This week I thought I’d do a little educational post on different terminology surrounding black tattoos in the industry. Ever since the Brutal Black article came out I’ve noticed some confusion with all the differentiation between tattoos that rely heavily on black. So I’m going to summarize the difference between: Brutal Black Project, black out, black work, and black and gray.
I did a post last year called: Meet the Brutal Black Project, Constructive Torture. Every once in a while we have someone come in asking for a brutal black tattoo, but this is not something every shop does. Brutal Black is a session of black filling and streaking looking lines in which 3 artists, specifically, Cammy Stewart, Valerio Cancellier and Phillip ‘3Kreuze’ tattoo simultaneously and without breaks, no matter if you cry or puke, they tattoo until the time scheduled is over. This is their unique project that those 3 artists do, it’s not a style per-say in that only they do it but it can be considered their unique style. We can do slightly similar sessions that aren’t so intense, where you just don’t ask for a break and pick a dark – very black piece but we aren’t brutal. That project is unique to those artists.
Black out is when a person gets full sections of their body or limbs filled completely black. This is still quite an intense type of session to sit through and takes a lot of time and commitment to finish the whole area you’ve chosen. There are a few different reasons this style is chosen, I just know some of the common ones, of course everyone can have their own meanings and reasons for getting something. Sometimes black out is a last resort for a cover up, of a cover up, of a cover up, of a cover up. Some people dive in head first just because they love the black out look and black out an area completely with no other tattoos they’re covering. Some people have tattoos they’ve loved for years but just don’t suit their style anymore so they’ll black out the whole area. The fun thing about black out is that you can get white tattoos over top and they pop! Getting white over top of black out is a fairly new idea, so I haven’t seen any long term photos of those to advise if they will actually hold or not. Like with any tattoo, it will also depend on your skin, some people just don’t hold white. Full black fill is definitely a unique look and experience.
Black work is where we start to see a lot more options in this list of black. Black work are tattoo designs that only use black ink, usually it doesn’t even include white highlights. These can be dark or make use of negative space to still create a piece that, despite being only black, still breathes. In our shop, Roxie does a lot of this style. Black work is actually very versatile, utilizing a variety of textures to create depth in a tattoo rather than, white, gray tones, or colour. Textures like dot work, different shading styles, and lines create some really eye-catching tattoos that are still all black.
Finally, the most common of this category, the black and gray tattoos, sometimes referred to as black and white. These are tattoos that use heavy black in the design but also use gray tones (diluted black rather than gray pigment) to create depth and texture. These are primarily black and gray but (depending on the piece and artist) can also use white for highlights. Personally I love black and gray, it just has such a timeless look, and there is no better contrast than between that deep black and the skin tones. These also can use different textures as mentioned above in black work but it relies less heavily on them to create dimension and detail, they function more like a feature or ornament in this style. This style can feature a lot more subtleties and smooth transitions because of the palette available with different gray tones. Black and gray also lends itself to more styles, you can get black and gray realism, traditional, illustrative. Pretty much every style can be done in black and gray!
There are lots of ways to use black in a tattoo, it is surprisingly versatile! Even in colour tattoos black is an important aspect in creating focus and pushing that colour forward and ensuring the tattoo will last. Knowing the different language can help you to accurately portray the style you want to your artist, each type of black tattoo has a really unique look and set of advantages so it is worth researching what kind of look you want between the different black styles! From the torturous Brutal Black Project, to the soft shading of good ole’ black and gray, black is an essential tool in the tattoo artists arsenal.
Photo sources:
https://www.artofit.org/image-gallery/blackout-tattoo/
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