So I just started tattooing and I love it! It’s super exciting to try a totally different medium than I’m used to. I’m looking for any and all advice! I’m currently using a dragonhawk cartridge pen machine. I think they turned out pretty good considering I had no clue what I was doing! After reading the manual on here i think it will be a little easier next time. The first shark was done last night. The bird and second shark was done today.
I know what you mean about trying a new medium. There’s something really satisfying about the tattoo process isn’t there!
I’m pretty new to tattooing as well but from what I’ve learned so far I’d say take a bit more time and care of your line work. Set your power to 8 volts then experiment either side of this to see what feels best for your hand speed. Rest your middle finger on the surface to help control depth. When running longer lines don’t have any weight on your elbow and move your whole arm. I’ve found that I can plant my elbow when doing short lines or curves though. Also adjust the throw of the needle and see what gives you best results. It looks like your lines are skipping a bit in places. Do you hold the pen upright? My understanding is that it should be held at an angle (watch YouTube videos of good artists to see this).
For packing colour you can use a magnum to do most of the work then go back in afterwards with a liner to take it tight to the lines.
Like I say, I’m also a novice but these are things I’ve picked up so far. Let us know how you progress!
Definitely need to work on my line work! I feel like I’m struggling the most trying to find the right speed/voltage combo. When I have it on 8 I can feel it skipping around cause I’m slower at my lines. I think my sweet spot is around 7 from what I was playing around with last night.
Thank you for the tip with color! I was using a 7 mag and it felt good to use but getting close to my lines was hard. I feel like I’m going to have to practice a lot before I’m any good but I’m excited for the challenge!
try Wrapping the practice skin around something to give it more of a curved surface too
