Tattoo process question

I've seen 10-20 different people get tattoos in different places. Those, however, were all freehand in backrooms, kitchens, or cells (oh! lol.. 2-3 in forts.. kids). I've ALSO been with a few people (usually with them getting their first tat) and was always put off as I watched them look through books for "their" tattoo.

A thought occured to me today while I was hitting a few dirtroads after a separate idea was released from someone into my brain.

The artist cannot trace those pages onto the client. He/she also couldn't, like, lick and stick.. then fill in either.

I assume those book tats are also scalable. Yanno, people are just built different.

Ok, that said...

I imagine a copy of the chosen tat is placed on a surface then traced as a gun is actually doing the tattoo. Kind of like when you have initials etched in a zippo lighter.

This would assure accuracy and take the "art" out of it a bit, but I guess that would be safer than lawsuits over freehand errors?

Am I even close? hehe

What say ye?

:hi:

PS: I just came in and posted this.. gotta go back to damn store and get dog food. Back in a bit to see if any responses.

Real tattoo artists are pretty good artists... I think they just draw the outlines of the design on the person with ink, then start in with the gun, and do the fillagree work freehand

hehe.. until I started thinking about it :P

The jury is still out.

:)

They put a stencil on you of the tattoo, ask if you like the location, and if you do, they start tattooing.

or remove it altogether and freehand?

:)

That's how I've always had it done too.

that cuts the stencils. Hmm.

It works from stock art, but...

Hmm.

That means there is a machine that can take a piece of art (2 to who knows how many colors)), scale it, cut it, and spit it out very quickly.

:think:

Something is drawn on a regular piece of paper (it's usually thin tracing style paper.

It's then copied on to what looks like a clear overhead slide with heavy ink on it.

That is then pressed against the skin the spot where it's going to go. It can be nuanced or resized depending on the contours. Most good tattooists will factor it in when drawing/tracing etc.

Once approved the tattooer tattoos over it. They typically stretch the skin as they do it to account for the contours.

If it's something black and think then they just go at it as is. If it's something with color or shading then they just trace the outline of the drawing and then have to use ink blending and their own artistic eye to get the colors exact since the stencils never (not that I've seen) contain the color. They are just an outline.

I'm really not sure what it is you're asking. It seems more like you're trying to make a snarky point about tattooing but I'm not getting really what that point is so I figured I would just answer your question straight.

That's a lot of my answer. I'm just thinking out loud and asking actual people, actual takes, on actual experiences.

Gawd, I had no idea I may have even been understood as snarky. ..geesh. I guess it's like a Pavlov's dog thing to mention tattoo on DU sometimes. oops.

I did ask my question straight. Not only to get other people's experiences but to answer other curiosities I had. It's a thought in progress. That's why I posted. My life led me to tattoos as a reference to the answer for a tool.

I would like to mass produce freehand stencils (basically). Two color.

sounds cool?

...

I'm not defensive about having tattoos but usually on message boards there's a lot of snark at times. No problem.

But the stencils aren't something that I think you would want to mass produce. The flash itself is the art which is (or should I say can be if so desired) mass produced. The stencil is something they make right before doing the tattoo so that the ink is fresh.

If you're a good artist you definitely could get away with selling flash.

It doesn't cut the image.

Back to the drawing board.

:P

The fill in stuff is free-hand, though.

Like mine will draw the design up on paper free hand, then when I approve it, he makes a photo copy onto a special paper that will leave ink on the skin.

The art in that case is the shading/coloring.

But! :) There is a machine that gets the outline of a freehand drawing scaled to fit and transferrable (with special paper)... ?

I'm starting to feel annoying lol.

:blush:

But they use a regular photocopier to do it.

It's like a lick and stick?

:)

but wanted it smaller

she put it on the copy machine and made it to the size I wanted....

they WILL work with you

even if you bring in your own picture


:hug: hi sweety

can you come to the BB meet???

that would be AWE SOME

lost

It's a machine that takes drawings and makes it transferrable.

Not what I was looking for but cool to know :P

I'd love to. I would love to meet ya! I just got back from my fun up there though. A boy can only take so much :)

:*