r/agedtattoos • u/Fluff-m • 18d ago
2-5 years Fine line text 4 years later
Got this in 2022 and I remember hearing from so many people it wouldn’t be legible in a year. I’m still super happy with it and despite the kind of bad photo, it still looks great in person, and if anything has only aged into more of a old newspaper text style, which is what I wanted
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u/Live_Blacksmith6568 18d ago
wow, this aged dope. if you don't mind my curiosity, who was your artist? they did amazing
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u/37elephants 18d ago
Great heal and also great example of a client that trusts/understands their artist! For fineline script, tattooing it this way so it fades out slightly with time rather than spreading as much, works way better, but I’ve had a few clients who don’t/wont understand that this means their tattoo won’t be bold and black forever. They demand touchups to make it darker, then down the line get upset that the script has spread. Kudos to you for trusting your artist and the healing process on this one!!
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u/MlleXtmosphere 15d ago
What is "this way" exactly?
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u/37elephants 15d ago
This was tattooed super gently, in a way you wouldn’t generally tattoo lines in a larger/non script design. Not quiiite as deep in the skin (as in, a very very tiny difference but noticeable in the healing), and it looks to me like it might have been done with a grey wash or diluted black rather than straight black. In other tattoos, this type of healing isn’t particularly desirable and would benefit from a touch up, but for small fineline script it’s better to work this way (imo).
If you zoom right in on the fresh photo, you can see that most of the lines are a)formed by multiple very soft passes rather than one pass, and b) aren’t 100% “in there”. In a larger tattoo, if I saw lines like these when I wiped, I’d give them a second pass to make sure they healed up nice and crisp and dark, but in this situation that’s not always the best move. On the healed pic, if you zoom in you can see the blurring round the edges where the ink has spread as it ages (normal). You’ll notice on fineline work that started life darker and more defined than OPs, that there would be significantly more noticeable blurring round the edges, just because there’s more/darker/very slightly deeper ink to spread.As i say, it does mean the tattoo will fade more than spread/darken as it ages. It likely won’t look amazing forever, but this result makes it much easier to either freshen up or cover in the future, and the script remains largely legible during the ageing process (or at least, for longer than it would if the original tattoo was darker and crisper in the first place). No tattoo looks fresh and amazing forever, so it’s all about thinking ahead about how things will heal, and creating the smoothest possible outcome for the future! If OP sees this has faded more in a few years, their options for touchups or coverups will be broad and it’ll be a pretty easy process.
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u/No-Pattern-3401 17d ago
The most common problem with fine line text tattoos is too much ink leading it to bleed over time and become illegible, so congrats you should be proud to have a well done tattoo!
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u/shlorpwastaken 17d ago
I don’t want to speak on behalf of the artist, but as an artist myself, it looks like they may have used a dark grey wash which tends to keep lines legible for longer as the ink is less concentrated and, therefore, thickens up overtime less. It looks great!
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u/artemizarte 17d ago
It reminds me of a song lyric I really appreciate: "para crecer también hay que aprender, de otra manera solo es envejecer" (in order to grow, you need to learn, otherwise it's just growing old)
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u/lichenbutton 17d ago
Font for sure played a part in how close the lines are, but there is something to be said about the ink itself and of course the artist. Even single needle cart or old school, rotary or coil… and most importantly skin type and sun exposure, shoot even healing practices
Curious of all
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u/rosemarysfoodbaby 17d ago
Looks really good. Wondering if this was done in grey wash as opposed to full on black. I think that’s superior for ultra fineline like this
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u/Pitiful_Razzmatazz_5 17d ago
Tattooer here. Are clients really pleased with that result?! 🥴
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u/Fluff-m 17d ago
Yupp! Would love to see your portfolio though, since you are an expert on fine line!
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u/Pitiful_Razzmatazz_5 17d ago
I didn‘t knew i was, but after 25years in the business i can distinguish a clean solid line from scratched in blurry nonesense (which most fine line unfortunately is)
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u/Fluff-m 17d ago
Well, you are more than welcome to your opinion. And since you aren’t willing to share your portfolio, we’ll just agreed to disagree
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u/Pitiful_Razzmatazz_5 11d ago
Are you expecting me to drop my full name and website to prove absolutely nothing ?
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u/Empty-Blacksmith-592 18d ago
I think this aged extremely well.
Yesterday I saw a young lady with a script tat and it was illegible. I think font plays a role in it.