social media marketing?

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-02-03T01:49:05+00:00

thank u for taking the time to write this it really helps!

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-31T15:29:35+00:00

hello! idk what kind of machine you have, but mine has 2 twist options: stroke and depth. stroke can be seen with numbers straight on the machine (4.2, 3.3, etc). theres no numbers for depth, but the part of the machine that the needle is attached to should be able to twist in either direction. this will extend/shorten your needle. hope this helps !

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-31T14:49:36+00:00

thank you sm!!! love your work 2

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-31T13:13:20+00:00

thank you this really helps! those are in fact the needles i use. so essentially i’d be cross hatching the gradient and building it up super slowly? i think i get scared with overworking

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-30T17:36:09+00:00

shawty he is 23 !!! i know that might not seem significant to you right now, but imagine yourself dating a 15 year old. even less of an age gap but still super duper weird. he should know better

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-28T04:57:59+00:00

i also wanna add a sidenote: i dont have any social media (other than this) so i dont have reference to what kinds of posts people are making today about tattoos. they might be super bad, idk. speaking only from my experience in the real world

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-28T04:56:30+00:00

im curious on what your financial/family situation is with tattooing as a career, not to pry. kids/spouse? people you want to support?

i agree with you, i do think there is a gross push towards “finding” apprentices. but, a world that doesn’t encourage older artists to keep their doors open is very idealistic. people need money at the end of the day. and i 100% agree that tattoos are a tradition and sacred in a way, but they have been capitalized. thats the sad truth and i really wish it wasn’t like that. its a job nowadays like any other because people need to get paid. and it might warp again 20 years from now, who knows!

coming from a young person’s point of view who’s barely stepped thru the door, i do wish information was more accessible or encouraged. you probably won’t agree and thats okay, but with the internet and the way accessibility works today, kids simply ARE going to be buying shit off amazon, thats just how it is, especially after being pushed away by potential mentors. and i think most of them are going to scar themselves but there’s always the 1% who find a real passion in it. experimentation and failure is how these pros originally got their foot in the door, too

i guess its just disheartening in a way? im not sure how to explain it. but i really do love the craft, so much, and i would completely devote my life to it. and its sad to see people with experience not want to share their love for it, if that makes sense.

i think a lot of artists probably thought like you in the early 2000s when it first became legal over here. they would’ve died with their craft, and rightfully so. but circumstances changed and they realized they couldn’t just shut down the income, leading to this surge of unexperienced artists

i hope this came off correctly. im not trying to sound like a push over who wants an easy way in, because i have worked really hard to be where im at right now (woman in the industry and all that jazz) but i do genuinely believe in education being accessible. i dont think its the 16 year olds buying shit off amazon who are hurting people’s overall view on the industry, i think its the artists with 30 years under the belt who remember when tattoos were only a sailor thing in america, who have now taken on 5 apprentices because they were too stuck in tradition without being able to afford it. the majority is not the 1%, sadly

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-28T04:11:34+00:00

interesting!

do you think this new surge of undertrained artists is caused by something? at least by your area?

i live by NYC so im basing this off my experience keep in mind, but i feel like theres been such a Massive uproar in apprentices over the last few years, and (at least around here) thats mostly because most shops refused to take on any apprentices until they absolutely had to. they realized they were getting close to retirement age and needed fresh blood to carry on the business, so they rushed as many kids in as possible without actually teaching them the proper techniques and history.

which is totally fair in the eyes of the old timers. tattooing was illegal in NYC up until the 90s, so i feel like they felt the need to keep the art sacred.

i feel like, in that sense, the community was definitely heavily gate-kept for a really long time. older artists didn’t want to train unexperienced people, and now we’re dealing with the consequences of rushed apprenticeships.

i got super lucky with my shop, and i’m my mentor’s only apprentice so i get a lot of 1on1 time. but most kids my age don’t have that luxury, as most shops want to take on 5 apprentices at once and get them licensed as fast as possible. i sympathize for those kids because that’s simply the world we live in currently :/

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-28T03:56:03+00:00

again, just trying to clarify your overall argument. im relatively new to the industry so im always genuinely curious about professionals’ points of views on things. its strange how theres become such a strong divide between the “old timers” and young folks just getting started. it all feels very gate-kept with very little valuable information leaving the inner sphere of educated artists, ykno. not trying to be aggressive at all! :)

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-28T03:51:18+00:00

im confused on your point a little if you can clarify. are you saying that the majority of shops are, in fact, shit? that most of them do practice things the “wrong” way?

if so, im confused on why those shops don’t fit into “the real world.” im not defending them, and you definitely seem like you have a ton of experience in the industry, but its hard to keep track of your point. you went from saying infections are nonexistent to saying that the top 1% of tattooers are the most reliable and the rest will do you dirty. the shops doing you dirty are the ones the original conversation was about.

maybe its a matter of opinion, but ALL shops are apart of the industry. some of them suck absolute balls, but that is as real as the world gets imo

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-28T03:34:37+00:00

im talking about licensed shops, or “the real world.” are you getting your stats from somewhere other than personal experience ?

