I am Sigis Ka. I tattoo black and grey realism from Gentleman George's Tattoo Parlour on Castle Street, in the centre of Liverpool.

I have been tattooing for 12 years. For most of that time I have worked in one discipline rather than several, and that was a deliberate decision. Black and grey is built entirely from value — how light or dark one area is against the one beside it — and getting that right consistently takes years of doing nothing else.

There is no colour work here, no flash sheets and no second style kept in reserve. If your idea sits outside black and grey realism, another artist will serve it better, and I will tell you so.

How I work

Every piece starts as a drawing made for one person and one placement. Scale, flow and focal point are decided against the body it is going on — where the composition sits when the arm is down, what happens when it moves, which edges need to fade and which need to stop.

Realism is unforgiving in a way other styles are not. There is no line weight to hide behind and no colour to carry the shape: the image is held up entirely by value and edge control. That is why the planning happens on paper, and why the detail is rationed. Detail spent everywhere reads as detail nowhere.

What that means for you

You will get an honest answer about whether an idea works in black and grey at the size you want it. If a reference is too flat, too small or too busy to hold up on skin, you will hear that before a deposit is taken rather than after.

The work in the portfolio is all mine — designed, drawn and tattooed here. Nothing on this site is stock photography and nothing is generated.