Assigning Value Ranges in Tattooing | Fireside Technique | EP 50

Today we’re breaking down how to assign specific value ranges to different elements in your tattoo designs. This can create a visual hierarchy and prevent chaos when working with complex subjects like wings, flags, or textured compositions. The goal is to help you visualize and simplify intricate tattoo designs through deliberate value assignment so that you don’t have areas competing for attention, similar to techniques used in traditional art forms. 

By limiting highlights and thoughtfully managing your darks and lights, you'll create more impactful, cohesive tattoos that clearly communicate your intention to the viewer.

This episode was made possible thanks to:

Interview by By Jake Meeks —

Writing By Daniel Pushcarich

Topics: value ranges, tattooing, complex designs, visual hierarchy, simplification, cohesion, highlights, shadows, focus, eagle wing, American flag, texture, depth, landscape painting, octopus, mermaid tattoo, skin tones, mid-tones, saturation, competition, strategic planning, focal areas, composition, darkening, base layer, learning

Navigating the Complex Canvas: Value Ranges in Tattooing

Mastering Visual Hierarchy in Tattoo Design

“In tattooing, grouping shapes and assigning value ranges can focus attention on desired elements.”

Understanding value ranges is like having a secret weapon in your artistic arsenal, transforming what could be a chaotic mess into a focused, powerful composition. These techniques, pulled straight from the masters of traditional art, are about manipulating light, shadow, and tone to create depth that'll make your tattoos pop from across the room.

Complexity in tattoo design isn't about throwing every detail you can imagine onto the design. It's about strategic placement and controlling visual competition. When tackling a design with multiple textures—like an eagle wing intertwined with an American flag, or a mermaid with an intricate scale pattern—you're constantly thinking about how to guide the viewer's eye and create a composition that reads clean and powerful.

The Art of Controlled Attention and Creating Clarity

“Assigning value ranges to particular areas helps to simplify the design and make it more cohesive.”

When you're dealing with complex designs that could easily become a visual mess, value ranges are your best friend. By limiting which elements compete for attention, you create a hierarchy that makes your tattoo read clean and powerful. This is how you handle intricate subjects without losing the plot.

“Just because you limited the value ranges and didn't use a lot of strong highlights doesn't mean that you can't put a lot of detail on these darker shadow shapes.”

Controlling your highlights isn't about holding back—it's about being intentional. 

Your highlights are like your primary actors on stage—they need to shine without drowning out the supporting cast. By reserving your brightest moments for key focal areas, you ensure that the viewer's eye goes exactly where you want. It's not about less detail; it's about smarter placement.

Practical Application Through Value Planning

“Just laying that base layer down has already assigned the lowest end of that value range for you.”

Photograph your work in progress, use a multiply layer in procreate or photoshop, and systematically adjust your darks and lights. Your base layer isn't just a starting point—it's setting the entire tone for what's to come. Get this right, and you'll create tattoos that are cohesive, powerful, and impossible to ignore.

This episode was made possible thanks to:

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The Fireside Tattoo Network is home to the Fireside podcast, Fireside Technique video series and our Fireside Weekly blog.

The Fireside Tattoo podcast is hosted by veteran tattooer Jake Meeks, check out our episodes where we discuss, argue and wax philosophical, from tips for all levels of artists to trends in the tattoo world. Many guest artists have sat down for interviews and in-depth conversations and many more are planned…check back often!

Our Fireside Tattoo Overview video series offers informative, short, and detailed videos geared towards helping artists understand the science and nuances of tattoos and make more informed decisions to improve their work. We often take some of our more technical topics from our Fireside podcast and film an in-depth, narrated, time-lapse video showing exactly how Jake or our featured artists handle certain issues.

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