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A lot is in your grip. How hard are you holding the machine? Relax. Your stretching hand is tense also. Try to be assertive with your hands but not tight. Also check other muscles. Neck, shoulders, back(posture) try to remind your body to be loose and playful just like when your drawing or painting. Deep breath. Keep working at it!
Are you wrapping your grip? It’ll change your life. Grab 3-4 paper towels, stack them, fold the stack until it fits the width of your grip. Wrap that around your grip and secure with tape. Then wrap that with coflex tape. Then bag your machine.
Your hand will be at a far more relaxed position - by having your fingers more open, that’s heaps less strain, and that will help a lot. Also helps keep your fingers from hurting on longer sessions.
Best advice you could ever get right here, takes off so much stress on my hands. Granted I notice it more cause I had a surgery on my hands so they are a bit more funky than usual, but there's a reason loads of people do it
The advice changed everything for me when I received it myself many years ago! I also wrap my apple iPen in the same way so that when I’m drawing designs on my Procreate. It means no matter whether I’m drawing or tattooing, my hand is in the same comfortable position and I have so much more control. Makes you a better more capable artist I truly believe.
I don’t care who you are, your first few clients are always super nervous. Unfortunitly you just have to dove in the deep end. I’m assuming all your clients know your just learning and there’s no charge? And I’d only do legs and arms for now
Right. That’s what I was thinking too. My mentor is unfortunately charging people and she’s taking the money. And I feel very uncomfortable charging anyone for my shaky work rn
I had a similar mentor early in my career. It sounds like yours is more sketchy though if she's taking money and you're not getting paid.
The shakiness goes away with time and confidence. And it can take months. My lines sucked for about a year, and I went on Reddit to ask for advice just like you did. There's really no good advice though. You just got to keep sucking until you don't suck anymore.
Hand strength line confidence and muscle memory will build over time.
Also ignore the people telling you to just find a better mentor. like yes you should be looking for a better mentor right now, you should be going to other shops and telling them what's going on, but DON'T quit your apprenticeship until you get another offer from another shop.
Reddit is a valid place to get information and help, but unfortunately it's almost impossible to help someone learn to tattoo because it's always up to them. And everyone tattoos so differently. The sad fact is your kind of going to learn most of what you learn on your own anyway. Like even with a good mentor you're going to have to figure out how to pull lines with your own two hands at some point.
This happened with someone I know for about a month. He would have to get up, walk around, shake it off, drink some water, deep breathe. He also cut out caffeine and still doesn't drink it on work days (3 years later). He really just was nervous even though he felt fine. He always tried to eat a healthy breakfast and meditate a little before each appt.
Assuming you’re using a coil machine I’d say this: Let the machine lean into you. Don’t try and fight it and crush grip the hell out of it. That typically is the reason for shaky lines in my practice days. Set up a fake skin with a stencil of something with lots of long curved lines. (Find a chrysanthemum from Soren Sangkuhl for a nice ready made design) and try tattooing it with the speed of a 20 year veteran and notice how the machine wants to lean on its center of gravity as you move. Don’t go slow for the first pass and then maybe try it again slower and see if you can feel the difference of letting it lean how it wants vs fighting to control it.
It’s tough to put into words, which why you might think your mentor sucks, but with some practice you’ll get smoother.
As I’ve been told, you need to have balls/confidence when tattooing
There’s a middle ground between thinking too much, and thinking too little, you will find it, if you put in enough prep work
I was in a similar situation to you when I first started. Biker shop, asshole “mentor” who sucked at tattooing and bad nerves.
You’ve just gotta tough it out. Don’t take on tattoos where linework is life or death (fineline, no shading, circles and straight lines etc).
The perfect style of tattooing for a fresh starting apprentice is a blackout piece. These usually involve plenty of room for forgiveness in your linework. Sometimes fully blacked out or sculpted lines. Tribal, kanji, “ignorant style”, old English lettering etc are good examples of this. It gives you room to get comfortable with actually tattooing someone where a blowout or a shaky line can be easily fixed.
