Since the forums seem to be very slow these days (not even some spam), here's my last: Neotat Vivace, Black Claw single needle, nocturnal lining black. All went pretty well, except i lost the stencil quite slowly and that's pretty much why many ovals are badly reproduced. I got some insight from a pro who told me i was going to strong (8.5 V, she told me i should lower to 6V). I sliced the skin, even i didn't fell like it was tye case during... Read more ..read more

Hi all, I have the usual thermocopier machine for my stencils. Thing is i need more details on my stencils, as i work from 7RL to single liners. But today the thinnest lines i can print on my stencil paper are about a 3 or 5RL in size... Damn me! I have some really intricate and detailed designs i would love to do, but i fear a stencil without those details is gonna end in a global mess. What are the printing options there are, as i don't want to do my stencils by hand (thanks... Read more ..read more

Ok so I have Procreate on my iPad, and I just purchased a Wacom Cintiq 12wx for my computer. If you don’t know what it is, it is basically a tablet that you can draw on like Procreate. I just found out about these things myself, it connects to my laptop and displays it’s screen on it which I can use to draw, paint, etc. My question is does anyone know of a good drawing program for laptops? I’ve looked at photoshop, but I’m thinking that it might be more suitable for photo editing rather... Read more ..read more

Here is a tattoo I did recently after finishing an apprenticeship under someone after being a self taught artist for years trying to make it into the industry. This forum is where I learned a lot of what I know about tattooing and helped me get into said apprenticeship under a portrait artist. Now I specialize in anime tattoos and get to go to conventions. Just wanted to give back to anyone needing help on these forums with advice and tips on how to get better at their craft... Read more ..read more

Hi all, Received an email and there are sales up to -20% on some of Black Claw products. They are not cheap but great to work with. Peace, DKJ ..read more

Hi, I'm hoping to get some feedback on what I could do better on practice skins. Background: I've practiced on crappy Amazon fake skins for a couple months, then realized everything said here is true about how bad they are (I'm not usually that slow of a learner). So I ordered some ReelSkinz and tried outlining last night. I used a Bishop Knockoff 4.5 stroke direct drive pen, a CNC Q6, and a Dragonhawk Slip Drive at 4mm stroke. I used Emalla and Rhein 1214RL and 1209RL for the... Read more ..read more

Hi guys! Sorry for the silence... I seem to kind of just stopped tattooing, think I got bored of doing Sailor Jerry flash... Have started drawing but I'm waaaaaay slow with pencil and paper. Just keep redoing because it's never clean or perfect enough, threw away a forest worth of paper by now. Don't seem to have these issues on a digital medium so decided to get myself a new drawing tablet and fire the good old photoshop back up! Hopefully I'll get the creative juices flowing and my... Read more ..read more

Question at bottom of post if you don't want to read my soap box story.... My intro: My name is Chris, and I'm really interested in tattooing. I've done what appears to be normal progression from cheap coils (struggle), onto cheap rotaries (struggle), then onto better rotaries (struggle less) and good supplies from a reputable tattoo site(start to make progress). I've been working on practice skins for a couple months, finally purchased Reel Skinz (based on advice from this forum) and... Read more ..read more

Hey guys, This might seem like a silly question but I have to ask how do artists apply bigger stencils such as full back piece Do they print out 4xA4 size sheet stencils and connect it as best as they can? Is there an easier way to do it? I am in no shape to do this, it’s just a question ..read more

I have been tattooinf for 2 months now and I never really have an issue but someone got a tattoo 2 days ago and just took off the second skin and her tattoos (esp areas filled in with mag needle) are a bit red. Is this just healing or is it infected/she should go see a doctor? I have done around 50ish tattoos now mainly with liners and never have much of an issue. But last time I did something with color and mag needle, this type of similar result occurred. She just took off the wrap so she... Read more ..read more