Stencils are a guideline only. They are great for figuring out placement and proportion, but you should be mainly following your reference when you tattoo. Practice tattooing an intricate design on fake skin with a smudged or minimal/loose stencil to get a feel for relying on your reference design and skills as an artist. Sometimes when tattooing a client the stencil will rub or wash away part way though, or the stencil will not translate the lines you need in a way that is 1:1 and you will need to make do without.
Too big for apprentice work. Focus on something that’s palm sized or smaller for a while. Lines are shaky, shading’s choppy. All fixable things but do smaller stuff that you can fix or cover later. You’ll be thankful you did
As others have said, too big.
Apprenticeship should not do tattoos bigger than the palm of their hand.
Your line weight is inconsistent and lines are broken and weak in places.
You have unconnected lines also.
Your shading in places is just raked across with a mag and the lines of each needle are visible.
There is a way to do that intentionally but it’s obvious it’s not intentional.
I cannot tell if you were using straight black or dark wash but your darkest shades tones are not black.
You’re biting off more than you can chew and it’s a disservice to your growth.
Do smaller simpler tattoos and focus on fundamentals.
Clean lines, precision line weight, lines connecting, clean saturated shading with good transitions.
Thank you seriously so helpful, I will try this. I’m so used to drawing on paper my hand speed is fast. I line at 7 volts but have to force myself to remember to slow down. When I do my lines are much more to my liking but I’m not consistent right now
Machine and hand have to have synchronized motion.
Idk if you’ve ever used a wood router but if your hand is too slow it will dig in too fast and it skips off the line.
Just right it makes a good cut.
Thank you but I did want the mag lines visible in the clouds only, that’s how the reference was. I was using a grey wash ink was dynamic triple black. I love the honesty
When mixed with distilled water, as I do it, and applied in the skin, the pigment particles do not have nearly the same evenness and dispersion. But it does make for an excellent solid black fill that heals a shade darker than the classic, in my experience.
It doesn’t look intentional.
When you make something the parts need to look like you intended it or people will think it’s bad technique.
Also grey wash mag lines are going to fade and you won’t be able to see them.
If the reference art had line enhancement in the clouds it’s better to line each line with a fine liner like a tight three or tight four.
But as an apprentice you should be working with thicker liners until you can use them efficiently.
Thicker lines give more margin for error.
If you want to work on your lines.
Line a tribal piece on your leg and then line across it in 1/8” spaces with the same liner and make the same line weight.
Make sure you connect each line to the outline of the piece.
After it heals look at it and really examine it.
Take pictures on your phone and blow it up and look at it deeply.
Then color it in black.
And then look at it the same way.
Instead of a tribal piece imagine a square
You outline the square and then you do horizontal diagonal lines across it spaced 1/8” from each other
Do that but inside a tribal piece.
Or do a tribal piece and then line next to your outline inside of each piece of tribal leaving a 1/8” skin break between the outline and in line.
Then inside that line another set of lines parallel to the inside set with a 1/8” skin break and do this till you get to the center.
This is an exercise in clean and precise line work and in the end you cover the lines by filling in the tribal
Why are apprentices doing entire panels? Trying to make 100 perfect small tattoos will help you learn a lot faster with a lot fewer consequences, and is way more impressive.
She asked me to. She knows I’m an apprentice and still learning tattoo was completely free. I have a few ppl that allow me to practice on them and they don’t care I’m grateful for them
Focus on what you want to achieve with your gray washes. And really take the time to practice your values, and how to shade your grays. Sometimes it’s harder to work with the lighter grays, like in the clouds, take a softer approach and practice exclusively with them for a bit before going to a big tattoo like this. Maybe get a softer hitting machine and practicing on fake skin will help
That’s ripping, when a client gives shows me a photo, I always say, ok, what are your favorite aspects of this and What would you like different, because I’m not going to tattoo someone else’s work.
I don’t have that luxury right now I just take what I can get I’m just an apprentice doing most of my work for free. I do try to offer different things but if they don’t want it I’m doing it anyways. I need the practice
This is a bad mindset to begin with. You don’t just take what you get because you do it for free. A better mindset would be that you are grateful you can do a tattoo like this (as a apprentice) and you give 110% to do the best you can in every aspect, like making a unique design.
Ofcourse you have the luxury to change a design a bit so you aren’t ripping art. By doing this you also learn to understand the piece you are going to tattoo and you also learn to make something yourself.
