There is something with a Faustian twist about tattooing, is there not? A permanent compact with one’s skin, an agreement in the form of a question: “Are you quite sure that you will like this dragon clasping a rose, when you are collecting your old age pension?” The Romans called the tattooed Britons “Picti,” the painted ones, and here we are two thousand years afterwards tattooing with the same enthusiasm. With one exception, all tattoos are not alike. Some endure as does good wine, whilst in others the effect is that of milk left about in the month of August.
The Permanent Charm of Blackwork Tattoos
Blackwork will appeal to you as the foundation stone of body art; quite literally, for it is composed entirely of black ink. Cosmic as are the Gregorian chants, and blackwork is its equivalent in the world of tattooing—severe, massive and everlasting. This style will seem to you to be anything from roping tribal patterns that would make a Polynesian navigator weep with joy to intricate dotwork mandalas which require the patience of a monk of the middle ages transcribing manuscripts.
The permanence of the blackwork tattoo is something wonderful. Black ink consists of carbon particles which remain absolutely stable under the skin during decades. Your blackwork sleeve will most probably outlive your enthusiasm for the musical phase which caused it to appear. The particles of the pigment are large enough to be immune from the natural and healthy rejection of foreign bodies, which is inherent in all living creatures, yet not so large that they cannot represent at will, if so minded, in person sublime visitors incapable of performing tourist-stunts.
This is a pink spot in the sky which it lacks the ability to get out of. Maori and other tattooing tribes have survived this resilience why traditional tribal tattoos, so fine from Samoa to Borneo. The choice of ink is sufficient. The Maori style of ta moko – those wonderful facial tattoos that once struck terror into Captain Cook’s crew – is still visible on mummified specimens in existence from the 1700s. Would that certain fashions were as durable!
Traditional Tattoo Styles and Timeless Techniques
Traditional tattoos – “old school” if you want to be colloquial – came out of the sailor’s world with the loudness of a foghorn. Bold black outlines, limited coloring – chiefly reds, yellow, green and blue – and designs which could be recognized from across a smoky bar. Anchors, swallows, hearts penetrated by daggers: these constituted the pictorial vocabulary of Sailor Jerry and his contemporaries.
These traditional tattoo designs wear well. Thick black outlines serve as borders, so colors do not bleed into one another as the skin ages or stretches. It is a little like good town planning in which a strong city severs help to curtail urban sprawl. A traditional piece from the sixties, well rendered, will hold up wonderfully today, especially if it has not been marinated in a sun-tanning bed.
Japanese Tattoo Art and Its Lack of Longevity
As for the Japanese tattoo types, or irezumi, they also deserve a separate encyclopaedia. This is a centuries-old method of tattooing which turns the human body into a floating world of koi, dragons, cherry blossoms and somewhat disgruntled deities. The process of tattoo durability applied in Japan is mathematical. Saturate the skin and do it right – using that nice combination of thick black and well-conceived colour.
The process consists of the tebori (hand poking) or machine which inserts ink at the most useful depth. If it is too superficial, your magnificent dragon becomes a greiving gecko. If the ink is placed too deeply the ink spreads like gossip at a garden party. Japanese masters understood this exquisitely before Newton had sorted out his laws of motion.
Neo-Traditional Tattoos: Evolution Without Revolution
Neo-traditional tattoos took the sailor’s handbook and added twisty touches of Art Nouveau, a greater range of colors, and an even greater detail of execution.
Think of the traditional tattoos as having gone to university and developed rather highbrow tastes. The way traditional tattoos age is generally favorable, provided the artist knows the essential rules laid down by the old masters.
The great secret is to preserve the strong black outlines. They are the skeletons of the designs, and without a proper skeleton, everything falls in a messy puddle of color—rather like leaving a pink-jelled salad in the sun.
Realism and Portrait Tattoos: A Gamble With Father Time
Realistic tattoos and portrait tattoos are the high-wire act of the tattoo craft. It takes peculiar talent to reproduce photo-realistic detail or Grandmother’s exact semblance, but this is where we run into difficulties. Skin is not canvas. Skin is a living, breathing, aging organ that has an idea or two about art.
Photo-realistic tattoos depend on the shades of delicate degrees of shading and fine detail that, I am sorry to state, sometimes do not agree with the passage of time. The delicate tones of gray which give the gradual appearance, fade unevenly, and your portrait comes to look somewhat like some gory progenitor of a certain age. This is not artistic failure— it is simply biology taking its turn in laughing at you. Touching up the skin every five or ten years is no longer a so-much-an-option as a necessity. Watercolor Tattoos: Beautifully Delinquent but Short Lived
Watercolor tattoos are the mayflies of body art. They came onto the tattooing scene with the exuberance of a puppy in a dog park. No more of those distinctly outlines about the tattoo. Instead, the body is splattered with richly colored pigments much as if someone had sneezed on a Monet painting. They are gorgeous. Briefly.
The lifespan of a watercolor tattoo is, how do we say it, poor. Without the structure of a solid line outline the colors mix allowing them to fade away and run in short time. The organic chemicals contained in colored inks give way under sunlight exposure and the constant onslaught of the body to rid itself of them. What was once a vibrant sunrise on your shoulder might at the end of five years resemble the apperance of the worn out bruise of an injury.
