Disa Raven

What’s your shift schedule? Vancouver ✈️Edmonton✈️ Kootenays #blackandgreytattoo #tattooartist #travellingtattooartist #worklife #tattoo #summer

tummy truck 🥵 #blackandgreytattoo

2 days back to back @lowlife.studios 🙏 this sleeve is 5 sessions in so far, some healed some fresh. A whole lotta dedication, endurance and trust in the process ❤️ one of my favourites by far.

Second session on this spine 🌸some healed some fresh 🤍 #backtattoo #flowertattoo

POV: you get a portrait tattoo of the girl you’ll love forever #dogtattoo #dogportrait #dogsofinstagram #dogtattooportrait #portraittattoo #doglover #blackandgreytattoo

Fresh vs. Healed comparison

No editing. Two raw images showing just how drastic of a difference your tattoo can look on Day 1 to Day 21.

I think it’s important to explain the difference between “dark”and “saturated” to my clients ahead of time, so when they see the result at the end, it doesn’t come as much of a shock to them. Especially on a piece like this one.

This portrait is of a childhood photo of my clients mother who recently passed away. A portrait that was very important to make look as close to the original image as possible.

When saturating light greys in a portrait, I let my client know that it’s common for skin to immediately become red, irritated and inflamed. Saturating grey ink in a tattoo means thoroughly packing the ink into the skin to achieve an even, smooth appearance without patchiness. It involves ensuring that the grey ink is evenly distributed. Proper saturation is crucial for a tattoo to heal smooth with a polished finish. If the ink isn’t saturated properly, the tattoo might look faded, uneven, or patchy after healing.

The redness and irritation of this process can appear very daunting to client and artist. You must trust that the grey ink is in there, while the redness from the skin overpowers the light tones, making it appear darker than it will once the skin heals. After a few days to weeks, as the redness fades and the skin recovers, the true light grey color of the tattoo will become more visible.

Trusting the process is very important, but also doing your research on your artist is extremely important as well. There is a technique to saturating skin where it doesn’t OVER irritate the skin and cause damage, there are also many other shading techniques that do not cause nearly as much irritation/redness but (in my opinion) have a far different longevity and overall look.

Remember a tattoo shouldn’t be designed to be your absolute favourite on that first fresh day. As an artist, I strive for that 3-4 week mark where it’s settled, like this second photo shown. Because that’s the piece you wear forever; what it looks like fresh is only temporary.

Mask on 🦝 @odnococoa

Bye bye Justin!

Coverup magic 🪄✨ #vancouvertattoo

Fully healed sleeve @tattoo_collector #tattoo #sleevetattoo #blackandgreytattoo #blackandgrey #tigertattoo

How tattoo artists get their clients “summer body” ready 😍