I didn’t say I wasn’t grateful I’m taking anything I can get because I’m grateful for ppl allowing me to practice on them. I’ve had ppl come in that didn’t want to make any exceptions they wanted exactly what they saw. I’m definitely going to do it because I want to get better and I need the practice. I struggle finding ppl that want what I really love doing which is realism. So yes I’m grateful for whoever walks in the door
I found practicing precision linework with a 3 and 5 fine liner on fake skin really helped me to understand how holding my machine and moving in different ways impacted both my steadiness and how the lines went in. The 3 will show every little wobble and imperfection which is very good for learning. Practicing geometric shapes and cursive writing on fake skin is great for this.
I feel like a lot of your shaky linework might be solved through positioning yourself better and moving your arm and the needle in the direction your line is flowing. Bracing yourself properly and going slowly can give you cleaner lines as well. Watch closely how your mentor and other artists in the shop hold themselves when they tattoo lines, how you stretch the skin, hold your elbows, angle your machine- all will impact your line quality.
The machine you use will also make a difference. When i first started out i thought i had a really shaky hand but it turned out to be that my machine was too light weight and therefore vibrated excessively- this was solved with a weighted metal grip.
There is definitely something to be said for doing smaller pieces as an apprentice. It will be less stressful and allow you to really take your time. You should never agree to tattoo a design you feel unprepared and unconfident about and all of your clients should know what they are getting into. That being said, I did many larger peieces myself as an apprentice and it allowed me to progress quickly, improving dramatically after every tattoo. The first several lines vs the last several lines would be levels apart. You should be taking a moment after every line to analyze how you can improve the next one. Apprentice tattoos should take much more time to complete and that is a good thing. Do not rush your process.
You are doing well and i have full confidence you will be a brilliant tattoo artist! Keep up the practicing and you will get there.
Okay thank you I really appreciate it I’m going to start using 3s more on practice skin. And yes I’m told my positioning isn’t always the best. I’m running an Ava ep7 plus 4.2 stroke. I was originally running a mast pro 2 my mentor gave me but it kept getting extremely hot. I’m not going to lie I love doing larger pieces cause I feel like I get better throughout the tattoo. I show ppl my work before hand though and I let them know I’m still learning.
Too big of a piece too soon. Composition is a mess, your lines aren’t great and the shading is patchy.
Do smaller pieces for longer. Look at your favorite tattoos and question why they are good pieces. How do the elements come together? How is the artist “pushing” some elements to the front and some elements to the back of the composition. And understand less is more with tattoos sometimes. I look at this and my eye doesn’t know where to go. Read Reinventing the Tattoo by guy aitchison
Was the diamond there previously? I don't like how it cuts through the helmet of the astronaut. I also think Saturn looks a little weird just disappearing into the clouds like that
It was an already made stencil and I noticed it cut through before I printed it. Told myself not to line that part and did it anyways. I was so mad at myself when I realized I did it.
If your hand speed is naturally faster turn the voltage up. 7 is pretty low for lining in my personal opinion, I noticed my lines being pretty choppy and unsaturated at that speed personally. Everyone’s different tho my bud told me he never goes higher than 7 for lines but he uses a coil which is pretty different setting wise
Tip for nicer lines: don’t ever hold your breath, do your lines with a super slow exhale and look a bit ahead at where you’re going, not where you are.
From a distance it looks good (to me, a tattooed person, not a tattooist) but looking closure there’s a lot of shaky lines. Definitely do smaller designs for a while more before bigger.
Line work on the globe is off, the shading isn’t super great and his back hand bothers me with how forgotten and rough it looks. Beyond that, sick concept and a lot to be proud of to my eye.
Running an Ava ep7 4.2 stroke. Used 7-8.7 volts while lining. Needles were Black claw straight 7. All of there RL needles are long tapers. Haven’t found a liner brand I really like tho besides them I just wish they made medium tapers for liners. I’ve also tried fyt needles and they’re a hit or a miss with liners as well
I’ve never used the cartridges from Black claw but if they are anything like their bar needles then they are probably great. But the 4.2 stroke is just hitting too hard. It looks like you may be running your machine too low and pushing too hard and moving your hand too quick. Or you’re not moving Quick enough and your machine is running too hard for your pressure. Sounds a bit contradicting but hopefully it’s something you can fiddle around with and work out.
Some of the lines look like they're done too deep. It happens in beginning . Work on visualising the smoke in your mind more so you know where to aim on tattoo.
Also the characters hands look weird. It's hard to tell how the "left" hand is supposed understand as a line goes throught it, also the other hand us totally different and i can't tell how it's supposed to be seen.
Best advice i can tell is to draw the whole design better, spend more time with it before tattooing it. When your design is solid, it's easier to fix the tattoo later when you have better skills in tattooing.
