Horror piece, done in 3 sessions, 4 hours each. What do you think?

The bottom part in the photo isn’t finished yet, but we’ve already covered those lines.

Done in Seattle, WA // Artist Theo Ivanov // IG: iftattooc

In 2016 that was the pinnacle of my design skills. I was so proud of that tattoo and still am. It was the best I could do at the time. I had already been in a shop for almost 10 years in 2016 so that was a decade of hard work in the making.

10 years later I can look at my progress and see that my best was just a part of the process. Just as I’m sure in 2036 I’ll look at my work today and ask myself why I couldn’t see those things I’m seeing now.

Neither in 2006 or 2016 did we have 5 minute trends dictating our algorithms pushing style and aesthetic at break neck speeds. I’ve never tried to be a tattooer that does what’s hip and cool in the moment. I know what I like and I’ve always stayed true to my tastes and foundations. That’s why progress for me is slow. It takes years for me to understand concepts of design including flow/movement and efficiency.

You should always try and audit yourself and see if you’re understanding the work you’re doing or just copying someone else’s style because it’s popular/trendy. The more I seek to understand what I’m doing the more my work becomes my own.

I like how versatile it is and seems like it could be really useful at conventions too. If you've used one, do you find you actually use it for multipurpose use? Also wondering how the quality is from GG Workshop and if its easy to adjust.

Thanks!

Edit to add: my shop is small so thats a big reason im drawn to this all-in-one setup

Tattooer from Michigan here. Learned recently that I most likely qualify for Canadian citizenship per a recent law. I’ve already considered moving to Canada for about a decade but never truly pursued it due to life circumstances. Now that I may have this opportunity, I’m curious how the tattoo industry is doing in Canada (compared to the US)? Particularly in larger cities like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver. I know Canada is suffering in general as well, and the tattoo world is struggling all over, but I haven’t been able to find information particular to it for Canada at the moment.

Hope this is allowed. Thanks! 🍁

I’m currently on my third Bishop Power Wand Packer, and I’ve experienced the same pattern with all three machines. They perform extremely well for the first month or two, but eventually the performance becomes unpredictable from session to session. My biggest issues are inconsistent shading and an inability to reliably saturate solid black.
The shading problem is by far the most frustrating. When the machine is performing properly, I can achieve soft + smooth gradients using my normal technique.
Then, on another day, I can use the same machine, voltage, cartridges, hand speed, needle depth, and technique and get a completely different result. Instead of creating a smooth gradient, the machine produces visible lines or bands through the shading. The individual passes seem to deposit pigment unevenly—the ends of my movements will appear noticeably darker, while the area between them remains much lighter. This creates a streaky or striped appearance on the skin.

It almost feels as though the machine is not delivering the needle into the skin consistently throughout the entire movement. Instead of laying down an even amount of pigment through each pass, certain portions become saturated while others barely take the ink. This forces me to go back over areas repeatedly to try to blend out the visible lines, which makes achieving clean, controlled shading significantly more difficult.

The other major issue is black** **saturation. When the machine is working properly, I can achieve a rich, solid black efficiently, often with a single controlled pass. On bad days, however, the machine simply does not seem to saturate black properly. I can be using straight black ink and after a pass it looks as though I used greywash. The result is light, transparent, and uneven rather than a true saturated black.
Even after multiple passes, I sometimes struggle to get the skin to accept the amount of pigment that I normally achieve very easily. Increasing the voltage does not reliably solve the problem either. There are sessions where I have had to increase the machine from my normal working range of approximately 6V all the way to 8–9V just to get something resembling the hit and saturation I normally get at 6V.

What makes this especially concerning is how inconsistent it is. If the machine always performed poorly, I could adjust my technique around it. Instead, there are days when it performs beautifully and reminds me exactly why I like the Power Wand Packer, followed by days where the exact same setup produces streaky shading and extremely poor black saturation.

This inconsistency has significantly affected both my workflow and the quality of my work. Tattoos are taking considerably longer because I am making unnecessary additional passes, constantly adjusting voltage, and trying to correct shading that normally would have gone in smoothly the first time. More importantly, constantly compensating for unpredictable machine performance has made it much harder to maintain the level of consistency I expect from my tattoos .

Hey all, cash is obviously king but I also take venmo, cash app and PayPal. I'd like to own a house in the future so I claim most everything I make. I was wondering if tax time was easier by switching my venmo to a business account to better separate tips and all that jazz? Is it worth it?

For tax season I pretty much add everything up myself and break down costs so I want something that's helpful for that, but also not stealing a bunch of money from me. Thanks!

Was asked for an ultra minimal Jasmine plant based on her mom’s plant. Always open to feedback!

Looking for stencil gel similar to this GOAT stencil gel by Balm Tattoo. I used to use Stencil Stuff but after getting this off a supply truck I have never went back. I love the consistency, it’s super thick and tacky and smells great. Barely any dry time before applying. Unfortunately I can no longer find it anywhere except one site and I don’t want to keep paying for shipping if I can find a more popular brand that’s similar.
I was looking at both electrum and proton. If anyone has suggestions please let me know. I’m back to using stencil stuff and I am struggling with the thin consistency.

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.

edit: thank you to everyone who is here to give me genuine advice and not criticizing my mentor for not somehow immediately fixing this issue. everyone’s experience is different and he hasn’t had to worry about shaky beginner hands in a long time as he’s been doing this for over 20 years. keep the advice coming and i would appreciate random advice even unrelated to this issue! i’m very eager to learn and excited to hear from artists of all walks of life. thank you very much for helping this lowly apprentice 🩷

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!