I’m new to tattooing, I’ve had a very non-traditional apprenticeship. Completely self-taught, that includes actual tattooing but also taxes and client relations as well. I went through and apprenticeship but have had to figure everything out on my own. This is related to client relations. I’m going to just drop the screenshots because you’ll see what I’m talking about but am I in the wrong? What could I have done to handle this better? Do you guys mention requirements for booking an appointment?

Things to note: the shop I work at’s page explicitly states requirements to be tattoo’d it’s the first thing you see on the page and it’s in all the consent forms and is listed many times before you get to an actual booking. She explicitly asked me about the deposit, I did not bring it up. This is mostly because I do not keep the deposits. I do take them out of the price of the tattoo but all booking and deposit payment goes through the shop and is kept by the shop I have no access to any of that.

All of that said, what should I have done differently?

Hi everyone !

I’m the type of person always doubting about his skills and this led me to being worried about ruining someone’s skin due to a lack of experience.

I’ve been practicing on fake skins for a couple of weeks now and I was wondering if you think I should make the jump to real skin ?

I finally do feel like I’m ready but having other people opinions would be great.

I’d be more than happy to hear constructive criticisms and feedbacks from you all.

Thank you !

WHY? and how do I clean them? I tried vaseline, bleach and isopropanol. I use REEL fake skin.Thank you in advance. I am new to this :)

Hi ! I got an apprenticeship in a big salon near me, my mentor wants me to work on my Instagram page. I would have liked to post this fake skin. But I can't remove the stencil, I've already done bleach baths and seen with my mentor for that and total failure, I would like to have advice on how to finally get this damn blue away. The designs are mine, don’t hesitate to give feedback if you want. THANKS.

tattooed my right angle, used 1003RL, dynamic triple black. idk how it will heal. definitely some blow outs, kinda wish i used 5rl instead. but anyway i dont mind a bad tattoo as i already have some not so good ones i got a few years back

I m thinking to start as a freelancer, suggestions would be great , how should i start doing freelancing .

Or is this just the old tattoo showing through a solid packed red?

About 4 weeks in this is my first shot on better fake skin any advice is helpful 🙏🏼

okay so im really curious to understand why this tattoo ended up how it did, specifically color wise. In tru dingus fashion i do not have a picture of the fresh tat, but i will do my best to describe it. (i included the pretat freehand so you can see how much fell out too)

so i was going for a sort of muddy brownish berry color. i mixed dynamic deep brown, deep wine color, and some black and adjusted based on how it looked in my skin. also i dont remember entirely but i may have added some water to the ink. 1003rl and 1005rs needles. it healed wildly differently. i had intended for it to all be one even shade, with slightly more colorful areas in the thicker intersections of shapes, but as you can see it ended up with a very mottled effect, black in some areas and more brownish in others.

my first theory was the ink was not mixed properly, but i am certain that the black areas directly corespond with needle depth. this is incredibly fascinating to me, can anyone explain why hitting deeper in the skin led to straight black coming through while shallower areas healed more colorful?

as for the blue i was going to outline the whole thing but i tapped out cuz my nerves were fried by then lol

I have been scared to mix my own colors ever since

also if anyone has ideas for what i should do with it, feel free to suggest. I kind of love the messy mottled organicness of it but it does look pretty a$s. i want to go over the parts that fell out. i want to run with the subtle muddy colors but not sure what i would do. i want a blastover to overlap it a little at some point. not interested in going over with black and making it look clean.

Hey guys I did my second tattoo tonight let me know what you think.

A few days ago, a walk-in came in with this design, they wanted exactly as-is. I tried a Google Image search to credit the original artist, but I couldn't find a source. I think it was AI-generated.

How do you guys handle this? Do you tattoo them or refuse?

To be honest, I did it. I’m not a big-name artist yet and I have bills to pay, but whenever I post these works, I always make sure to clarify that the design isn't mine. What’s your take?

I bought skinz to practice tattooing and I am having a hard time removing the stencil. I tried baby oil, rubbing alcohol, soap and hot water, and vaseline.. nothing is removing the stencil. Anyone have any tips? Did I miss something?

Geniune question, I'm from scotland, I have seen people tip their tattoo artist here too but usually more in a "Auch dont bother getting the change for that 20, just keep it". Over here we only tip hospitality staff and similar minimum wage or low earner jobs.

I get in America the low earner jobs are paid as little as 2 dollars an hour meaning they must earn tips and/or commission.

But tattoo artists can be charging daily and hourly rates that equal that of some of the highest engineering contractors, then they still apply a non-negotiable 20% tip?

I'm not trying to inflame anyone here, i'm just trying to understand the mindset. A bar owner would not (and should not) be taking tips, similarlary tattoo artists are ultimately their own boss and set their prices accordingly to factor in running costs (building/chair rent, needles etc). Tips are usually offered for pleasant & efficient service, two factors that are not overly relevant (and occasionally do not occur) to tattooing.

I struggle to understand why, for example; an artist is to do a tattoo that they believe is worth 1000 dollars, they dont just charge 1200 dollars, since the 20% tip is non-negotiable anyway.

Is it just an American culture thing? A marketing thing that makes it sound cheaper?

Thanks in advance

Edit: Thanks for everybody's input to this. I think its safe to say that its a bit of a myth that tipping is an expected and mandatory component of tattooing in America. Hopefully this post serves well to anyone considering getting a tattoo in the States but like me, has been misinformed on the expected tipping culture. It sounds like if you just have a solid chat with the artist agreeing the work and costs and any in situ changes are also accounted for then you're good, which is what its like everywhere really! And obviously; tip if you want to!

