Newbie confessions

I will attest that I didn’t do a proper tattoo until I apprenticed. I
struggled to get ink to stay in, I hurt people, I damaged skin, and
I used unsafe and stupid techniques. Tattoo is something that
you just can’t learn in one day from reading a book or watching
a DVD. It takes time and patience and you have to be able
to have that feedback with a professional. If your machine is
not doing quite what it is supposed to, you can’t always get the
answer from a book. You need to be patient and have some respect
for the practice of tattooing, the rest will fall into place for
you over time. If you insist on tattooing your underage buddies
in Mom’s garage, then at the very least you have to know some
basic stuff about sterilization and risks involved.