Black and grey as an anchor

I’ve always been drawn to black and grey. I love the softness of shading, subtle transitions, the way an image can exist with very little. Black allows a form of restraint, almost a sense of silence, and that has always resonated with me.

Black and grey: a language that gives structure

Black creates a clear reading. It’s about working with light, volume and depth, without overload. Soft shading brings substance to the design while allowing the image to breathe. It’s a precise, considered approach, where every detail matters.

Colour: a space of freedom

Colour is something else. It doesn’t replace that relationship, it simply opens a different field. With colour, you step outside a stricter framework. You’re no longer thinking only in terms of contrast or light, but in material, atmosphere and feeling. It’s a freer approach, closer to painting than to pure drawing.

In tattooing, colour allows you to tell a story differently. It can bring depth, warmth, sometimes even a certain softness, as long as it’s used with care. It’s not about quantity or intensity, but about balance. Like a painting, some areas can be dense, others left calmer, more open, more breathable.

Skin, image and movement

What interests me in colour is this ability to compose without being locked into a single register. The body becomes a living surface, one that moves, that catches the light differently depending on the moment. A tattoo is never fixed, and colour reinforces that dimension. It evolves with the skin, with time, with the person who carries it. Two languages in dialogue

That said, the foundation remains the same. A tattoo, whether black and grey or colour, relies on a solid design and a readable composition. Colour isn’t there to hide or correct anything; it enriches what’s already there. It requires attention, and a real reflection on the image as a whole.

I don’t see black and grey and colour as two opposing worlds. They are two languages that speak to each other. One is more restrained, more structured; the other more open, more free. Depending on the project, one naturally takes precedence. Sometimes it’s the other. And sometimes, the two intersect.

That’s also what makes tattooing so compelling: this ability to explore, adapt and compose, while staying true to a single visual sensibility.