photo you have a single dimension of view. The image is flat and lacks the ability to really capture the total piece for larger work that covers several muscle groups. But video can capture so much more...the trouble is display of your video.

Traditionally the tattoo artist is only allowed to take the money and the photo of their work. If they did a custom design the original drawing is usually in their possession after the appointment as well. The customer gets the art and compliments. The artist is forced to take this measure and usually only a photo because there is rarely an opportunity to have the real piece (and person) in the shop for future customers to witness. So the artist packs album after album of their work to try to represent their ability.

A video would be better, but where are you going to display it? The typical tattoo shop has a TV but they don't usually have the time or knowhow to create a video of edited images, and even then there is so much lost. To truely give a total representation of your tattoo you need to have the people that got the tattoo tell the camera why, the circumstance and the motivation behind the piece. Then the camera needs to fully record the entire image, how the customer moves, their speach pattern and dialog. ALL of those factors is what the tattoo artist encounters and digests into a single tattoo.

But that would create a several hour video that would not really reach the customer in the store. They want instant gratification and want to know that they have the best artist that they can afford. So a video that is too long on a single customer or tattoo would be counter productive to the shop and artist.

Finally there is a good solution. www.TATSTUBE.com is a great site to show off your video clips of the tattoo, have the customer discuss their pieces and even give a sample of what the tattoo was like...to a world wide audience. Those at home can look on the site whenever they wish and can determine which artist in their area will be best for them.

Consider this option because it is a better form of advertising for the tattoo artists' work. Through video you can see so much more of the art and the tattoo, through this and only this site you can see what the artist and customer went through, why, and what the reaction was when mom saw it!

HOW TO CREATE DEPTH IN YOUR TATS

BY DG WILSON (C) OCT 2007

The number one thing that people want to see in their tattoos is the sense of depth...unless they are after a Classic Tattoo style which is typically flat looking. To achieve depth in your work think of the skin tone of the customer. Use it as a value of color in the design. Add a cool color to the background like a blue. Then use warm colors in the foreground of the design, reds and oranges move the design forward while the cool colors move it back.

Another great way to achieve the illusion of depth is to manipulate the line work. Decide either to have thicker lines in the background and thinner in the items in the foreground of the image. Or reverse that and have the thicker lines in the foreground. If you are really slick have the design fade into no line work at all and just use shades of color or grey work.

Here is a tip I know you have not heard of before: To create an even more dynamic look run a magnum shader over the background lines so they become blurred. The sharp lines in the foreground and the soft fuzzed lines of the background will create this same sense of depth.

When you put in your shading or color think of the object you are tattooing and work the machine in the same direction. For instance on a rose, use the machine to run in the same direction that the petals flow rather than just fill in with color. This is similiar to the brush stroke effect one gets when they paint. Use the lines and strokes in the same direction as the object when you tattoo and there will be subtle lines and effects that the customer will not really notice yet give the tattoo an amazing amount of depth.

ART LESSON: PORTRAITS IN PAINT DEC 2007 BY DG WILSON

Portraits are the most difficult piece of art that one can do. To achieve a likeness of the individual is not good enough, to get paid and to have total pride in your work you need to make certain that anyone even glancing at the portrait would instantly recognize the individual that was depicted. Anything less, is just not good enough.

Unlike tattoos, with paint we have an almost unlimited amount of time to keep working, adding more paint until the person is alive on your canvas...but is there an easier way? Sure!

TRIANGULATION: Is the method of looking at a subject, here a person but it could be anything at all, and through a series of marks can plot out every line angle and curve of a persons' face. This is a very fast and easy method of achieving the drawing for the painting.

Here is how to use Triangulation. With a photo, or person before you have them sit a good distance from you and have the light set to their face at a 45 degree angle so that there is a triangular shadow on the cheek from the nose. These shadows are immensely important because they create the forms of the face. Essentially in any portrait that is drawn or tattooed we only draw the shadows. So they are very important. Overhead lighting and flash from a camera eliminates these shadows and almost forces you to create a bad portrait.