This is a type of shading that is not familiar to everyone in the tattoo business as is common sweep shading. The reason is it’s quite a hard technique to master and requires a lot of practice. It also takes a super running tattoo machine. The effect you can get with brush shading on a tattoo is very outstanding and puts the artist in a separate class of his own. After you have accomplished this technique, other artists not so fortunate will look up to you with envy. Some will even want you to teach them how to do it. The most unique thing about brush shading is that you don’t have to stand on your head or get in a bent-out position to do it. You can work your shading forwards, backwards or to the side and get all the same effects with little effort. You can practice with a pencil on paper or if you want to be real technical, you can fasten a pencil to the tube on a tattoo machine. This way, you will have the weight of the machine in your hand the same as if you were actually tattooing. The technique is all in the movement of your wrist as is sweep shading, but the brush shading is done from a very slow movement to a very fast movement. As you pick up the needles from the skin, you must turn your machine sideways, moving slowly, and putting the black in solid to start with. As you want to feather out the shading, you pick up the speed of your wrist movement back and forth and at the same time, picking up on the machine while going away from the solid black area. This can be accomplished by going in a forward or reverse position but must be done fast to get the effect desired. Use a low power on your machine, and if you must go over it again, be very careful because you can get too much black into it and ruin the effect of the whole tattoo. Refer to diagrams.

Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by admin
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•   Black ink goes in much easier than colors.
•   You might have to run a shader a little faster than an outliner.
•   Grey shading a Japanese sky is gaining popularity. This is accomplished by having a cap filled with black ink diluted with distilled pure water. The more water, the weaker the tone, creating a light, washed out grey effect. Another way of achieving this grey effect is by using undiluted black in the machine, and using distilled water on the skin. You basically wet the area (using a soft brush) before you sweep across it. This is a good way on larger pieces such as the back. Practice this, like in any technique, elsewhere to perfection before doing it on a customer.
•   Single needle and outline needles are used to make fine hair and wispy effects. Dotting effects are also achieved by this method.

•   Shading or feathering also work well with some colors too, especially red and brown.
•   On human figures, use brown or tan shading to show form, curves or muscle bulges. Use the natural skin tone as a highlight and shade to enhance the natural skin.
•  Most of the commercial design sheets have designed shading on them. It is an individual matter to change shading by adding or subtracting to suit one’s artistic tastes. This should be done anyway to put an individual stamp on each tattoo.
•  Just like the outliner, the needle bar loop must be snug on the armature bar nipple. The shaft of the needle bar cannot come in contact with inside of the tube.
•  When you change shader needle bars, you will see a series of grooves in the tip. File these out before putting in a new set of needles. A good tool for this is a specially designed mini file available from Spaulding & Rogers Mfg., Inc. By doing this, it doubles the life of the shader tip.
•  When moving the needle bar shaft up and down manually, it should feel smooth and free. If you feel a rub, correct it. The needles may be off to one side and not parallel to the tip or not spread correctly. Another rubber band may also correct this problem. Needles may be bent slightly down to hug bottom of shader tip. Never bend the needle bar.
•   You may also wish to experiment with a round shader. These are also available from your supplier and hold as many as 14 needles. In appearance they resemble an outliner with a large tip. They have advantages in that they are not prone to cutting the skin up too bad and they can put in a lot of ink at a rapid pace. You will not get the shading effect with the round shader that you will get using a flat one.

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When all the shading is done and you and the customer are completely satisfied, give the tattoo a green soap spray and gently wipe. Coat with a thin layer of vaseline and take a short break. Thoroughly wash the black ink out of the tube and off the needles and bottom of the tube tip. Hold the tube under hot running water, this will knock out all excess ink in the tube tip. Run the machine on folded tissue until the needles hitting the tissue show only water. This must be done or any black ink left in the tube will ruin your colors. Just the force of real hot water going into the tube tip does a fine cleaning job.
Wash the tube and needles described above after each color being used so one color does not mix with the next one.

