I began my tattoo training mid 2018 after getting preliminary training from a local artist who tattooed a Bob Marley portrait on my leg. From there I traveled to London and California to learn from passionate and talented tattoo artists David Vega and Thomas Carli Jarlier. I augmented this hands on learning through many online workshops and courses such as Daniel Silva’s Tattoo University and Oscar Akermo’s Tattoo Mastery to name a few.

Hungry to understand how to tattoo skin effectively,  I decided to tattoo myself extensively, blacking out 3/4’s of my legs after lining and shading them with small designs. It wasn’t easy and I had to go through the experience of healed skin with hard thick scabs, ink fallout, shaky lines and the self inflicted pain of needle on skin. Over time though I began to understand proper needle depth, needle angle and hand speed.

I would tattoo myself and then wait to see how it looked healed, taking notes and reflecting on my execution. My break through came when I employed the whip shading technique which requires you to press more aggressively on the skin without sinking the needle. I was shocked that even though I pressed hard on the skin, it healed perfectly with a wafer thin flaking of the epidermis. I had found the correct needle depth and is was determined based on feel as with whip shading the dermis bounces off the needle creating vibrational feedback. The notion that the needle needs to stick out a certain length for proper needle depth was not the answer. It’s all about feel!

A further benefit of tattooing myself was my touch as I sought ways to limit the pain and skin damage while still achieving quality ink saturation. This was achieved through my tattoo machine setup. Most tattoo machines come ready made with limited customization options but I found a machine that was highly customizable with over 30 possible variations. This allowed me to fine tune my machine to be one that hits soft but firm. This particular setup I believe makes the machine absorb the impact energy which reduces the pain while also giving me greater control through hand pressure and hand speed.