Chicano tattoo ideas and designs

How the black and grey is built

Black ink is diluted into a set of grey washes, often four or five values from near black to a pale tone, and laid in smooth overlapping passes. Lines come from a single needle or a tight 3RL, which is what gives the style its thin, delicate contours. There is no heavy outline holding a Chicano piece together, so the shading has to carry the form.

Soft gradients are the mark of good work here. A skilled artist blends a grey wash with no visible step between values, which takes a light hand and several passes over the same area. That smoothness is what separates real Chicano shading from a fine line piece that happens to be grey, and it is the first thing other artists look at.

The imagery and what it refers to

The recurring subjects are clowns and theatre masks under the phrase smile now cry later, lowriders, Our Lady of Guadalupe, praying hands, roses, dice and cards, Aztec figures, and portraits of family. Payasa and payaso portraits, women with bandanas and heavy eye makeup, are a signature of the style. Much of it comes out of life in the barrio, Catholic devotion and time inside.

Lettering carries as much weight as the imagery. Old English blackletter and a flowing fine line script both belong to the style, and both punish sloppy work, because a misjudged letterform is obvious to anyone who reads it. Lettering artists in this tradition often specialize in nothing else, and it is worth booking one rather than asking a portrait artist to add words.

Imagery that belongs to specific people

• Three dots in a triangle, read as mi vida loca and tied to gang life
• A teardrop under the eye, which carries prison and violence meanings
• Neighborhood names, area codes and set numbers
• Specific clock faces and spider webs used to mark time served
• Any marking an artist tells you is claimed, which is reason enough to leave it

How Chicano work ages

Fine single needle lines are the weak point. A hairline contour in pale grey softens within eight to twelve years and can disappear on thin skin or in a spot that gets daily sun. The grey wash holds better than the lines do, so old Chicano pieces often read as soft shapes with the contours mostly gone.

The fix is structural. A slightly heavier line where the form needs definition, darker values in the deepest shadows, and a placement out of direct sun all extend the life of a piece considerably. Most people with long term Chicano work book a touch up somewhere around year eight to bring the lines back.

Placement, sessions and cost

The style suits large flat areas where smooth shading has room: the chest, the back, the outer forearm and the upper arm. Lettering runs well across the chest, along the forearm and down the ribs. Small Chicano pieces are difficult, since the shading needs space to gradate and a 5 cm portrait has nowhere to go.

A 15 cm portrait takes four to six hours and costs $500 to $1,200. A chest piece with lettering and figures runs eight to fourteen hours at $1,000 to $2,500. Pain is lower than most styles, since a single needle at low speed is gentler than a heavy outline, though the sittings are long.