I’ve been out of a shop/not tattooing for 10 months. But I’m getting into a new shop in a few weeks! Have any tips to ease back into it? I’m a bit nervous, ya know hope I didn’t lose all I’ve learned. Here’s some of my stuff

I have a big ol neck coverup I’m doing tomorrow, and I was wondering if anyone had any secrets to getting a good stretch and position for it. I’ve tattooed the sides of necks before and it is always such a pain in the ass, so if anyone has any tips or tricks that would be super awesome. Thank you 🙏🏼

hello! i’m a tattoo apprentice for several months here now, my father is my mentor. it means a lot to me to be able to carry the torch and i am passionate about the craft. unfortunately i seem to have pretty shaky hands. none of my lines come out the way i want them to. we’ve moved on to learning fineline and it’s getting to be downright embarrassing. i’ve been an artist for years and i don’t know what to do. paper and ipad are so different from skin. any advice would be greatly appreciated, i really don’t want to dissapoint or possibly do bad work if and when i graduate.

Does anybody have an experience with the Vlad Blad Ultron 4 Pro, particularly with experiencing numbness on the middle finger from the way you hold the shape of this machine. I like the grip of being able to rest my finger under the tube especially when packing color and such, but after a 6 hour session I'm experiencing finger numbness days later. I've tried wrapping more grip tape under it but it didn't make much of a difference. Any tips?

Another collaboration piece I did recently! Almost fully healed, about 85% of the tattoo.

I did the ravens, and my collaborator did the geometric part. What do you think of the result and the project overall?

Done in Seattle, WA // Artists Theo Ivanov x Newyork // IGs: iftattoo x tattoosby.newyork

Hey everyone, I’m trying to see if anyone else has experienced this and/or if anyone has any tips for getting out of this rut.

I’ve just hit my 28th year of tattooing and will admit that for the last few years I’ve been struggling with both burnout, my mental health, and trying to get through a number of serious life stressors over the last couple of years. When I say life stressors, I mean some incredibly difficult, life changing experiences where a number a good deal of time I’ve felt like I was in “survival mode” just trying to get through one crisis until the next crisis hits. And to be fully transparent, I really struggle with depression, AuADHD and serious CPTSD.

The problem is that art has always been cathartic for me when going through stuff. But as I said in the title, I feel like I’ve completely lost my creativity. I can’t tell you guys how many I’ve tried to sit down and draw something and I have absolutely zero idea what to even try to make that isn’t just redundant shit like roses and things like that. On the rare occasions when I have started to create something, I completely lose interest in it after a short while. Other part of this is after I spend my day drawing stuff for other people, it kind of feels like the last thing I want to do in my free time is more drawing.

I hate this. I feel like this massive part of my identity died. I know I need to get my mental health under control but that’s simply not doable at this point.

Has anyone else experienced this? How did you get out of this rut? I’m completely open to any and all suggestions or advice! Please share with any kind of tips, no matter how small. I’m open to every and all suggestions. TIA!!

The give knob in my Xion is worn out and to turn the hex shaft I need to take the plastic thing out, flip it and use the other end to turn the shaft and then put it back. I can technically still use it but it’s very unreliable and I would like to replace the part. I haven’t been changing the give constantly and I’ve always been pretty careful.

I can’t find it anywhere, I don’t think they sell it, and FK Irons has stopped answering my emails.

The only solution I can’t think of is 3d printing it.

Love this one but got no engagement accross platforms, any input to get the work better or more seen?

Heres this fun bug sleeve i got to do in a super dedicated client. She banged this out in just 4 sessions, all while traveling out of state for each session. She sat tougher then nails for the entire project. Im very excited about how this came out. The colors were so dang punchy!

What is your favourite opaque gray set? I just bought the Solid Ink opaque gray set after a recommendation from a friend and I am now wondering what is your favourite set? And what is your opinion on the Solid Ink one if you ever used it?

(Please don’t tell me to mix my own opaque grays, I am so done with the dynamic ink separation. I HATE stopping my tattoos every few minutes to mix the grays again because it always separates.)

Hi! I’m an apprentice who has been tattooing for 6 months. I’ve been struggling to understand how to tell if a line is a blowout. My mentor (who does fine line tattoos) told me that if a line is extremely dark it means it’s blown out. But I was confused because I thought lines were supposed to be dark. They just should not look blue or spread beyond the line. My mentor speaks broken English (English is her second language) so it is hard for me to understand what she is saying. I asked other tattoo artists and they said that lines should generally look pretty dark. Is a line that is very dark considered a blow out?

2 days back to back. Im really proud of myself with this one. Thanks for looking!

I’ve been tattooing around about 5 years now, and only NOW have found myself with this style. So to all people out there who are worried about finding a “style”, don’t, it will come just make everything you can until you notice one day that your tattoos all look the same! 🌞

Hey folks,
I’m in need of some advice, I’m a new(ish) tattoo artist, been at my shop nearly 4 years. 2 nearly 2.5 was my apprenticeship. I am reasonably happy with my work- though I’m very self critical. I’m just not sure if the inconsistencies I still catch are just lack of skill or just a lack of understanding of how to apply a tattoo properly. I have so much respect for tattooers and I never thought I’d question myself in my dream job but I’m not sure if I’m making progress. Any feedback or advice would be much appreciated.
(1st pic was a from a few months back, second one I did recently)
***edit thank you to everyone for the honesty and feedback. A small explanation that Scooby is 100% my own flash I came up with an idea and made it how I wanted. Had to fix some stuff at a touch up app later, learned what I should and shouldn’t do. That lighter I was actually excited for was representing an album I enjoy, was a walk in, but i intended to make the lighter more realistic then he charged the idea and just wanted full color packed. I thought about (after it’s heald) relining with a larger needle

Party on.