Dude, you do have a special talent to explain all these things. I feel confident in trusting this info because you break it down very professionally. Thanks for the effort and dedication.

U look Like an asain version of elon musk

Great video but it's always nice to include pictures when you're talking about different topic. It gives the viewer more visual stimulation and also helps us to understand what you're talking about better :)

I'm an older woman who is getting my first tattoo next week. I've been watching your videos and you really come across as a very educated person who has a calming effect on your clients. So many artists couldn't care less about explaining this stuff to newbies, but you seem to really care about not only your clients, but all ppl who get tattoos. Thanks for making all these vids. These have made me actually move forward with getting my tattoo that I've wanted for a long time. And I'm even planning on future ones.

I love the look of color tattoos, but I've decided to get all my tattoos in black and white because a) they also look badass and i love it, and b) they'll age better, which is definitely a factor for me

Hey man hats off to you Rare a artist that can speak his craft so freely

i think pictures would be helpful when explaining certain things. Anyway, just a suggestion. Keep it up

That beautiful eye had me captivated the whole time.

I prefer B&G generally. I have a few with tiny highlighted areas with a bit of color to emphasize a specific spot of the piece. One is lined but all colored but, it really needed to be to look right. I plan to stay with predominantly black and gray for all my future ink

Got my first few tattoos in black/grey. Didn’t think anything of it at first. However, as i kept getting more pieces done, I realized how much more i love my black/grey tattoos compared to getting colored. Probably going to do my whole body in black/grey. But, to each their own!

I have people ask me often why I'm covered in traditional. I always tell them, every ounce of color can fade, every bit of shading may fade, but my lines will stay. I put my money into my lines. It'll be easier to touch up later, and the image I love is still there.

i love how clean black and grey tattoos look, especially in a full sleeve. i feel that colored tattoos are doin the most, but to each their own

All of my tattoos are color. I always put UV Ray protection on my skin when I go outside in the sunlight. Hoping this will help extend the life of my colored ink

Love this! This really helped me choose black and gray for my major sleeve project (connecting a arm and shoulder piece to full leg). As this is disney sketch based it will look awesome.

love your videos! they're so helpful :) I think that if you added pictures when talking about specific tattoos or topics (ex. traditional; black and grey portrait vs colour) this would help visual learners tremendously!

Thanks for putting this video together. You explain everything in great depth and in a detailed way that makes sense to relative tattoo newbies like me. It's great to feel fully informed when making a tattoo decision and your videos have helped me in this. Much appreciated.

Wow I learned quite a lot from you. Thank you very much. All of my ink is black and grey, but only because I didn't want to look like a rainbow.

Love your explanations! I have one black and grey that I knew exactly what I wanted going in, and the artist delivered so much better than I ever dreamed! Even with my color tattoos, my personal preference is to utilize "white space" as much as coloring in to both define and make the tattoo "pop", but the black and grey does a much better job IMO - the shading from grey to "nothing" almost looks 3-dimensional. I also now understand why there was so little pain getting the black and grey that I fell asleep before he was finished! Between his soft touch and the soft buzz of the tattoo gun, it was as soothing as getting a massage! Now to just get people to stop asking me "when are you going to color it in...."

Fantastic video, James. I understood everything you said and it made perfect sense. You say everything in a way we can all understand. Brilliant! Thank you.

I love listening to you explain all of this to us And you do it in such a humble tone.. Thank you so much.

My mom has a foot tall tattoo of a parrot on the side of her calf. She's had it for almost 30 years and the colors, while they have faded some, are still clearly identifiable. The black has faded more than most of the color, surprisingly. I think because her leg doesn't get as much sun exposure and she had a good artist, the tattoo has aged exceptionally gracefully. It could use a touch up on the black and the blues and oranges, just a bit, but it doesn't look as old as it is. She also takes very good care of her skin. It's helped maintain the elasticity and the tattoo hasn't warped much with her changing body (she's 58.) That tattoo artist is STILL doing his thing and I want to go to him for mine. I'd love to see a video about aftercare and tattoo healing, and how to do it well. Everyone I've spoken to has some specific lotion they use for new tattoos, their own "secret" techniques for helping it heal well, etc. I'd like to know your advice about it, and maybe if there are different healing expectations that affect the tattoo for different skin types. Great video, very clear and well spoken!

