Help with blending

[Jester]

I finished the outline on a floral piece for a friend.
As soon as it heals, I need to color it. I want to
blend colors on it. For example, two colors of green
on the leaves. Should I color the whole leaf light
green first, then add the dark green?

[Jester]

18 views, and nobody has any advice?

[Lennart82]

Hey

Well I might have an answer. :D

When layering, you go from dark to light. Thats the main difference between tattooing and painting. The reason is; When you start with a light color your basically making tiny holes in the skin. And when you come in with the dark color, you could fill those tiny holes with unwanted ink, destroying your piece.

You can make things daarker, but you can not make things lighter.

Now, not saying that this is the only way, I have seen a few, that started with dark and then goes lighter, but that takes alot of control.

Hope this helped :)

[Jester]

So, would color the dark areas first, and
“soften” the edge? Kind of like shading?
Then go over everthing, including the
dark color, with the light color?

[Lennart82]

Thats basically it. :D

Its simalar to blending shades. And for a color “fade” it gives it that extra, to color the lighter one in to the darker one.

If you feather the dark color out (from the inside and out on a flower leaf) and then the opposite direction with the lighter one, it gives a more lively feel to it.

One of the first flowers I did, I had som “holydays” in my dark colors. And when I went back over with the lighter one, those areas were filled with the lighter color, giving it a more realistic look to them.

[Jester]

Thanks, I’ll give it a try. This is what I’m trying for.
The line work turned out o.k. for the most part.
It goes from the ball of her hip to the side of her knee.
I’m happy to hear any other advice.

[Lennart82]

Its a colorfull piece. Looking forwards to the results.

Any other advice? Hmm take your time. Thats an advice I would loved to have had. I was more concern on how fast I was.
So just take the time needed. :)

And dont over-work the areas. Especially the green. This all depends on what brand your using. But mostly the green (for me) dosent look like its going in right away, but it does. And one could overdo that color.

[Jester]

Thanks, I’ll be carefull. Especially with the
green, ’cause there’s a lot of it.

I use Starbrite and absolutely love it.

[Schlep Rock]

I wanna bring this subject back up because my wife recently let me do a tattoo on her.I did a Yoda traditional style piece outline.I did the creases on his head with a dark green and started a small shades of his head.I am going back to fill him in with a lighter green and finish the shades. I should do the shades first then the fill, right?

[Author]

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