Color Tattoo Diary: A Black Girl Gets Color Tattoos
After years and years of arguing with myself whether I would even get tattoos, I finally caved and got my first one on September 10, 2019.
During those years, I did a lot of research to see if it was even worth getting a color tattoo as a medium-skin-toned black woman. It was incredibly hard to find other black people getting the type of color tattoos that I like and even harder finding tattoo artists whose art I like with black people in their portfolio. But the more I looked, the more ideas I had and the more I felt like I'd be unique as a black girl parading in super cute, otaku, kakkoii colorful tattoos and I ended up with a whole leg sleeve planned (that's changed about 5 times since I started, mostly just moving things around but I have tossed some ideas in the trash).
So I decided that not only would I just go out and figure out what the world of tattoos is like for a geeky black girl like me, but I decided to record it so there can be more of a repertoire out there on the internet for people that were a lot like me before I started.
The first tattoo I got was even a bit of a surprise to me. I initially wanted to go the route that most people do, getting a really simple small tattoo for their first. But a part of me was starting to not like the sound of that. If I was getting my first tattoo, it had to be a proper tattoo, something that I'll be proud to look at and show off, something that'll feel like it's worth the money. So I instead went with a 5.5x3 full color custom tattoo of a mermaid with a unicorn horn floating in space with an astronaut helmet and a little vampire squid sidekick (don't ask lmao). I kind of made the mistake of waiting last minute (though not entirely my fault, did you know DC tattoo parlors SUCK at keeping up with their contacts, especially email? I went through about 3 before I finally got a tattoo parlor that didn't just keep ghosting me) and thinking that I'd get the tattoo artist to whip up his own version of my image and tattoo it on me. Instead, what I got was them using my reference image (that, luckily, was something I drew myself and not something I just got off the internet) line for line with a bit of cleaning up here and there but then charging me for the same amount they would if they put in the work themselves to create an entirely custom artwork like I was expecting.
Warning: kinda gross pictures of a peeling tattoo ahead.
During those years, I did a lot of research to see if it was even worth getting a color tattoo as a medium-skin-toned black woman. It was incredibly hard to find other black people getting the type of color tattoos that I like and even harder finding tattoo artists whose art I like with black people in their portfolio. But the more I looked, the more ideas I had and the more I felt like I'd be unique as a black girl parading in super cute, otaku, kakkoii colorful tattoos and I ended up with a whole leg sleeve planned (that's changed about 5 times since I started, mostly just moving things around but I have tossed some ideas in the trash).
So I decided that not only would I just go out and figure out what the world of tattoos is like for a geeky black girl like me, but I decided to record it so there can be more of a repertoire out there on the internet for people that were a lot like me before I started.
Tattoo #1
The first tattoo I got was even a bit of a surprise to me. I initially wanted to go the route that most people do, getting a really simple small tattoo for their first. But a part of me was starting to not like the sound of that. If I was getting my first tattoo, it had to be a proper tattoo, something that I'll be proud to look at and show off, something that'll feel like it's worth the money. So I instead went with a 5.5x3 full color custom tattoo of a mermaid with a unicorn horn floating in space with an astronaut helmet and a little vampire squid sidekick (don't ask lmao). I kind of made the mistake of waiting last minute (though not entirely my fault, did you know DC tattoo parlors SUCK at keeping up with their contacts, especially email? I went through about 3 before I finally got a tattoo parlor that didn't just keep ghosting me) and thinking that I'd get the tattoo artist to whip up his own version of my image and tattoo it on me. Instead, what I got was them using my reference image (that, luckily, was something I drew myself and not something I just got off the internet) line for line with a bit of cleaning up here and there but then charging me for the same amount they would if they put in the work themselves to create an entirely custom artwork like I was expecting.
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| I did want the skin color to be my own |
Now I love this tattoo and the artist did an amazing job. Half a year later and most of the colors are still pretty vibrant. He knew what he was doing and I'm really glad I went to him. For those that are wondering, it didn't hurt as bad as I thought, the line work felt almost like nothing and the color was a little bit worse but still not terrible. I also wasn't nearly as restless as I thought I'd be. I believe it was about a 3 hour process and I laid there the whole time and it only felt like I was laying there for about an hour. I did drink a big slurpee beforehand, though, don't know if that had anything to do with it--I was told intaking a bunch of sugar is necessary.
Here's how it healed.
Warning: kinda gross pictures of a peeling tattoo ahead.