Can you talk about tattoos on black skin and are there some style of tattoos that are better for black skin as opposed to lighter skin tones?

You make great videos, and I love that you could even explain oil paints correctly, like damn. This guy knows his shit!

I actually just got 2 tattoos in the same day. One was black and one was color. The one that is black is basically looking healed and the color one is still all scabbed and not healed. I also get infected over everything, so I think that by black tattoo healing so quick is amazing.

Thanks for the info man. Getting my first half sleeve done, and my tattoo artist recommends I go with color. I originally wanted black and grey, but I'm going to let him do his thing.

LOOOVE your vlogs! Your good at explaining and breaking down information on things we NEED to know.

Thank you for breaking this down. I don’t have any tattoos and wanted to get at least 5 tattoos.

The healing process for tattoos depends on how quickly you heal but in most cases it takes 2 weeks for a tattoo to completely heal most of mine took about 10 days

I love the random F bombs. Like, you just don't expect it and then BAM--f bomb. Makes me giggle.

I have traditional tattoos. The one on my toe faded and I was glad that it was traditional because I was able to get it touched up and even had it done with different colors. One on my hip I accidently got the scab pulled up while it was healing and it bled out some of the color. I definitely need some touchups done on my colored ones. That's ok because it gives me a reason to go to the shop, as I don't plan on any new ones at this point. BTW, LOVE LOVE LOVE that John Wayne tat!!

Getting my first tattoo next month and I'm getting it done in a black and grey scheme. I wasn't aware that black and grey had so many advantages over color. I picked it because I love those kinds of tattoos!

I love how in depth this is! So many people only talk about this on a very shallow level! Thanks for your information!

Im 18 and getting my first tattoo soon. Your channel helps a lot, thanks!

Just got my first tattoo. Lots of shitty videos about tattoos on youtube. This is one of the good ones. Very clear and coherent.

Thank you for explaining. I'm getting my first tattoo next week.

I love the conviction in your tone sir. Makes you sound very trustworthy.

Ironically, I was thinking about getting a color tattoo for my next tattoo

I'm not a tattoo artist, but I'm an artist in other ways, so like I draw a lot. And a lot of what you say makes sense to me. I started out working with just gray scales, focusing on values to create contrast and depth. Then years later I dived into color and although that's more challenging, it does absolutely help with contrasting different areas, and showing different meanings/emotions with the help of colors. So I definitely appreciate both black and gray as well as color art (including tattoos) as well. And when it comes to my own body work, I want some of my tattoo ideas to be in gray scale and others to be in color. Like I'm getting an ivy done on my lower leg in color, and at some point in the future I want to get demon wings on my back entirely in gray scale, and I'm also considering getting a demonic cat on my thigh in gray scale with just a little bit of brown and red colors here and there. Both of the latter two I'd want for to be realistic, while the ivy in a far less realistic style. The ivy is also a lot simpler in shape, which makes me think having it in gray scale might make it look kinda dull. So I think I've been taking this into consideration without really thinking about it. Just... artist mind being on auto-pilot.

Incredibly great video, very descriptive with excellent mental imagery.

Excellent information! I’ve always liked black & grey for many of the reasons you state.

My first tattoo is black and gray. The outlining was a strange tickle pain and I laughed quite a bit. The shading and blending is what hurt. That was a burning pain.

I love this guy and his videos I feel a lot more confident about getting a tattoo done after watching his videos

this eye be staring right at me.

Thank you for the info! I'm getting a japanese octopus/ocean sleeve in 2 weeks, can't wait🤗

Very in-depth explanation! It depends on the artistic style for me. I love colorful art pieces so I would need a really, really good reason to get something in black&grey. I do have one small black tattoo but it's just a symbol. For a really nice art piece I think portraits are suitable in black & grey, but for other scenes or visual interest I would prefer color. I'm getting one tomorrow that's mostly red.

