Colour in tattoos

Captain Ginger

Yay or Nay.

I like lots of colour in mine, but I get the impression some people find it tacky. Anyway just thought I'd ask your own views on it.

chin_grin

Well to be annoying and be on the fence I could say I don't really mind, it's the detail in the artwork that would get me. But then again you can accomplish this by black and grey. So.............colourless..........wait......no colour. No definitely black. (It's too early in the morning for me, I'm usually more confusing!)

Reku

Really depends on the tattoo, obviously some pictures should have colour, but a text tattoo with each letter a different colour would just look daft (and childish).

Where's the Atari Jaguar option?:P

Captain Ginger

farohar wrote: »

Where's the Atari Jaguar option?:P

I have failed you

chin_grin

farohar wrote: »

Where's the Atari Jaguar option?:P

Was going to mention that but thought I was too much of a n00b. Ah well. But to reiterate, depends on the tattoo. My cousin as a manga character up his side, I couldn't think of it in anything else but colour. Then again a mate of mine has a guitar-style biometric on his half sleeve, I couldn't imagine that in colour. Oh the conflict!

Captain Ginger

chin_grin wrote: »

Was going to mention that but thought I was too much of a n00b. Ah well. But to reiterate, depends on the tattoo. My cousin as a manga character up his side, I couldn't think of it in anything else but colour. Then again a mate of mine has a guitar-style biometric on his half sleeve, I couldn't imagine that in colour. Oh the conflict!

Yeah, I have a manga tattoo and it's in full colour and I love it to bits, but a lot of people give me stick about getting it in colour...

Will

I love mangos I do

chin_grin

Captain Ginger wrote: »

Yeah, I have a manga tattoo and it's in full colour and I love it to bits, but a lot of people give me stick about getting it in colour...

Why? It would HAVE to be in colour! Tis the law with comics and toons tatts! (Was thinking of getting some obscure FFVII tattoo, I've been indecisive for about ooooh since it came out!)

I love mangos I do

More a passionfruit person, wha?! (no, I don't know either!)

Captain Ginger

chin_grin wrote: »

Why? It would HAVE to be in colour! Tis the law with comics and toons tatts! (Was thinking of getting some obscure FFVII tattoo, I've been indecisive for about ooooh since it came out!)

Hehehehe exactly

On another note I have a FFVII tattoo myself.

Will

If Captain Ginger wants me to put in a 3rd option just lemme know.

chin_grin

On another note I have a FFVII tattoo myself.

PM'd ya!

Right, can I throw out the question that would a biometric piece look better greyscale or in colour or Atari Jaguar? (Sorry not trying to hijack the thread!)

Captain Ginger

Will wrote: »

If Captain Ginger wants me to put in a 3rd option just lemme know.

Sure toss in a "Depends on the tattoo" and give farohar his "Atari Jaguar" option

Thanks mate.

chin_grin

Captain Ginger wrote: »

Sure toss in a "Depends on the tattoo" and give farohar his "Atari Jaguar" option

Thanks mate.

Feck, can I revote for Depends on the tatt?

Honey-ec

I'm not a fan of coloured tatts - obviously some would look ridiculous without it (manga example given, plus traditional Chinese dragon types), but I'm generally not a fan of these tatts anyway.

I've one coloured and 4 black tatts, and I HATE the coloured one.

Captain Ginger

Honey-ec wrote: »

I'm not a fan of coloured tatts - obviously some would look ridiculous without it (manga example given, plus traditional Chinese dragon types), but I'm generally not a fan of these tatts anyway.

I've one coloured and 4 black tatts, and I HATE the coloured one.

Yikes, sorry to hear that.

Thanks Will for fixing poll.

chin_grin

I've one coloured and 4 black tatts, and I HATE the coloured one.

Strong word and in caps! What exactly do you hate about the colour one? Just regretting the addition of colour?

Honey-ec

chin_grin wrote: »

Strong word and in caps! What exactly do you hate about the colour one? Just regretting the addition of colour?

