So you think your beginning practice skin work was bad - Here's mine - Day one hour zero!

I'm posting these because i feel there may be other newbies (like me) feeling like their first practice work is no where as good as others first attempts and to let them know don't fall into the trap of comparing your work to others, it's okay your work is crap - it certainly feels like i'm learning to redraw all over again but this time using a tattoo machine and you know what I'm loving it and that's what matters and if you can get lots of support along the way (which i frequently see on here ) what a great place to be.

So it begins...Day one, hour zero - Bare in mind i never even knew this forum/website existed. My CNC - M - P5 arrived with its random needles. Cracked out the crapy ink from a tattoo machine that was bought for me many moons ago and got to work on those Amazon practice skins. (at this moment in time, i knew nothing about needles, practice skins, inks, technique not alot really ha-ha) all i knew was how to transfer an image from paper to skin using carbon paper and Dettol! I get this machine on and start playing. I used microsoft word document and printed the shapes from there onto paper then used the carbon paper method to transfer it.

Voila the images below...





Now that i've satisfied that urge, it was time to try and figure out what the hell i've just done, what the needles did and where to go from there etc. Que...YouTube learning. So after a few video tutorials i've reached the required level of Youtube education to go and further my skills i learnt in an hour or two. (Note: i didn't stumble onto Ben Fishers tutorial videos until later).

This was the master piece of a few hours of youtube learning later...



ha-ha check me out, i tattooed a ship on practice skin .

I used a 5RL i think. Later on i go over it and try to thicken up the lines with a 7RL. The colour was an attempt a couple of days later, i had a 7M waiting to get busted out and used and just wanted to have a play - again no idea what i'm doing, i'm having fun and just messing around.

By now this was starting to become fun - I like drawing manga/anime and have been watching a few tattoo artists doing that on Youtube - having had a go now using a tattoo machine - omg this is going to be long hard journey (but fun!) so in my wisdom i thought surely flash would be easy to do instead until i get my confidence up to start anime...Yup guessed that wrong too .

Next slide please...



Go big or Go home...ha-ha lets fill up that practice skin baby! So the ships bowsprit is ripped or looks mega thick, how? Well after i completed this i was curious how far can i push the needle through, only one way to find out. No point ever not knowing what would happen if ...so i just pushed heavy and tah-dah one blunted needle and a ripped practice skin oh well now i know.

By now i started doing more and more research. Came across Ben F's youtube series and thought ah yes how cool a starting point...eh, what! practice straight lines, draw more squares and circles man i'm not doing that i'll be fed up after one day but was hooked on these flash designs, they seemed to be quite common. After a bit more googling I accidentally land on a thread on this forum when i was googling Sailor Jerry and American traditional and i read someone had mentioned about American Traditional and how it could help with making lines, curves, shading more interesting. Right that's it i'm doing that (now lets face it, at some point we all have said nah I'm not doing that, that's boring i wanna do the fun stuff) - So "click click" Amazon prime my friend = Sailor Jerry books next day delivery.

Next slide please...



good old swallows and an anchor from his books. Now I'm really hooked and wanting to start learning more. Think i read at this point if you move up your liners the less wobbly your lines will look, so i was still using the 5RL but experimented with a 7RL to. I also read that lots of people said 7RL to 9RL where good starting points but i didn't have a 9RL. I started to think about getting a better cartridge to trial out and better inks as well as an easier way to transfer my stencils as the carbon ink was wiping of so easily. I made an order online for some Cheyenne Craft cartridges, Dynamic Ink, Stencil Stuff and Hectograph transfer paper (not an Amazon order this time but from an online tattoo shop)

Next slide please...



More bits from SJ's books. Originally i didn't use a 9RL as it says on the bottom of the skin. When my 9RL did arrive i had went over a few previous skins (and this one) just playing with it and beefing up lines as and where i wanted. Again i've still no idea what i'm doing, i'm just learning to use my machine and figure out how certain needles work, trying different grip methods, fluttering in and out of Ben F's tutorials and other Youtube tutorials fumbling my way through - who cares? When i added these colours at the same time i went back to other skins and made an attempt learning to pack colour in... again i watched a 10 minute Youtube video on packing in colour and thought can't be that hard - Yup another point for the dumbass here it's not working like it does on the videos??

Right time for something different, saw this free image and thought i'll give it a blast time to push yourself out of your comfort zone...next slide please





Yeah baby, a big skull and dagger ha-ha. The shading was an attempt at learning another shading technique using your liner ( i didn't know you could just use your liner to shade) so started turning the volts up and down on my machine to see what effects it would have and trying brushing techniques & whip shading - hell i still have no idea what i'm doing but it's great fun but i'm definitely starting to feel more comfortable getting to grips with my machine.

Then i stumble across this forum, "oh whats this "- now this looks good. Seen a post about practicing line work and shading with a panther (Thanks too Malin sharing that post) and armed with my new 9RL, Dynamic ink and stencil stuff its play time

next slide please...