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With all these small holes being made in the skin, some bleeding is quite natural and should be expected. If it is overly excessive, double check the needle depth and check the needle points. Try a slower power on the machine. Bleeding would be called excessive when it drips down the arm or when an area is finished and the only thing that can be seen when the tattoo is wiped off is blood.
As sections of the tattoo are completed and wiped, a thin coat of Vaseline might help the situation. Occasionally, carefully wipe away the bottom of the tube tip where excess ink and Vaseline tends to accumulate. Some customers bleed a lot regardless of how well the machine is tuned. Some body parts tend to bleed more than other parts due to differences in skin texture. Bleeding must be accepted and do the best possible job, wiping a lot.
To shade properly, make sure the bridge is set and stable (consult Chapter on Holding Machines) as should be always done. With the machine running, set the needles down gently in the skin along the outline. All four or six needles should be in line with skin surface at all times. No one side should be any deeper than the other side. With the machine running and the needles riding against the outline, make sure the tip of the tube is touching the skin before starting. Right at this point, the machine is swept away from you with a flick type wrist motion. This sweeping motion brings the needles up and away from the skin.
When this happens, the needles go from full depth in the skin to gradually getting shallower and finally out of the skin at the end of the motion. Hence, when at full depth, full strength black is inserted and while the needles are swept away, the black ink gets toward the surface of the skin and creates grey tones. That beautiful effect is called feathering or shading. If the shading is to be light, the sweeping motion should be quicker paced. Don’t let the machine dwell on the outline for any length of time. If it is to be dark, a slower motion is needed. How much shading is achieved or the quality of feathering is determined by the speed of the sweep and the angle of the machine which is being “whipped” out of the skin. It does require a certain feel or touch, and many hours of practice are needed to fully acquaint oneself with the results that are desired.

Posted on September 1st, 2008 by admin
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Dip the tip of the machine in the ink cap that was used for outlining (being refilled when need be) without letting the needle points hit against any side of the cap. The machine tube tip will fill up and the ink will gravity flow down the needles and enter the holes your shader needles are making in the skin and at the same time putting in the black.
Begin the tattoo by working on the portions of the design that are to be solid black. Let the machine do the work and do not press down on it, just guide the machine and move the tip in small circles, letting the needle points enter the skin where you want the black ink to go. Never try to run out of ink and try to keep the needles continuously wet with flowing ink. Don’t waste time by tattooing without ink or doing a tattoo that is bleeding excessively. Always work off the points of your needles for best results.
Learn early in your career how to put in solid black (or color) where it is needed. The tip must be kept moving in small circles, slowly covering the desired area. Wipe occasionally with tissue to keep an eye on how it is coming along. Do not over do it because the skin can only handle just so many of those small holes. Remember, all those holes have to heal later. Some people think that the deeper you go, the better the results. This notion is unfounded. If continuously grinding and pressing the machine, the skin will rip and excessive scabbing will occur which will reject ink from the body. If an area is covered way too rapidly, unshaded areas will be left and a very basic rule will be broken, and that is that a tattooist should not go back over what has already been done. Do it the first time right. The skin has to be stretched tightly and the needles should be going into the skin evenly with about a 45° angle measured between the skin and the tilt of the needle and tube.

