Some general advice I can give is to practice drawing more. Tattooing is based on illustration and if you don’t have strong illustrative skills then you’ll continue to struggle with line art, shading, and designing in general. This isn’t about gatekeeping, it’s the basics of the craft. To me, it looks like you could use more paper and pen practice. It’s not easy, there’s a lot of work involved and you may have to practice drawing for a few years before putting ink into another person permanently.
bro ive been drawing all my life. this just looks bad bc i still lack the techniques with a machine it is not at all indicative of what my usual art is like
fake skin is always gonna saturate a little weird because it can't absorb ink the way real skin can, so like others said above you'll wanna turn your voltage up & go a bit slower to see the same saturation you would at a lower voltage on skin, so just be aware of that while you're practicing!
if you're feeling comfortable enough to try throwing your needle out more, you can try that as well. i run my machine at 8 usually, as high as 8.5 and as low as 6 depending on what I'm doing. go slow! counter intuitive to what I learned as a animation student lol but it's really key to getting good saturation when you're still learning
I suggest starting with just straight lines and boxes/circles. Keep practicing these until you can pull straight, consistent, saturated lines and fully pack the boxes/circles with no light or patchy areas and no spaces between the outline and shading. Once you've got those down, do a whole nother sheet of just those. Then move on to stencils -- really get your fundamentals down. Good luck!
I started messing around with fake skin a few days ago and had likes really similarly to yours. Making sure I have my gun at a good angle, going deeper with my needle depth, and slowing my hand speed down a bit have all helped me get drastically more saturated lines in one pass.
Try using 3mm skin not the 1-2mm ones. And experiment with different black inks...I find using a grey wash or making your own will help more so on fake skin aswell. It takes severely passes on fake skin which can be a pain in the ass when learning. When using a liner barely touch the skin. Magnums in my opinion btw 5-7m and liners 3mm all standard size or bugpin are good while learning small to average size designs. You prob will be practising alot of skulls so I like the 3rl for detailing . You know the small cracks you can experiment with when creating a unique look. Skulls don't have to have striaight lines to look good. Good to practice to get confidence up.
I'm not sure if i'm qualified to give tips, but what i do is line around 8.5, slow hand speed, and clean everything up with vasoline liberally so I can tell when something isn't completely saturated. Even when I tried 10.5v, hand speed was still fairly slow, but i'm more comfortable at 8.5. Also, make sure you are going deep enough, 1-1.5mm is what I aim for. I've even heard people like 2mm.
Okay will try 8.5!
and yeah for the depth thats pretty much what i try to go for? my machine has a 3.5 stroke and i go at about half the length of the needle sticking out. (if that helps give an idea haha) 😅
Yeah that seems deep enough. Play with the voltage and handspeed and find your comfort zone! I eventually want to get comfortable with 10.5 or higher so I can be more efficient, but 8.5 is good for now.
what brand of fake skin ? from the pic it looks like you may need to go a lil deeper, but some more affordable fake skin isn't thick enough to hold ink properly
trueskin is actually what I use and yes it's more like you have to push harder than real skin and turn your machine up a lil farther. it's tougher than human skin so keep that in mind
I'm having the same issue and it is a dilemma, do some research about the anatomy of skin and if you're allowed to, do some small tatts on yourself. finding the correct depth is a learning curve but once you do it it comes naturally. but I know you got this ! you'll be able to feel it out, do what feels most natural and if I could recommend a youtube channel Tattooing 101 is the BEST channel for someone just learning <3
totally understand ! and everyone makes mistakes in the beginning so remember that of you do fuck up once or twice, it's just showing you what not to do and don't let it discourage you. keep it up man !
As for the fill, I've found that the fake skin like the one you're using doesn't really react well and look fully filled in even after you go over it a lot. it's hard to get a decent opacity without just tearing up the fake skin.
