B&G tattoo for comments

Hi everybody, Just did this tattoo a few days ago, it is a cover. I am looking forward to improve my tattooing. Any advice will help. maybe it need some more highlights or some light gray mixed with white filling to look more solid.

double post

Kinda light imo. Some more mid-tones in the areas with no shade would really make the light areas pop more, there is a lot of bare skin here and I think it gets a bit cluttered in the background because the value of the tones in the back are very similar to the foreground. Adding more mid tones in the background (making it a bit darker) would push the Jebus forward more and give it some nice separation


**edited to fix horrible typing

It doesnt look like this was approached as a cover up at all. It looks like a snapshot of scenery was put over an old tattoo, and then darkened in where the old design was with no relation to the new tattoo. I would say this needed to be brainstormed before it was done not after. Cover ups to be well done have to have a lot of thought put into them.

I personally think, the tattoo for itself is okay, a bit light for my liking. But definately not a good choice for a cover up, the old letters are still visible

I definitely think like nivek said, add some darker tones. you got to add some value and dimension to push the background back and at the same time if you make the background darker you could possibly cover up that lettering a bit. maybe some highlights too. everything seems to have the same value which doesn't differentiate the foreground from the background. and focus on where your light source is coming from stay consistent with that also, just opinions.

oh and don't fill it to much, don't think you have to fill the areas to much. black and gray needs skin tone. just focus more on the different values

I think too light is the overall response you are going to get. Once the redness and irritation are gone all of the light tones are going to be even lighter, if almost not existent. A good way to see tonal value is to squint, if you look at this there is near black, light grey and skin, nothing in between. As a cover up, sadly it falls short, but it still has a shot at being a decent tattoo. Also, it could use a little definition on the beard, it kind of looks like a giant chin at the moment. Not a terrible start though.

Thanks everybody, I´ll talk to the client when it heals and comment about a sitting for giving a mid-dark tone on the background, helping it to push it backward and covering the old lettering tattoo. I´ll squint next time to see tonal value. Thanks again for your comments and advices.

you can also convert your pics to black and white - it will show tones instantly... Here you can see that your black is very suddenly lighter and not as smooth and that there is large amounts of "light" . The Light sources are all over the place. Pick one or two and stick with them. Incidentally - converting colour tattoos to b and white will also help you see your tone values.
http://www.rotarytattoo.com/attachme...8&d=1378948167