Was having a practice running a few lines/swallows testing out the new ink and best voltage to use for the 9RL before starting this panthers head - exciting times. By now i've got an understanding of what and how you can use certain needles, how you should be drawing from your shoulder/elbow, (still can't do it very well but i'm finding my way of how to do it), how to shade and feeling warmed up - right lets get stencilling more bits - i can do this - confidence is growing like a phoenix being reborn from the ashes, today is a good day...

next slide please...



oh yeah feeling good using this 9RL ha-ha. Gaining more knowledge (knowledge is power ha-ha) beginning to realise take your time, lessen your death grip, relax, move the mat or move yourself who cares at this point that you can't push a straight line or shade, get onboard and enjoy the learning experience.

So i join this forum and finally pluck up the courage to introduce myself after reading and digesting all the threads and what people are bringing to the table. Like the McDonalds advert "I'm loving it", i'm hooked, the support coming from this forum helping people along the way is nothing but fab. I'm feeling dead proud of myself.

Next slide please...



BOSH!! check out the dragon.

I saw this in the back of my S.J book and i love dragons, how could i resist, but could i do this?? Looks kinda complicated?? But lots of people have said just break it down into bitesize chunks for a complicated piece.
This took me two passes, the first attempt i used a 3RL as i was worried all the stencil would rub of by the time i moved up it. By far it's far from good but i'm starting to find is it these cheap Amazon skins affecting my depth control and ink?

All the way through these practice skins as well i've practiced floating the tube and not riding the tube, i do prefer being able to see the end of the needle as i would be drawing. I'm starting to understand now how things all need to come together, hand speed, depth, technique etc.

Well i did it anyway, i had an attempt and push my boundaries, now time to think about getting more serious - so ordered some Reelskin and will go back to some of the drawings i first did when i first started and will do a comparison for those who are thinking should i purchase Reelskin or Amazon basic skins (I've got nothing against the amazon skins, i'm quite happy to use them all up to practice on but i think if i want to improve my technique i need to bite the bullet and by some decent skin)

So my final my piece. Saw this and wanted to have a bit of fun but keep it simpler. I'm just concentrating on lines for a while now.



I'm having fun, I'm enjoying the process and learning from others on this forum. I've no plans to open up a tattoo business end of the year , nor do i have plans to tattoo friends or family in the next few months. I want to get to the point of plucking up the courage and smashing that first stencil on my thigh and tattooing a semi decent first attempt on human flesh then posting it up on here on "i'll show you mine if you show me yours" thread

I know what mistakes i've made along the way, yup i need to go back to basics and learn to draw just lines, shapes, learn shading techniques and knuckle down on discipline but at the end of the day I'm only human and that's the way i learn - I'm having fun and i wanted to share this with others who may be hesitant about showing their first bits of work - i say "don't be, get out out there" we all had to start some where, let your first practice skins be reminders of how far you have come and how those on here helped sculpt you as a tattoo artist along your journey from the criticism for your skins .

Hope it's made a few people cringe, laugh immensely at my feeble attempts or encourage others to comment and get more involved. Look forward to hear your thoughts peeps - rip it apart lets all have a good laugh and help get me to my end goal.

Cheers everyone

not bad.

i don't use practice skin. one thing I see said so i repeat is that you need to move slower on practice skin. so if your machine were running faster or you were to slow down your hand speed, you would see more saturation & less "dots". especially in the lines.

with the vids you've been watching & the reading you've done here, you probably have a lot of knowledge. It's just putting the time in now. analyzing each stroke. look for posts by "TexasPT" - he has really good tips & drills on lining.

Be methodical in your practice.

I think your method is pretty good. line with something smaller. line again. analyze. come back & work on it some more. etc...

I'm purposefully not giving a lot of critique or advice because your doing it (& as i said in another post, i'm not really at a mentor level myself). I will say there are good things going on there & I will suggest stick to lining & solid color/black fills for a while. not so much shading.

What a lecture.. give me a moment :d

I didn’t read your post ,far too long ,but everyone’s first attempts looked very similar to yours , so keep at it ,get some Reelskin.com and practice as often as you can ?

Dazza said:

I didn’t read your post ,far too long ,but everyone’s first attempts looked very similar to yours , so keep at it ,get some Reelskin.com and practice as often as you can ?

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Yeah fair one Dazza. It is long winded - in short i put it out there to share my experience to date to any new comers or those silent members and i appreciate you girls n guys have all been there once too. Promise to keep the next updates short n sweet

Reelskin arrived...gonna be busy this weekend

Yeah that was long ? I skimmed trough it and it seems you're having fun ??? I agree with Daryl, looks like what you can expect when being new at it ??

Even if you're keeping it shorter in later postings, don't forget to add: machine, needles, ink, time, issues. And GOOD photos where we can see your technique.

?

im feeling that you enjoying the process of practice in case anyone waited for long reply sorry my practice chinese skins were not far from what you producing so far so keep it going and you will get there. Anticipate your reelskin works

As promised my Reelskin works...

OMG what a difference using Reelskin makes. For those that need reassurance when thinking to buy some Reelskin - it's worth it!