This does not spell disaster for the watercolor tattoo. Such people are high maintenance. Frequent retouching is a necessity and sunblock usage becomes a religion. Should you consider a watercolor tattoo design, consider it with a budget to make it last its expected time as you would a vintage sportscar: Attractive, exciting, but deserving of constant attention.
Fine Line Tattoos: Delicate and High Maintenance
Fine line tattoos have become extraordinarily fashionable. They encompass a kind of minimalistic grace. Using the single needle technique the tattooist produces spider web thin lines that may look first rate coming out of the tattoo shop. But physics has entered the chat, and physics is rarely impressed with fashion trends.
A tattoo, with its thin lines and detailing will spread with time ; the tattoo artist calls it “blowout”. Your perfect constellation may evolve into a more abstract star field than you started with. The aging of the fine line tattoo is highly dependent on the area in which it is located (thicker skin stands a better chance) the control of the depths executed by the artist and the individual characteristics of your skin. Some people’s skin takes fine lines beautifully; while on others, the effect is to spread them like water colors in the rain.
Dot Work and Geometric Tattoos: The Mathematics of Permanence
Dot work tattoos consist of designing pictures from dots only, or stippling if you want to be literary. Mandalas, sacred geometry, and patterns which would make Escher whirl in his grave come under the dot work classification. The longevity of geometric tattoos is often very good, especially if the dots are well saturated and spaced.
The danger comes in overreaching. If you have very elaborate designs with dots so closely spaced that they will smear together when the skin has aged somewhat and the dots naturally will spread, you will find such dot work uneconomical. It is the difference between pointillism which you view at a proper distance and which you press against your nose.
Color Tattoos and the Question of Fading
The fading of color tattoos is as sure as high taxes and not too shepherded weather reports[emq]. Certain pigments fade more rapidly than others. Reds and yellows leave the scene sooner than blues and blacks. UV light is the great killer here. Think of sunshine as a tremendously slow but vigorous tattoo removal ray. Tattoo colors last as long as:
The quality of the pigment (the inks used now are much more modern than the brown, rubbishy stuff of old).
The depth of the skin (well placed inks last longer).
Sunshine (either cover up, or look out for your bright phoenix becoming a sad, moping pigeon).
The tone of the skin (different skin tones will hold different colours with varying success).
The site of the body (face and feet are washed frequently and lose their colours fast).
Tattoo Sites and Longevity: The Site Matters
Where you place your permanent tattoos will affect their survivability. The inner arm, the upper back, the thighs, tend to mature quite well – these being the areas that have had least exposure to sun of skin stretch. Hands, feet and ribs are the Forlorn Hope of tattoo site selection – there is nothing there now that is not anticipated to take heavy casualties. The skin on hands is quickly regenerated – which sounds good until you realise that the tattoo is gradually being evicted. Feet suffer continual eager friction of shoes, etc. Rib areas vary in diameter with each breath taken. These certainly are not ideal conditions in which to preserve art.
Tattoo Aftercare and Future Maintenance
That’s the best tattoo types for longevity, but they are as good as care. Fresh tattoos require a very diligent cleaning and moisturizing programme. Long-term and in future, sunscreen factor becomes your greatest and dearest friend. Only SPF 50 liberally applied will properly protect from the exposure to UV sunlight that gradually destroys ink pigments. How to Maintain Your Tattoo’s True Colors
The following will help you to maintain the brilliance of your tattoo:
Religious protection against the sun
Adequate moisture (your skin, not merely your ink, requires it)
No savage changes in weight (this is cruel to your tattoo, stretching your skin)
But have “touch-ups” when needed (pride precedes a pale ink)
Advances in Tattoo Technology
Tattoo inks have improved tremendously. The modern pigments are more stable, offering far better fastness of color and lower health danger. The machines give fabulous control as to the needle depth and speed. What the ancient Japanese artists did in the way of pure ability and months of hard practice the modern artists can do with the aid of better machines, though not without ability.
Tattoo Styles that Will Last
If at all the lasting effect of tattooing is going to worry you (and it certainly should, for “permanent” is a very expressive name), consider the following rules:
The use of broad black outline is a good structural guide and will last the longer. Those designs which are either entirely black or to a large extent black will be the most durable. Do not have great detail in small space, for it will become blurred. Careful where you put them, crowds of naked skins, but usually in places where they will be protected. Get an artist of experience, who will do right with the fading, for he should know how they fade, not how they look when fresh.
The traditional, Japanese, and broad blackwork types of designs are the tortoises in this race. Slow and steady they endure. The water color designs and very fine line work are the hares, brilliant, impressive, but requiring constant care and change.
The Grand Conclusion (or Perhaps None)
For the relation of tattoo styles and the duration of the same, it is more of a matter of educated gambling than of science. The individual characteristics of the skin, the way of living and the usual fortune of those wearing them all enter into the situation. A watercolor tattoo may last radiantly against one man and fade dismally with another, who treats it the same.
The question is not which style lasts the longest (that would be solid black tattoo and on the initials of someone who never saw the day), but which will you love enough to maintain. For the care of tattoos—not only in sun proof but in touching up and in general care—is part of the bargain you make with your skin.
Choose wisely. Deal upon it religiously and also, don’t forget that your tattoo will grow old just about as gracefully as you do. Perhaps more so.
