01 / LOOKING OVER TIME
Alice: eight years, not a single touch-up
When I shared this photograph, the Alice tattoo was eight years old and hadn't had a single touch-up. That's the context I want you to have when looking at the image: this isn't a freshly finished piece.
Alice peers out from inside the bottle, with her yellow hair and blue dress. Around her are pinks, purples, greens and little details of colour. Notice that you can recognise the character and the bottle, but also distinguish the washes spilling beyond their edges. The watercolour and drawing still belong to the same composition.
If you're worried about the character becoming lost among the splashes, look closely at this image. You can study her face, dress and the rim of the bottle. It's a concrete way to answer that question with a piece of mine that was already eight years old.
02 / LOOKING OVER TIME
The tiger: colour and drawing after two years
This tiger was two years old and hadn't been touched up when I shared it either. The subject changes completely here: from a character to an animal's gaze, with dark stripes and a mix of yellows, pinks, greens and blues.
Don't just look at how much colour there is. Look at the eyes, nose and stripes, and how the head stays recognisable within the washes. Here the colour goes beyond the outline, but the drawing doesn't disappear into it.
I show it alongside Alice because they're two different ways of working with watercolour. The question doesn't have to stop at "does the blue last?": you can also look at whether the composition reads clearly and which parts hold the drawing together as a whole.
03 / LOOKING OVER TIME
Stitch: four years, photographed outside the studio
I shared this Stitch four years healed. The photo was taken in front of an illuminated castle: the setting and lighting differ from the other images, and that's part of how you're seeing it.
You can still recognise the figures, planet and rocket, along with the watercolour washes running along the forearm. It's a view of the tattoo at another moment, not a way to precisely compare colour intensity against a photo taken in different light.
Look at the whole piece too: how the motifs are arranged along the forearm and how the colour accompanies them. The castle is part of the photo, but Stitch's little universe is on the skin.
04 / LOOKING OVER TIME
More subjects, the same question
The carousel also brought together a dandelion, a crab, a pink flower and a cabin among trees. I described them as healed pieces without touch-ups. I gave the crab's age as two years; that image doesn't specify an age for the other three.
Look at how colour plays a different role in each. The dandelion has spreading lines and surrounding washes. You can make out the crab's claws and body among pinks, blues and yellows. The flower uses softer shapes; the cabin keeps its lines among trees and areas of colour.
They're four different tattoos, not four stages of one piece. They let me show you variety: whether you're interested in flowers, animals or something more illustrative, you can look at an example closer to the idea you have in mind.
05 / LOOKING OVER TIME
Watercolour isn't just adding a few splashes
In that carousel, I explained how I work: I don't create the watercolour effect simply by diluting inks. I build it with colour, contrast, translucent layers and spaces of skin. It's not an ink that comes with the effect built in; what matters is how intense areas, transitions and spaces relate to the drawing.
That's why I've been pointing out different details: Alice and her bottle, the tiger's gaze and stripes, the figures in Stitch's universe. I don't just want you to look at a pretty splash, but at how the whole piece reads.
If you're choosing someone to trust with your idea, ask to see their healed work too. Ask how old the tattoos were when photographed and whether they've been touched up. To me, that's a much more useful conversation than deciding only from day-one photos.
06 / LOOKING OVER TIME
What I can show you, without promising a picture that never changes
These examples let me show you my tattoos still recognisable years later, with the context I published for each. That's my response to the idea that all watercolour inevitably disappears or needs constant touch-ups.
Each image shows a particular piece, with its own lighting, framing and the age I stated when sharing it. I can talk about those examples and how I work; I can't promise another tattoo will age in exactly the same way.
When you ask about your idea, tell me what worries you: losing details, colours becoming unclear or the composition changing over time. Then we can discuss that concern with specific examples, instead of stopping at "watercolour: yes or no?".