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2V
Ink used: Dynamic Ink
Needles used: Rhien 1205RL (used this for the first outlining) then used - Cheyenne 10009L (used this to beef up the lines)
Time taken: 1 hour
Issues: Ride the tube or Float the tube? Decided to ride the tube with roughly just a 1mm sticking out, took my time and enjoyed the process.
Advantages Reelskin: Easy to clean, much easier to work with
Disadvantages Reelskin: Cost for the 13cm x 13cm size squares.

Top left picture: First outline & riding the Tube method
Top Right picture: Comparison picture to my first ever attempt using Amazon basic cheap skin
Bottom Left picture: Lines beefed up with 9RL and floating the tube method and an attempt at shading a cloud



Took the advice and slowed down my hand, took deep breaths when starting my lines and exhaled slowly. Still lots of work with my hand movement required though - overall absolutely loved doing this on Reelskin for my first attempt.

Feel free to critique

Day 2

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2V
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Black) & Fusion ink (Colours)
Needles used: Rhien 1205RL (used this for the first outlining) then used - Cheyenne 10009L (used this to beef up the lines)
Time taken: 2 hours
Issues: Ride the tube or Float the tube? Decided to ride the tube again, with roughly just a 1mm sticking out, took my time and enjoyed the process as per usual

Top left picture: Beginning of the first outlining & riding the tube method plus stencil
Top Middle picture: First outline completed
Top Right picture: Comparison picture to my first ever attempt using Amazon basic cheap skin
Bottom Left picture: Lines beefed up with 9RL and floating the tube method and an attempt at shading
Bottom Right picture: So happy at this point couldn't resist it but busted out the colours and attempted colouring in.



Had a blast! Still lots to learn but the process of using Reelskin has certainly boosted my confidence. Will continue with just getting my outlining down with hand movement/speed.

Feel free to critique - and again thanks again to everyone as i have been taking your advice from all over the forum to others (as well as the advice to me you have offered) and trying to apply to my practice - you lot are great

catch ya next weekend with more comparison pictures of my previous work.

SideslipMick said:

Day 2

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2V
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Black) & Fusion ink (Colours)
Needles used: Rhien 1205RL (used this for the first outlining) then used - Cheyenne 10009L (used this to beef up the lines)
Time taken: 2 hours
Issues: Ride the tube or Float the tube? Decided to ride the tube again, with roughly just a 1mm sticking out, took my time and enjoyed the process as per usual

Top left picture: Beginning of the first outlining & riding the tube method plus stencil
Top Middle picture: First outline completed
Top Right picture: Comparison picture to my first ever attempt using Amazon basic cheap skin
Bottom Left picture: Lines beefed up with 9RL and floating the tube method and an attempt at shading
Bottom Right picture: So happy at this point couldn't resist it but busted out the colours and attempted colouring in.

View attachment 25381View attachment 25382View attachment 25383View attachment 25384View attachment 25385

Had a blast! Still lots to learn but the process of using Reelskin has certainly boosted my confidence. Will continue with just getting my outlining down with hand movement/speed.

Feel free to critique - and again thanks again to everyone as i have been taking your advice from all over the forum to others (as well as the advice to me you have offered) and trying to apply to my practice - you lot are great

catch ya next weekend with more comparison pictures of my previous work.

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Looking good ,it definitely makes a difference using decent fake skin , well done

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2 V
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Black)
Needles used: Cheyenne 10005RL (used this for the first outlining) then used - Cheyenne 10009L (used this to beef up the lines)
Time taken: 1.5 hours
Issues: probably should use a smaller needle for the detailing in the butterflies but 5RL is the smallest i have at the moment. Still plenty of wobbly lines and stop/starts but certainly learning to practice running a line before actually put machine to skin helps. Also i came back to this piece to colour in the Death Moth with the 9RS. Still need to learn to slow down on the small circles as it's quite patchy. Also forgot to beef up a wing on the last butterfly so plenty of mistakes to learn from.

Top left picture: Beginning of the first outlining of a butterfly
Top Middle picture: 2nd butterfly outlining
Top Right picture: 3rd butterfly outlining
Bottom Left picture: 4th butterfly outlining
Bottom Middle picture: Beefed up the lines using a the 9RL and filled in a few areas
Bottom Right picture: I had come back to this piece as i purchased a Cheyenne 9RS so used it to go over the Death Moth.

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2 V for lining and 9V for colour packing
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Black) & Fusion Ink (colours)
Fake Skin: Reelskin 13 x 13cm square
Needles used: Cheyenne 10005RL (used this for the first outlining) then used - Cheyenne 10009L (used this to beef up the lines) and Cheyenne 10009RS
Time taken: 1.5 ish hours
Issues: Same as before just getting a feel for depth/speed on the Sparrows and hand positioning. Used a trick that someone mentioned in the forum and i smeared vas under my drawing hand to help glide when running lines. This is also when my new purchase arrived. Cheyenne 9RS so was excited to see what a Round Shader could do and naturally got carried away colouring in the black parts with attempted whip shading (needs alot of work obviously ) and then the Reds and Yellows. I've got no white otherwise i would of put white in the the sparrow eyes, wingtips and skull'n'bones so left it bare. Undecided what colour layout for the other butterflies still. Trying to keep to traditional colours (Red, Yellow n Green)

Top left picture: Sparrows stencilled on
Top Right picture: 9RL of Sparrows - forgot to take picture of 5RL
Bottom Left picture: Playing with the 9RS on the sparrows
Bottom Right picture: learning to add colour with the 9RS

Having fun, learning lots every time i put machine to skin and trying to input tips from others i've read.

