Hi everyone! I’m here looking for help and guidance

[Infamous]

Hi everybody, I’m new to tattooing but I am a skilled artist with a pencil. I decided to buy some equipment sometime after I got my first tattoo and had my second quoted, as well as one my wife is wanting. I thought about for a while and decided that I could do it just as well as the guy who gave me a tattoo. (He wasn’t a professional either btw, clean but not in a shop, and I drew my tattoo and the one my wife was and still is planning on getting anyway) Since then I have been making sure to draw something, anything, every single time I have time to spare. I even took up watercolor since I read somewhere that it was the closest form of art to actual tattooing.

I ordered my equipment online and it came piece by piece, I made sure to get the last piece, the actual machine, from quite a ways off since I wanted to hone my drawing skills and make sure this is what I wanted to do. (I thought, hey, if I decide against this I can just sell all this stuff on craigslist, might even make a profit) I got everything about a month later and have been tattooing ever since. Not on skin of course! But, oranges, I’ve read through quite a bit of sources and decided I should get some honey dew melons to tattoo next, but for now a bag of oranges is quite a bit cheaper and will do just fine.

An apprenticeship, although I would like to have one, is out of the question for me since I work a full-time job and have a family to support. I can’t spare any funds, or time for one. So I am wanting to soak up as much information as possible from everyone here.

I don’t know what to ask of all of you, but if you have any pointers I’d like to hear them!

I know to stay clean, use nothing but pre-packaged disposable sterile needles and tubes, and that sort of thing. Its the nitty gritty details I’d like to hear, like how deep to set a needle, how to properly tune a machine, best practices, what not to say to sound like a complete idiot. That sort of thing.

Thanks in advance!

[Lennart82]

Welcome to the forum.
But advice? You have to be more specific in what area you need advice :D I could go rambling on and on about stencils, and you want to learn about shading techniques ;)

But still welcome to the best tattoo forum on the net :D

[Infamous]

Excellent points! Feel free to ramble! I need to learn about everything! lol, although I’m pretty sure I know how to apply a stencil.

Here’s a question about stencils, do you know of any types of paper that works in a computer printer? Where you can skip the tracing bit and just go straight from the printer to skin? I went to school for Graphic Design so it would be pretty helpful

And one for shading, I’ve only used 1rl needles so far on my oranges, what types of needles would you recommend for different aspects of the tattoo process? Like shading, for example.

And as for the type of soap used, I’ve made something out of an antibacterial hand soap, about one part, and mixed it with about 9 parts of antiseptic mouthwash. Both generic cvs brands. Should I also add vegetable oil, or would that counteract the whole sanitary process?

I have so many questions, I guess I would just ask of everyone what you would say the most important thing to do is, besides staying at an ocd level of cleanliness?

[Ramenuzumaki]

Welcome!

[Lennart82]

It takes a great deal of practise applying a stencil ;)

About the computer/printer thing? when you find it, be sure to let me know :D Cause that would be awesome.

Shading with a 1RL needle???? Must have taken for ever, and hope that it wasn’t on anything living.
RL means Round Liner, and are for lining work. And the number, indicates how many needles are in it. (I use a 1RL for very, very fine lines) You need to get hold of a 3RS or 5RS. RS means Round Shader. (and 3 needle group is the minimum for use in a shader) The difference between a RL and a RS are;
The liner is basically a group of needles that are set in a point, this is for making straight line work.
The shader is a group of needles that are spread lightly apart, and is for putting in colour/shading, as the area of contact is a bit larger.
Think of them as; RL (ballpoint pen) and RS (round paintbrush)
For shading, I personally use Curved Magnums and if its a smaller piece I sometimes use a Round shader. But its a personal preference, on what works for you. All I know is, that your shading with a 1RL, is not going to look good (unless you have a ton of patience, and I mean redwood tree patience, it “could” look nice then)
To do a decent shade work, it takes practise. To find that golden line for the correct gradient from dark to light is not a thing you just do on your first week.

Soap? Don’t know what your making. I use medical soap.

The most important thing at your level, regardless of your skill as an artist on paper, is; Do NOT tattoo anything living before you have had hours and hours and hours of training. And once you feel comfortable, the first and second person you do a tattoo on, is your self. This is not to sound like a jerk or anything, its just common sense, not to mess up other people. A good technical tattoo will not get noticed, a bad tattoo with scabs, scartissue, messy linework, not solid color, to deep lines, to light lines will be talked about for generations.
And that’s the death for the tattooist. Each piece should have your dedication 100 percent, and you should put as much into it as humanly possible. And thats a level you only can achieve by alot of practise. :ugeek:

If you have any further questions (and I suspect you do) find the right forum thread and post it. :)
Just so the introduction area isn’t spammed with usefull information. ;)

[Infamous]

That was an extremely helpful post! I’ll continue this down in the questions section and I’ll post some of my work that I’ve done with strictly the 1rl in the show your work section as well. Not too bad, but it is pretty dark. I’ve only been using Black Onyx by Millennium MOMs btw trying to keep it simple.

Thanks to everyone for the welcome and the useful tidbits, some of which I haven’t been able to find anywhere on the web thus far

[Author]

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