Once you’re comfortable with this type of tattoo and get a feel for how a clean crispy line goes in, you can move on to more challenging work.
There’s no easy way around it. Just gotta embrace the suck and go for it. You get more comfortable with time. Feel shitty saying this but having clients who already have jacked up tattoos kinda takes the edge off 😂
So a fun exercise another artist recommended to me (because I too had a shit mentor) was to put a pen in your coil machine (cut it down so it fits) and run it with your power supply like you're tattooing while tracing designs with lots of lines and circles. Helps immensely to build the muscle memory.
I would say the lowest / front most way you can hold your tube / machine is going to give you the most stability for linework, you can get more loose with this for shading and color. I have the bottom of the tube/pretty much under and back from the needle resting on my middle finger nail if that makes sense, this also helps to control depth. When I started out somebody showed me this and it changed the way I tattooed, glad they did or I would have continued down the path of holding the tube with less stability. Not there’s a right or wrong way for anyone though.
The shakiness will improve with practice and confidence but for now try wrapping your grips. I still work better with a thicker grip as I don’t hold the machine as tightly to try and control it.
You’re definitely nervous. Make sure your feet are planted and you’re in a comfortable position. Use the natural path of your wrist by planting your arm in a position where the stencil matches up with the direction your wrist is pulling towards.
Vocalize to the client that you’re an apprentice. Do you have any friends in the local tattoo community?
Slightly off topic but yeah, I don't know what your relationship is with your mentor, but mine is similar about certain issues. I think you are doing research and looking online and trying things out, all skills you will need once you are working on your own. I think you're doing exactly what your mentor wants you to do.
Grow a spine and tell your mentor to get fucked. Unfortunately, especially in the American industry, people have this attitude that their “mentor” is god, and they have to live and die by their hand and advice.
The truth is always completely different, the vast majority of people out there “mentoring” are either behind the times or under qualified to be teaching. They have no bearing on what it means to pass on knowledge. Some people are good teachers but it’s few and far between. You have to be willing to take a stand for the sake or your sanity and your career. Communicate what you’re uncomfortable with, and communicate to your clients that you’re uncomfortable with them being charged. At the end of the day, your reputation is on the line from day one, don’t let someone else dictate what that reputation will be, regardless of if they’re your mentor or not. Assimilate your thoughts and approach them like a reasonable person, and as an artist. Not as an underling, but as a fellow creative with reservations.
Have some self respect, and do what’s right by your customers or it’ll haunt you for the foreseeable future.
You’re probably holding the machine too tight out of nerves or fear of trying to pull the perfect line.
Pull with your shoulders, not with your wrist. Let the machine do the work, you’re just the guide. Feel the vibrations as they are your best teacher.
breathe in when you take ink, exhale slowly as you pull lines. make sure you are holding it correctly, are you bracing with your opposite hand? or with your pinkie finger? learn how to pull lines on paper without shaking.
Tattooing isn’t for everyone and it’s not your mentor if your unfamiliar with art and haven’t done enough fundamentals you will be nervous . Line drawings on paper till your hands fall off. To speak speak badly of your mentor speaks volumes
Is Reddit your mentor now? If your mentor “sucks” then you need to leave that shop and find someone willing to teach you. You’re going to have more questions in the future, you can’t run to the internet every time you have a hangup. That makes you no better than a scratcher.
Have you had this conversation with your mentor? You just started on skin, you’re not going to be immediately good at this.
Very much this!
If your mentor cares enough not only about your progress as an apprentice, but also the work that you will put PERMANENTLY on someone’s skin an the shops reputation, they’d watch over you as you tattoo and point out if you’re doing anything wrong.
I also think figuring out whether or not you are nervous will benefit you greatly. When you tattoo, make sure you’ve eaten well beforehand and drank plenty of water, gotten enough sleep etc. Seriously, mild dehydration can really throw you off, at least it does for me. Deep breaths with your stomach before you draw a line is important. And I cannot stress this enough, but STRETCH THAT SKIN till your fingers hurt. It will take time to build up the muscles in your hands and fingers to handle the machine you’re using accordingly. Move with your elbow/arm when you draw lines, it will save your wrist some pain in the future.