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2 V for the 5RL and 9V for 13RL
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Black)
Fake Skin: Reelskin 13 x 13cm square
Needles used: Cheyenne 10005RL (used this for the first outlining) then used - Cheyenne 100013L (used this to beef up the lines)
Time taken: 1 hour
Issues: Wanted to know how a larger liner would work and feel. I'm not confident enough to sculpt lines using a smaller liner yet so thought i'd try using a thicker liner. However I'm aware that potentially going thicker can cause more trauma to the clients skin (from what I've read and watched but not always the case i believe) so again it was all about learning to run the 13RL in the fake skin for the first time and finding a matching voltage with hand speed/depth.
Plenty of mistakes as i messed up the stencil so the bowsprit was messed up (you can see the stencil smudge still present)and a sail on the centre mast threw me of when i was running a line on another sail. Rather be messing up on fake skin than a humans skin so all good practice

Left picture: Ship outlined using 5RL
Middle picture: Ship outlined using 13RL
Right picture: Comparison picture from a previous attempt on cheap Amazon basic skin



Again every time i put machine to skin i learn something new and feeling more and more confident running lines. Running out of skins now, time to flip over and start on the other sides .

You sure are improving ???

MalligaMallan said:

You sure are improving ???

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Thanks Malin, I'm aiming to do a piece every weekend to build my confidence/skills and soak up as much information from everywhere possible. so much to learn and practice.

It really doesn’t take long to get better and more comfortable with your machine with plenty of practice, until you try on real skin and your hands shake ? keep at mate

Dazza said:

It really doesn’t take long to get better and more comfortable with your machine with plenty of practice, until you try on real skin and your hands shake ? keep at mate

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Cheers Dazza, I'm already not looking forward to doing my first piece on my leg due to that very exact reason, can't wait to share that special day when it comes

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2 V for the 5RL and 9V for attempted shading
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Black)
Fake Skin: Reelskin 13 x 13cm square
Needles used: Cheyenne 10005RL (outlining) then used - Extreme 1209M (attempted shading)
Time taken: 2 hours
Issues: Lots ha-ha. This is mainly another comparison take, but decided to try out shading with a magnum. Plenty of lessons learnt.

1. Screwed up my stencil from the start. What i should of done was put dashes (or dots) to represent where the shading should be and not lines - school boy error! Lesson learnt for next time. This caused much confusion when it came to the mouth and ear areas for me.

2. Need to thicken up my lines - think flash like this suits thicker lines IMO

3. Learn how to use a magnum needle. Think here i'm confusing myself between colour packing and whip shading techniques and trying to do both instead of taking my time and building up layers in one technique? More questions to be asked, research needed! I understand when colour packing take your time and little circles but its understanding the whip shading method and blending it out - as i said before lots more practice required ha-ha

4. Wrong size magnum used in some areas, should of dropped a size or two for the smaller areas me just being impatient and trying to get away with one size (clearly not skilled enough yet ha-ha)

Left picture: Stencil outlining - notice the mistake no dots/dashes for the shaded areas
Middle picture: Finished using a 5RL & 9M - however my technique is all wrong for shading
Right picture: Comparison picture from a previous attempt on cheap Amazon basic skin with Reelskin




Onwards & upwards...

Stay safe everyone. Again thanks for taking the time to have a look/read.

Thanks for posting these, i was getting a bit disheartened but reading your journey has kept me going. seeing the difference the Reel Skin made spurred me to order some and it is due.

Mush said:

Thanks for posting these, i was getting a bit disheartened but reading your journey has kept me going. seeing the difference the Reel Skin made spurred me to order some and it is due.

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I'm glad it's helped you. keep at it!

I'm posting my progress to help others along the way who may be feeling just like i am. I've not played with Pig skin yet but heard it's supposed to be good (will purchase sometime in the future) and i have practised on plenty of oranges but decided to bite the bullet and purchase some Reelskin.

I just didn't get on with those Amazon basic skins. Some others who are more experienced at tattooing could & have done some good bits of work on those skins but for an amateur like myself i was feeling very much like yourself - disheartened and i couldn't understand why my mats wouldn't clean up or lines didn't seem like those in tutorials etc.

Disadvantage is they do cost a lot. Those squares I've posted are only 13cm x 13cm and so far i've really enjoyed using them, so I've just purchased the "Little BIG value pack" from Reelskin as i felt it was good value for money for what you get and it cost me £76 in total (tax and postage included) but it will last me for a while until i'm ready to make that leap from Reelskin to my skin

Just had confirmation mine is on its way along with my two new coils machines.. so i will report back after the weekend

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2 V with the 9RL and 9.2V for the attempted colour packing
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Black)
Fake Skin: Reelskin
Needles used: Cheyenne 10005RL then used - Rhein 1009M1
Time taken: 3-4 hours
Issues: Massive undertaking and hard to colour pack the small areas.