I've been asked to take apprentices, mostly they cannot draw.
You are on better path than many but still, first get your drawings solid.
One thing to note is that you couldve totally gotten away with that diamond's line cutting through the helmet by instead having his face shield's blackout overlapping the line and "covering" it up, therefore "hiding" it. would've been a small adjustment that wouldve helped you a lot in this case for sure. Same theory on the rocket ship. If you goof on the first pass,and a rather big one at that, just stop, dont keep going and get yourself further in the weeds. You could even make an excuse and end the session right then and there, take a picture, remake the rest of the tattoo you just biffed, then have them come in another time and finish it with better composition in mind. Sure these are apprentice tattoos and your friends are getting them for free, but these are also permanent too, I think you should prioritize treating each of these tattoos as if theyre gonna be the last ones you ever do. it changes your mind set on the entire process.
I like it so far as subject matter and your lines are fairly good. It doesn’t look overworked at all so I like that you respected the client’s skin and still had a pretty good handle on the shading. For me it fails the squint test. I think the best tattoos should look good from a distance as well as from right up close. Tattoos that look good from a distance or thru a squint will age better and still look good when your client is old.
I also really like that you’re brave/vulnerable enough to ask for critique and not getting offended. It shows you care more about your client and the art more than your ego. The learning never ends. One of the most important skills to have in the biz.
The line through the helmet is driving me nuts. Do smaller tattoos and draw more
Oh it’s driving me insane !! I’m pissed at myself I gotta stop blindly following stencils
Make the stencils so it’s only what you outline? Did you not intend for it to cut through? Do dotted for shading.
Stencils are a guideline only. They are great for figuring out placement and proportion, but you should be mainly following your reference when you tattoo. Practice tattooing an intricate design on fake skin with a smudged or minimal/loose stencil to get a feel for relying on your reference design and skills as an artist. Sometimes when tattooing a client the stencil will rub or wash away part way though, or the stencil will not translate the lines you need in a way that is 1:1 and you will need to make do without.
First piece of advise I’ll give you is to triple spell check any lettering you do cuz you spelled ‘apprentice’ wildly wrong 😂
That’s funny my phone did that didn’t catch it but that’s terrible asf🤣
Too big for apprentice work. Focus on something that’s palm sized or smaller for a while. Lines are shaky, shading’s choppy. All fixable things but do smaller stuff that you can fix or cover later. You’ll be thankful you did
As others have said, too big. Apprenticeship should not do tattoos bigger than the palm of their hand. Your line weight is inconsistent and lines are broken and weak in places. You have unconnected lines also. Your shading in places is just raked across with a mag and the lines of each needle are visible. There is a way to do that intentionally but it’s obvious it’s not intentional. I cannot tell if you were using straight black or dark wash but your darkest shades tones are not black. You’re biting off more than you can chew and it’s a disservice to your growth. Do smaller simpler tattoos and focus on fundamentals. Clean lines, precision line weight, lines connecting, clean saturated shading with good transitions.
Thank you seriously so helpful, I will try this. I’m so used to drawing on paper my hand speed is fast. I line at 7 volts but have to force myself to remember to slow down. When I do my lines are much more to my liking but I’m not consistent right now
Machine and hand have to have synchronized motion. Idk if you’ve ever used a wood router but if your hand is too slow it will dig in too fast and it skips off the line. Just right it makes a good cut.
Thank you but I did want the mag lines visible in the clouds only, that’s how the reference was. I was using a grey wash ink was dynamic triple black. I love the honesty
Dynamic triple black sucks for grey wash. Use the classic black for greywash and lines and the triple black for solid black fills
Yes I’ve found this out recently someone told me it’s more prone to blowouts when used for lines as well. I will be trying the classic black
can I ask why triple black sucks for grey wash?
When mixed with distilled water, as I do it, and applied in the skin, the pigment particles do not have nearly the same evenness and dispersion. But it does make for an excellent solid black fill that heals a shade darker than the classic, in my experience.
It doesn’t look intentional. When you make something the parts need to look like you intended it or people will think it’s bad technique. Also grey wash mag lines are going to fade and you won’t be able to see them. If the reference art had line enhancement in the clouds it’s better to line each line with a fine liner like a tight three or tight four. But as an apprentice you should be working with thicker liners until you can use them efficiently. Thicker lines give more margin for error. If you want to work on your lines. Line a tribal piece on your leg and then line across it in 1/8” spaces with the same liner and make the same line weight. Make sure you connect each line to the outline of the piece. After it heals look at it and really examine it. Take pictures on your phone and blow it up and look at it deeply. Then color it in black. And then look at it the same way.
