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Hi there! I used to have problems with my lining. But as soon as I sprang for truly awesome equipment, my line work got 100 times better. It was like day and night. Speaking from merely personally experience, a good power supply is definitely needed. Try any eikon ems, they're great quality. As for needles/tubes... It can sometimes be difficult to asses the proper depth/curve in needle, ect... So converting over to cartridges eliminates all those variables. (Cartridges such as Cheyenne or ttech. I personally use ttech, and they're amazing. So convenient, and work wonderfully.) so I suggest looking into cartridges. For machines, I can also only speak from personally experience... And coils always worked decent for me once I got my good power supply (I use Mickey sharpz) ... But my coils don't seem to like the cartridges. I suggest getting a good, versatile rotary. Specifically, I love my hyper V3 stigma machine. It lines like a gem, is the best colour packer I own, and shades beautifully. If you have good equipment, it basically does all the work for you. Just gotta point n' shoot basically haha. Hope everything works out for you! And honestly, if you feel like you're not learning anything valuable from the person whose supposed to be teaching you.... Find someone else. Never undervalue the things you can learn by good, quality tattooers. I jumped shops 3 times before I was satisfied. Cheers and good luck!

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Hey Babyi,


There are a number of things that could prevent you from doing clean line work, although having nice equipment can help, it is not usually the main reason for poor linework. most experiences artist can still pull a clean ,line with a $2 ebay machine if they had to.

To quote a friend of mine, "amateurs worry about equipment, professional worry about money, but masters worry about light"

So rather than talk on and on, ill try to put it in point form as a list of things you should know and be aware of that could help with your line work.

-machine speed
-hand speed
-griping the tube too tight
-not stretching enough
-poorly set up needles in the tube
-machine out of tune
-riding the tube
-improper depth
-skin bounce
-cheap inks
-needle angle
-wrong needle for the job
-lining a thick stencil line with small needle groupings
-too much stop and starting and wiping because you can't see your needles.
-not know how to re enter a line after you left off
-vaseline, or using too much of it can interfere with ink flow
-poor instruction from your mentor
-not allowing the machine to do the work for you (causes you to grip too tight
-knowing when to stretch and not to stretch for different body parts
-losing your stencil and trying to free hand without enough experience
-poor lighting
-poor vision
-poor dexterity
-weak hand muscles
-not knowing how to adjust for different skin types
-trying to fix a line in one area without taking the entire line into account for line weight
-stopping your line in the middle of doing circles or curves, because you are afraid you might miss the mark, so you wipe to make sure, and then make the mistake by not knowing how to enter the line again
-stop and starts causing dots at each connection
-going too deep
-not going deep enough
-low blood sugar
-following the general areas of the stencil instead of a fixed area, "aim small miss small", what that means is, don't just line the stencil, but rather run your line one side of the line or the other, this will keep the precision cleaner than if you ignored the thickness of the stencil.this will also help you to not miss the mark when you re enter the line again.
-improper hand grip
-lack of confidence
-Not enough cowbell

when in doubt, Just add more cowbell man!!!

well, man, there is a few things for you to keep your mind on in the future. hope that helps.


take care,

Stephen Stacey

I would like to add on to what Superman said cause everything he said was spot on and correct me if I'm wrong Superman but I've found another good practice is pull your lines to you instead of pushing them away from you. Some people have told me to lock your wrist and pull with your shoulder, you get a more stable line. Another trick I was told is to look half an inch ahead of your needle so you know where the line is going. Something I did a lot when I was younger was practice tracing lines with either a ball point pen or a marker and treat it as if you were tattooing those lines. See how long you can pull the line with one pass. Grid paper is good for practicing tracing lines as well. I hope this was helpful in some way!

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great tips SeanR,



cheers


Stephen Stacey