Well i thought this would have been a good piece to practice colour packing - in hindsight stick to more basic drawings but i can't help myself .
Towards the end i started to get tired and lazy and it shows in the patchy area on the left side. (not to say the rest aint as patchy ha-ha). I will go back over it sometime in the distant future...possibly...maybe...who knows?

Lesson learnt - take frequent breaks. I made my self more conscious to go slowly as well but think i need to go slower again and i would like to have a larger needle grouping for the larger areas. I know i should also use a small 3 or 5 round liner to fill in the hard to reach areas.

I certainly noticed a difference using a bugpin shading needle as well, it felt really nice to work with IMO. Also noticed it seem to clog up more with vaseline on the needles, so much more needle cleaning this time.



Top Left picture: Start of the outlining
Top Right picture: 3/4 of the way of outlining
Bottom Left picture: Finished outlining
Bottom Middle picture: Finished piece - patchy colour packed area to the left of the eye area/main of lion
Bottom Right picture: The stencil

Overall i enjoyed pushing my boundaries with this piece, it's certainly taught me alot with my tattoo machine grip, needle direction and patience! If i was to attempt this again, maybe i wouldn't line it and attempt with just doing it with a mag? Suppose i'm getting into the realms of realism here and i have no experience in this area.

As usual feel free to leave any constructive comments, every tattooing weekend is a learning curve

Excellent post!

Stencil applied on the Reelskin looks excellent. Well done!

And excellent practice. Yes, maybe you could stick to more basic motifs, but actually I think this one is pretty good. It's not as deceiving as many other complicated motifs, you can easily see what you may struggle with, as the motif contains only packing, packing and more packing ? And some lines to start with.

Lines look good, packing looks good. I can see the area where you got tired of it all ?

Of course you can try skipping the lines and only pack - I myself am no fan of outlines. But with these very changing contours I'm not sure it's the best idea. Especially when considering you have to keep stencil to the very end. I'm not very sure what you would gain from not outline the piece? Personally, why I don't like outlines, is that they usually show. It's like the difference of needles and techniques - rl and lining on one hand, and mags/rs and packing on the other hand - makes differences in blackness.

Try cold pressed coconut oil instead of Vaseline. It doesn't clog needles. And also easier to get a very thin layer with. You find it at any grocery store.

With your thoroughness you show here, you're going to be a good tattooer ??

MalligaMallan said:

Excellent post!

Stencil applied on the Reelskin looks excellent. Well done!

And excellent practice. Yes, maybe you could stick to more basic motifs, but actually I think this one is pretty good. It's not as deceiving as many other complicated motifs, you can easily see what you may struggle with, as the motif contains only packing, packing and more packing ? And some lines to start with.

Lines look good, packing looks good. I can see the area where you got tired of it all ?

Of course you can try skipping the lines and only pack - I myself am no fan of outlines. But with these very changing contours I'm not sure it's the best idea. Especially when considering you have to keep stencil to the very end. I'm not very sure what you would gain from not outline the piece? Personally, why I don't like outlines, is that they usually show. It's like the difference of needles and techniques - rl and lining on one hand, and mags/rs and packing on the other hand - makes differences in blackness.

Try cold pressed coconut oil instead of Vaseline. It doesn't clog needles. And also easier to get a very thin layer with. You find it at any grocery store.

With your thoroughness you show here, you're going to be a good tattooer ??

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Thank you Malin for your feedback much appreciated, as Dazza said once wait to till your first attempt on real skin, that's when it matters you'll be super nervous .

For the stencil i did exactly what Reelskin told me on the bit of paper they gave me when i purchased some Reelskin.

1. Degrease the area with washing up liquid and leave to dry
2. Apply talc powder to the skin just before you add your stencil solution
3. Apply stencil solution and rub on surface till becomes tacky
4. Apply stencil and leave on skin for around 20 minutes ( i only did 5 mins).

Worked out a beauty - however i'm sure it'll be different applying it to human skin.

I'll be purchasing come cold pressed coconut oil next weekend along with some new mags i think as well (payday coming up )

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2 V
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Black)
Fake Skin: Reelskin
Needles used: Cheyenne 10005L & 100009L craft cartridges
Time taken: 1:30 hours
Issues: I slightly messed up applying the stencil which resulted in a few double lines and part of the stencil missing in the top right corner. This resulted in poor beads attempt ha-ha.



So when i started this it all suddenly clicked into place - or so it seemed. I've been struggling to push lines for a while but today the penny seemed to drop and all of a sudden i was able to push lines from the bottom upwards with ease?? Moving from the shoulder/elbow just seemed effortless today, i dunno why or what i've done but it just clicked today and i really enjoyed doing this piece. The tattoo seemed to flow, my grip felt relaxed, the speed and voltage felt good - great day regardless of messing up applying the stencil and trying to figure out the beads on the top right but overall thrilled it turned out pretty well IMO.

Thank you to everyone on here ??, i read through the majority of the posts in this forum picking up as much knowledge and advice as i can and apply it to my work - think its getting there.

