NEED A LITTLE HELP IF YOU DONT MIND

I HAVE BEEN PRACTICING TATTOOING FOR A WHILE NOW I AM A GREAT ARTIST AND DECIDED TO TAKE MY ARTWORK FROM PAPER TO SKIN BUT I HAVE NEVER TOUCHED HUMAN SKIN YET I HAVE ONLY BEEN USING PRACTICE SKIN AND RIGHT NOW I AM CURRENTLY LOOKING AT A FEW PARLORS TO APRENTICE ME BUT UNTILL I DO CAN ANYONE GIVE ME A FEW TIPS ON TUNING THE MACHINE IF SO THAT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED THANKS.

The best possible way to do it is Tattoo yourself. then maybe get some guinea pigs. That's how I started. Take pics and make yourself a portfolio. I'm sure there's shops out there that would hire you.

Ummm...no. Don't listen to the last guy. I'm not an artist so I can't assist you with the machine tuning, but definitely DO NOT do what the a-hole before me posted. Get your apprenticeship.

the hint I give time and time again is put together a set of flash . a set of 5 or 10 sheets colored w/outline put it together professionaly. not just a scetch pad incomplete style . have them printed up and hit the bricks. that will get you in the door .

two nuggets of wisdom for you: 1) get an apprenticeship BEFORE you start on real skin, the world needs less scratchers 2) turn caps lock off

Some people will tell you to practice on your self and some will tell you to practice on skin I will tell you how I started 24 years ago and please by no way do this. I believed to be a very good artist on paper so I one time watched a guy do a tattoo and believed it to be very easy,( see he made it look very easy) but to a person that has been in the industry what they do for a long time of course it looks easy. I went and order a tattoo equipment not knowing a bit on how to tattoo started tattooing myself and at that time I believed it to be the shit wow was I impressed with my work I started scaring people that wanted a tattoo and did not wanted to pay the price of a shop so I did tattoo to all my victims yes victims until one day somebody told me to go for a tattoo job in a studio. Well I went and applied for that position and when I gave him some of my polaroids and some of my drawings he looked at me and wanted to tell me if I was joking but he seen that I was for real and he sat me down and told me all my mistakes lines too thick some too thin some lines to light well I looked at all his work and compared it to mine and shit he was right I asked him would you please help me to be a good tattoo artist and stop scaring people he told me come tomorrow and please leave your tattoo equipment at home you are not going to need it for a while. That troubled me and I was so upset and I did not want to go next day b/c he told me to leave my equipment home. Well next day I was there and when he took a look at me he told me I knew you was going to be here. He also asked me: how hard was it to leave your equipment home? I told him I wanted to bring it and I asked him when can I tattoo my first client he told me not yet trust me not yet first you will have to learn all the how to run the studio clean the studio organize the studio trace a perfect stencil draw a perfect flash for your client make that presentation one of a kind b/c if the client does not like the drawing that you make for them they are not getting it done by you. You have to captivate what they tell you in words and put it in a illustration on paper. Look for an apprenticeship learn all that he or she have to offer practice day and night and please don't leave your first job yet until you are in the door and have a steady clientell. Thanks god that I had Captain Lou take me under his wing may God bless his soul I will always love this man that I learn to love like a father he is and will always be part of my soul and heart b/c of his patience with me and hard and strict descipline I am who I am now I love my profession. My recomendation to you is go make your self a portfolio of all your work but please don't go to a tattoo studio with some unfinished work please make sure that you have your drawings all in separate categories. one thing that turns me off when a person comes to my studio to apply for a position is when their work is not clean finished or not clear enough to see or understand.

Got this from an artist on a forum, enjoy the knowledge it seems to work Hook up the machine to the power supply unloaded. 1) Back out the contact until it is no longer touching the front spring. Now, hit the pedal and nothing should happen. 2) Keep your foot on the pedal and slowly turn the contact until it just barley touches the front spring and the machine starts. it should be very faint and you really don't hear the A bar hitting the front coil, 3) STOP. , Tighten down the contact. now slowly turn up the power supply until the a bar JUST starts hitting the front coil. It shouldn’t be that much. It makes a distinctive sound from when it’s not to when it does, pay close attention. When the a-bar just starts to hit the front coil stop. 4) Somewhere around here is the voltage the coils want to run at. 5) Now lets fine-tune it. With the machine still set up like this, turn down the power supply a little and loosen the contact screw again. 6) Slowly turn it clockwise while holding the machine eye level with the front of the machine facing you. (The A bar nipple should be pointing straight at you)(I found it was easier to see with the nipple pointing to the left). Now as you turn the contact keep your eye on the front spring. You should see 3 images fluttering that looks like 3 separate springs. 7) Slowly keep turning the contact until these 3 spring images are all equally spaced. Fluorescent lighting works best for this and you can really see the spring action I am talking about. Also tilting the machine up to the light at different angles may help you to see this as well. 8) Once you get all three spring images equally spaced, lock her down and then the machine is tuned to where it wants to run with the voltage the coils want to run at for that particular machine. 9) I tried to describe this as best as I can ……

I would recommend you put your machine down. Before you even attempt to hit the footswitch, lay out great work on paper. Practice as much as you can, you can start over on paper but you can't on the skin. Walk to a shop with a strong portfolio and show the artist that you can be an important asset to their team if they train you. No one wants to train a kid that saw a few episodes of Miami ink and thinks he can do it too. Show your real talent. Tattooing is an art form that involves a "surgical" procedure. By no means tattooing should be compared to standard drawing/ painting. Get an apprenticeship, get informed first. There are tons of great machines out there, don't waste your money on knock offs and below average gear. Let your mentor orientate you on the right path. You will save a headache or two and your clients and tattooing will appreciate it.

DO NOT TATTOO A PERSON OR YOURSELF Instead take your so called great work to a shop, in a portfolio of course, and be ready to get turned down. PUT THE MACHINE DOWN. don't worry about tuning it. dont even worry about lookin at it for a while. itll end up hurting you in the end, because you'll have a reputation as a scratcher, and you can tell people dont like scratchers. heres a good rule, if you dont understand the machine dont use it.