Tarantula

It was all done with a 7 liner I just built up the line around the skull

Is he asking you to make the dunce hat and THEN draw the disney figures on it? If so that’s an awesome idea, you get to learn to draw on a curved surface that varies in size. Being able to draw on a flat surface is one thing, drawing on a curved surface is something else.

As far as the rest of the stuff he’s asking you to do: Are you paying for…[Read more]

A few things that you can check: Are you stretching the skin enough? When you have a good stretch on you can feel the needles woring with your stretching hand. Angle of the machine, a 45 degree angle works better than an straight up and down. A slight film of vaseline on the area you’re working on helps the ink to pool and therefore more pigment…[Read more]

I’m tempted to do it all in greywash with just the cherry blossom in color to make them pop right out.

Viper is right, tattoo’s are pretty addictive, you dont see many people with just one… once you get your small tattoo you will wish you’d had your original idea, but now you’ll have some tiny red devil right in the middle of where you wanted the dragon. Dragons dont have to be aggressive:

“In contrast to European dragons, which are considered…[Read more]

I have one and I like it a lot. It has a nice “tap on, tap off” feature for the foot switch so it makes those times when you have to stand up and tattoo much easier. It comes with magnetic or sucker cup feet (interchangeable) so it won’t fall over, or it can be screwd to the wall. You can programme up to 4 (or 6 can’t remember :P) machines which…[Read more]

If you’re concerned about what people will think of you with your tattoo DON’T GET ONE! it’s that simple!

Shading on the cross looks great!

As for tattoos other ppl have drawn… I have some tats that my kids (10 &11yrs old) drew for me, and I wanted them to be exactly the way they drew them. Ok they were only a small cherry blossom each but it will be nice to have their art on me rather than in a box in the attic in 10 yrs time :)
Some ppl really…[Read more]

Did you use 3 seperate stencils? The spaces look uneven and the whole thing doesn’t look centered correctly, this might be due to the spacing though.

The actual lettering looks good though, a 7RL is good for that size imo.

It’s very rare that you will pick up a new machine and feel immediately comfortable with it. Have you tried taking one of your old machines to pieces and getting it tuned back just the way you like it? I bet if you did this a few times you would find retuning your new machines a lot less daunting.

Ah cool,thanks Tex

I have to disagree with Kitchen wizard on the practice skin front, yes they are horrible and nothing like the real thing, although you can drape it over your thigh to get some shape to it,

BUT if you get the thin ones they are about the right thickness for you to learn how deep to go, if you start tattooing the table underneath or it comes…[Read more]

I keep my pigskins in the freezer, just give them a rinse in hot water when youre ready to use em.

I used to have the same problem with plastic skins, make sure you give your lines a little rub of vaseline before inking it, wipe gently or dab the excess ink off – this will stop you smearing ink all over your design. when you finish working on outline give the skin a good rubdown with vaseline (green soap and water doesnt work). If you wear…[Read more]