Find your style ... Blackwork

Today we have for you one more text from the series "Find your style". This time, we will introduce you to more and more popular blackwork / blackout tattoo designs.

The history of the blackwork style dates back to tribal times. Even then, when creating ritual tattoos, the skin was completely covered with ink.

Currently, the blackwork style was popularized by Singaporean tattoo artist Chester Lee, who in 2016 offered people such an innovative solution as a way to remove unwanted tattoos. Blackwork tattoos are a good idea for people who are not happy with their tattoos and want to hide them, but also for those who like this austere style.

Features of style

The very name blackwork (loosely translated "black robot"), as well as the interchangeable name blackout, defines the basic principle of the style - each tattoo should be done in black ink only.

Blackwork can be summed up in two words - minimalism and simplicity. First of all, these are tattoos, which often cover quite large areas of the skin, such as the chest, legs or back, but not only. More and more often, blackout is used more delicately, for example, when creating bracelets.

Blackwork related styles: dotwork, which you can read about here - https://blog.dziaraj.pl/2020/12/16/znajdz-swoj-styl-dotwork/ and linework. In blackwork style, you can find, for example, geometric, ethnic or Thai tattoos, which are often ideally combined with elements of all these styles. The difference between the two is often very fluid, since a given theme can combine elements of many styles, which allows you to create completely unique designs!

The exact opposite of blackout tattoos, in turn, are the so-called tiny tattoos, that is, tiny, thin, almost invisible tattoos.

technique

It would seem that a banal blackout tattoo is not at all about its implementation. The straight lines and geometric endings of large motifs require a lot of precision and craftsmanship, so it is worth contacting a really experienced tattoo artist to get a blackwork tattoo. When deciding to get a tattoo in this style, you must also remember that it is almost impossible to cover up a blackwork tattoo.

The most important thing about blackwork tattoos, as already mentioned, is the strong black color and contrast. The contours are clear, but there are also thinner lines and points.

It is characteristic that the described style does not use the classic shading using diluted black ink or gray. The transition effect is achieved using lines or dots taken from the dotwork style.

Increasingly, artists decide to combine blackwork style with color, which may soon become a new developing trend.