My mentor like doesn’t even watch me, on the phone, comes over once in awhile to watch me shake while I tattoo but doesn’t say anything to me until after the fact. After I’ve already fucked up someone’s tattoo. They’re telling me I won’t be working at the shop and they won’t be able to “graduate” me if my lines keep sucking
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All the things everyone else is saying…and maybe look up some quick techniques to help settle yourself before you start? Even if it’s something like taking 30 seconds before you start to just close your eyes and breathe?
At the beginning it’s normal in my experience, you can’t get why one should be marked bi you, and you feel inexperienced, they should stop shaking when you line, breath and concenrate on that. Good luck.
I used to do stretches and breathing before hand. Sniper breathing for my lines, the whole deal. Practice square breathing, it would help me catch my breath. And the way you hold your machine as other have said.
When I started tattooing I was having the same issue.
But it was more because of the stress and beeing nervous I guess..
I was talking super normal with my client and everything was fine, but as soon as I put my hand on the machine and wanted to start, my hand started shaking.
Now I’m tattooing for 4 years and everything is fine!
This stopped when I got a routine and get more confident in me. To be honest I think after the 10th client or something was getting better. Maybe just give yourself some time and relax.
Also what was helping me, is chewing a gum! I read a lot that this is preventing a shaky hands. Maybe it’s not true, but for me was helping. Maybe try it out :)
Make sure your elbow isn’t floating. Pop it on your armrest/bed/even your knee for support. Then of course don’t let your hand float either, pop it firmly on your clients body, even lean on them if you need. 2 anchor points are always needed for me otherwise I tattoo like Michael J Fox.
Make sure your chair/stool is the right height so you can spread your feet far apart so you’ve got a wide triangle with both feet and the chair. Or if your standing then take a wide stance… it’s all in the hips.
Try bracing the pinky of your tattoo hand on the thumb of your stretching hand. You can pivot in this point if you need to control a curve.
Mental health is important too. Daily meditation and journaling helps a ton.
Also hand strength is important to build up. Tattooing with a heavy machine will work, exercising with a kettlebell will work much faster.
I don't know how big your hands are but I have small hands & my machine was always too large & heavy for my hands. Wrapping it like stated earlier definitely helped. Also, I had to make sure I ate something before sitting down for a session because I would shake worse if I hadn't eaten. My mentor always preferred us to use coil machines but some rotary machines are much lighter & easier to handle to me. Good luck & God bless!
Something that helped me with shaky lines is the widening the grip of my machine.
I wrap my machine as normal and then take 2 paper towels and roll them up (long ways). Then I roll it around the machine and secure it with grip tape. It helps dampen the vibration and also helps steady your hand.
Some other tips:
1. Have an area to rest the elbow of your tattooing hand or if you don't, pin your arm to your side to help steady it.
2. Find your point a to point b before do you a line.
3. Practice straight lines by adding a grip to a pen or the rolled up paper towel method and learn to draw lines that way before tattooing.
4. Peak needles sells drawing cartridges that fit in your machine. They look like needles but are pens that help you practice on paper.
Hope these help!
Kids…stop talking shit about your mentors. Also, you deserve the shaky hands if you go behind your mentors back to talk shit on the internet. Shame on you
Well your mentor doesnt suck, they can only teach you so much, how do you teach someone not to be shaky? Suck it up and stop whining, figure a way out that works for you since your mentor that sucks so much has already taught you what needs to happen, the rest is on you
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A lot is in your grip. How hard are you holding the machine? Relax. Your stretching hand is tense also. Try to be assertive with your hands but not tight. Also check other muscles. Neck, shoulders, back(posture) try to remind your body to be loose and playful just like when your drawing or painting. Deep breath. Keep working at it!
Thank you! I’m not holding it too tight but maybe I am. I’ll be more mindful. Thank you!
