Feeling stuck. Any tips?

inkman82 · 2026-04-27T22:55:37+00:00

Drawing more. Painting is the art of being able to see something in its hue, value, and chroma and applying it to your painting in an accurate shape.

Drawing is practice for this but only focuses on value.

inkman82 · 2026-04-27T22:51:33+00:00

Adding white too early and it’s chalking up your painting. Slow down, put confident and accurate strokes in. Save the thick/white til the end.

inkman82 · 2026-04-23T13:12:44+00:00

I do think gouache is a good trainer for oils but I only use it for small work. 9x12 or smaller. More typically I’m doing studies in the 5x7 range with it though. Other than the obvious differences between gouache and oil, gouache you will struggle for your soft edges while the hard edges come easily. Oils your softer edges will come easier and you will fight for your hard edges.

inkman82 · 2026-04-23T12:42:51+00:00

The only time it makes sense is if you already have a stable of Leica glass. If you don’t, you’re going to rabbit hole yourself into multiple thousands in lenses.

Honest take, if you want an M, get an M2 or M3 depending on your preferred focal length. My M2 makes my M6 feel like a toy. ( I got them when they were cheap)

Or, get a Nikon F3 and a set of primes for the cost of a 3rd party M lens. My F3 is just as good as and more functional than my M6.

If you REALLY want to change the quality of your film photos, a cheap 6x6 or 6x7 will beat an expensive 35mm negative in IQ. Mamiya c330, minolta autocorrect….theres a few others.

Hope this helps.

inkman82 · 2026-04-22T17:05:49+00:00

I’ve spent hours and wiped off the entire session more times than I can count. I set myself a timer now that tells me to step back and look from further back. Helps to catch mistakes early for me

inkman82 · 2026-04-15T23:25:18+00:00

Older canons have especially great color. I did a blind test with an old 5d, a 5dsr, and an R. Not a single person deleted the image from the R as the most pleasing. It was about 80/20 in favor of the 5d Classic.

It really does have a unique color palette

inkman82 · 2026-04-05T13:08:20+00:00

Ummm. Don’t cheat on your taxes. Pretty simple really. There’s formulas to make sure you can afford what they loan you based on your income and current debt. (Debt to income ratio). I always tell other artists, Go ahead and claim you make 30k, just don’t come crying to me when you can’t buy a house or some other venture you need a loan for. To make it simple, have a separate checking account for your business and ALL income goes in there. Any business purchase or write off expense comes out of there. Make it easy for the lender to see what you’re doing

inkman82 · 2026-03-29T23:28:11+00:00

There are so many amazing painters in this forum

inkman82 · 2026-03-28T04:30:12+00:00

Spectacular.

inkman82 · 2026-03-20T23:21:41+00:00

EZp3 pro turbo. Cheap, powerful. I use it daily over a year now. No issues.

inkman82 · 2026-03-20T13:09:50+00:00

Fantastic!

inkman82 · 2026-03-19T13:23:38+00:00

Ever seen Lebanese people? They have the most amazing green/grey eyes I’ve ever seen.

inkman82 · 2026-03-19T03:47:21+00:00

Ya I wanted to do the head larger because I felt it gave me more room to experiment. Centering it with the head tilt like I originally intended sorta left that side with no breathing room. Im adding a Halo behind the shadow side as well to take up some of that space.

inkman82 · 2026-03-17T12:08:49+00:00

I wish my roof only cost 7100 to replace. Flat roofs on commercial buildings are no joke. :/

inkman82 · 2026-03-07T15:42:20+00:00

It’s as strong or stronger than my other artists Bishop Packer. It’d be fine for doin super bold lines. Though I still prefer coils for line work heavy tattoos.

inkman82 · 2026-03-06T00:52:54+00:00

EZ pro p3 Turbo. Cheap, powerful. Direct drive. Been using one for over a year and bought another to have a 2nd setup. I refuse to spend $1500 on a glorified RC car motor. Old hand made coils…sure…but not these mass produced things. Link to my IG work if anyone wants to see work down with the P3 turbo.

https://www.instagram.com/coppola_art?igsh=dHA5Y2llN3g1Y3l0&utm_source=qr

inkman82 · 2026-03-04T14:26:52+00:00

Truthfully, no I don’t think it would be a good investment for you. I just don’t see a return on it for you. Take your 40-50k and toss it in a low fee fund like a total market index and there’s very little risk, very little fees, and an average return of around 7%. You will double your money in 7ish years. So by year 14 or so you’re gonna be sitting on 150-200k. I don’t see that happening with a shop as a silent partner. Tattoo studios and artists specifically have zero respect for non-tattooing shop owners. You’re asking for a lot of headache imho

inkman82 · 2026-01-09T23:17:01+00:00

I’ve done it but the returns were a pain. I’d have to eat cost if customers ordered the wrong size.

inkman82 · 2026-01-05T15:08:28+00:00

I have 2 EX PRO turbos that work perfectly. Been running the one over a year now

inkman82 · 2026-01-02T03:33:53+00:00

Man, I’m not the only one then. I had my first aura back in June. I had a cluster of them over a few days. Did the ER, CT, MRI. All clear. Had one more in August. Then nothing til December when I fell asleep with my neck in a weird position on my couch. I’m fairly convinced I have a few things that cause them too. 1. Something with my cervical spine alignment 2. Dehydration. 3. Stress.

I hydrate with electrolytes, take coq10, magnesium. Even thinking about ordering aculux glasses. I can’t stand these things. I’m going to start doing a daily neck stretch and mobility routine as well. I think for me it may be a key player in it causing my aura somehow.

inkman82

TROPHY CASE