red to black shadows

[newguy]

i am going to be doing an oni mask that will be partial concealed by a peony on its cheek area and a solid black background behind the peony. i want to make it look like the oni is coming out of the solid black background into the light source. what is the best way to fade the black into the oni's red face? should i do a gray wash into the face and then add red into that or fade the red into the shadowed area and graywash over that? you will only se the eyes, nose and the a bit of the mouth area behind the peony. i do not want an outline where the red and black meet at all. i have never done this before and any help is appreciated. thanks.

[Frek]

...I don't believe this.........good luck with your post bro..

[lozer81]

i would start with working solid black, then wipe the tube and then while running your needle i'd dip into the red one time and let it run for a sec,making a dark ass red and work with that. then dip into the red again and make a dark ass red thats a little lighter, and so on and so on until its only red in the tube.fading from black to red.

in other words just blend in the tube from black slowly into regular red.

when blending colors theres no need to graywash first, thats how alot of guys are taught but its incorrect nowadays,you dont need graywash at all. just using color blending in the tube going from black to any color is whats best.

[newguy]

graywash first is how my mentor did it and i wasnt too sure about it, i didnt think it ever looked real good when he did. thanks alot for the insight. im glad some people are here to offer help to a newer artist.

[travelingtom]

Originally Posted by newguy

graywash first is how my mentor did it and i wasnt too sure about it, i didnt think it ever looked real good when he did. thanks alot for the insight. im glad some people are here to offer help to a newer artist.

there is more than one way to do it, but they all take a lot of experience to pull off. you can either do black and grey underneath the red, and then put deep reds overtop of that, or you can dilute your reds with blacks and different shades of grey to build up the layers you need. by your post and the fact that you said you were new to tattooing, i would suggest not doing it for fear of it getting all f@#ked up, but its up to you. like i said there is more than one way, whatever is more comfortable for you. hope that helps

[newguy]

It did help. Thank you.