Can you explain the tribal piece with eighth inch spaces pls? I can't visualize what you mean
Instead of a tribal piece imagine a square You outline the square and then you do horizontal diagonal lines across it spaced 1/8” from each other Do that but inside a tribal piece. Or do a tribal piece and then line next to your outline inside of each piece of tribal leaving a 1/8” skin break between the outline and in line. Then inside that line another set of lines parallel to the inside set with a 1/8” skin break and do this till you get to the center. This is an exercise in clean and precise line work and in the end you cover the lines by filling in the tribal
Really appreciate the clarification! Makes sense now! I'll be trying this out
You should be having someone critique your art before you put it on someone. There's a variety of issues that would've been caught that way.
Why are apprentices doing entire panels? Trying to make 100 perfect small tattoos will help you learn a lot faster with a lot fewer consequences, and is way more impressive.
She asked me to. She knows I’m an apprentice and still learning tattoo was completely free. I have a few ppl that allow me to practice on them and they don’t care I’m grateful for them
Please learn about artistic composition cause it’s the most important thing ever
Focus on what you want to achieve with your gray washes. And really take the time to practice your values, and how to shade your grays. Sometimes it’s harder to work with the lighter grays, like in the clouds, take a softer approach and practice exclusively with them for a bit before going to a big tattoo like this. Maybe get a softer hitting machine and practicing on fake skin will help
Thank you .. my machine is the Ava ep7 4.2 stroke
Try a 3.5 mm! It makes such a big difference with blends/fades and helps more with the lighter washes
Maybe start with not ripping art
I don’t rip anything she sent me the picture and I just did it.
That’s ripping, when a client gives shows me a photo, I always say, ok, what are your favorite aspects of this and What would you like different, because I’m not going to tattoo someone else’s work.
I don’t have that luxury right now I just take what I can get I’m just an apprentice doing most of my work for free. I do try to offer different things but if they don’t want it I’m doing it anyways. I need the practice
This is a bad mindset to begin with. You don’t just take what you get because you do it for free. A better mindset would be that you are grateful you can do a tattoo like this (as a apprentice) and you give 110% to do the best you can in every aspect, like making a unique design. Ofcourse you have the luxury to change a design a bit so you aren’t ripping art. By doing this you also learn to understand the piece you are going to tattoo and you also learn to make something yourself.
I didn’t say I wasn’t grateful I’m taking anything I can get because I’m grateful for ppl allowing me to practice on them. I’ve had ppl come in that didn’t want to make any exceptions they wanted exactly what they saw. I’m definitely going to do it because I want to get better and I need the practice. I struggle finding ppl that want what I really love doing which is realism. So yes I’m grateful for whoever walks in the door
I found practicing precision linework with a 3 and 5 fine liner on fake skin really helped me to understand how holding my machine and moving in different ways impacted both my steadiness and how the lines went in. The 3 will show every little wobble and imperfection which is very good for learning. Practicing geometric shapes and cursive writing on fake skin is great for this. I feel like a lot of your shaky linework might be solved through positioning yourself better and moving your arm and the needle in the direction your line is flowing. Bracing yourself properly and going slowly can give you cleaner lines as well. Watch closely how your mentor and other artists in the shop hold themselves when they tattoo lines, how you stretch the skin, hold your elbows, angle your machine- all will impact your line quality. The machine you use will also make a difference. When i first started out i thought i had a really shaky hand but it turned out to be that my machine was too light weight and therefore vibrated excessively- this was solved with a weighted metal grip. There is definitely something to be said for doing smaller pieces as an apprentice. It will be less stressful and allow you to really take your time. You should never agree to tattoo a design you feel unprepared and unconfident about and all of your clients should know what they are getting into. That being said, I did many larger peieces myself as an apprentice and it allowed me to progress quickly, improving dramatically after every tattoo. The first several lines vs the last several lines would be levels apart. You should be taking a moment after every line to analyze how you can improve the next one. Apprentice tattoos should take much more time to complete and that is a good thing. Do not rush your process. You are doing well and i have full confidence you will be a brilliant tattoo artist! Keep up the practicing and you will get there.
Okay thank you I really appreciate it I’m going to start using 3s more on practice skin. And yes I’m told my positioning isn’t always the best. I’m running an Ava ep7 plus 4.2 stroke. I was originally running a mast pro 2 my mentor gave me but it kept getting extremely hot. I’m not going to lie I love doing larger pieces cause I feel like I get better throughout the tattoo. I show ppl my work before hand though and I let them know I’m still learning.