Thanks so much for these videos. Sharing so much wisdom to us the newbies

i agree with difference in pain. The color one def hurt more. Lots of going over and over the same area to pack in the ink and do the shading.

Gosh great video I was thinking if should do some black and grey tattoos instead of all of them color. This video helped. I did not know there was a difference between black and grey and black and white always learn something new. 👍keep up the good work

a example that Iv experienced painting graffiti with pigments in warm colors especially yellow are harder to get to cover nice and opaque ( in one pass anyway ). graffiti artists praise paint companys that have solid yellows its just so hard to produce because of how the pigments occurs naturally in the World and that in turn causes them to be lightfast and fade, looking at og freight pieces done with yellows and reds are usually aways faded and the dark outline still holding. with my tattoos i was always thinking of the long haul so black and grey is my choice.

Hats off Hands down to you bro. You're one intelligent artist. I learned a lot from you. More blessings to you.

Have the best of both worlds. My leg is black and grey and arm is Japanese coverup of previous black and grey work. Colour tattoo definitely stands out alot more pops out!

Thank-you for all the info!!

Surprised you don’t have more subscribers...your very good at explaining situations

great vids man, very informative!

Comprehensive and easy to understand. Now I’m ready for my second tat.

Super thorough and informative! Thank you

I have 3: My first was done in 2007. lower back. red, purple, green, and black tribal like lines. The lines are perfect looking. The red is faded but still pretty nice. The purple is pretty decent and hasn't lost much pigment. The green is also nice. This was done in three 1.5-hour sessions because I discovered I have an issue with sitting for long increments of time. The middle of my back didn't hurt too bad. The left side near love handle stung. Right side was fine. Was pretty quick to heal and there was no residue or subsequent bleeding. No itching. 2nd done March 2018: a hollow heart with a 5 letter word inside on my left shoulder blade. TIME: 45 minutes. This did not hurt. It was a little uncomfortable around minute 30 but subsided. The issue was that I didn't eat prior to the sitting and i had the tattoo shakes. Thank God it was a short session. It healed in 2 weeks. No itching. Third done first week of June 2018. Words above my first tattoo. This healed in about 10 days and the itching was BAD. It really didn't hurt aside from the middle. I really want a spinal tat but that pain is hindering me at the moment.

Thanks for the difference between these. I just got my first color tattoo two days ago. It’s peeling which is what my black tattoos did but it almost seems like the yellow is already fading idk if its just because it’s yellow or what. It has yellow,brown, and a green background.

Thank you for this information bro!

I know a lot of people have already said it, but this video is pure gold! James, thank you for taking the time to explain the differences between color vs black and grey tattoos! I have considered getting a few professional tattoos for a long time, and maybe fixing a tattoo that a buddy of mine did. Before watching this video, I was on the fence about getting more tattoos and if they would be in color or not. Now, I know that I really do want this and know that I am going to get black tattoos for the most part.

Thank you for this man, super insightful 👍

Great explanation! I started a biomech/power armor tattoo in color mainly for the legibility, plus my artist (Bryan Parsons) is amazing with color. Not too sure about pain difference or even different areas, but can tell you after 3 hours of outline across my entire upper chest, heal, then 3 hours of coloring a biomech heart on the sternum for my first tattoo, it hurts!