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Shading must be mastered because, not only does it really make a tattoo stand out, but many tattooing errors and tattoo cover-ups can be hidden and corrected by proper shading. Black shading is the next step in the tattoo process after outlining. All the black work must be done before any color can be put in.
The tattooing spectrum goes from dark to light. That is black first, then the next darkest color, etc., and the lightest colors for last. If not done in this order, the dark colors mix with the lighter ones in the pores already made from the machine and a bad smudged mess will result. So, all the black work must be done first, and after the outline is finished, that means the shading is next.
Black shading can be so attractive that some tattooists use this style exclusively. They feel that a black tattoo (one done only in black ink, no color) is the only way to show a tattoo and that the addition of color only hinders the design. With some of the quality work out nowadays, especially single needle tattoos, it’s not hard to appreciate this point of view. Black tattoos take on an aged “patina” with time, and after a few years, if the tattoo is retouched up with more black, a certain quality is obtained which cannot be reproduced in any other way.
The tattoo machine should have the four or six needle shader bar set-up properly with the corresponding shader tube. Let the needles stand out about 1/32 inch. The two outside needles should touch the sides just enough to eliminate any side to side motion but not enough to make them tight. Check it running and adjust so there is no side quiver (see Machine Set-Up Section for solutions). Now the artist is set-up to do the black shading. Start by washing the outline with green soap and apply another very thin coat of Vaseline over it.

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It should be mentioned here that most new customers are very nervous at first. That’s why you start on an unimportant part of the tattoo so if the customer jumps around at first, it won’t ruin the tattoo. Get a good grip on the client with the free hand for more stabilization. Tell them that the outline usually smarts more than the rest of the tattoo. Get them calm and talking to keep their minds off the tattooing, and if they persist in jumping around, explain to them that they are ruining their own tattoo and you will charge them double for the extra work involved. This will usually calm them down. Calm customers are good for business. Just like not wanting to hear someone screaming in a dentist’s office, it also holds true for tattooing.
This chapter covers just the straight forward mechanics of outlining a tattoo. For more information on this and how it ties in to the overall picture of giving a tattoo, see the chapter “Tattoo Review.”

Good tattoo shading requires experience and is an acquired skill. Diligent practice pays off here because sometimes tattoo artists are judged solely by their peers on the quality of black shading that they do. If done too light, it will not stand out. If not feathered right, it will appear blunt and the shading looks as if it ends abruptly. This is called “deadheading” and is undesirable.

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If you mentally think about the line that you are about to tattoo, your hand will automatically carry it through. Don’t hesitate, or stop and start again. Let the lines flow smoothly without interruption. Before a really long line, get an ink refill so you won’t run out in the middle of it. If you know the beginning of a line, and the end of it, the middle of it will take care of itself.
Start on the beginning of a line and not in the middle of it. It’s hard to reconnect lines to match perfectly. A perfect sweep is better than broken sections.
When you do points or tips with one stroke instead of two, lift up a bit and lighten up on the pressure so you won’t get a heavy dot at the tip.

Eagle tips, fangs and claws, etc., can be done in one single sweep, but take care that the needle points aren’t ruined and make sure that you have enough ink. On the lines of ribbons or banners, do it in one clean stroke. If not, stop at intersections or places where if you make a bad joining, it can be easily shaded out later.
In ribbons, scrolls and banners which will hold names or lettering, don’t tattoo in the top line of the banner until the lettering is done. That way the top line can be readjusted if need be. Bad lines can usually be hidden by some sort of shading.
The quality of the outline largely depends upon the quality and condition of the needles. If good results are not obtained, check those needle tips carefully with an eye loupe, both the tips and their motion.
When the outline has been finished on the tattoo, give it a green soap wash and gently wipe it with a clean towel. Examine it carefully and see if there are any spots which need touching up. Any disconnected lines or forgotten spots? If so, touch those spots up. Wash it again and coat with Vaseline. Shut off the power pack and give yourself and the client a short break. Mention that the worst part is over. Remove the tube and needle bar from the machine and place the tube in a tray of soapy water so the ink doesn’t dry. Place the used needle bar in a box labeled “used” for later washing and sterilizing for reusing, or for later soldering off and disposal, or to be resoldered with another new needle.

