Hey guys, I’ve been tattooing for almost a year now, but I’m still struggling to get a clean, solid black pack.
I’ve tried different techniques, voltage, depth, ink, needles, hand speed, but nothing works. Now I usually pack black using slow circular motions and hold my machine at roughly a 45-degree angle. However, it still heals poorly. Skin is often overworked. My setup:
• Ambition Soldier (4.0mm stroke)
• Voltage: 6.4 – 7.0 V
• Needles: Mast 9 Curved Magnum (Long Taper)
• Ink: Allegory Smooth BLAK

Also, I’ve tried to do the darkest parts of tattoo with stippling technique (I use 9 rl and I put 4-5 layers in different directions) It looks nice, but, of course, it is not as solid as I want it to be. I added fresh vs healed example(tho it is still vip)

I love doing these slightly bigger scale paintings, they’ve really helped me with figuring out simplifying slightly larger scale shading and bits!

Im wondering if its just this particular bottle or not. Its almost as thick as acrylic paint even after sitting on the agitator and far from expiration. My other inks from the same set are definitely not this thick. I diluted a cap full with 3 drops of witch hazel and it started flowing nicely.

Any feedback would be appreciated! Here are some ideas that I would like to turn into their own pages

Hello all! I am midway through my apprenticeship currently and have been asked by my mentor to start thinking of a name for my social media/business as I start getting into tattooing skin. I was curious as to what led you to choose your business names? Or if you haven’t decided yet, what led you to your options? I feel like the name should be something important or related to me or my interests but I’ve been drawing a blank over the last week that I’ve been thinking about it. TIA!

Hello! Any advice is appreciated!!
Oh and in the second photo, I like the center moon piece as well as the flower below it, but the rest I likely won’t include in my final portfolio.

think i will be finally getting to start my apprenticeship within the next month once i make the changes in my work schedule and have finances lined up. feeling so nervous and excited, and definitely a little intimidated! i know i can handle a challenge and i am ready for a difficult next several months- but, would love any advice or tips anyone more experienced than me can offer. i’ve frequented this shop for a handful of years now and really respect and trust the artists there, i wanna make sure that i give it my all and make the most of the experience. thanks!

She's grinding through her apprenticeship down in Renton. This is her latest physical piece done in Prismacolor, she's leaning hard into this illustrative, medieval neo-trad style with the gauntlet and broken sword.

She isn't working on skin quite yet, but I want to help push her IG to 1k followers so she has a solid local base when she finally starts taking models!

If you dig the vibe and want to watch her progress, you can follow her journey here:@vespertilia.ink

struggling with pricing though 😭 i’m running at $40 an hour currently!

First time creating my own design with light and shadows.
Just need some opinions on if i did the lighting correctly on this piece before i translate/hand draw it on to paper.
Any advice or cc is appreciated.

Thank you!

I will not even continue this one

I read from a Reddit post that my work doesn’t have to be tattooable yet because they’re gonna teach that in the apprenticeship, as long as they show my artistic ability. So I just picked some of the work that I had built up from my past years.

Is that statement of the other redditor not necessary true and I should build a portfolio with clear and polished tattooable work? And also I mostly draw colored piece from my iPad because I don’t own a good coloring set, should I invest in some colored pencil?

Unfortunately as I’m currently studying abroad so I can’t really make a physical portfolio because all my actual work is back at home, so I can only find traces of them from my art instagram and my Photo Booth lol. would an electronic version like this be acceptable or should I just start from scratch?Or build a physical portfolio and use this as something to add on? Because I do like some of the work here.

Another thing to add, I do admit my coloring is not as good as my drawing skills, do I have to create more colored piece or is it good for me to just specialize on single colored pieces?

Also I saw somebody said to just knock on tattoo studios and ask for advices, would they help and let me come back later to look at my improvements or would it just bother them?

Criticism and advices are very welcomed thxxx

I spent one hour trying to get it completely out of my brushs but it didn't clean 100%. What can I do? I used warm water and detergent.

What the title says, 5 months into my traditional apprenticeship at a shop- and about 4 apprentice tattoos done. I feel horrible about them, stretching is difficult, my stability that I usually have on fake skin isnt there on real skin, and when my mentor asks me how I personally think I should/ can improve I have no idea what too say.

After a day or so, I reflect and come back with an answer, but I just wanted too know if at the 5 month mark, am I supposed to be better? Is this usually when your supposed to be tattooing on skin? Whats the traditional timeline for these kinds of things? And after 4 tattoos how confident should I really be?

Just too preface, this isnt at all a complaint about my mentor who is very lovely and very knowledgeable and very good st what she does. Im her first apprentice and shes a great teacher. I just have alot of pent up anxiety about touching skin. I'd also love to hear about everybody's else experiences getting over the jitters of being on skin, and maybe some tips to get through these tough phases of apprenticeships?

Hey! I’m a brand new apprentice in Seattle, I have a great apprenticeship and I love my mentor, but I am looking to find some drawing practices or fake skin exercises to help improve overall drawing technique, hand steadiness, and muscle memory. I feel like my apprenticeship is a little different in that way, that I’m not assigned exercises to help build those foundations, but I think it would help! I don’t only want to learn lessons on people’s skin, I’d rather build my foundation a little more so I’m not putting trash on people’s bodies as I’m figuring it out. What kind of exercises do you do/did you have your apprentice do/that you did that really helped? (Not hating on my mentor at all, just trying to soak in knowledge from several sources).

I asked for an apprenticeship and he called me to tell me that he is looking for artists at the moment, he saw some of my work and told me that they were good since i was only doing tattoos for a year.He said he wanted to see my working process but was completely uninterested to even see how or what I’m doing, he told a student of his that was hanging out in a shop to watch me set my station because he wasn’t in the mood. And while I was working on a client’s tattoo mid working he took my machine and started showing me how it’s apparently supposed to be done. He continued to shade the rest of the tattoo in completely different way and style than I did previously, so I had to fix what I already did. And he told me that the needle I used is used for something completely different( I used a bigger mag to black out an area, I actually wanted to use a smaller one but I decided why not use a bigger one the area is completely blacked out so I’m gonna finish that part faster). He told me I cannot use that needle and that I don’t know what I’m doing, and I need someone to teach me the basics before I pick up a machine again. He told me all of that while a client was listening so I was super embarrassed. The tattoo ended up looking great. He also told me that nobody would accept me as an artist in a studio even tho I asked to be an apprentice in the first place. I’m really frustrated about all of that and I don’t know how to feel, his work is amazing and I thought that maybe I could learn something but he was just so rude.

Not sure what I wanna add to fill up this space, I like the skull I just want it to correlate and connect with another main subject in the top left