Roses Are Red, But Sometimes They’re Black and Grey

Today’s skull of the day is this absolutely phenomenal in-progress back piece by the super talented Joe Matisa. Matisa first got his start in the tattoo industry at the incredibly young age of just 13. After years working his way up through the industry, he eventually became the proud owner of two of New Jersey’s finest tattoo studios, Kiss of Ink and Ink Junction. You can now find Matisa tattooing away seven days a week at one of his two locations in a multitude of styles.

Best known for his color illustrative pieces and realism, Matisa does some truly amazing work in black and grey, as well. While his black and grey style typically differs from the traditional conventions, his pieces are always of the highest quality and design, just as you can see with today’s skull back piece.

This beautiful back piece isn’t even finished and already looks like a beautiful work of art—we’d hang it in a gallery if we could. Matisa is so good at using soft grey tones to contrast his deep blacks, such as how the grey roses help round out the shape of the skull and highlight the hollow eye alcoves. Another cool effect created in this tattoo is that it is strictly black and grey. Nowadays many artists tend to use white highlights within black and grey pieces, however, as you can see, Matisa has only used grey tones and negative space to create highlighted portions of the piece. Needless to say, we are so impressed with this piece and cannot wait to see how it turns out in the end.

For more mind blowing pieces by the versatile Joe Matisa, check out some of our favorite pieces by him right here.