Tattoo Forum with Gallery: ask your tattoo questions, upload your own tattoo pictures or rate and comment other member’s tattoos!

heathmalc · Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:24 pm Post subject: What needles to use when

I have only done 5 tattoos (all but one on myself - one on my brother to cover up a horrid tat). The 5th one is just an outline right now:

I am almost exclusively interested in portraits & Biomech type tattoos (anything that requires extreme detail), and have used only a single liner and 3RL thus far.

However, later I will undoubtedly be faced with larger pieces that require the use of larger needle groupings.

One of the things that I am pretty ignorant on thus far is what needles to use when. For instance, I have never even used a magnum or flat. I don't want to use one unless I am sure of it's purpose and that I am using it correctly.

There are a few local tattooists, but most have learned what little they know by trial and error, and are not the type of tattooists I'd go to if I wanted someone to do a large (or even small) piece on me.

I don't want people to think of me that way when I open my shop in April, so I would like any advice/assistance that anyone has to offer on this subject.

Thank you,

Heath

moondog · Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:37 pm Post subject:

nice work there!. afaik mags you need to work real fast for the larger ones?. my chest piece i have coloured in dark bars with a 5rs ans even a 3rs. am not sure if that helps any. but others here will chime i. and sometimes youtube has good tutorial type videos, as long as you can weed out the so-so ones, good luck man.

heathmalc · Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:04 pm Post subject:

[quote="moondog"]nice work there!. afaik mags you need to work real fast for the larger ones?. my chest piece i have coloured in dark bars with a 5rs ans even a 3rs. am not sure if that helps any. but others here will chime i. and sometimes youtube has good tutorial type videos, as long as you can weed out the so-so ones, good luck man.[/quote]

[b]TY for the info[/b], and [b][i]thanks for the [u]compliment!!![/u][/i][/b]

I am usually my own worst critic, so I try to do as well as I can everytime...especially on tats!!! Wink

Today (About 1 hour ago), I just finished some more outlining and a little filling-in. This was the second session, and I used a 1RL for everything....although I did try a 7rS, but it kept dropping puddles on me, so I quickly went back to a 1RL.

I got three pretty decent pics of the tat-update:

I will continue to update the tattoo as I complete it. I think that I will probably leave it alone for about 5 days or so before I do anymore.

Let me know what you guys/gals think... give me the good & the bad!

Thanks,

Heath

moondog · Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 3:35 pm Post subject:

damn fine work. with a mag from my experience you want tight fast circles. and for shading a nice whipping effect against the rubber band. thats allot of solid black for the needles your using. on my pieces i use a 5rs for solid coloring. but others with far more know how, will chime in. but top notch work there.

wow, forgot to mention. for myself i wait about two weeks before working on a one piece, is five days enough time?.

also mags again are hard, but you get allot less holidays which i am painstakingly learning about; holidays are the small areas tattoo artists sometimes miss. you'll know em to see em. but that is damn great work you have done. must be great to also have a wife to help. youre a lucky man Wink

good to have support.

for others to see it just copy and paste the links he gave into your browser hope that helps Very Happy

heathmalc · Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:27 pm Post subject:

[quote="moondog"]damn fine work. with a mag from my experience you want tight fast circles. and for shading a nice whipping effect against the rubber band. thats allot of solid black for the needles your using. on my pieces i use a 5rs for solid coloring. but others with far more know how, will chime in. but top notch work there.

wow, forgot to mention. for myself i wait about two weeks before working on a one piece, is five days enough time?.

also mags again are hard, but you get allot less holidays which i am painstakingly learning about; holidays are the small areas tattoo artists sometimes miss. you'll know em to see em. but that is damn great work you have done. must be great to also have a wife to help. youre a lucky man Wink

good to have support.

for others to see it just copy and paste the links he gave into your browser hope that helps Very Happy

[/quote]

Thanks for the compliments, I really appreciate it. I have seen some of the lines that need fixed later though.

Also: Thanks for the info on "Mags" , that will help a lot!!!! I tried a 7flat but I couldn't get the ink resevoire to work right. Does it work different than when you use rounds? I know the tips are only half-tips, so I was thinking maybe there way a different way to hold the ink (continuous dipping?).

As for my wife... yes, she is awesome! She was just talking about maybe moving to a larger populated area so I could have a better chance with my business. How awesome is that?

I'm not sure if 5 days is enough time or not. I did the 2nd session after about 2 weeks (I think), but I could have done more work about a week ago, but didn't have time until yesterday.

Anywho... I have a cover-up I want to do on the other side of that arm, so I'll do that outline instead.

Also: one of my friend's girlfriends was over today, and she has a few tattoos. She wants a sleeve done, and I told her I'd do it for $100 (That's what I figure the cost to be). So she was going through all my drawings, and picked out a few. I'll re-draw a couple of them so everything fits together, and then I'll keep the forum updated on how it turns out.

Heath

paullwrt · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 3:35 am Post subject:

Most of your questions can be answered at the website posted below.

Be Scary

Paul

moondog · Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:49 pm Post subject:

awesome links. tyvm Very Happy

Aussie_Al · Tattoo lover Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Posts: 51 Location: NYC

Some nice work there brother! Very Happy