Talc powder! What a great idea! They've must've come up with that somehow lately, I've never heard of it before. I used to be a reseller for Reelskin here in Sweden, and we never discussed talc powder. I will keep that in mind when people ask ???

Good for you lining technique clicked! ??

Yes, you will surely be nervous when starting on human skin ? (Personally I was nervous but quite cocky to begin with - "I can do this!". Now, after having tattooed on humans for about 3 years, I'm nervous almost every time because I know there are so many things that can go wrong ?)

To prepare for a more human shape you can wrap your Reelskin around something like a plastic bottle. The advice usually is to fill the bottle with 1/3 of water, to make it resemble a human limb more.

MalligaMallan said:

Talc powder! What a great idea! They've must've come up with that somehow lately, I've never heard of it before. I used to be a reseller for Reelskin here in Sweden, and we never discussed talc powder. I will keep that in mind when people ask ???

Good for you lining technique clicked! ??

Yes, you will surely be nervous when starting on human skin ? (Personally I was nervous but quite cocky to begin with - "I can do this!". Now, after having tattooed on humans for about 3 years, I'm nervous almost every time because I know there are so many things that can go wrong ?)

To prepare for a more human shape you can wrap your Reelskin around something like a plastic bottle. The advice usually is to fill the bottle with 1/3 of water, to make it resemble a human limb more.

Click to expand...

Cool, i never thought of that with the water bottle idea . I'll give that a go in a few weeks i think once i'm more confident doing more pieces.

Looks like solid piece of progress happen here nice lines.

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2 V (for both lining and packing)
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Black)
Fake Skin: Reelskin
Needles used: Cheyenne 10005L, 100009S & 17 MAGNUM SE craft cartridges
Time taken: 2 hours
Issues: My main issue was using the 17 Mag SE for the first time and trying to find a voltage i thought would suit my hand speed and getting it into the tight areas. Ended up using my shader to finish of the tight areas and went over a few areas that where faded from the mag.



Top Left: No problems laying the stencil and you can see i did dashes to help me see where to start my black colour packing
Top Right: Stencil finished with the 5RL, not a lot to it really?
Bottom Left: Finished piece cleaned up
Bottom Right: Comparison picture with my reference picture

As much as i enjoyed using the large soft edge mag i think it was to big for me to use on this piece and felt much more comfortable finishing off packing the areas with my 9 round shader and 5 round liner. One thing i will note from this is a recommendation from Malin...

Cold pressed Coconut Oil!!!

I started with Vaseline and towards the end my coconut oil order arrived so i used it to clean up the area and put a thin layer down and went over all the patchy spots that needed more work and i must say i thoroughly enjoyed using it - Thanks Malin for the recommend. The needle didn't seem to clog up as much and the ink felt liked it flowed a lot better. Oh and it smells nice too

Need to start to learn soft shading techniques to fill in a few of the areas, think that would help it not seem so flat looking

Good thing you liked the coconut oil ???

The practice looks good, you seem to be in control of what you're doing.

I agree about you practicing shading next, it would have looked nice with the black fading on especially the tongue but also in the hair/beard parts. You solved it nicely enough this time though.

17 mag sounds very big to me - maybe it's perfect for you, but personally I would try a 11 or maybe even 7 for this size (but then again I tend to use small needles - doesn't suit everyone).

On a side note - I've been a bit puzzled over all the zeros in your cart sizes ? In your earlier postings it's been the same excessive number of zeros - I'm guessing they should be 1005 and 1009 ? Not very important haha, but I couldn't help myself this time ?

Do some more practice on Reelskin, then I look forward to see your first practice on human skin! ??

MalligaMallan said:

Good thing you liked the coconut oil ???

The practice looks good, you seem to be in control of what you're doing.

I agree about you practicing shading next, it would have looked nice with the black fading on especially the tongue but also in the hair/beard parts. You solved it nicely enough this time though.

17 mag sounds very big to me - maybe it's perfect for you, but personally I would try a 11 or maybe even 7 for this size (but then again I tend to use small needles - doesn't suit everyone).

On a side note - I've been a bit puzzled over all the zeros in your cart sizes ? In your earlier postings it's been the same excessive number of zeros - I'm guessing they should be 1005 and 1009 ? Not very important haha, but I couldn't help myself this time ?

Do some more practice on Reelskin, then I look forward to see your first practice on human skin! ??

Click to expand...

Doh!!? My bad...I can't read the small print very well ha-ha thanks for pointing that out .

To make it easier I've uploaded photos of the needles i tend to use in case anyone else is interested. The only reason i bought a 17 Mag was i noticed a lot of tattoo artists on YouTube seem to run with large needle groupings so thought i'd give it a go myself to make packing in larger areas easier. To be fair though i agree with you i do prefer the smaller groupings and think i will stick to 5, 7 and 9 mags.

Currently I'm obsessed with watching tattooists doing realism/realistic pieces at the moment and really want to learn how to go about them but haven't got a clue ha-ha yet i can't even shade ha-ha (trying to run before i can walk again )

Slow n steady for me I'm afraid, I've quite a few Reelskins to get through first before I'll even consider touching skin (that includes my own) as i want to be really confident in understanding all the basics before i commit and practice, practice n practice.

