Black and Grey Tattoo Guide: Designs, Size, Scars

Hi, I'm Yeonjae, a tattoo artist in Hongdae, Seoul.

Short answer: a black and grey tattoo uses black ink only and creates light and dark steps by changing how dense the ink is. There is no colour, so it is also called a black-and-white tattoo or a shading tattoo. It suits designs where light, texture and depth matter, such as layered petals, animal fur and landscapes. Photo 1 shows what that means. Three flowers that look like roses and their leaves are outlined in dark lines, and the inside is filled with lighter and darker greys, so the petals look rounded and overlapped even though everything is the same black. This photo has no caption, so it is simply another piece in the same style, and I will only describe what is visible.

Everything in this guide comes from the photos and the English captions on the Yeonjae Tattoo Instagram account. The sections go through which designs suit the style, how size and placement are considered, how existing tattoos and scars fit in, and how it compares with line-only and colour work.

Going by the photos, the designs that suit it fall into three groups.

• Flowers and plants: dark areas follow the layers of petals and leaves and the direction of the stem (photos 1 and 2).
• Animals: fur, eyes and expression look three-dimensional (photos 3, 4 and 5).
• Scenes with a background: mountains, forest and water get depth from the gap between near and far tones (photos 3 and 4).

You can see more of this style in the black and grey work gallery.

Photo 2 comes with a caption. It says blooming moon flowers under soft moonlight were captured in the design, that the flowing petals along the crescent moon and the delicate black and grey shading create a calm and mysterious mood, and that the design was carefully placed to naturally avoid the scar line, giving a harmonious and soft composition overall.

Here is what the photo itself shows. On the outer upper arm, two flowers and a crescent moon sit together, with one more flower placed lower down. The moon has a mottled grey surface with darker patches, and the flower centres carry small star-like sparkles. The skin around the design has faint lines and spots, but I will not guess which mark the caption means by the scar line.

These are the general points to look at when a scar is nearby.

• Check where the mark runs and whether it can fall into the empty space between motifs. Splitting a design into two groups, as in photo 2, is one example.
• Compare covering the area with one large block against dividing it into several pieces, and see which suits that spot.
• Scars differ in texture and tone from person to person, so the skin has to be seen before a direction is chosen.

If you send a photo first, we can start with this part during the consultation.

Photos 3 and 4 show the same bear tattoo from two angles. The caption is titled "Bear & Landscape Tattoo" and says the client picked a bear, one of their favourite animals, and had it done on the upper arm. It was made as a larger statement piece with a simple composition, so that the bear and the surrounding landscape stand out naturally.

In the photos, the bear's open-mouthed face and claws take the centre of the arm. Behind it are mountain peaks and clouds, conifer forests on both sides, and a waterfall with rocks below. The fur is built from short strokes in one direction, the clouds and distant peaks stay a light grey, and the inside of the mouth and the forest shadows are pushed close to solid black. The wider the gap between the lightest and darkest areas, the more the piece reads as a scene rather than a flat picture. This one looks close to what people call black and grey realism.

Size comes into it here. A design with many details needs more surface. A wide upper arm, as in photos 3 and 4, can hold the face, claws and landscape together, while a smaller area means fewer motifs. The exact size is decided at the consultation, after looking at the design and the body part.

The caption for photo 5 says the client has been gradually filling an arm with animal tattoos and this time chose a deer and baby deer design. Deer held a very special meaning for them, and the caption says they wanted to keep that feeling in a tattoo. The placement and flow were designed to blend naturally with the existing tattoos while keeping the piece soft and gentle. The caption does not say what that meaning is, so I will not add to it.

Several animals appear on the arm in the photo. This piece is the doe and fawn lying together at the top, both with spotted coats. Below and beside them are other animal tattoos, including a fox, a panda, snakes and a fish. I cannot tell who made those from this photo, so I will not comment on them. The deer sits with clear empty skin around it instead of touching its neighbours.

When a new design goes next to existing ones, the work is mostly about spacing, direction and tone: how much empty skin to leave, whether the flow of the shapes connects to what is nearby, and whether the darkest areas are close to the neighbouring tattoos.

The three approaches differ in how they build form. The table is a general comparison, not a ranking, and it makes no claims about how long each lasts or how it feels.

| | Line-only | Black and grey | Colour | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | How form is built | Thickness and spacing of lines | Steps of black ink density | Combinations and areas of colour | | What you notice first | Outline and flow of lines | Light, shadow and texture | Colour and mood | | Example designs | Simple flowers, lettering, small motifs | Layered petals, animal fur, landscapes, ornaments | Motifs where colour matters | | Decided at consultation | Line weight, empty space | Share of dark areas, where to keep it light | Colour range and combination | | Clue in these photos | The flower outlines in photo 1 | The bear and landscape in photos 3 and 4 | The blue-tinted feathers in photo 8 |

Photos 6 to 8 are other pieces without captions, so I will only describe what is visible. Photo 6 shows rose-like flowers, buds, a butterfly and leaves. The petals are light grey, the leaves and butterfly are dark black, and the leaf veins and wing stripes show as light lines, which keeps the shapes clear between the dark areas. Photo 7 shows two snakes intertwined inside an ornate oval frame. The frame and snakes have brownish tones, so it looks mostly black and grey with some warm colour mixed in, but I cannot tell from the photo which inks were used. Photo 8 shows a bird with wings spread, and its feathers carry a blue tint. The script and small drawings around the bird cannot be assumed to belong to this piece, so I am speaking only about the bird.

The choice can be summed up simply. If clean lines come first, go with line-only. If light, texture and depth come first, a black and grey tattoo fits. If colour itself matters, choose colour. When it is hard to pick one, mixing can be discussed while looking at the design.

Here is a checklist of things that help the consultation move quickly. You do not need all of them, so send whatever you have.

• [ ] A motif you like and reference images, ideally with the parts you like marked
• [ ] A photo of the body part where you want the tattoo
• [ ] A photo of any existing tattoo, and whether you want the new design to connect to it or stay apart
• [ ] A photo showing any scar or skin mark in that area
• [ ] Your taste for the dark areas, soft or strong
• [ ] Whether you want to mix in lines or colour

Once the direction of the design is set, size and placement are decided together on the spot. Price and working time depend on the design, size and body part, and are explained during the consultation.

Consultations take place through Instagram DM. Send your reference images and body-part photos through Instagram DM and we will work out the direction of the design together. The booking is confirmed after the consultation.

The studio is at 2F, G Studio, 136-11 Eoulmadang-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul (near Hongik Univ. Station Exit 8). If a Hongdae tattoo studio is new to you and you wonder about the location and atmosphere, the Hongdae tattoo guide is a good place to start. The link is in the questions below.

Yeonjae graduated from the China Academy of Art and, as of 2026, is in her eighth year as a female tattoo artist in Hongdae. This guide is based on the Instagram captions and photos, and reasons that are not in the captions are not written here.