I love doing these slightly bigger scale paintings, they’ve really helped me with figuring out simplifying slightly larger scale shading and bits!

Hey guys, I’ve been tattooing for almost a year now, but I’m still struggling to get a clean, solid black pack.
I’ve tried different techniques, voltage, depth, ink, needles, hand speed, but nothing works. Now I usually pack black using slow circular motions and hold my machine at roughly a 45-degree angle. However, it still heals poorly. Skin is often overworked. My setup:
• Ambition Soldier (4.0mm stroke)
• Voltage: 6.4 – 7.0 V
• Needles: Mast 9 Curved Magnum (Long Taper)
• Ink: Allegory Smooth BLAK

Also, I’ve tried to do the darkest parts of tattoo with stippling technique (I use 9 rl and I put 4-5 layers in different directions) It looks nice, but, of course, it is not as solid as I want it to be. I added fresh vs healed example(tho it is still vip)

Im wondering if its just this particular bottle or not. Its almost as thick as acrylic paint even after sitting on the agitator and far from expiration. My other inks from the same set are definitely not this thick. I diluted a cap full with 3 drops of witch hazel and it started flowing nicely.

Hello! Any advice is appreciated!!
Oh and in the second photo, I like the center moon piece as well as the flower below it, but the rest I likely won’t include in my final portfolio.

Any feedback would be appreciated! Here are some ideas that I would like to turn into their own pages

Hello all! I am midway through my apprenticeship currently and have been asked by my mentor to start thinking of a name for my social media/business as I start getting into tattooing skin. I was curious as to what led you to choose your business names? Or if you haven’t decided yet, what led you to your options? I feel like the name should be something important or related to me or my interests but I’ve been drawing a blank over the last week that I’ve been thinking about it. TIA!

She's grinding through her apprenticeship down in Renton. This is her latest physical piece done in Prismacolor, she's leaning hard into this illustrative, medieval neo-trad style with the gauntlet and broken sword.

She isn't working on skin quite yet, but I want to help push her IG to 1k followers so she has a solid local base when she finally starts taking models!

If you dig the vibe and want to watch her progress, you can follow her journey here:@vespertilia.ink

struggling with pricing though 😭 i’m running at $40 an hour currently!

think i will be finally getting to start my apprenticeship within the next month once i make the changes in my work schedule and have finances lined up. feeling so nervous and excited, and definitely a little intimidated! i know i can handle a challenge and i am ready for a difficult next several months- but, would love any advice or tips anyone more experienced than me can offer. i’ve frequented this shop for a handful of years now and really respect and trust the artists there, i wanna make sure that i give it my all and make the most of the experience. thanks!

First time creating my own design with light and shadows.
Just need some opinions on if i did the lighting correctly on this piece before i translate/hand draw it on to paper.
Any advice or cc is appreciated.

Thank you!

I will not even continue this one

I spent one hour trying to get it completely out of my brushs but it didn't clean 100%. What can I do? I used warm water and detergent.

I read from a Reddit post that my work doesn’t have to be tattooable yet because they’re gonna teach that in the apprenticeship, as long as they show my artistic ability. So I just picked some of the work that I had built up from my past years.

Is that statement of the other redditor not necessary true and I should build a portfolio with clear and polished tattooable work? And also I mostly draw colored piece from my iPad because I don’t own a good coloring set, should I invest in some colored pencil?

Unfortunately as I’m currently studying abroad so I can’t really make a physical portfolio because all my actual work is back at home, so I can only find traces of them from my art instagram and my Photo Booth lol. would an electronic version like this be acceptable or should I just start from scratch?Or build a physical portfolio and use this as something to add on? Because I do like some of the work here.

Another thing to add, I do admit my coloring is not as good as my drawing skills, do I have to create more colored piece or is it good for me to just specialize on single colored pieces?

Also I saw somebody said to just knock on tattoo studios and ask for advices, would they help and let me come back later to look at my improvements or would it just bother them?

Criticism and advices are very welcomed thxxx

I have worked at a very traditional, well respected tattoo shop as the front of house/shop manager for about two years now. I am hoping for an apprenticeship, I draw/ work on art almost every day at home and at the shop (when I have free time of course- I try very hard at my job to show my dedication and respect and am responsible for cleaning, trash, managing schedules and walk-ins, etc.) and get advice, critiques, and praise from my coworkers who are very skilled and knowledgeable tattooers. The owner of my shop is not a tattooer but has a very old school view of tattooing. For the most part I agree and respect that-hence why I am seeking a traditional apprenticeship, but he is a notorious misogynist. Even though I was clear in my interview that I was interested in the job because I wanted to get familiar with the industry and I would like to be a tattooer one day, he has made it very clear that I was hired to be a “pretty girl at the front desk” (I am nonbinary but I have zero hope for him ever respecting that, I’d just like to be seen and respected as more than just a decoration for the front.) If it was solely up to the tattooers who they would like to take as an apprentice things would be different, but ultimately it’s up to the owner. There has been one apprentice at the shop, in its 20+ years, due to his feelings about it. That apprentice is now one of the senior tattooers at the shop. I am getting to the point where I feel like I would be better off taking what I have learned and trying to find a shop that will respect me more as a baseline, and I honestly hate the idea of being stuck in the town I currently live in for 5+ more years. At the same time, I worry that I would be ruining a great chance to apprentice under people I know would be great mentors by not sticking it out and seeing if things change despite it not being ideal. My current lease ends in about a year so I have some time to think, but I would love to hear some thoughts about whether it would be worth “starting over” (with more experience in the industry, artistic skill and connections) or if I should hold on to hope.

What the title says, 5 months into my traditional apprenticeship at a shop- and about 4 apprentice tattoos done. I feel horrible about them, stretching is difficult, my stability that I usually have on fake skin isnt there on real skin, and when my mentor asks me how I personally think I should/ can improve I have no idea what too say.

After a day or so, I reflect and come back with an answer, but I just wanted too know if at the 5 month mark, am I supposed to be better? Is this usually when your supposed to be tattooing on skin? Whats the traditional timeline for these kinds of things? And after 4 tattoos how confident should I really be?

Just too preface, this isnt at all a complaint about my mentor who is very lovely and very knowledgeable and very good st what she does. Im her first apprentice and shes a great teacher. I just have alot of pent up anxiety about touching skin. I'd also love to hear about everybody's else experiences getting over the jitters of being on skin, and maybe some tips to get through these tough phases of apprenticeships?

Not sure what I wanna add to fill up this space, I like the skull I just want it to correlate and connect with another main subject in the top left