Getting a Tattoo Sleeve: Do's & Don'ts

Every time I do a tattoo related video I get so so so so many questions regarding tattoo sleeves. How to plan a sleeve, what to do, what not to do. That is what today's video is about and due to the fact that I have a very relaxed way of Thinking about my own sleeves, I can't personally Speak from experience regarding sleeves in general and that is why I Wrote to three of my tattoo artists and asked them for their input. I will of course link their instagrams in the description below if you want to check them out. Big thank you to them for taking the time to answer all my weird questions For my videos so that I can give you guys the best answers possible. So there are more or less two Different kinds of sleeves that you could get. One is the planned out sleeve that pretty much leaves no empty space and no gaps in the tattoo. And once the tattoo is finished, There is a background behind all individual pieces that ties it all together The pros of doing it this way is that there won't be any gaps in your tattoo and that it will all look cohesive since the style for the whole sleeve will be the same and some possible cons of doing it this way is that you will probably Walk around with a half or unfinished sleeve because if you do the lines first they have to heal and then you do the shading and then that has to heal and then you do the color. Of course this is not a huge con and not something that should stop you from getting this kind of tattoo And another con is that you can't really add something to it once the whole sleeve has been planned out. So, you can't like mid-project think 'Oh, I would like to add this to the tattoo' or in three years You can't think 'I would like to have this in my sleeve as well,' because it's all done You can't do anything to change it once it's all done. And the other kind of sleeve is a so-called 'patchwork' that fills up in time. You can add to it spontaneously, you could technically plan it out from the beginning as well but usually they just grow and grow you add to them and In the end they can be tied together with fillers or some kind of background To actually make it look like a cohesive sleeve anyway. A pro is that it never really looks unfinished because no one else other than you knows that it's going to be a sleeve one day and another pro is the course that you can add to it. and cons of doing it this way is that to some poeple, it might end up looking quite messy If you just like add a bunch of weird different things to your sleeve. Personally, love that messy look, but some people don't. And of course another con is that you might end up with kind of weird spots and gaps in your sleeve that can be difficult to fill but I'll get into fillers a little bit later in the video. And which one of these sleeve types that you end up choosing is completely up to you. Personally, I have always been more drawn to patchwork sleeves compared to these Themed sleeves that all stick together with a certain background etc. No one's arm or arm shape or personality fits a certain type of Sleeve better than any other so sadly for some of you because a lot of you seem to be very indecisive You just have to make up your mind on your own. I also get a lot of questions regarding how to kind of tie together these individual pieces to make it a Full sleeve and there are a few different ways of doing that One is adding a background which of course is very common with Japanese styles But is used in a lot of other styles as well Of course and this background can be just shading a certain color It can be clouds or waves another very common way of tying together a sleeve when it comes to old-school or traditional tattoos is fillers and Fillers basically mean that you get smaller tattoos to fit the gaps. You can use color schemes to kind of make it more cohesive and tie them all together So if you get a bunch of individual tattoos and you use the same color scheme in all of them Then they're gonna look cohesive and kind of look like a sleeve compared to if you get a bunch of different tattoos And they all have completely different color palettes Then they might not look as cohesive and last but not least you could kind of tie together a sleeve by getting all the tattoos in the same style For example, if all the tattoos on your arm are old-school, and you're just covered in old school tattoos all over your arm that's going to be a sleeve in the end because you're probably going to fill up most of the space and the style is gonna be the same and it's gonna look cohesive So first and foremost some styles require a thought-out plan and some don't as we have mentioned I'm gonna use Japanese and old-school as the examples in this video because they are so Completely opposite in how you plan out a sleeve Japanese sleeves often require that you have everything planned out before you start While a traditional old-school tattoo You don't have to do that and a big difference in these two ways of doing it Is that when you do a Japanese sleeve it you won't be able to fit as many Tattoos, I