Day 1 (basic cleaning process was wash with dial gold soap, rinse well, blot dry with inside out paper towel, moisturize with Lubiderm, and saran wrap at night or if you have to wear pants (which I did for work)--I only saran wrapped for the first 3 or 4 days)
Day 2 (started getting a bit wrinkly)
Day 3 (alright ugly phase commenced)
Day 4 (peeling really bad but the ink started looking super cool though)
Day 7 (had a couple raised parts that later found out to be something close to pimples)
Day 11 (at this point, peeling was minimal, mostly the face was taking a while to peel)
Day 16 (shiny silver skin phase--the ink looks more uniform, I was a little disappointed; the weird ink phase looked so cool lol)
Day 21 (fully healed)
3 months post tattoo day (blue is starting to turn a bit green, the other colors have lost even more vibrancy, a lot of the black lines have gotten less sharp, overall still looks great though)
Tattoo #2
Which is okay, I suppose, I don't mind; but I've been trying to get artists to tap into their own style so they can give their best work.
My second tattoo was a bit of a different experience. Got it in February 2020. I specifically sought out an artist whose art I liked without worrying too much about who was in their portfolio. I'd seen one or two black people in her portfolio, but I believe both were black and gray tattoos. But she specializes in cute and otaku related tattoos, so I wanted to see if it would work out. I even was planning on keeping her as a recurring artist if this tattoo turned out nice. Just like the first tattoo artist, I sent an email with my reference drawing(this time I made sure to put emphasis on the fact that it was a really rough sketch and a terrible drawing) and expected to end up with a completely new fresh take on it from the artist. Guess what I got? Again, the reference I gave pretty much copied line for line with some cleaning up.
Which is okay, I suppose, I don't mind; but I've been trying to get artists to tap into their own style so they can give their best work.
So, for my next tattoo, my goal is to give the artist complete control. I'll draw up something so I have it in mind, maybe even show them the sketch irl if they ask, but I'm not attaching a picture to an email and saying "hey I want something like this but in your own style" because obviously that ain't working. On top of that, I'll also give the artist more time. Both times there was really only a day between figuring out what we wanted to do and tattoo day (even though I emailed them both several weeks in advance), so that could've been part of it. I honestly should've seen that coming, even I, as an artist, take the easy way out any time I can unless I *really* enjoy what I'm drawing.
Anyways, this tattoo in particular was a really small semi-last minute decision. Part of me decided to go with the small one as a "test" for this new artist to see if I really liked their style, but that backfired. Another part was thinking I should go small since my first one was big. Even though I love the artist and the style, I feel like she didn't do that great of a job, specifically with the colors, as my first tattoo artist. Don't know if you can tell in the image, but that's supposed to be blue, not green. Even when you compare that blue with the blue in my oldest tattoo, it's so much less vibrant and it's not been on my skin as long as the mermaid one. Also, the white dots are pretty much blended into my skin now (which I absolutely was expecting).
fresh 3 months healed
fresh 3 months healed
I might not go back to her unless I want to do something that's more up her alley like an anime tattoo or something. Also doesn't help that I followed her on social media and she absolutely did not upload the picture of my tattoo that she posted. Maybe I'm just thinking too hard but that says to me "I have something either against you or against your tattoo or both."
So uh, time to try again and change up the formula BIG TIME this time around. Wish me luck?
And here's the tatt
Also I just noticed every tattoo I have, I've gotten on a Tuesday. Not at all purposeful but now I'm just like... maybe I should make that a trend too? 
This fuc*er gave me so much hell healing y'all. I don't know what it might have been but I literally never had any tattoo heal this bad. It was the first time I went to a shop that used saniderm. The saniderm breached way quicker than the artist said to keep it on (literally the night of the tattoo it started leaking all the gross stuff). There was a point I thought it might have been infected. Then I coddled it and it started peeling and it looked great! Then I realized the lines were off and faded. Then it started peeling again after the silver skin phase (whaat?). Then after it was finished peeling the second time, the color started showing little dots throughout it. The dots took a month (as the color got less and less vibrant) before they became normal-ish looking?
Tattoo #3
So my first tattoo was big, then my second tattoo was small, now my third tattoo, once again, is big! Maybe I'll keep up with this trend?
I went to a completely different shop from the first two and also decided to go colorless for this one. I initially wanted a pop of yellow but I decided to just stay simple. I did what I said I would do and didn't rely on email and only showed them a really rough sketch of my idea. This one, this one, finally went the way I'd thought the first two would go. I show them an idea, they go "cool, I'll fix this sucker up, put my own style and spin to it, and then we'll tattoo you," and when I see the stencil it's actually in the artist's own style and even rearranged to fit better.