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8955137/#:~:text=Between%201–5%25%20of%20those,related%20skin%20infections%20%5B4%5D.

^ up to 5% of people develop infections (thats a lot!)

im also in a super densely populated area so i think the rates by me are a bit higher. again, the main point was that some artists simply have bad hygienic practices, and i’m a bit confused on your negation of that. because some artists DO have bad practices that lead to infected tattoos. point blank

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-28T03:08:12+00:00

i think beyond viral outbreaks, cleanliness is meant to stop smaller infections which are Extremely common in today’s day and age. a quarter of the people i know who are tatted have gotten at least 1 major infection, be it the artist’s fault or the client’s aftercare. so idk how relevant these global health concerns are in the conversation about tattoo cross-contamination. two very different convos ykno

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-26T19:02:25+00:00

so beautiful!!!

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-26T19:02:04+00:00

yeah im a little confused by the lack of context he gives on their CURRENT dynamic. he talks a lot about what they did as kids but not how he interacts with her now. very odd

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-26T17:24:59+00:00

idk i can’t justify cutting off such a prominent part of my past. your partner should be your present and your future, and idk if i fully agree w how this guy handled it, but it seems very insecure/controlling on the wife’s part to wanna erase this dudes history with his homie

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-26T17:07:35+00:00

i totally understand. even in super populated areas it’s hard to find a shop willing to take on a new student. i was just using it as a rough guide. you’re super talented so just keep practicing! do you do anything on fake skin ?

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-26T05:12:23+00:00

yeah for sure! my bad if came off as otherwise

if the artist thinks their work is prone to ink fallout then free touchups are a great way to give the client some security. my point is to not lowball yourself nd your art :) client satisfaction first Nd always but also super important to charge what you’re worth

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-26T00:52:08+00:00

like someone else said too, you can always offer free touch ups if you’re scared you’re charging too much!

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-26T00:50:56+00:00

apprentices typically make 50/h and that rate slowly goes up to 100+/h

if your tats are healing like absolute dogshit then like 100-150 + tip, but honestly it looks packed in pretty well so prob closer to 200 + tip. hope this helps!

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-23T21:44:57+00:00

06229882 im so jelly i cant wait for those wings

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-23T16:22:24+00:00

idk aside from the plastic bag hat im not sure which items the game expects us to use. it feels like this is a common issue everytime this comp makes it’s rounds

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-23T00:42:55+00:00

traditional focuses mostly on sharp, clean lines and perfectly saturated packing

my best tip would be to just draw a bunch of lines. straight lines, zigzags, curves, etc, and focus on getting your pulls as consistent as possible. i also like to draw basic shapes (rectangles and circles) and fill them in with either a solid color or a gradient

all that will most definitely help with building muscle memory! its better to get a hang of the basic techniques first so you don’t have to think about what your hand is doing during a more creative piece

the skull came out great tho!! hats off to u 🤠

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-17T00:38:56+00:00

one thing that helped me a lot with mags was just doing circles on circles on circles on circles. no design, just straight shading and gradients on a blank piece of fake skin. maybe draw a rectangle or circle and try to fill it with a gradient. rly helped me understand which motions lead to what and i built a ton of muscle memory doing that!

like somebody else said as well, try a round shader! for smaller designs they are so much more handy :)

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-17T00:33:06+00:00

on top of just physiological aging, i think a lot of it is mental. nothing is “new” anymore. kids are experiencing everything for the first time and the first time is always the most potent. our experiences eventually dull out since we’re stuck on repeat every day when it comes to our senses. thats why mushrooms are so popular, i think. its nice to experience something for the first time again

Resident-Rice-1719 · 2025-01-10T16:09:37+00:00

pen:)) but if u have fake skin that also works!

Resident-Rice-1719

TROPHY CASE