OUCH

   Tattoos seem as scary as they look getting them. Especially knowing that ink is being injected into your skin forever makes them even scarier. No matter how painful it may look, tattooing is a different type of art style with different types of techniques. It may not seem like it but, why do you think the people who create the tattoos are called "tattoo artists"? They all have their different tools, and there are different types of way to use them.
   Every tattoo artist needs their tools. They need a machine that resembles a dental drill called a tattoo machine. It requires a  sterilized solid needle that goes up and down, puncturing the skin at around 50 to 3,000 times per minute by a machine that draws ink into the needle. Each time it enters the skin, the needle enters by a millimeter and adds a little bit of ink. What keeps the machine running is an electric motor that requires a foot pedal that control the vertical movement of the needle. There are more needles to be mentioned but they depend on whether what tattoo the costumer is getting. These are just the basic tools that a tattoo artist needs.

   The video above is to show how tattoo needle(s) looks close up when they puncture the skin repeatedly.

   First the artist has to outline what they will be creating. It's to create a basic shape on the skin. It's normally done with a group of needles as shown on the video above. You can view outlining (or lining) as a way to create a coloring book on their skin.

   They then start coloring the tattoo itself. Most people use a series of small overlapping circles to fill in a space of skin. They may also sweep the needle across the skin with a variation of pressure to create a "shading effect" on the tattoo. Coloring can also be very crucial to creating a tattoo. Coloring is mostly done from darkest to the lightest colors. Since the needles have to be cleaned between colors, imagine using a paintbrush. If the paintbrush was used for black and then used again to color with white, both of the colors would smear no matter how hard the artist tried to remove black from the paintbrush. It was hard to remove because black is a dark color. Especially if the artist wants to use a bright color afterwards. The tips of the needles are treated the same. Each time the artist wants to switch between colors, they would have to completely clean the tips of the previous color. Coloring from darkest to lightest also ensures that they don't mix.
   Shading is a little different to what others are use to. Almost all tattoo artists use black ink for shading. One way to apply the ink for it to appear "darker" or create a "shade" is to apply variation of pressure between the strokes. The variation of pressure can add the effect of a lighter or a darker shade. Another way to create shade is to add white with the black ink so that there can be a grey color/shade on the tattoo. Some also add water to the ink to create a lighter shade of color from the ink. It's very unlikely to add water however because adding water into ink would irritate the skin. Shading can be very crucial when it comes to a good tattoo artist or not. It really shows the depth of the tattoo and makes it interesting to look at. Shading would be the best
   Creating tattoos require a lot of work and precision, and so does a painting. I consider Tattoos to be art that can be placed on human skin forever and for everyone to see. The tools and techniques might seem different but drawing and painting are completely different compared to each other. I say tattoos lie right in between them. There might be other types of techniques out there but now you"ll know how to create a tattoo correctly! (Just don't practice on anyone please....)
Goodluck!

Landscape Tattoo