Saturation, Filling Tattoos, And How To Paint By Number To Fill A Tattoo - Theory and Hacks!

[@joshuahall433]

Thank you ryan 🙏

[@joshuahall433]

The more i watch these video's the more it all starts to come together....your personality makes these video's a pleasure to watch 🤣🤣

[@williamsanchez5191]

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to make these videos. It’s much appreciated and so helpful. I’m very much a newbie.

[@BetterTattooing]

Thanks for thebkind words. We try our best!🤘

[@linktheHeroftime]

I saw someone say that you can "open up" the skin to pack in black more effectively by going over it with a light wash first. Have you ever heard anything about this? Dunno if its nonsense or not, amazing videos btw!

[@BetterTattooing]

You know, I've heard of this before but I tend to disagree with the results unless there are specific criteria that are met. I believe the assumption is that triggering inflammation before a direct insertion of pigment will increase the body's ability to retain pigment. So, if we go over a spot and lightly trigger the start of healing, there would be more available healing "stuff" able to grab onto what is then injected into the skin. While I can't say this is incorrect, as I have no real data to say one way or the other, my assumption would be that this isn't as effective as one would presume it to be. First, opening any wound is going to result in remodeling taking place. The breakdown of tissues and loss of structure after the first pass is going to result in a state of repair we can deem as "X". For the above argument to make sense, the tissues would be required to have sustained injury equal to, but not greater than "X" to ensure a second pass resulting in increased saturation. What will occur with any additional trauma is an increase from "X", leading to more effort being required to heal said tattoo wound. Because of this, I would hazard a guess that the body will lose more pigment than it will retain. Simply put, the more trauma expressed on the tissues, the more effort to repair is needed, which will increase the likelihood of pigment being deposited or repelled from the preferred location of insertion. This could result in inconsistent pockets of pigment saturation, which when viewed through an inconsistent medium like the skin, will not look as dark or even when compared to a proper single-pass application. I could see how it may result in a darker tone or value though... I mean, if you chop up the skin more, you can put in more ink.. which could be seen as a stronger value or concentration being implanted. I worry though that taking that route would result in a less-than-acceptable long-term result. Due to increases trauma and a greater amount of pigment being inserted into the skin, the likelihood of migration at a later time would lead to less "crispness" or less "clean-looking" designs, especially at 10+ years from completion. We can see this in most single pass linework that is completed -it looks great at first but often leaks quite a bit around year 3-5 - due to the oversaturation of the skin where applied. It's an interesting question! I would really love to see some testing done or long term results of client tattoos who have used this method of filling. Ethically, thats not really the best, but the idea of being able to study saturation levels over a long period of time could lead to a better understanding of how the skin can hold tattoos, and if the increased saturation levels lead to increased migration to lymph tissues as time increases. What do you think? Did any of that make sense?!🤣

[@linktheHeroftime]

@@BetterTattooing After the 2nd read, it made sense haha thanks dude 👍

[@DavidToken]

🙏 thanks. So blending is like pointillism. Could one say that for blending it’s easier to do with 0.35 needles because of the space between the needles? Especially with long taper. Or blending easier with 0.30? Or it doesn’t matter?

[@BetterTattooing]

It all comes down to how you use them. Realistically, it doesn't matter... unless you get into seriously finite minutia of it all

[@TheTarkvemada]

Blending black with any color pigment will result in grey tone eventually. Bad idea.

[@BetterTattooing]

Not necessarily especially given the base of the pigment being used, the tone of skin the individual has, or the techniques used to implant the pigment into the skin. Remember, black pigment has no value, instead it works by absorbing energy. So, in this case, every black added to a pigment will "grey out a tattoo" by absorbing energy values resulting in a less vibrant tone. But this technique can be used as a way to promote greater contrast against a more vibrant area without bringing focal-point-level attention to it. Color realism uses this technique quite often as a buffer once media has settled to increase contrast without bringing a value so low that it drops to the background of an image. I can list a few more examples if you want. You can check our channel for some videos explaining a bit more about how light/color works in skin. I forget the title now, sorry for that.

[@BetterTattooing]

Also, hello Mike. Love your stuff and enjoy the conversation. Hit me up if you want to chat sometime 🤘