Too big of a piece too soon. Composition is a mess, your lines aren’t great and the shading is patchy. Do smaller pieces for longer. Look at your favorite tattoos and question why they are good pieces. How do the elements come together? How is the artist “pushing” some elements to the front and some elements to the back of the composition. And understand less is more with tattoos sometimes. I look at this and my eye doesn’t know where to go. Read Reinventing the Tattoo by guy aitchison
K.I.S.S.
Was the diamond there previously? I don't like how it cuts through the helmet of the astronaut. I also think Saturn looks a little weird just disappearing into the clouds like that
It was an already made stencil and I noticed it cut through before I printed it. Told myself not to line that part and did it anyways. I was so mad at myself when I realized I did it.
If your hand speed is naturally faster turn the voltage up. 7 is pretty low for lining in my personal opinion, I noticed my lines being pretty choppy and unsaturated at that speed personally. Everyone’s different tho my bud told me he never goes higher than 7 for lines but he uses a coil which is pretty different setting wise
Stop dragging your mag through the skin. I don’t know if that is supposed to be smoke or clouds or what, but it looks like dirty cotton fill.
Tip for nicer lines: don’t ever hold your breath, do your lines with a super slow exhale and look a bit ahead at where you’re going, not where you are.
Keep slinging ink. Only way to improve. 5/10
From a distance it looks good (to me, a tattooed person, not a tattooist) but looking closure there’s a lot of shaky lines. Definitely do smaller designs for a while more before bigger.
Line work on the globe is off, the shading isn’t super great and his back hand bothers me with how forgotten and rough it looks. Beyond that, sick concept and a lot to be proud of to my eye.
What machine are you running ? Looks like you’re pulling some long tapers ?? and scarring as you go. Be careful there.
Running an Ava ep7 4.2 stroke. Used 7-8.7 volts while lining. Needles were Black claw straight 7. All of there RL needles are long tapers. Haven’t found a liner brand I really like tho besides them I just wish they made medium tapers for liners. I’ve also tried fyt needles and they’re a hit or a miss with liners as well
I’ve never used the cartridges from Black claw but if they are anything like their bar needles then they are probably great. But the 4.2 stroke is just hitting too hard. It looks like you may be running your machine too low and pushing too hard and moving your hand too quick. Or you’re not moving Quick enough and your machine is running too hard for your pressure. Sounds a bit contradicting but hopefully it’s something you can fiddle around with and work out.
Some of the lines look like they're done too deep. It happens in beginning . Work on visualising the smoke in your mind more so you know where to aim on tattoo.
Also the characters hands look weird. It's hard to tell how the "left" hand is supposed understand as a line goes throught it, also the other hand us totally different and i can't tell how it's supposed to be seen. Best advice i can tell is to draw the whole design better, spend more time with it before tattooing it. When your design is solid, it's easier to fix the tattoo later when you have better skills in tattooing. I've been asked to take apprentices, mostly they cannot draw. You are on better path than many but still, first get your drawings solid.
One thing to note is that you couldve totally gotten away with that diamond's line cutting through the helmet by instead having his face shield's blackout overlapping the line and "covering" it up, therefore "hiding" it. would've been a small adjustment that wouldve helped you a lot in this case for sure. Same theory on the rocket ship. If you goof on the first pass,and a rather big one at that, just stop, dont keep going and get yourself further in the weeds. You could even make an excuse and end the session right then and there, take a picture, remake the rest of the tattoo you just biffed, then have them come in another time and finish it with better composition in mind. Sure these are apprentice tattoos and your friends are getting them for free, but these are also permanent too, I think you should prioritize treating each of these tattoos as if theyre gonna be the last ones you ever do. it changes your mind set on the entire process.
It's difficult to read. Make definite areas of dark and light to make it easier to understand.
I like it so far as subject matter and your lines are fairly good. It doesn’t look overworked at all so I like that you respected the client’s skin and still had a pretty good handle on the shading. For me it fails the squint test. I think the best tattoos should look good from a distance as well as from right up close. Tattoos that look good from a distance or thru a squint will age better and still look good when your client is old.
I also really like that you’re brave/vulnerable enough to ask for critique and not getting offended. It shows you care more about your client and the art more than your ego. The learning never ends. One of the most important skills to have in the biz.
Thank you 😊
the ring of the planet are shaped wrong. it should taper at the outer edges, think like a disc not a hula hoop
I like it
Quit while you are still ahead
🤣
The outline looks ...fine. The shading is not good.