Black and Gray equiptment?

Can anyone (who is worthy) recomend the best equipment for black and gray scale portrait/ photorealizim? And no I cant ask my Master. I am a self tought artist and aspire to work in a shop but I am far to experenced to take on an apprenticeship, I just want to start doing portraits and work on my portfolio. And build up my client base. My line work is flawless and my color tattoos are rich and brilliant. I'm at the point now where my equiptment is holding me back. My work is much better than most of the local artists, and the ones who are good are hard to contact. I've investen in good ink (sugested by Bob Tyrell) and I'm looking to upgrade my equipment, the machine I use is a cheepie but I tuned it to perfection for lining, but it won't push any thing bigger than 13 rounds and 7 mags. I don't have a truck load to spend but I'm definitly willing to spent what it takes. Altho I'm confident that the ink I have is good, I'm open to any and all advise. There is a local tattoo supply and they have just about everything from 40$ to 600$ machines and also used ones. Alot of there used machines are custom made/ hand crafted or have no name. So what I really need help with is defining the construction af a good shadder, and what else I can look for in a quality machine. Also the types of shader needles that work the best. I'm also looking to upgrade my power supply. And for those who want to tell me to get an apprenticeship, I have to say that there is no one in my area that I could REALLY learn from. I dont want to squander my tallent by learning from some one who is half the artist that I am. I started Tattooing a few years ago and have fucked up 0 tattoos! I, unlike many others have a natural tallent, did my reasearch before touching a needle to skin and invested in all the nessesary sterilization eqipment . And had an excelent understanding of mechanicis and proper sterilization. With that being sayed THANK YOU for any one who can see through all the bullshit and help out a true artist.

get the book drawing portaits from photographs and the authors name escapes me damm if i can remember.female author artist. very good material to assist any artist.hammond thats the name hammond. as far as the machine tunning and such youve spoken pretty boldly im sure you can figure it out. get the book from lee hamond.i can tell ya the machine problem but im not. best of luck. also im not being a ass or secret keeper or any rash shit. your post like i said is pretty full of confidence. show us some of your work

www.myspace.com/whiteboy52386

Amazing safe black and grey with this one.

I stopped reading at "...but I am far to experenced to take on an apprenticeship". Then I looked at your myspace. Oh, jeez, you're more delusional then I imagined. If you can't see the short-comings in your work, you will never improve. And you are nowhere near ready for portraits.

Apparently you didn't look through my entire portfolio, beacuse if you did you would realize that I have alwready done a few portraits thanks to a little advise from Bob Tyrell himself. My myspace potfolio shows the progression from the verry first tattoo I did to a few of the portraits i recently completed.

I have also looked at your portfolio It's hard for me to fathem that an artist at your skill level could be giving me advise on anything. Question my "stort cummings" and comment on somthing they never read or examend fully. Also in the begining of my statment I noted that ( any one who is worthey) to please comment. I'm not trying to be a d**k but you should really do some reasearce before you start putting some one down. Maby if we would have started of on a better note I would have been more inclient to give you a few lessons in drawing portraits. YOURS... Mine...

Um, I would never say that I am too experienced to learn. That was my only point. I know my shit stinks and would never claim otherwise. But I continue to learn. A self taught tattooer (yes, that includes me) will ALWAYS benefit from an in-shop, hands on apprenticeship. To say otherwise is arrogant. And no artist worth a shit would do a side by side comparison and say "HAHA, I'm better than you" The work you've posted (and the rest of the work on my site) is before any formal art training - which I am focusing on now. I'm not above learning and I don't pretend to be superior by comparing my art to people less talented. You dope.

And I did see that portrait. I just wasn't impressed.

First I would like to say that I am sorry for being so defencive. But I put my heart and soul into every piece that I create so I can get very defencive when it comes to my work. I wasn't saying that I have nothing to learn, only that my experience level is not at the Apprentice level. I know that I would learn a lot working in a shop and hopefully will be in the next few weeks. But as a tattoo artist not an apprentice. And as far as comparing goes, That was exactly what I was trying to prove. I don't know shit about you or your work so I shouldn't really say anything about it until I do. And again I'm truly sorry for lashing out like that, I've been reading these forums for a while now and saw how some of these people treat "scratchers". But I'm not a scratcher that's what I was trying to get through in my original message. I'm not a "kitchen magician" I have my own studio, and have spent an ample amount of money on proper sterilization equipment and supplies. And I don't do cheep tattoos ether, My clients don't come to my because I'm cheep they come because they like my work, In Fact my prices are often higher than the shops in my area. Rock on Gina.

