what to start on

[needlemark]

hi just starting out and have read what advice you guys give can someone tell me what to practice on before i do it on skin :?

[framey]

:evil:

[DOPPLENHAKEN]

superior sells practice skin.but thats ~all ~i would get from them.thats good to pratice on.i don't know if needle jack sells them,check here first,cause his prices are more reasonable than anyone i've run into.and his machines are a whole lot better. :D

[theprofessor]

Classic start is grapfruit!! I know it sounds weird but that is were I started before I went to flesh. It sounds weird but it's a start , that is before this fake skin came on the market. Another good idea is to take you gun and clamp a pencil or pen in it and draw A LOT!! Gets your wrist used to the weight.

[Madd Chef]

Ive heard you can also use cantalope, pig skin or even chickens? Id just get a guinni pig shave it and tattoo it! (just kidding bout the guinne pig wouldent want animal activests after me)

[krow]

you can also use pig skin,pumpkins,just about any citrus fruit,and from what ive read theres a membrane material used for flooring thats pretty close to the fake skin.

I practiced on all these materials and found them unrealistic,you cant stretch a grapfruit and it dont jump or move,plus the acid in citrus fruit will break down the ink and it will look like crap after a lil while.pumkins are to hard and youll have to crank the machine up way higher than you would on a person so it kinda gives you a fause feel for it, plus the pumkin will spray you with juice...lol.botton line is there no substitute for real skin.i did my inner calfs as learner peices, and yes i made mistakes and had to go back and fix em but thats how you learn and its better to make an oops on you than another person.besides its said you can judge how good an artist is on how well he can hide his mistakes.

[Papa Gee]

Most people who start tattooing at home probably know about 20 to 30 people who have really ugly handpicked tattoos. (Here in GA there are millions of them) Or are planning to get a tattoo at some time in the future. You might seek out people who need a tattoo touched up or recolored. The tat is already there. And if you follow steps to make sure you're doing a clean tat the worst you can do is to improve on what they already have.

Also start with simple flash tats. Dont get involved in a huge back piece or sleeve before you feel ready to tackle it. Stick to smaller projects and keep it simple untill you feel more confident. You could hand out free tattoos but I wouldnt suggest it. Keep your prices low and do clean work. Word of mouth will bring you plenty of test subjects.

Use the money you make to reinvest in equipment and supplies. Better machines and power supplies will give better results. Better results will build your confidence. Every time you lay needle to skin you should learn something.

These forums have a wealth of information just laying around for the taking. Take advantage of that. Belive me that there are many people who do not want you to get here for free what they would charge you many dollars for. Contribute when you can. And dont belive everything you read.

I apprenticed in a small shop in San Diego back in the early 80 s. After a short, expensive apprentiship I had basically learned how to clean the shop use an autoclave and make stencils. I paid over two grand and came away with a crappy gun and PS. I was 21 years old at the time so it didnt seem like a bad deal to me then. Tattooed for about a year and a half after that on my own then moved back east after getting out of the Navy. No one in my home town was interested in getting tattoos back then so I hung it up and got a regular job. 22 years later I'm back to tattoing.

When I decided to get back into doing tats I spent about three months drawing on paper and on computer. Got my kit and the first tattoo I did in 22 years was a tribal on a guys arm. (I've since gone back and cleaned it up) He paid me 35.00 and the cool thing is that there was a guy standing right behind him with money in his hand.

The point I'm making here is that there a lot of people who will never set foot in a professional tattoo shop. Main reason is that really good tattoos are expensive. Those same people will let some guy at a party hand pick a tat with a needle he just used on three other people because it's free. If you're somewhere between expensive and free. Those people will opt for a less expensive tattoo. You're actually filling a gap here. It would be nice if everyone who got tattooed could have a Guy Atcheson or Chris thomas quality work of art. But that aint gonna happen. Do the best work you can, always strive to make it better, approach your work with a professinal attitude and love every minute that you spend doing it. Just my two cents worth.........Papa Gee

[Pigment Pen]

I agree with Krow. My calves were my first canvas and I too made some mistakes. I just started tattooing a few weeks ago and with every one I do I see major improvement. The biggest thing is to have confidence in what you're doing. A customer can tell if you're not comfortable and it tends to make them nervous as well. Not a good thing. I just did my first tattoo on someone other than me or my wife on Friday. It was a little rough at first, but after a few minutes I fell right into place with it and I think it's my best work yet. As far as the practice skins go, they're tough to keep clean and don't really feel lilke the real thing. There are a few people on ebay selling them (where I got mine) that you can have a person wear while you tattoo it. Tattooing a square piece of rubber wrapped around someones arm feels a little more realistic than tattooing a square piece of rubber flat on a table. Search for "practice skin" on ebay if you're interested.

