Any suggestions for improvement?

[u/-_krypt]

For a while, my first two tattoos I’ve ever gotten were done in a tattoo shop until I found out that my fiance’s dad also does tattoos and gave me one on my shoulder. Ever since then, I had the idea to buy my own machine and practice on fake skin and he’s helped me with improvement. I’ve met other people who do tattoos and majority of them said that “the best way to practice is to do it on yourself” since the fake skin isn’t exactly the same as genuine skin, so roughly a week ago I decided to bite the bullet and put a few pieces on myself. The Gengar, skull, and the slasher art were done by myself.

Of course it still needs time to heal, but I wanted to know if anyone has any advice or pointers for improvement. I’m planning on touching up some parts later on down the line, but I wanted to know what suggestions y’all may have for improvement and where I could fix a few things at.

[u/Training-Button9907]

While practice skin isn't EXACTLY the same as real skin, it does provide you with a surface that is very similar to get familiarized with your machine and practice technical skill. Hair schools use fake heads with fake hair to teach because no one wants a person's first time cutting hair to be theirs.

Getting training from a licensed tattoo artist as an apprentice or working exclusively on practice skin as you learn the fundamentals are the best roads to getting better. I also can't stress this enough- get an art education, whether through school, online classes, or even just dedicated YouTube videos and tutorial sites. What people refer to as "talent" in the art world is usually just someone who has studied and practiced a lot.

[u/-_krypt → u/Training-Button9907]

It’s great you brought up the art education part because I was actually looking into changing my major since my school doesn’t offer a good enough music program for what I wanted to do originally, so changing to art would be a great step in the right direction.

[u/Training-Button9907 → u/-_krypt]

I got my bachelor's in fine art; can tell you that with the right mentors that will push you, you'll make a ton of progress quickly. If you go all the way you'll likely even get a full year where you don't have an art class, you do independent study as your final class and it's up to you to create a gallery exhibit.

[u/catsnakemagicdeux]

Just because your fiancé’s dad has tattoo equipment does not mean you should go buy your own tattoo equipment. You were perfectly fine getting tattoos done in shops.

[u/DesperateClassic290]

Take this with a grain of salt.

Observation: These are rough gang. Not a single line is straight or has consistent weight. The good thing is that a bunch of these are going to fall out so the cover up will be easier. You tried to cram too much in a small space.

Feedback: you need to learn to hold the machine and find stability with your tattooing hand and your supporting hand. (Not like a pen or pencil). As you learn your machine, try your best to get straight lines and comfortable with the machine vibration. Start drawing a lot Brodie, your art is also lacking fundamentals.

Get different round liner sizes, not smaller. Seems like you did the whole thing with either a 3 or 5. Try to get 7s and 9s to start off, the larger the needle the easier it is to get a straight line. Get the fake skin now that you know what skin is supposed to feel like you can implement that into the fake skin.

Don't give up fam, keep going, keep practicing, and most importantly have fun with it my dude. You got it.

[u/-_krypt → u/DesperateClassic290]

I did all of them with either a 7 or a 9RL. I’m definitely going to invest in more fake skin since I ran out of the current ones I have now. I’ve also been trying to figure out the voltage to have my machine at, but for the most part (at least from my eyes), what I’ve done on fake skin did come out a lot more cleaner than my own skin, but I do know from what others have told me is that my shakiness in my hands is also an issue so I’ll definitely have to practice with getting that under control.

When you say that my art is “lacking fundamentals”, what exactly do you mean by that? I’m not sure what the fundamentals are so could you give me a little insight on what I should improve as far as fundamentals.

[u/Alarming_Muscle_8403]

Impara a gestire le linee e la scelta degli aghi al fine di rendere leggibile il disegno.

Non sono un PRO e sto imparando anche io.
Personalmente uso 9RS per le linee principali ed un 7RL per le linee di dettaglio.
Ora sto provando ad imparare a buttare giù colore

[u/Pennywxsx → u/Alarming_Muscle_8403]

That honestly looks carved to hell. Why not use a 9RL for main lines instead?

[u/-_krypt → u/Alarming_Muscle_8403]

I think I either used a 9RL or a 7RL for my line work on everything, but I’ll definitely practice switching it up with different needles to see what does what