mean eventually it's gonna be one big tattoo But you won't be able to fit as many designs into the sleeve because The background takes up so much space to kind of tie it together and one very important thing to consider To get the best end result is to not waste the big areas on Small designs and I have a very good example of that here on this arm here on my upper arm I have the biggest tattoo which is a lady and it would not have made sense at all to for example get the this Anvil Up here That would have been a total waste of this big area to make a big nice tattoo if I got a little Anvil here in the middle So really try to think about what designs you want and Make sure that the big designs go on the big main areas of your arm a few people asked Where do you start if you're doing kind of a patchwork? Sleeve doesn't matter where you start and again, I'll be the example in this video on this arm My first tattoo I got on this arm was the Eagle here and after I got in the Eagle I got this portrait on my upper arm, and then I had one tattoo here and one tattoo here and then I got this Raccoon on this side And then I had like my lower arm covered and only my upper arm Here and then eventually I got these awesome flowers to kind of tie them together in the middle and I still have this space To fill so I've kind of just gone with what I feel like I Wanted to start with the Eagle when I got the Eagle. That was my third tattoo ever I had no idea what I was gonna do on the rest of my arm So it doesn't really matter where you start or what tattoo you start with. It's a preference thing I would say if you are not sure what tattoo goes where on your arm then definitely Consult with your artist because most of them at least know what tattoos and what shapes look good on. What spot of your arm It's enough for you to just know kind of what you want And then let the artist kind of place it out on your arm so that it'll look good in the end So regardless what kind of sleeve you're getting the planned one or the not planned one? It's a good idea to stick to the general rule of Focusing on the main Areas, and in a sleeve the main areas are outer and inner upper arm and outer and inner lower arm Those are the best areas for a design to really shine and Something that most artists are very particular about Is to really avoid wrap arounds and wrap arounds basically mean that you have to twist your body part To be able to see what the tattoo actually is. So when you do a sleeve Most artists will really focus on putting the the biggest nicest Pieces on those four main areas and then tying them together With perhaps a smaller design or background etc In between them if you currently have a tattoo on your arm somewhere and you don't want to make it a patchwork sleeve Which would make it easy because you just add to it But if you don't want that if you want a cohesive sleeve that flows together Your artist is going to have to incorporate your current tattoo into your sleeve My boyfriend has done that on his he had I think two Different he had one tattoo here and one tattoo on his upper arm, and now he has a japanese-style Sleeve where the background just flows through the tattoos that he previously had and now you can Barely see that they are there because they flow so well into the entire sleeve not everyone knows when they start getting tattooed What they're gonna end up wanting in the future. So it's not the end of the world and most artists can work around Tattoos so as I've been asked a bunch of questions on sleeves the most common one I think how do I decide what I want? So many people have this idea of what their sleeve is going to look like But they still struggle to come up with a hundred percent finished idea to bring to the tattoo artists Don't do that When you want a sleeve It's totally enough to know the theme or to know two to four pieces that you want to Incorporate into the sleeve and then just let the artist do their thing Because if you Spend years coming up with every single little star and every single little flower in your sleeve and You go to an artist and they're like this is not gonna work buddy And they're gonna have to redo it anyway Because they are the experts and we are not the experts So don't waste time Sitting at home over analyzing and trying to come up with every single filler Detail because that the tattoo artist is great at doing they know how to tie together things Within a theme even so if you're getting like a nature theme your artist is not gonna put cookies as fillers They're gonna stick to the theme I promise you that so I'm planning out your sleeve and you have this theme Let's take Harry Potter. For example Moaning Myrtle. Is your favorite character of all time? Does that necessarily mean that Moaning Myrtle should take up most of the space in your sleeve? It doesn't your favorite design and the design that means the most to you does not Necessarily have to be the biggest so don't get too caught up in the idea that There's a hierarchy in how much you like the designs and they should be sized thereafter Because