HEY JAMES LOVE THE VIDEOS U HAVE PUT OUT....KEEP IT UP! GETTING READY FOR A NEW BEAR TATTOO N COUPLE WEEKS THIS VIDEO HELPED ME MAKE UP MY MIND. BLACK N GREY IS WHAT IM GONNA GO WITH

I like the way you explain the differences, but I feel like it would be a big easier to understand by throwing pictures on the screen. Especially when you are comparing two things like in the beginning you explained the difference between a black and white tattoo and a black and grey and as someone who doesn’t know the difference in how they look throwing a picture up as you talk about it is really helpful

I am lighter skinned black person and I LOVE color. Out of 15, only 5 of mine are black and grey. Three of which are words, so that speaks for itself. The other two, one is a cross which I’ve only had for about a year because I was looking for the perfect one. The moment I saw it, I knew it was the one I am a very feminine female. And this cross just spoke to me. My final black and grey piece is a jewelry symbol that I fell in love with. You might of heard of it. Kay’s jewels, their open heart symbol. It’s to let the love flow in and out of your heart. I’m really blessed that my skin keeps color very well. I have these butterflies on one of my back shoulders that people cannot believe I’ve had for over 10 yrs. Also, I give much credit to the gentleman who did that tattoo, who for at least the last 5 years has been my artist. I learned when you find someone who is good and actually cares about their clients you stick with that artist. But, my whole point was being a black person, when I first started getting tattoos I was warned about colors. What I have learned over the last 20 yrs, you have to learn what is right for you!

These are so informative. Thank you.

Great breakdown!

Don't have any tattoos but have been seriously considering it lately and looked at some designs. Your channel is great and you have answered some of the questions I have better than anyone else so far. Keep up the great work and this channel will be really big!

Got both color and B&g tattoo, still prefer how color tattoo looks.

So crazy to see your channel before its gonna blow up lol. As long as your channel looks professional and you speak sense you're good :p

Great tattoo advice, cheers dude

Love your videos. Wondering if you can do a video about how to go about planning a sleeve please?

great video!!! keep making these videos! this is A LOT OF HELP!

This video was extremely helpful and exactly the kinda info that I needed. Thank you! Love your channel

I had my yellow/lime greens that had sun exposure redone after 6-7 years. Same ink in an area with no sun time looks fine

Thank you for this video!

Go James, nice content, thx!

As a person looking to learn tattooing I'd like to say that I really appreciate you posting the whole tattoo from start to finish...the only thing I could ask for is "could you do some commentary on the tattooing process?" I love this video

Printed my pups paws and got them done in color nice blended colors came out beautiful. They are both kind of encased by very dark purple and or black. But amazing. I was goinf to do black at first because I have a black and grey half sleeve on my upper arm but I'm so glad I got them in color. Esp bc the tattoo means so much to me. Both are beautiful.

Love ur videos 👍 thanks for all the great information

Thanks man that helped heaps

This was very helpful. Thank you

I know some artists that charge by the hour and some that charge by piece but I've had more experience with the latter.

Great freaking video! Thanks!

very thorough, high quality video!

Top notch Video Sir. Thanx for the Information and Salute from Germany.

Thanks for the advice

My first 3 tattoos were red and they did fade more quickly and at different rates since they were all different colors because they were all done by different artists in different states. I have uv colors now and they do need more frequent touch ups but I'm ok with that.

very helpful video man thanks

I like how you explain so perfectly that I don't even need pictures.

Ahhh I need to do black & gray, from now on. This was very educational. Now I know why, my tats faded so much...& being in the sun, as much as I have been.

Really helpful..and pliz can u bit lil bit specific about technique and tips with black grey tattoo

I've always wondered about this... what tattoos are best on dark skin tones. I love seeing all the colorful tattoos on fair people, but when it comes to me... I'm clueless. Thanks for the info!

I love color. My back piece is over twenty years old and have almost every color in it. The only color I have had retouched is black. But everyone is different✌️

I got two sleeves pretty much on both arms and are only In black and gray but I am really starting too wish i added color.

So much good information, thanks man.

Well that certainly seemed pretty comprehensive. Very nice.

I'm getting my first tattoo it's a landscape. Black and grey looked kinda messy, but I've seen colored versions and they definitely look way better, my main issue is how fast it might fade. If it's only going to last me a couple of years then it doesn't seem worth the money.

Very helpful info as I decide whether on not to get a tattoo and what type I want.

Black and grey all day man 👌🏻 love your channel bro