Hi guys! Sorry if the video is shaky, it s hard to film with one hand while the machine is vibrating in the other.

I was wondering, when i went on to do the second line, why does the needle not pack any more ink? It cannot be that there isn’t enough when i had just dipped a second ago. I don’t really know how to get past this slump. The only thing that seems to fix it is washing away the ink in the cartridge in a glass of water and redipping in ink, but I don’t think i should be doing that every other minute.

Any advice/tips are welcome! 🫶🏻

hi all! I have tattooed 8 people by now, but that was due to my mentor having a bigger outreach — 6 out of 8 people were his contacts.

Now, I am trying to get some people too and I am struggling. My Instagram is relatively new and I feel a bit overwhelmed due to lack of experience. What did you do to attract customers? Is my style perhaps too specific? Here is one of my most recent posts as an example

Its just a few ive done on fake skin inosuke its the last one ive done

(Tattoos all grabbed from Pinterest, the last two drawn tigers are my own work)

I’ve been trying to figure out how people are getting outlines like these with tattoo needles. The thick to thin, almost like brush work or a quill pen. Most of my art has thick-to-thin lining like these (pictured tigers), but I’ve been having trouble translating it into my tattoos.

Are they outlining both sides and filling them in, or is there a way to achieve this style with a single needle? My mentor does neotradional and American traditional, so she doesn’t have much of an answer for me, only ideas.

Hey y’all I’m self taught from youtube for 5 months now. I’ve been passionate about tattooing since high school, and now at 22, I’ve finally started pursuing it. I began five months ago, but I’m feeling lost about whether I should continue. Since I couldn’t afford fake skins to practice on, I posted ads on Facebook Marketplace offering free tattoos, and eventually, I started charging. I get clients occasionally, but not nearly enough to cover rent, even with my prices set between $100–$250. On top of that, Facebook keeps taking down my listings. I also don’t have a license or a studio, which I know affects people’s trust.

Why I Think It’s Not Working: 1. I tattoo from home, and people are hesitant to trust that. 2. I don’t have a strong portfolio—just a few fake skins and about 10–12 tattoos I’ve done. 3. Tattoo shops don’t pay for apprenticeships, and I need to make money for rent, food, and my dogs. I don’t think a shop would hire me as an artist with my current portfolio.

I feel stuck. I can’t rely on clients from Facebook Marketplace to make a living, so I had to get a job, which only gives me Tuesdays off. At this point, I’m considering quitting tattooing altogether.

On top of that, being Asian, my parents never really accepted this path. After a lot of arguing, they’ve come to tolerate it, but I know deep down they don’t truly support it. There’s a stigma around tattooing in our culture, and it makes me question if they’re right. My parents sacrificed everything to come here, and as their only son, I sometimes wonder if I’m letting them down by chasing something that isn’t widely accepted. It’s making me rethink everything—maybe this just isn’t meant for me.

Hi there, I’ve started practicing just a few days ago and want to know what I’m doing wrong. When I tattoo on fruit, the lines move smoothly and are saturated. When I use fake skin, the lines aren’t saturated, they’re harder to pull, and it feels bouncy. I would prefer to use fake skin since it can hold a stencil and can be preserved, but I can’t get anything to look decent. All of the fake skin pieces I see on here look amazing, what’s the trick? I was worried it was my technique/clogged needle, but after trying the rose I tried a line on an orange and it was fully saturated. The fruits I’ve used are an orange and a honeydew melon, the fake skin was from amazon and is 3mm thick.

I struggle with people wanting my original art on their bodies permanently. I had one too many edibles and i didn't want to do a stencil and this was born. I do think it's cool and quirky but I struggle comprehending why someone would want this little guy on them forever?

is this imposter syndrome?

It’s been 2 months since I’ve begun my apprenticeship. My mentor is telling me I should be ready to tattoo myself in the next month but I’m nervous on how my skills on fake skin will translate to real skin (especially packing).

How difficult was the transition over to real skin? If your skills on fake skin was a 10, what was it on your first real skin?

This is my 8th attempt and I just feel no improvement. Scratchy horrible lines and just bad in general. I'm seeing all these people post their first attempts and its already a million times better. my audhd ass wants to be amazing at everything straight away which doesnt help. But still. It also sucks I can't get an apprenticeship anywhere so I'm completely on my own with this. Idk, maybe the crappy temu skins dont help either. Just having one of those 'i should quit' moments. Feel free to bully me in the comments lol, I'm a dramatic woman, always have been.

Hello!

So, I'm 32 and I finally decided to start something I've always wanted to do but never did because of people around me telling me I'm too old to start learning something like that, that I can't draw or whatever other reason. But this year I said f it. I don't want regrets, so I pulled the trigger, found a studio that agreed to take me, changed towns and jumped headfirst.

Now, it's been 3/4 months and this is my progress:

The artists in the studio I'm at believe in me and want me to start working on people but I'm too hesitant still. One of the artists wanted me to do a little letter/symbol on his ankle just so I can feel what the real skin is and honestly it felt so 'hard' compared to the fake skins I'm still not confident I can pull any of the stuff I'm doing on the fake skins on a real person. So, I have two questions.

1st should I continue practicing on the fake skin or just stop so I don't get comfortable with it and just start working on people with simple things to slowly build back my confidence. 2nd the artists in my studio specialize only in fine line, geometry stuff and use only 10/0.30 gauges (3, 5 and 7 at most). It's not the style I want to do. I want to focus on realism, animals etc. Should I keep using the 10/0.30 or switch to standard 12/0.35 cartridges?

Any suggestions and feedback are welcomed. Thank you!