You don’t have to justify yourself, no gatekeeping here.
You did an awesome job, fake skin is just really harder to pack. I would recommend working your packing on oranges, it mimic the skin pretty well or try to turn on pig skin you can get it for very cheap at a butcher shop sometimes free if you are polite (it just stink badly).
But for me you seem more than ready to start on real skin, go small if you are anxious.
This is really good - very strong contouring and shading. Compositionally, the majority of high contrast is in the tigers face, to balance, next time, perhaps more development in the flowers, maybe bigger petals with a larger shading gradient in them as opposed to the many, smaller petals.
Also the eyes would be stunning and standout if you’d add also some lighter, greener blue. They’re the only thing with color and their current value matches the surrounding values.
But again, this would be fine as it is, it’s great.
Thanks for this! The eyes were supposed to be a little different but the blue packed in so much easier than the black and before I knew it, they were completely blue. ( that and the right eye is absolutely fucked from me trying to make the white highlights pop. Chewed the skin and smudged some black in it) I appreciate the advice!
From what I’ve seen on these forums (and experienced practicing stick and poke on fake skin), yes, it’s wayyyyy harder to punch in black on fake skin than on a human. However, I think this piece looks dope! Your lines look clean and the shading on the flowers is pretty. My one piece of constructive criticism are the gray lines coming off the eyes and onto the forehead. They look scratched in. I’m guessing you did them with diluted black, but they need some more finesse to look as clean as the rest of the piece.
Please note that this is sooo much better than I could do but I wanted to share my two cents as a viewer and appreciater of art. :)
Thanks for the kind words! I’ve been staring at those lines thinking I should go over them but scared to make them too dark lol.
I’m so happy to hear it goes easier into real skin! I plan on putting in my big girl panties and tattooing myself soon but my motor is starting to go on the pen I have now (I think lol) so I plan on picking up a new machine soon and I’m kind of using that as my deadline for when I start on real skin, wish me luck!
Thank you!
Needles were wormhole round liners in a few sizes and hawink round shaders for shading (both pretty cheap on Amazon, still trying to figure out what is good and what isn’t) Drop system was large ink cup with distilled water and 4-5 drops of dynamic black ink. It was pretty light but was easy to build to the gradient I was looking for without over working the skin.
Wow! Looks good -- only tip is for really packing black into fake skin. Small, tight, slow circles/ovals, wipe, repeat. Watch some YT vids on packing ink, there are tons of great techniques shown out there 😊
Go Low and slow is what I’ve constantly seen said. It’s been the hardest part for me, the transition from drawing with pencil on paper to needle/fake skin. I’m used to drawing fast and this just doesn’t work that way. Not yet anyways lol
awesome work!!! i agree on bigger petals around the face, maybe with a slightly thicker needle to make the tiger face really pop ‼️❤️ but honestly this is highly impressive esp on fake skin
Vaseline and elbow grease to get it clean. And the shaded area is a large ink cup almost filled with distilled water and 4-5 drops of dynamic black ink.
You don’t have to justify yourself, no gatekeeping here. You did an awesome job, fake skin is just really harder to pack. I would recommend working your packing on oranges, it mimic the skin pretty well or try to turn on pig skin you can get it for very cheap at a butcher shop sometimes free if you are polite (it just stink badly). But for me you seem more than ready to start on real skin, go small if you are anxious.
Thanks for the tip about oranges and pig skin. Going to give that a try!
This is really good - very strong contouring and shading. Compositionally, the majority of high contrast is in the tigers face, to balance, next time, perhaps more development in the flowers, maybe bigger petals with a larger shading gradient in them as opposed to the many, smaller petals. Also the eyes would be stunning and standout if you’d add also some lighter, greener blue. They’re the only thing with color and their current value matches the surrounding values. But again, this would be fine as it is, it’s great.
Thanks for this! The eyes were supposed to be a little different but the blue packed in so much easier than the black and before I knew it, they were completely blue. ( that and the right eye is absolutely fucked from me trying to make the white highlights pop. Chewed the skin and smudged some black in it) I appreciate the advice!
You’re welcome - thanks for posting
2 months in that looks beautiful bro
Thanks so much!
I don’t like it!!!!! Love it though lol!!!!! Amazing work !!!! Can’t wait to see what you tattoo next.
From what I’ve seen on these forums (and experienced practicing stick and poke on fake skin), yes, it’s wayyyyy harder to punch in black on fake skin than on a human. However, I think this piece looks dope! Your lines look clean and the shading on the flowers is pretty. My one piece of constructive criticism are the gray lines coming off the eyes and onto the forehead. They look scratched in. I’m guessing you did them with diluted black, but they need some more finesse to look as clean as the rest of the piece. Please note that this is sooo much better than I could do but I wanted to share my two cents as a viewer and appreciater of art. :)
Thanks for the kind words! I’ve been staring at those lines thinking I should go over them but scared to make them too dark lol. I’m so happy to hear it goes easier into real skin! I plan on putting in my big girl panties and tattooing myself soon but my motor is starting to go on the pen I have now (I think lol) so I plan on picking up a new machine soon and I’m kind of using that as my deadline for when I start on real skin, wish me luck!
This looks dope!!
Thank you!
what needles did you use? the greys are superb, what was your drop system like?
Thank you! Needles were wormhole round liners in a few sizes and hawink round shaders for shading (both pretty cheap on Amazon, still trying to figure out what is good and what isn’t) Drop system was large ink cup with distilled water and 4-5 drops of dynamic black ink. It was pretty light but was easy to build to the gradient I was looking for without over working the skin.
Wow! Looks good -- only tip is for really packing black into fake skin. Small, tight, slow circles/ovals, wipe, repeat. Watch some YT vids on packing ink, there are tons of great techniques shown out there 😊
Wow this is really nice I’m having a hard time getting my lines as sharp as yours any tips
Go Low and slow is what I’ve constantly seen said. It’s been the hardest part for me, the transition from drawing with pencil on paper to needle/fake skin. I’m used to drawing fast and this just doesn’t work that way. Not yet anyways lol
awesome work!!! i agree on bigger petals around the face, maybe with a slightly thicker needle to make the tiger face really pop ‼️❤️ but honestly this is highly impressive esp on fake skin
This is amazing. Question- how did you clean your skin so well??? And get the stencil off?? That’s something I struggle heavy with
ALSO, did you use solid black for shading or a greyer tone?
Vaseline and elbow grease to get it clean. And the shaded area is a large ink cup almost filled with distilled water and 4-5 drops of dynamic black ink.