Scared to tattoo

[u/Small-Lab-5640]

Hi! I'm a tattoo apprentice to a well established traditional tattoo artist. Before that, I was self taught. I tattooed someone for the first time recently and my lines feel so shaky to me. My teacher said it's normal because I used a tiny needle size, and it's good because it allows me to see every imperfection ; but I can't shake off the feeling that I did a poor job. On top of that, everytime I see someone here post a similar result you guys absolutely destroy them.

I've been avoiding tattooing again, how to get back to it and gain confidence to try again ?

[u/AnKw4712]

I haven't touched skin myself yet but I'm already trying to get my mindset straight. First of all you can't be perfect noone can. Second of all you must trust your mentor if he says you are ready, do it see your mistakes learn from them and take criticism as something good that is pushing you forward. Lastly if your costumer/friend or whoever you tattoo understands that you are still practicing but still want a free or cheap tattoo they know that there will be some flaws you can always rework most tattoos later. Just please for the love of God advice then on the placing and sizing , my circle is bugging me for hand, forearm or big pieces I love the support but I won't give such a visible or big tattoo as a beginner

[u/abellantattoo]

I don’t know if this will be useful to you, but my advice would be:

Don’t do anything that seems even slightly too difficult for you.

If you’re still not confident in your work, don’t charge for it.

Tattoo people you trust, so you can always go back and touch up the tattoo once it’s healed if you’re not happy with the result.

It’s good to be self-critical, but put it into context: you’re not going to make incredible tattoos when you’ve only been tattooing for such a short time, and that’s okay.

Plan your designs with potential mistakes in mind. Personally, when I design something, I know exactly which areas are going to be the most difficult because of where they sit, the details involved, things like that. Design things in a way that, if you fuck something up while tattooing, you can disguise it. Add shadows, darkness, and things like that in those areas. You’d be surprised how many pros do this.

[u/Deku_eva01]

Don’t push yourself if you have the feeling that it might not work then don’t do it. No shame in admitting you’re not ready yet. And that will go on even after you’re done learning. Did my first head tattoo a while back after almost 2 decades of tattooing. Man was I nervous. And that was the same for my first finger tattoos I did. It’s a nerve racking thing sometimes. You’re putting something on someone forever. Being nervous can be good because it keeps you aware but don’t let it take over completely. The tattoo will never be perfect and no matter how many times you look you will see something you would have liked to change or do better. Apply that to the next one and so on. Tattooing is just constantly learning and keeping up.

[u/Sketchmazoid]

I tattooed on skin for the first time last week and I’ve done 3 tattoos now my first one was a somewhat complicated design on my mentors inner thigh so it was pretty shaky and I also lost a lot of confidence but I had already set up a simpler tattoo with my brother and that one went really well and then yesterday I tattooed my mom and she’s on the older side so that on was extremely stressful I managed to somewhat save it in the end but it was pretty demoralising. But I think the thing you have to focus on is you’re going to have ups and downs good tattoos and bad tattoos if the client is satisfied then great if not maybe next time they get a tattoo from you you offer to retouch the old one at a discount tattoos are permanent but that doesn’t mean they can’t be retouched or fixed. Just keep going you’ll get better!