no to be a ass or start any shit. just so this is not read wrong. 1 throing bobs name around like you are wether its true or not can be quite insulting to not only him but others.lot of us would say well since bob is helping you WTF you here for. humbleness should be taken.as far as apprentice get one. forget all you have learned and take the info from the RELIABLE shop and put that forth,and you will take what you have stored in your brain from your experince and be able to put it to good use.i see potential in your work but you need guidance machine tunning shading techniques and so much more. spending money on sterilatsion is fine and a good start.now work on respect being humble and such.ive been inking for some time and still cosider myself learning and going through a advanced apprenticeship with my master.

sleeve in progress cpl more settings.9 hours in it so far

wtf is this? it's a shitty pic contest? all the "art" in this thread is amateurish crap. i hope i didn't just step on anyones tender feelings. but i don't see any potential in any of you.

go FUCK YOURSELF NOZ! when a artist of 30 fucking years sees potetinal in my work and belivs in someone then you speak your fucking mouth wheres your fucking work to back up your fuking trash ass mouth mother fucker. my pics simply do not do these pieces justice post some of your shit .or shut your fuckin mouth.

im not a photogopher

Yeah, who ever that is a dumb ass. Or blind. Not bad work by the way, I've never done anything that big, I try to stick to the portrait/photorealism stuff. This is somthing I just finished.

Mean Jean, No worries, man, art and passion go together. I know how you feel. I'm sure you do know more than a "virgin" apprentice and you don't need to relearn what you already know. Although think of it this way. If you go into a shop as an apprentice and they see you're a quick learner or already know your stuff, it will go much more quickly than with a complete newbie. Take that time to learn what you don't yet know. These are just my feelings but I'd rather be in that position than having the owner assume I "know it all" and then fumbling with certain things. That's just me though... There's a saying that goes something like "If you think you're too classy to fly coach then your not good enough to fly first class."

didn't mean to make you cry, erlich, but your tattoos suck. your mentor must also be a shitty artist. post this garbage on inkednation and see what they think of your crap.

like i said asshole post your pics or shut the fuck up by the way i have posted before on inked nation the most concited site there is lot of self centered assholes hide ya schmuck show your work. all my work has been approved when i did post on inked nation you suffer from what we call god ego.like i said 30 year master of tattoo is what i work along side with don nolan got him started.

my mastes art

good advise gina sort of what i was trying to say and nice spider mean e mail me with your machine tr5obles i may be able to help

erlich, your work is garbage. if my tattoos are the best the universe has ever seen, yours will still be garbage. if my work looks like smashed assholes and peanut butter, yours will still be garbage. your master does half nice work, too bad he's wasting his time on a no talent twat like you. you must be blowing him.

like i said dickweed post some of your work ya maggot.no pics from you sre showing you what a true coward you are.and i refuse to argue with a walking abortion reject

i'm about to further humiliate you, stay tuned.

since when did you ever concive you humilated me in the first place? looser

i pointed out your obvious ineptitude. and you have self humiliated by your poor spelling, your poor artwork, as well as your deluded visions of grandeur.

is that the best you can do? wheres your work? or are you a faker hiding behnd a key board? you have proven nothing.except you are a false scratcher wannabe.put up or go home.

cute, but your tattoos still suck. doesn't seem to be any way to change the facts, does it?

I requeste all of you to stop fighting like kids and respect eachother as artists and behave urself coz ur attitude will reflect on ur brain and so in ur machines so u get the point cleared b positive n ink positive....no sweat no fights plzzzzzz....work shared is to get appriciated or corrected not to land up in arguments so take it easy n polite (tattoo artists) atikk hardcore studios

no real argument on my half.he simply stole my pics from here and has attempted te defamation of character admited to stealing and telling me to sue him. this is a professional? wheres his work? prove his point.i guess he decides to hide and make himself feel good by doing such. but to go as far as stealing peoples work is just ignorance and nothing more.he is really not worth the time to argue over either.

erlich, you as a stupid as anyone i've ever seen. i haven't proved my point?? my point is that your tattoos are rudimentary garbage. you proved this yourself. quit being an idiot.

hahahaha LMAO, nozzy - what a fucking nob.