Inked Mag Staff
November 13th, 2015
Tattoos Without a Black Outline
While there are hundreds of different tattoo styles out there, most of them follow the same principles of design. Smooth shading, bold color saturation, and a steady black outline. Yet…
While there are hundreds of different tattoo styles out there, most of them follow the same principles of design. Smooth shading, bold color saturation, and a steady black outline. Yet what happens when you remove one of the elements of a classic tattoo? You’d expect chaos to ensue but it is actually quite the opposite. Over time, artists have developed new techniques and styles which shine without a black outline. They went against the rules of tattooing and came up with something beautiful and original. Some styles work well without a black outline because they rely on either strong color packing techniques to create graphic imagery or the artist is going without the outline to show incredible photo-realistic techniques. These artists prove that a tattoo can stand alone without the constraints of an outline.
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