I went to a completely different shop from the first two and also decided to go colorless for this one. I initially wanted a pop of yellow but I decided to just stay simple. I did what I said I would do and didn't rely on email and only showed them a really rough sketch of my idea. This one, this one, finally went the way I'd thought the first two would go. I show them an idea, they go "cool, I'll fix this sucker up, put my own style and spin to it, and then we'll tattoo you," and when I see the stencil it's actually in the artist's own style and even rearranged to fit better.
Here's the sketch I showed the artist
And here's the tatt
That is a completely different design, y'all. Thank feck. Now, this one is worth the price tag knowing that he actually went in and redid the whole thing, put in the work for his own gd design of my idea, and didn't just say "*yoink* thanks for the free art!"
Also I just noticed every tattoo I have, I've gotten on a Tuesday. Not at all purposeful but now I'm just like... maybe I should make that a trend too?
This is took the longest to heal by far. It was also the most painful out of the three. Think that's why? When it finally healed, there were a couple areas that didn't heal very clear and the pentagram, in particular, blew out really badly. But overall healed pretty nicely, save those two problem areas. 4 months healed:
Tattoo #4
Can you believe I'm at 4 tattoos already?! (well I about to skyrocket because guess what my 2021 resolution is...?)
OK this one is a Rollercoaster.
My experience with this tattoo has really mixed feelings. To set the mood, I'll open with this: this was the first tattoo I experienced regret with.
See, I had a pretty simple clear vision of this tattoo in my head when I went in for my consultation. Literally just a screen cap of Frodo from the last LOTR movie with a quote from Samwise.
That's all I wanted! Apparently I made the mistake of going to a tattoo artist that knew too much about the movie because he kind of just gave me whatever he wanted? Not only did it look like he didn't use the reference photo I gave him AT All (the original stencil didn't even have the ring the ONE only other thing in the reference than Frodo like whaaat?), he didn't even give me the whole quote I asked for which was "There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for." As much as I love this tattoo, and it really is a great tattoo, it just wasn't the tattoo I asked for
It's crazy how I've just gone back and forth with my approach to consulting with artists. Be specific! Don't show your own sketches! Be vague! Be specific enough! It's ridiculous, I feel like I'm trying to find the 2cm long sweet spot of consults. I thought I got it for sure with #3 but it looks like it just depends on the artist... I'm going to have to start just saying no when the stencil looks nothing like what I was expecting. These are going to be on my body forever after all.
Tattoo #5
Already?! (the answer is: 1 tattoo per month btw)
That's right y'all. In an attempt to get more of this leg sleeve done, and to have a really fun challenge for myself, I am saving up for a tattoo once a month. It might get a little expensive, but I've got a foolproof plan. Remember in the beginning when I was alternating between big and small tattoos? That's what I'll be doing for this year to make sure I don't go very far past $300/mo even if it means only getting a baby filler tattoo for 6/12 months.
Finally I've gotten a Final Fantasy tattoo! Took me long enough. And, of course, since my first FF was FFXI, it only makes sense that my first FF tattoo is FFXI themed.
I don't know if y'all know this *stares at pictures on early blog posts and around blog UI* but I'm a gigantic FF fan. And I just so happened to find a tattoo artist 10 minutes from where I live who is also a huge final fantasy fan and, get this, he's a POC. That means he's my first time getting tattooed by a person with darker skin, themselves. Aaaaand this was my first color tattoo in a HWHILE. I'm SO hype. I think I want every tattoo on my leg from here on out to be color. And I think this guy's going to be doing a lot of them.
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| 2 months healed |
This fuc*er gave me so much hell healing y'all. I don't know what it might have been but I literally never had any tattoo heal this bad. It was the first time I went to a shop that used saniderm. The saniderm breached way quicker than the artist said to keep it on (literally the night of the tattoo it started leaking all the gross stuff). There was a point I thought it might have been infected. Then I coddled it and it started peeling and it looked great! Then I realized the lines were off and faded. Then it started peeling again after the silver skin phase (whaat?). Then after it was finished peeling the second time, the color started showing little dots throughout it. The dots took a month (as the color got less and less vibrant) before they became normal-ish looking?
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Tattoo #6
I feel unstoppable! Well... that is until I came to month three and physically couldn't find a tattoo artist that was available for March. I blame tax return season and the 1400 stimmy. Everyone got that money and said "Hey, I know what we should spend this money on that's supposed to be helping house and feed us: tattoos!" lol. But after weeks of trying and failing, I did end up finding a tattoo artist that could tattoo me at the tail end of March.
But I finally got the Sailor Moon tat! This is the only one I've gotten since the Spirit Animal tat that was on my original leg sleeve plans. The artist was super light handed so I imagine I might end up going back to him for a touch up (which are free!!)