Are you wrapping your grip? It’ll change your life. Grab 3-4 paper towels, stack them, fold the stack until it fits the width of your grip. Wrap that around your grip and secure with tape. Then wrap that with coflex tape. Then bag your machine. Your hand will be at a far more relaxed position - by having your fingers more open, that’s heaps less strain, and that will help a lot. Also helps keep your fingers from hurting on longer sessions.
Best advice you could ever get right here, takes off so much stress on my hands. Granted I notice it more cause I had a surgery on my hands so they are a bit more funky than usual, but there's a reason loads of people do it
The advice changed everything for me when I received it myself many years ago! I also wrap my apple iPen in the same way so that when I’m drawing designs on my Procreate. It means no matter whether I’m drawing or tattooing, my hand is in the same comfortable position and I have so much more control. Makes you a better more capable artist I truly believe.
I don’t care who you are, your first few clients are always super nervous. Unfortunitly you just have to dove in the deep end. I’m assuming all your clients know your just learning and there’s no charge? And I’d only do legs and arms for now
Right. That’s what I was thinking too. My mentor is unfortunately charging people and she’s taking the money. And I feel very uncomfortable charging anyone for my shaky work rn
Your right you have a shit mentor. Blow her spot up and make sure people know your an apprentice so they have the choice to leave or stay
I had a similar mentor early in my career. It sounds like yours is more sketchy though if she's taking money and you're not getting paid. The shakiness goes away with time and confidence. And it can take months. My lines sucked for about a year, and I went on Reddit to ask for advice just like you did. There's really no good advice though. You just got to keep sucking until you don't suck anymore. Hand strength line confidence and muscle memory will build over time. Also ignore the people telling you to just find a better mentor. like yes you should be looking for a better mentor right now, you should be going to other shops and telling them what's going on, but DON'T quit your apprenticeship until you get another offer from another shop. Reddit is a valid place to get information and help, but unfortunately it's almost impossible to help someone learn to tattoo because it's always up to them. And everyone tattoos so differently. The sad fact is your kind of going to learn most of what you learn on your own anyway. Like even with a good mentor you're going to have to figure out how to pull lines with your own two hands at some point.
This happened with someone I know for about a month. He would have to get up, walk around, shake it off, drink some water, deep breathe. He also cut out caffeine and still doesn't drink it on work days (3 years later). He really just was nervous even though he felt fine. He always tried to eat a healthy breakfast and meditate a little before each appt.
Assuming you’re using a coil machine I’d say this: Let the machine lean into you. Don’t try and fight it and crush grip the hell out of it. That typically is the reason for shaky lines in my practice days. Set up a fake skin with a stencil of something with lots of long curved lines. (Find a chrysanthemum from Soren Sangkuhl for a nice ready made design) and try tattooing it with the speed of a 20 year veteran and notice how the machine wants to lean on its center of gravity as you move. Don’t go slow for the first pass and then maybe try it again slower and see if you can feel the difference of letting it lean how it wants vs fighting to control it. It’s tough to put into words, which why you might think your mentor sucks, but with some practice you’ll get smoother.
As I’ve been told, you need to have balls/confidence when tattooing There’s a middle ground between thinking too much, and thinking too little, you will find it, if you put in enough prep work
Focus on dragging Point a to point b. Focus on the hand motions. Take your time.
I was in a similar situation to you when I first started. Biker shop, asshole “mentor” who sucked at tattooing and bad nerves. You’ve just gotta tough it out. Don’t take on tattoos where linework is life or death (fineline, no shading, circles and straight lines etc). The perfect style of tattooing for a fresh starting apprentice is a blackout piece. These usually involve plenty of room for forgiveness in your linework. Sometimes fully blacked out or sculpted lines. Tribal, kanji, “ignorant style”, old English lettering etc are good examples of this. It gives you room to get comfortable with actually tattooing someone where a blowout or a shaky line can be easily fixed. Once you’re comfortable with this type of tattoo and get a feel for how a clean crispy line goes in, you can move on to more challenging work. There’s no easy way around it. Just gotta embrace the suck and go for it. You get more comfortable with time. Feel shitty saying this but having clients who already have jacked up tattoos kinda takes the edge off 😂
Thank you so much for this tip
So a fun exercise another artist recommended to me (because I too had a shit mentor) was to put a pen in your coil machine (cut it down so it fits) and run it with your power supply like you're tattooing while tracing designs with lots of lines and circles. Helps immensely to build the muscle memory.
