Tattooing back skin

[george scharfenberg]

I've had a hunt through the message board topics but coulnd see anything on this topic.
I was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice.
I live in Ireland and there isn't many black people that come into our studio to get tattooed. I have tattooed a couple black people in the past, but it's been in tribal and black and grey shading.
I had a potential client in today and she was asking for a color tattoo. I wasn't quite sure what colours work well in the skin. I know that most of the time you would advise the client tor ward black and grey wash or tribal, but has anyone got any advice or experience in putting color in dark skin. What works etc.
The clients skin was reasonably dark that why i ask for your help.
Thanks for your time and good luck!!

[conorblue]

contrast is the key!
depends on the darkness, but ive seen good reds and blues and greens. be careful for red reactions though, i notice it more in dark skin. but anyway, contrast IS the key!

[Solomon]

Obviously you can get to a point where the skin is so dark there is no point in color, and Ive tattooed such dark skin there was no point in even black. the problem color for me is usually purple (turns out a bit grey and muddy) You can actually get a lot of colors to show decent on fairly dark skin, but its hard to say, because your idea of dark or medium might be different than mine. Ive seen a chart, I believe it might have been in a prick magazine that showed about what tone a color will be after being put into various shades of dark skin. The biggest thing I worry about to be honest is the black skins proclivity to keloid (spell check) scar. I see a lot of dark skin people walkin around with raised nasty scars from tattoos. So I'm always xtra careful to try and not overwork dark skin.

[inkmunky]

it depends on the darkness of the skin. It's a judgement call on the artists part. I lean more towards blues and oranges and highlights of yellow and white. But most of the time i'll advise agains colors if i know it can't be done properly.

[Los]

I love tattooing black people....

[james123]

Originally Posted by george scharfenberg

I've had a hunt through the message board topics but coulnd see anything on this topic.
I was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice.
I live in Ireland and there isn't many black people that come into our studio to get tattooed. I have tattooed a couple black people in the past, but it's been in tribal and black and grey shading.
I had a potential client in today and she was asking for a color tattoo. I wasn't quite sure what colours work well in the skin. I know that most of the time you would advise the client tor ward black and grey wash or tribal, but has anyone got any advice or experience in putting color in dark skin. What works etc.
The clients skin was reasonably dark that why i ask for your help.
Thanks for your time and good luck!!

contrast is the key for sure. I noticed that the skin tends to be very fragil( easy to chew up if your not carefull)

DONT LISTEN TO ANYTHING (LOS) SAYS HES A f@#kING LOOSER !!!!!
SUCK MY d**k YOU NO TALENT f@#k STICK.... HAHAHAHAHAHA

[PushinInkTattoo]

On light skinned black people and mexicans if they want color I tend to stay towardds the bright reds, light blues, white highlites, mint greens, and as much black as possible. I dont like the way oranges, purples, darker reds heal out on darker skin. Im not afraid to tell a black person whats up, color just wont work on some of them. Some are lucky you can even see black sometimes..

[Nicole]

psst you should get the whole enchilada, this is explained rather well

[wendykustom]

In my experience its also about keeping the tattoo simple - complex fussy designs just get lost, bold ones are easier to pick out on a dark background. You can get an idea by printing various shades of skin tone on a piece of tracing paper and over-laying it on designs - it mutes the colours in a similar way.

And don't be shy about discussing it openly - lets face it its about the only time a person's skin colour does matter!!!!

[george scharfenberg]

Thanks to everyone that replied to this thread. I saw the design the client was thinking about getting and I think it would be better sticking to black and grey with some white highlights. Cheers again, George:happy