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8.2 V (for both lining and packing)
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Black)
Fake Skin: Reelskin
Needles used: Cheyenne 1005L, 1009L & 1009S craft cartridges and Extreme 3L
Time taken: 2 hours
Issues: Doing the straight lines on the playing cards was challenging!! Messed up quite a few corners on them as well. Was leaning on the playing card stencil smearing it, as i was doing the other pieces and not realising DOH!

Mainly a bit of fun today, i printed these of ages ago and thought i'd like to try them sometime so today was the day. I saw someone on here do those cards in colour and it looked cool, maybe i'll get round to trying some colour on them in the future and thicken those lines.

Top Left: Variety stencil
Top Middle: Variety outlined with 5l (did experiment with a 3L on the A's)
Top Right: Completed variety set

Bottom Left: Close up of Skull n Bones
Bottom Middle: Close up of Skull Butterfly
Bottom Right: Close up of cards



As usual thanks for looking/reading my posts - keep safe everyone

Short 'n' Sweet this one...

Happy Easter everyone, saw this image and couldn't resist it. I left out the rest of the teeth cause i thought it would look better?

Always good practice to simplify a motif and not try to keep everything ???

I like all these mate, the black fill look spot on.

nice little piece. good progress. & I like the teeth in yours better too.

good job

I'm laughing at his eyes looking over at the paper copy with a mischievous little grin.

Machine used: CNC P5
Voltage at: 8V for packing and 7.4V for the lining
Ink used: Dynamic Ink (Triple Black)
Fake Skin: Reelskin
Needles used: Cheyenne 1003L & 7 Magnum Soft Edge craft cartridges
Time taken: Over a period of 3 days with roughly 1:30 each time
Issues: Worried about losing the stencil so made the mistake of lining the light areas when i should of just dashed them/Rushed it at the start/ Packing in the tight areas/trying to make the blends from dark to light patches on the legs/body and make it look realistic(if that makes sense?)

So decided to push myself out of my comfort zone and go into something a little bit more complicated but in the search of hopefully understanding and learning new techniques (he says like i pulled them off ). I used a 3RL for the first time to outline it all and i don't think i did to bad of a job IMO, (i must admit though i did like using the 3RL). I would like to get into realism in the future but obviously have no understanding so i just figured i'll just keep practising, asking questions and watching tutorials until it clicks.

The question is, I'm beginning to get more comfortable using my machine and practising on the mats - and i'm itching to ink myself but have held off because i wanted to make sure i have enough understanding and skill as much as possible before letting myself loose on me...should i think about doing it now and putting a simple outline design on myself so i can begin to learn how it really works on human skin or should i hold off a bit longer? Thoughts?

Well here it is my latest practice piece. Criticism always appreciated and i fully understand it's just practising a mats and not real skin but i'm just trying to hone my art skills, techniques and understandings before i ink me

Left: Outlined completed and just beginning to pack
Middle: Completed
Right: Comparison photo with the reference

You definitely did a good job!

The only thing I'm not happy with is the drop shadow beneath the spider. On your reference it looks good, it's so obvious it's a rough shading with a pencil. On your tattoo it looks like a badly performed smooth shading.

You definitely did a good job lining with the 3rl too! (Do love lining with thin lines. And do love the look of thin lining).

SideslipMick said:

Worried about losing the stencil so made the mistake of lining the light areas when i should of just dashed them

Click to expand...

Hahaha - hate doing that #beentheredonethat.

My suggestion is if you're starting to really feel like you want to try human skin (yours that is), is to do whatever design you'd like, and do it in several sessions. That way you can use it as a training piece, and only do the lining the first session. Let it heal, and come back to it when you feel ready for it. But in the end you can still get a little more "complicated" motif than you would've if you use a design you must complete in one session.

That's what I did and I learned lots from it. To the point that I started tattooing other people after that. (But I did tattoo Reelskin too after that. And still do sometimes).

This is how I did it:

March 2017


May 2017


June 2017


December 2017


January 2018




And speaking of lining where you shouldn't - that's exactly what I did on this the first, because I got nervous. I just lined the whole thing, I didn't take the time to actually reflect on what to do (Fortunately however I did "dotted" lines to avoid making them too obvious, as I knew I would shade next to them later). And therefore I had to shade really dark the coming sessions, so that the lines wouldn't show (as I hate realistic pieces with lines where there shouldn't show any).

Mate.... I like that.

I personally say if you want to do it go for it. I did, took my time and although I am covered in paid for tattoos the one I did is my fav. I was nervous and it did hurt and it kinda screws with you as it very different from reel skin but it a learning process. I’m itching to do it again but I only have a few prime spaces left and so the next will be on show. So it has to be good. Ego and all that haha. Why not start with something small and in a place that not obvious and you can always do a few test on the matts first... good luck in what ever you choose. I’ll be calling you up to tat me soon, ?

@ Malin: Thank you so much, and i definitely agree with you, my drop shadow is terrible and i knew when i was doing it that it's not going the way i want it to and it boils down to me not knowing how to...simples really, so i certainly know areas i need to work on but that will come in time.

