It is important to practice your craft. Nothing helps you to do this more than tattoo practice skin will. I would go so far as to say that this is one of the pieces of equipment that is downright crucial to your success as a tattoo artist. Even at advanced levels!
The obvious use for tattoo practice skin is for beginners to work on it while they are learning. It beats the alternative of practicing on people before you are ready. This includes yourself! There is no excuse for creating bad tattoos. Especially when it can be prevented by something as simple as studying your art and perfecting it on tattoo practice skin. If you are not willing to do this, you have no business in the industry.
Another less often thought of use for tattoo practice skin is for professionals to hone their skill even more. Growth as an artist should never really stop. As soon as it does, you get stale and so does everything that you create. Therefore, professionals would also do well to use tattoo practice skin for trying out new ways of doing things the safe way.
Tattoo practice skin is very realistic. It is made of rubber and engineered to closely mimic the feel of real skin. It can and absolutely should be strapped to any part of your subject’s body. Which is the first tip for the beginner in its proper use. Don’t put your tattoo practice skin down on a flat surface like a table or counter when you use it. The entire point is to get used to the feel of drawing around the natural curves of the human body. This process should be as realistic as possible to get the most benefit out of it. Experts will know all this already, of course. So, consider the next few paragraphs a beginner’s guide to using tattoo practice skin the right way.
Get yourself a piece of tattoo practice skin that is the right size to cover the part of the body that you want to practice on. You can either buy several different sizes and shapes of tattoo practice skin in advance or just get something large enough for anything you may need to use it for, then cut it down to size for smaller projects.
Attach this piece of tattoo practice skin to the body part of your choice on your subject. Over the course of your training, you should be sure to use it on every conceivable part of the body. This way, there will never be anything that comes up that you don’t have some experience with when it’s time for you to start tattooing people.
The next thing that you will want to do is prepare your tattoo practice skin in the same way that you would when dealing with a real client. Everything should be as close to the real thing as possible. Go back and forth between putting an image on your tattoo practice skin with a stencil and drawing it freehand. Use a stencil as you normally would. For freehand designs, you can mark your tattoo practice skin with a ballpoint pen or marker.
Next, prepare your equipment. Your tattoo machine should be loaded with the same needles that you would normally use for the design that you have chosen to put on your tattoo practice skin. The same colors and brands of ink that you would use should also be employed. That’s right, there will be no using the cheap ink just because you are putting it on tattoo practice skin. I understand the idea of trying to cut some corners here, but you have to understand that the point is to duplicate everything. This includes the way that the particular ink looks and reacts with skin. So you need to use the same quality ink that you would if you were working with a client.
Once all this is prepared, the only thing that is left for you to do is to begin your tattoo. Just as you always would, complete the outline first, then work on the shading. Color it in after that. Use Vaseline to get rid of any excess ink on your tattoo practice skin while you work.
In closing, here are some things to remember about the finished product -
Although you will be able to replicate the real experience fairly closely by using tattoo practice skin, there are some differences between this and a live run. For one, the finished product will come out darker than a healed tattoo would normally be. So, when you are critiquing yourself, keep this in mind.
Also, you need to be aware of another difference that will come up when working with people. Real skin isn’t perfect. You will have to complete your tattoos around blemishes, moles, scars, and pimples that may affect the finished work.
And lastly, although I usually recommend that you never skimp on the tools that are required to practice your art, it is completely acceptable to turn over your piece of tattoo practice skin when you are done with it and use the other side as well.
Remember that to be great at anything requires a lot of time, dedication, and hard work. There are no shortcuts or substitutes for this. Put in constant effort with your tattoo practice skin and you will be rewarded in the end.
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