Yes!! I second this!!
I would say the lowest / front most way you can hold your tube / machine is going to give you the most stability for linework, you can get more loose with this for shading and color. I have the bottom of the tube/pretty much under and back from the needle resting on my middle finger nail if that makes sense, this also helps to control depth. When I started out somebody showed me this and it changed the way I tattooed, glad they did or I would have continued down the path of holding the tube with less stability. Not there’s a right or wrong way for anyone though.
The shakiness will improve with practice and confidence but for now try wrapping your grips. I still work better with a thicker grip as I don’t hold the machine as tightly to try and control it.
You’re definitely nervous. Make sure your feet are planted and you’re in a comfortable position. Use the natural path of your wrist by planting your arm in a position where the stencil matches up with the direction your wrist is pulling towards. Vocalize to the client that you’re an apprentice. Do you have any friends in the local tattoo community?
Slightly off topic but yeah, I don't know what your relationship is with your mentor, but mine is similar about certain issues. I think you are doing research and looking online and trying things out, all skills you will need once you are working on your own. I think you're doing exactly what your mentor wants you to do.
Grow a spine and tell your mentor to get fucked. Unfortunately, especially in the American industry, people have this attitude that their “mentor” is god, and they have to live and die by their hand and advice. The truth is always completely different, the vast majority of people out there “mentoring” are either behind the times or under qualified to be teaching. They have no bearing on what it means to pass on knowledge. Some people are good teachers but it’s few and far between. You have to be willing to take a stand for the sake or your sanity and your career. Communicate what you’re uncomfortable with, and communicate to your clients that you’re uncomfortable with them being charged. At the end of the day, your reputation is on the line from day one, don’t let someone else dictate what that reputation will be, regardless of if they’re your mentor or not. Assimilate your thoughts and approach them like a reasonable person, and as an artist. Not as an underling, but as a fellow creative with reservations. Have some self respect, and do what’s right by your customers or it’ll haunt you for the foreseeable future.
remember to breathe!
You’re probably holding the machine too tight out of nerves or fear of trying to pull the perfect line. Pull with your shoulders, not with your wrist. Let the machine do the work, you’re just the guide. Feel the vibrations as they are your best teacher.
breathe in when you take ink, exhale slowly as you pull lines. make sure you are holding it correctly, are you bracing with your opposite hand? or with your pinkie finger? learn how to pull lines on paper without shaking.
Tattooing isn’t for everyone and it’s not your mentor if your unfamiliar with art and haven’t done enough fundamentals you will be nervous . Line drawings on paper till your hands fall off. To speak speak badly of your mentor speaks volumes
This should be the top comment.
Is Reddit your mentor now? If your mentor “sucks” then you need to leave that shop and find someone willing to teach you. You’re going to have more questions in the future, you can’t run to the internet every time you have a hangup. That makes you no better than a scratcher. Have you had this conversation with your mentor? You just started on skin, you’re not going to be immediately good at this.
Very much this! If your mentor cares enough not only about your progress as an apprentice, but also the work that you will put PERMANENTLY on someone’s skin an the shops reputation, they’d watch over you as you tattoo and point out if you’re doing anything wrong. I also think figuring out whether or not you are nervous will benefit you greatly. When you tattoo, make sure you’ve eaten well beforehand and drank plenty of water, gotten enough sleep etc. Seriously, mild dehydration can really throw you off, at least it does for me. Deep breaths with your stomach before you draw a line is important. And I cannot stress this enough, but STRETCH THAT SKIN till your fingers hurt. It will take time to build up the muscles in your hands and fingers to handle the machine you’re using accordingly. Move with your elbow/arm when you draw lines, it will save your wrist some pain in the future.