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There are many brands of paper tissues, all are not satisfactory for use in tattooing. Some will just pull apart as soon as you start wiping ink with them, others are very dusty and this is where your big problem starts, especially with outliners. Small unseen paper dust particles will be picked up off the skin between the outliner needles. At once, your outline will change from a solid line to one that looks like two lines and with a very scratchy appearance. Also, the line will be starving for ink because of the paper tissue dust packed in between the needles. To remedy this problem, take a single needle and carefully pick out the paper particles from between the needles, after that, a few seconds in the ultrasonic cleaner and your outline needles will work like new.
When outlining, just like the rest of tattooing, close attention must be paid to what one is doing. Check needles frequently to make sure they are not hanging up. If the needles continuously hang up, they are probably sticking out of the tube too far and need adjustment, this usually happens only with a round tip tube. The needle tips should be just outside the tube tip so they can barely be felt with the machine off.
Unless the machine is running too fast, those needles aren’t going in as deep as they appear to be, but if it’s running too slow, you will lack depth. Don’t run the machine faster than what you can keep pace with and always work as shallow as possible.
What would be a good speed for single needle would be too slow with more than one needle. Also, using more needles reduces that tingling sensation that most people say they feel. By reducing the number of needles all the way down to one, they will feel less tingling. For back work, use a three or five needle outliner, as opposed to a single needle for a thicker, flowing line.
There are two ways of working an outliner. Use very short strokes and have only enough needle showing below tip to be visible when machine is resting. Move machine along so tip is in contact with skin. Otherwise, use longer strokes, set tube a little higher in the jaws and have a little more needle showing below the tip. When doing this, work off the needle exclusively, don’t try touching the skin with the tip of tube. A good system is to use the former for large body pieces (the skin must be very taut), and the latter for small intricate work.
The tattoo outline should be sharp, solid and definite. As the machine is being held and bridged, the needles should be just skimming the skin surface. A tattooist doesn’t have to dig it in. Don’t use brute force, the machine will do the work. The tattooist’s job is to guide the course of the needles so they puncture holes in the skin where the design calls for them. The ink, flowing along the needles, enters the holes by the way of gravity.
The main causes of bad lines are: Damaged points, (check frequently) side to side needle quiver, not enough ink flowing at the tip, in too big a hurry, too much pressure of the machine, digging into the skin and tattooing loose skin not stretched tight. If all these errors are avoided, few problems will occur and good sharp outlines will be consistent.

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Tattooing must be done on tight skin. It will have to be stretched by the free hand of the tattooist. It creates a taut and solid surface to work on. For all practical purposes, it is impossible to tattoo loose skin. No matter what style of stretching is used, just make sure the needles go into a tight skin surface. (Refer to Skin Chapter for more on this.)
When putting ink into the skin, the machine should take on a subdued sound as soon as the needle touches skin. This is called “choking down.” If it doesn’t sound like this, the machine is probably running too fast, try to slow it down a little. It doesn’t take a lot of power to do good tattoo work.

To begin, start with a few insignificant lines near the bottom of the tattoo. This is for settling yourself in and the client down to the feeling and to warm up yourself with some practice. Somewhere on the design are a few lines that are less important, or secondary, to the major or more important lines. These secondary lines are the ones to start on and work your way up to the primary lines. Make sure the bridge is solid for the area and make a practice stroke. Do this over every time you tattoo. It rehearses the movement for the fingers and gives you time for any last minute shifts or adjustments. Have the machine off the skin, press the footswitch to turn it on. The machine should be running before you put the needle into the skin. Never start it while in the skin. Make the line without hesitation and continue in this manner. Don’t wait until the machine has run out of ink, refill it every few lines and keep it full for the whole job.
Keep a paper tissue wrapped around the two lesser fingers of the tattooing hand for wiping. As the work progresses, the working hand neatly tilts over to wipe the work when it is necessary and then just continue tattooing. It’s efficient and close to the work. Press gently straight down and then lift straight up. You tattoo, then wipe, then tattoo some more, and wipe, etc. Keep a fresh supply of tissues nearby for this purpose.

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