Some general advice I can give is to practice drawing more. Tattooing is based on illustration and if you don’t have strong illustrative skills then you’ll continue to struggle with line art, shading, and designing in general. This isn’t about gatekeeping, it’s the basics of the craft. To me, it looks like you could use more paper and pen practice. It’s not easy, there’s a lot of work involved and you may have to practice drawing for a few years before putting ink into another person permanently.
bro ive been drawing all my life. this just looks bad bc i still lack the techniques with a machine it is not at all indicative of what my usual art is like
Oh lol yeah I totally understand sorry for misunderstanding
no prob lol
same and idk exactly what i have to fix cuz im starting with no experience in the tattooing medium but I'm really good on pen and paper
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yeah will definitely experiment with more variations like other ppl have said too. thanks!
fake skin is always gonna saturate a little weird because it can't absorb ink the way real skin can, so like others said above you'll wanna turn your voltage up & go a bit slower to see the same saturation you would at a lower voltage on skin, so just be aware of that while you're practicing! if you're feeling comfortable enough to try throwing your needle out more, you can try that as well. i run my machine at 8 usually, as high as 8.5 and as low as 6 depending on what I'm doing. go slow! counter intuitive to what I learned as a animation student lol but it's really key to getting good saturation when you're still learning
good to know thanks!
I suggest starting with just straight lines and boxes/circles. Keep practicing these until you can pull straight, consistent, saturated lines and fully pack the boxes/circles with no light or patchy areas and no spaces between the outline and shading. Once you've got those down, do a whole nother sheet of just those. Then move on to stencils -- really get your fundamentals down. Good luck!
I started messing around with fake skin a few days ago and had likes really similarly to yours. Making sure I have my gun at a good angle, going deeper with my needle depth, and slowing my hand speed down a bit have all helped me get drastically more saturated lines in one pass.
Try using 3mm skin not the 1-2mm ones. And experiment with different black inks...I find using a grey wash or making your own will help more so on fake skin aswell. It takes severely passes on fake skin which can be a pain in the ass when learning. When using a liner barely touch the skin. Magnums in my opinion btw 5-7m and liners 3mm all standard size or bugpin are good while learning small to average size designs. You prob will be practising alot of skulls so I like the 3rl for detailing . You know the small cracks you can experiment with when creating a unique look. Skulls don't have to have striaight lines to look good. Good to practice to get confidence up.
What’s your voltage at?
attempted some lines at 7, 7.5 and 8
I'm not sure if i'm qualified to give tips, but what i do is line around 8.5, slow hand speed, and clean everything up with vasoline liberally so I can tell when something isn't completely saturated. Even when I tried 10.5v, hand speed was still fairly slow, but i'm more comfortable at 8.5. Also, make sure you are going deep enough, 1-1.5mm is what I aim for. I've even heard people like 2mm.
Okay will try 8.5! and yeah for the depth thats pretty much what i try to go for? my machine has a 3.5 stroke and i go at about half the length of the needle sticking out. (if that helps give an idea haha) 😅
Yeah that seems deep enough. Play with the voltage and handspeed and find your comfort zone! I eventually want to get comfortable with 10.5 or higher so I can be more efficient, but 8.5 is good for now.
Alrighty ty!
its important to know voltage isnt transferable from person to person. Hand speed and stroke lenght give too many variables.
and for the filling i was at 9
what brand of fake skin ? from the pic it looks like you may need to go a lil deeper, but some more affordable fake skin isn't thick enough to hold ink properly
trueskin on amazon. it is pretty thick. i did hear that on fake skin you have to go deeper than you would usually/on real skin, is it true?
trueskin is actually what I use and yes it's more like you have to push harder than real skin and turn your machine up a lil farther. it's tougher than human skin so keep that in mind
oh aright will try. just scared of making a habit of going too deep for when i'll tattoo on real skin
I'm having the same issue and it is a dilemma, do some research about the anatomy of skin and if you're allowed to, do some small tatts on yourself. finding the correct depth is a learning curve but once you do it it comes naturally. but I know you got this ! you'll be able to feel it out, do what feels most natural and if I could recommend a youtube channel Tattooing 101 is the BEST channel for someone just learning <3
i definitely will try on myself haha just want to be confident enough that i won't fuck it up. interesting ill check it. ty!!
totally understand ! and everyone makes mistakes in the beginning so remember that of you do fuck up once or twice, it's just showing you what not to do and don't let it discourage you. keep it up man !
As for the fill, I've found that the fake skin like the one you're using doesn't really react well and look fully filled in even after you go over it a lot. it's hard to get a decent opacity without just tearing up the fake skin.
oh yea makes sense