I just don't like the tattoo itself anymore - don't like the design and the addition of colour (particularly some lighter ones) means that it's going to be difficult to remove whenever I finally get around to doing that!

I have considered getting it covered with something else, but then I would require a matching one on my other shoulder as I'm very into symmetry these days!

tread_softly

it really depends, if colour is done bad it looks AWFUL.

i was fully against colour at the start and didn't want my ribs done in colour. but in the end i did and it really brightens it up. IMO, smaller pieces look nicer in black and white cuz colour can sometimes ruin the definition if it's too small

ugliest

As a rule I think the paler you are the better colour works on you. Colour tattoos are defffinitely trickier.

A well done colour tat on an anaemic person looks great .

A brilliantly done, well thought out tat is going to be brilliant whether it's in colour or b+w.

tread_softly

ugliest wrote: »

As a rule I think the paler you are the better colour works on you. .

mais oui, that's one excuse i have for my porcelain skin!!!

you HAVE to get manga/comic book tatts in colour, otherwise you're mad!!

sure my kon
sorry for blurriness

and the other half's ikki tousen would look crap otherwise.

also, my back piece had to be in colour, it just suited the picture sakuya from the game okami!

however, each to their own!

marti101

I have my half sleeve geisha coloured,she was originallt b/w as i couldnt afford to get it done altogether.Looking back i should have kept hre b/w she looked so much better,dont get me wrong i love my tattoo ah well to late now i suppose.It does depend on the tattoo.

Star Lord

ugliest wrote: »

A brilliantly done, well thought out tat is going to be brilliant whether it's in colour or b+w.

^ Ugliest wins the thread. \o/

ugliest

Mwah ha ha

*bows*

I accept this honour+put myself forth as an example of a colour tat (excuse the odd angle):

http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b1/scarredandbruised/3mm4/?action=view&current=Snapshot_20080719.jpg

yo!

Will

*raises eyebrow*

Nice ink, look like the characters from blind skateboarding company.

ugliest

*turns around and checks*

-never noticed that before...

tbh i just changed something i saw in the books at snakebite a bit, so i'm not sure what the original inspiration for it was.

I always thought he kinda looked a bit like spooky from i feel sick. In either case he seemed to make a great dance partner for lenore.

Star Lord

Ugliest I have to say I love the style of your tattoo
Nice and colourful too

Who did it for you?

ugliest

Mac in colourworks, last i heard he was in germany though...

Drew the whole thing up for me (around the pre-existing lenore+dancin skeleton), really happy with how it came out

-side note, is it just darren there now?

rain on

I looooove colour in tattoos, I keep trying to think of ways to work colour into my black and grey ones. I think I'll leave them at this stage cos they're good as is, but I'm not getting any more without colour. Bright blues especially just make me happy. I'm not a very visually-oriented person really (which is probably why all my tatts have words in them and half are just words) but colour is really important to me. The 3/4 length sleeve I'm planning is based on a poem, and when I was picking images from the poem to incorporate I just kept gravitating towards ones with explicit colour references.

That said, I've seen a lot of black and grey work that is absolutely stunning. It just wouldn't be for me. I'm very happy with my black and grey ones myself, but a sleeve or a big backpiece with no colour wouldn't be my cup of tea personally, even though they can look so great on other people.

popecatapetal

My orangutan tattoo would look pants with no colour, but I don't think colour is in any way necessary for tattoos. My more recent one and the next one to come are just little sketches - Mark asked me if I wanted to fill them in another time, and I really can't see myself doing it. They're just little cartoon-y dragons, and I think colour would spoil the simplicity.

In summary, I'm an "It depends on the tattoo" advocate.

And here are some pictures, just for fun:

miss enzo

i think it depends on the tattoo..... i got my first colour one done yesterday.... it deffo only works in colour!!! all my others are black and grey!!! think it really does depend!
i mean a Koi looks good as black and white but colour really makes it come to life!