Troub1edSou1z

nevermind. i was thinking of a different thread.

try using distilled water to thin your inks, it’s cheaper and doesnt have the unwanted sting of alcohol. mags can do some nasty damage if your not careful. i’ve never outlined with them, but i’ve tightened up lines, and tilted them to get into tight corners, you just have to pay attention to what…[Read more]

can someone explain why there are post missing out of this thread?

grapefruits, oranges, honeydew, or if you have a local butcher you can find out about getting pigskin. its alot better than the fake stuff, and will react more like real skin. i would suggest whatever you use wrap it around something so it has curve to it, so you get the hang of being able to work on real skin. (theres no flat areas on a human).…[Read more]

i know your going to want to go at it right away. your best bet is to read the sterilization threads on cross contamination, and try to get your self into a habit of proper set up, and breakdown, and in between. do this regardless of whether your tattooing practice skins, fruits or real skin. cleanliness is the most important part of tattooing.

kuro sumi is great for tribal or shadowing. it is blacker than black and stays black. i have some work i’ve done over a year ago and it looks almost a dark as the day it was done. i dont care for it when doing black and grey though. it just seems to dark for what i like…my opinion of course.

thats great advice. remember to take your time, and pay attention to detail. maybe do a few sketches of it as if you were tattooing it. this usually helps because you tend to figure out the approach your going to take. when you are happy with the the way the drawing turned out use it as a visual and try to replicate it on the skin.

welcome….
you designs dont look horrible, but yes your shading should improve. your drawings are sort of lifeless without dimension. it takes practice, but isnt hard to master. when refering to your tools, please dont call them “guns”, this is a no-no in the tattooing industry. they do not project bullets. they are “machines”. the machines you…[Read more]

really the only thing you can do is face to face contact. you have to respect his decision either way though. unless he becomes an ass about. good luck.

hi, and welcome.
there is alot more to it than “How fast, or hard” the machine runs. every component on the machine has to work in unison for the machine to perform properly. here is a few things that will hopefully help:

– stroke is how far your needles go up and down from there highest point to the lowest point
– point gap is the distance…[Read more]

very nice..cant wait to see it complete.

essentially yes, parts are interchangable, but you need to take measurements to make sure your getting the right parts. ie: if you buy a mini frame then standard 1 1/4″ cores are to big. if you buy a standard frame 1″ cores are to short and require a yoke. you can pretty much make anything work, but if has to work correctly. as long as you tune it…[Read more]

you can definitely get a cheap frame to run nice and smooth with the right parts and tuneing. do you really want to do this though? i mean you can buy a descent frame without breaking the bank. think of it this way, would you put Kia parts in a Cadillac? try searching rusty relics frames. you can probably pick up just a frame for about $75…and…[Read more]

welcome aboard.

great work bro…welcome to the forum.

portrait tattooing is a different realm than portrait drawing. i myself have wanted to jump into it, but kind of scared. i think and know i can do it, but something keeps holding me back.

welcome

this sounds like a classic newbie mistake. 1st thing is to make sure you shake the shit out the ink to mix it. if not your lines wont show, or they will be broken. you also need to get a good stretch, or you run into the same problem. it could be a number of different things. machine is out of tune. crap ink. i would say the most important thing…[Read more]

i wouldnt say there is one brand specifically better than another. now there are brands that are just horrible, but out of the wide variety of colors available there are certain brand colors that are more vibrant, or more smooth to work with. it’s all about your personal preferences. i have some millenium colors that i like more than starbrite,…[Read more]

nice stuff there man…you have great potential

have them put their arm over their head to help stretch