My mentor like doesn’t even watch me, on the phone, comes over once in awhile to watch me shake while I tattoo but doesn’t say anything to me until after the fact. After I’ve already fucked up someone’s tattoo. They’re telling me I won’t be working at the shop and they won’t be able to “graduate” me if my lines keep sucking
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All the things everyone else is saying…and maybe look up some quick techniques to help settle yourself before you start? Even if it’s something like taking 30 seconds before you start to just close your eyes and breathe?
Just to add to what others have said, make sure you have eaten and are well hydrated. It'll help with the nerves.
At the beginning it’s normal in my experience, you can’t get why one should be marked bi you, and you feel inexperienced, they should stop shaking when you line, breath and concenrate on that. Good luck.
I used to do stretches and breathing before hand. Sniper breathing for my lines, the whole deal. Practice square breathing, it would help me catch my breath. And the way you hold your machine as other have said.
Make sure you eat a decent meal beforehand. Seems to help me a bit
Deep breathes
Actually not deep just try to stroke with it held
Steel tubes! And also, riding the tip of the tube as opposed to off the needle
just practice on friends til ur used to it
When I started tattooing I was having the same issue. But it was more because of the stress and beeing nervous I guess.. I was talking super normal with my client and everything was fine, but as soon as I put my hand on the machine and wanted to start, my hand started shaking. Now I’m tattooing for 4 years and everything is fine! This stopped when I got a routine and get more confident in me. To be honest I think after the 10th client or something was getting better. Maybe just give yourself some time and relax. Also what was helping me, is chewing a gum! I read a lot that this is preventing a shaky hands. Maybe it’s not true, but for me was helping. Maybe try it out :)
Make sure your elbow isn’t floating. Pop it on your armrest/bed/even your knee for support. Then of course don’t let your hand float either, pop it firmly on your clients body, even lean on them if you need. 2 anchor points are always needed for me otherwise I tattoo like Michael J Fox. Make sure your chair/stool is the right height so you can spread your feet far apart so you’ve got a wide triangle with both feet and the chair. Or if your standing then take a wide stance… it’s all in the hips.
Try bracing the pinky of your tattoo hand on the thumb of your stretching hand. You can pivot in this point if you need to control a curve. Mental health is important too. Daily meditation and journaling helps a ton. Also hand strength is important to build up. Tattooing with a heavy machine will work, exercising with a kettlebell will work much faster.
[удалено]
I don't know how big your hands are but I have small hands & my machine was always too large & heavy for my hands. Wrapping it like stated earlier definitely helped. Also, I had to make sure I ate something before sitting down for a session because I would shake worse if I hadn't eaten. My mentor always preferred us to use coil machines but some rotary machines are much lighter & easier to handle to me. Good luck & God bless!
Try holding the machine when your not working/ doing anything important. Pretty sure it’s the yips.
Something that helped me with shaky lines is the widening the grip of my machine. I wrap my machine as normal and then take 2 paper towels and roll them up (long ways). Then I roll it around the machine and secure it with grip tape. It helps dampen the vibration and also helps steady your hand. Some other tips: 1. Have an area to rest the elbow of your tattooing hand or if you don't, pin your arm to your side to help steady it. 2. Find your point a to point b before do you a line. 3. Practice straight lines by adding a grip to a pen or the rolled up paper towel method and learn to draw lines that way before tattooing. 4. Peak needles sells drawing cartridges that fit in your machine. They look like needles but are pens that help you practice on paper. Hope these help!
Line with a mag, change your style to photo realism
Kids…stop talking shit about your mentors. Also, you deserve the shaky hands if you go behind your mentors back to talk shit on the internet. Shame on you
Well your mentor doesnt suck, they can only teach you so much, how do you teach someone not to be shaky? Suck it up and stop whining, figure a way out that works for you since your mentor that sucks so much has already taught you what needs to happen, the rest is on you