[needlemark]

i would just like to thank everybody who took time out to give me the benefit of their knowledge all of which is very useful :D

[MedusaQueen]

I tried the whole grapefruit thing; bad idea. NOTHING LIKE TATTOOING A PERSON!! They actually have "fake skin" on the market that acts like a real person's flesh if you are too timid to start on a real person. When I started off, the shop offered free tattoos to those who were willing to sit with an apprentice; this was best for me because they understand that you don't know what you are doing yet, so they can't blame you for a bad peice; only themselves for wanting something for nothing. The free tattoos were waiting in a line all the way out to the parking lot. It's amazing how many people out there are willing to sacrifice quality just for something free. There could not have been better practice though, with that many people waiting on me, my hand was throbbing, stiff, and sore. I practically had to peel my fingers off the machine by the end of the night; no better way to work those muscles and build the callouses. My hand conditioned quick, and it seemed each one that sat down left with a little cleaner line and a little smoother shading. Within 4 months the boss man was paying me (I'd do free tats but set up a tip jar) because with that much practice every single day I was ready and conditioned. Of course, I was still only working on small peices, and I would sometimes throw a bigger challenge in here and there, but all in all, the best way (for me) to learn how to apply a tattoo in skin was by applying it in skin.

[oz tattoo]

There really is nothing like real skin- that fake skin just isn't as soft as real skin- plus it stains very easily, so when you wipe the ink, you can barely see anything. The one good thing it can be useful for is just getting used to your machine & working on straight linework. Grapefruit is just too soft- impossible to practice shading- again, good for getting used to your machine & getting a real basic feel for the process. Each time I do a tat I say it is my best work- the latest always is for me. I try & experiment a little with each tat I do & I always learn something new.

[krow]

i also agree with theprofessor, clamping a pen in you machine tube vice and drawing is good practice for developing the muscles required for extented periods of time.I used to sit down and color an entire peice of paper kind like a maze with the smallest circles i could possibly make.try it sometime and when it comes down to you atully filling in a tattoo with ink youll find it easier to color and do shade work.also try drawing 5 inch lines or around that lenth as straight as you can.tracing an image is also good practice.good luck... :wink:

[DOPPLENHAKEN]

i like the practice skin personaly,i don't know about you guy but my skins nowhere near the color or texture of a grape fruit,i have done tatts on my calves that i've done myself,though the fake skins not like real skin its closer then a grapefruit.as for wipeing it off,if you use vasoline on the fake skin before laying the ink it comes right off.and you can clean it with vasoline,so you can see what your doing.and as for timid i didn't even practic on a grapfruit,i went right to work,only had one bad tatt,and that was not my fault.

[skullman]

One of my friends has a large lined trible not filled. Where he practices with flowers circles other harder curvie items. When it's filled he plans to color it in. this way the mistakes are coverd up later. :D

[needlemark]

thanx for all the ideas i will be using some of them to help me on my way and it is great to have a place like this to have questions answered :D

[POWERBEAR]

i tried pig skin and it was horrible i had to get my wife to shave it lol cos i didnt wanna touch it and it nearly had me giving up before i got started but then i tried my leg and because its living tissue ( which im happy about ) it was totally different but i would do something that you can improve on later i.e. not a warrior woman with 5 outline needle eyes :oops:

[combatstrategy]

if you practice on grapefruit or something similar do you use ink? and if so does the ink show up on the fruit?

[Preacher]

Hello,
yes :D

[blackcat supply]

the grapefruit or chickens or what ever the hell your practicing on isint the be all to end all, there not for shading, like has been said, its practice working to lay a line strait and smooth, of course theres nothing like a living human to work on.

but these are out here to practice with, drawing with a heavy vibrating pencil, to get use to it..... you have to do it. so instead of putting a bunch of shaky outlines or lettering on all your soon to be ex-friends practice with the machine.

maybe practice on people with greywash mixture, if it turns out good YAY,
you can do it again later, if not well at least it will be a little easier to cover up later.

as far as pig skin goes, you need baby pigs, pigletts, the skin is softer and more human like. best is a live pig K.O. with cloraform & tattoo flames on there sholders, a usda stamp on their rumps or a body suit of a butchering diagram (those are kind of mean but funny) take them back to the farmer and get another.

btw, only two animals can get sunburnt, one's a pig. :?

[odisius]

another nice thing about tattooing fruit is being able to slice it and seein how deep and consistant you are.

[gremlin]

I got a lot of practice without realizing it, and as it turns out its similar to the age old chucking up a pencil in your tattoo machine but with added vibration and a moving tip. Im am forced to do a lot of engraving at my day job putting ID# on new equipment and tools we recieve, so hours and hours with an electric engraver marking a 200 piece sets of drill bits, taps, etc...helped build hand strength and line weight consistancy, plus the engraver is about the size, a little heavier, and vibration of a tattoo machine. I used to make a game out of engraver duty, I would see how small of a drill bit i could still legibly engrave the company name on. With a magnifying glass I got where i could put "Doyle 1 Power" on a 1/8 bit. I know its not like skin at all, but its not as easy as you think, Take an engraver and a piece of steel and try it sometime. tell me if feels like a tattoo machine to you too.

[legacy01]

sorry I'm late. The best thing to practice on is yourself. For me it was the only thing. Look at it this way, at least you'll learn needle depth.

[leonard]

Right on legacy the first peice i did was on my calf it taught me alot and after that i continued to work on my leg and actually learned alot more i would go that route if your just starting out. 8)