that won't always result in the best looking cohesive Sleeve when it comes to fillers again for all you indecisive people. I'm sorry, but you just have to pick something There are no rules for fillers You don't have to get fillers that are related to your sleeve my example, this is my Game of Thrones inspired Sleeve I will have Get a lot of fillers on this arm clearly because there are a lot of gaps and I knew that would be the case when I started this sleeve, but will I only get fillers that are related to Game of Thrones? No, because I'm done with everything that has to do with Game of Thrones now now I'm just gonna fill it up and on the Topic of fillers. There are two different kinds of fillers that you can work with The the first is still a little bit more difficult And those are the ones that just fill up the gaps that you have here For example try to come up with something that has this shape Like a butt plug if you don't want to tattoo and the filler to overlap that's gonna make it difficult for you And of course the other kind of filler is the filler that over or under laps with your tattoo is under lap a word That's what I've done here. I Did the Eagle first and then I did the flower and my artist place the flower Underneath the Eagle so you can choose if you want them to overlap with each other to create this cohesive look or if you just Want the fillers to be like Side-by-side and not actually Overlap one thing that one of my artists said was Important at least to him as a tattoo artist was that you have the time and the money to actually finish a big project like That once you start it, and I'm sure there are many reasons behind this For example to keep the enthusiasm from the artists point of view It's not so nice to be working on a sleeve for five to ten years Usually artists really want to finish the entire project once it's been started, but it's definitely something you should consider Do I have the funds and the time right now to actually get this sleeve? Finished or am I starting it at the wrong time in my life always? Important to point out in all my videos is for you to trust your artist when it comes to placement and color choices, but always Speak up if something doesn't feel right and the last point that I am going to discuss which is a super popular Frequently asked question as well And I thought it was kind of funny that one of my artists actually said this because I hundred percent disagree and that just goes To show that everyone has her own opinion. He said stick one style and I Don't I don't stick to one style at all and Again personal preference if you want to stick to one style do it But so so so many of you ask me I have this one style and now I want to get this other style is that Okay Is that breaking the tattoo loss of the universe am I going to jail and The answer is no you're not you're allowed to get any style. You want mix any Styles you want? I love mixing styles and honestly, I don't think that this looks bad I'm sure a lot of people look at my sleeve and they're like, what is that mess? But that's their problem and not mine And as for tying These kinds of tattoos together the raccoon and the bird they kind of over slash on their lap and the flowers and the bird Overlap and up here Since this is the realistic like shading that's going down here. It doesn't really overlap But one day I think I'll get this touched up by the artist who did it and then I'm gonna probably ask him to connect These and kind of add shading to it so that it Sticks more together and that's another way of doing it. So don't sweat it. Don't worry so much It'll work out fine in the end regardless, and I know I have a very Relaxed way of looking at these things and might sound a bit careless when it comes to these things And I'm sorry if my attitude Towards sleeves and tattoos and future plans is too relaxed for your taste I understand if it is if you are a person who worries a lot and you're indecisive I Understand and I understand that you can't view things the way I view them because the more tattoos you have the more like I'm just gonna get what I want to get you get So if your sleeve is the first thing you're getting I totally get the whole overanalyzing Part of it But I hope this video helped you somehow To maybe get a little bit more relaxed or at least that you got some things to take into consideration And think about this has been a super long episode of what to do and what not to do when getting us I hope I've answered most of your questions if not comment below and I'll answer it there if I can Thank you for watching until I make another video of a super duper good one. I'll see you later

Channel: Katrin Berndt

Views: 1,360,264

Keywords: katrin berndt, tattoo, tattoos, first tattoo, sleeve, tattoo sleeve, planning a sleeve, leg sleeve, arm sleeve, ink, inked, picking a tattoo, do's and don'ts, tattoo artist, advice, tattoo advice, sweden, swedish, portrait, japanese, old school, traditional, help

Id: 1VN0WzAxYIQ

Length: 15min 49sec (949 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 07 2018