You've hit the nail exactly on the head - I think i'll adopt what you've done with your rose (by the way that looks awesome) and do something similar. I've so many pieces i want to do but agree need something simple to start with so possibly gonna go down the traditional route with roses, swallows, galleons, fat lines etc line them out one by one then go back and fill in but also to continue to improve my 3rl techniques on mats as well (I really liked using the small needle believe it or not). It's my birthday in May and i feel almost ready so I'm going to give myself the perfect birthday present ever - exciting times ahead.

@ Mush: Thank you for the compliment - I'm a long way off and i look to get as good as a lot of others on here, i look to their works and think whooooa - someday i hope to be just as good as them until then I've plenty of real estate on my legs ?, those bad boys will be covered before i decide to let myself loose on willing volunteers ha-ha.

Hey folks ? hope everyone has been keeping safe and well throughout these times.

Sorry it's been a while since i last posted, I've been busy with work, life and tattoo lessons

Yes - I decided to bite the bullet and get some online lessons to help me progress. Anyways here is a little snippet of what I've been up to from my lessons. It's in no particular order but if you're interested the order is from oldest to newest:
1. Diamond (oldest)
2. Eye
3. Cut throat razors
4. Owl (newest)

Top left: practicing dot work
Top right: using a small liner (3RL in my case) but still gotta practice some shading in it, so its work in progress...
Bottom left: Gotta be my favorite new style i'm loving at the moment - Trash Polka
Bottom right: playing with shading and lighting

I'm still using my CNC P5 machine and starting to hone in more on what voltages to run it at Vs my hand speed & seeing my mistakes and how to try and correct them.



I do get it though, my artistic skills are vastly improving on mats which are flat on my bench and replicating this onto real skin will certainly be a challenge but i'm putting the hours in to learn control, techniques, lining, shading etc all good stuff to hopefully make my transition to human skin a little more easier (fingers crossed). I've got my wifes dress dummy down from the attic last weekend and will be pinning mats to it soon so i can start to practice the awkwardness of lumps, bumps and curves of the human body . I'll take some photos for a giggle.

anyhow your criticism is much appreciated (good or bad) - it's all a learning curve to me and possibly others.

Take care everyone.

Shit these look great!!!!

How did you achieve that Trash Polka look?

Looking good. Like the eye and the trash polka. I like the dummy idea, I should have tried that befor sacrificing my legs. Keep it up

Looking good mate. Nice clean lines

They look nice, and you will surely do a decent job with you're first human tattoo. But to me this is a quite typical case of a complex motif deceiving the eye.

If I take a closer look at the details I can see inconsistent depth or inconsistent speed on lines ie on the cut throat , and also on thin lines on diamond. If that would have been on human skin you would quite surely have gotten parts of the lines falling out when healing.

The shading is very scratchy, you see it especially in the shading of the diamond. It looks like you used a single needle to shade it (which actually is possible, I love doing it, but it requires its own technique).

The best parts is the dotwork ie on eye and whip shading beneath the head of the owl.

When looking through your older posts I see you've made a vast improvement from your first practices. But when comparing with the panther head, the dragon head, the cards, the bunny, the spider practice, I really don't see any improvement? (On highlight of spider I can see the scratchy shading too, even if it's not obvious). Almost the contrary. The lions head you did, which I loved, I realize also is hard to judge your technique by as it's mostly a lot of filling.

I don't want to be a downer (which I of course am), but these are my reflections ? But nothing you can't work on of course! ?? #practicepracticepractice

SideslipMick said:

I do get it though, my artistic skills are vastly improving on mats which are flat on my bench and replicating this onto real skin will certainly be a challenge but i'm putting the hours in to learn control, techniques, lining, shading etc all good stuff to hopefully make my transition to human skin a little more easier (fingers crossed). I've got my wifes dress dummy down from the attic last weekend and will be pinning mats to it soon so i can start to practice the awkwardness of lumps, bumps and curves of the human body . I'll take some photos for a giggle.

Click to expand...

One noob's suggestion: wrap the practice skin around the place where you want to do your first real tattoo. You can tape the sides down so it won't move. This will give you a better feel of where you want to do your first work and how your movements should be (this is very different on your own limb as you can't move it that easily). It'll also kill a bit of the nerves making the spot more familiar.
It helped me a lot.

looking good man. i would wear that owl!

A couple of things after second look... I'm always after cc so I will try and try and chip in here. First off though I think it all looks good.
The eyeball doesn't quite match up with the shape of the eye at the top, could hide that with a another line or bit more shading. But like the dot work on it.
The top left corner of the owl looks a little bit weak compared to the rest of it. Love the design but left ear and those shapes next to it could be a touch more solid imo.
The diamond the shading looks a bit random, I feel like each side of the diamond should have its own shading if that makes sense as every shape in it would be a different angle, if that makes sense.
I'm not knocking any of your work mate just as I said if I post anything I always want to hear these small things that a fresh set of eyes can see. Also these are tiny things, the overall designs look good. Looking forward to seeing your work on skin mate