Tutorials
HOW TO TATTOO A STRAIGHT LINE
HOW TO TATTOO A STRAIGHT LINE
Line work is massively important and if it’s not done correctly it can completely ruin a tattoo. However, when done correctly and to a high standard it can make even the simplest of tattoo designs look super crisp and smooth. In this lesson I’m going to teach you everything you need to know as a beginner about how to tattoo straight lines. This is gonna completely ‘straighten out’ everything for anyone that has been confused watching countless videos on YouTube! So lets get to the learning. When Tattooing there are 5 key skills that we need to learn and practice, and I will explain each one in detail then walk you through the practice exercises, they are:
1. A to B in one motion and pre-practice.
2. Hand and machine positioning.
3. Entry and exit of skin.
4. Hand and machine speed.
5. Stretching.
A to B in one motion and pre-practice:
This is a really fundamental skill that all tattooists need to master. For this lesson we want to concentrate on achieving a line in one continuous hand motion.
What I mean by this is we put the needle into the skin at point A and then move to point B at a constant speed and also without stopping. Obviously later on some lines on tattoos are really long and the only way to do them is by stopping and starting because you either have to top your ink up or move your hands into a new position. We will cover all that later but for now we’re focusing on trying to do every line in a single smooth motion, starting at A and finishing at B. What do I mean by ‘prepractice’?
Well this is a really good method of knowing if the line is achievable in a single pass or not. Without actually putting the needle into the skin we can just mimic tattooing that line whilst hovering above it. Again we need to practice as if we we’re actually tattooing to first see if you can you draw the line from point A to point B without stopping or having to alter your hand position. I want you to do this before every line you do for the foreseeable future, even after years of tattooing I still find myself doing this before I commit to a line that I’m not 100% sure about.
Hand and machine position.
It is really important to master the correct way to hold and position your tattoo machine from the start.
Lets imagine we’re looking at a machine from the front and also the side. So in the front view we can have the machine upright, but we can also have the machine angled to either side, left or right (image 1).
Same with the side view (image 2), we can have the machine either upright or tilting forwards or backwards. So how does this affect the tattooing process? Let me explain: From the front view (image 3) we can see that the needle is directly upright and would go into the skin and deposit the ink into the second layer. Once the tattoo heals and the first layer of skin has renewed then we are left with the ink deposited directly underneath the point of entry. However when we tilt the machine to either side (image 4) its going to have the same entry point, however the ink is going to be deposited slightly to one side. This means that when the tattoo heals and the first layer of skin renews the deposited ink isn’t going to be directly under the entry point.
The same principle applies when we are looking at the machine from the side (image 5). When the machine is upright it’s going to deposit the ink directly under the entry point. If we tilt the machine backwards then the deposited ink will be in front of the entry point and the opposite for if we tilt the machine forward, the deposited ink would be behind the point of entry.
Now please don’t over think this for the time being. The main point is that you are aware of how the angle of the needle effects where the ink ends up. It can cause some problems but we can also use it to our advantage which we will look at later in the course. We have all seen tattoos out there where the lines don’t look fully straight or the line work looks thicker in some areas than others. This can be caused by the angle of the machine. Imagine tattooing a line, let’s say we have the machine at one angle as we start, however as we tattoo the line the angle changes from one side to another. Now the entry point of the needle is always perfectly on the line however the deposited ink is going to be slightly off depending on the angle of the machine. So when this line heals what you think its going to look perfectly straight, won’t be!
Entry and exit of the skin.
There is a good and a bad way to enter the skin!
So lets look at how to enter the skin. Imagine we just drive the needle straight into the skin and then carry out the line. If the needle is stays in the same spot for a while as we get to the correct depth tattooing ink will build up in this area (image 6). I am sure we have all seen tattoos with line work where there is a thicker dot at one or other end, almost like a ball at the end of the line. Granted it’s only a small difference and sometimes not even that noticeable, however as future amazing artists that’s not a bad habit we’re going to learn! So how should we enter and leave the skin to avoid these mistakes and therefore give ourselves the best possible chance of a great looking outcome? Well to start we’re going to minimise the angle of the machine so we are entering the skin as straight as possible. The rather than going straight in then moving along the line we are going to gradually start moving along the line as we go
to the correct depth, like a short curve rather than a blunt in then move (image 7). This will avoid the ink building up in one spot. And how do we leave the skin? Well in exactly the same way we entered it, with a smooth upward motion as we reach the end of the line. Bare in mind this is referring to how we tattoo solid bold lines. Later on we will be learning how to taper lines etc., but lets just keep things nice and simple for now.
HAND AND MACHINE SPEED
This is super super important and is something that when you fully understand we can use and manipulate to create lots of cool
affects and shading methods! It’s also a great thing to understand when you are trying to trouble shoot why something isn’t quite working as it should. When my lines aren’t nice and solid the first thing I would check is my hand and machine speed, then onto other key points like depth etc. So understanding this point initially will help you avoid making a lot of mistakes altogether but also help you understand and solve problems later down the line if they arise. First let’s take a look at machine speed. Lets say just as an example we had the machine running at 5 volts and tattooed a line from A to B (image 8). The time taken to do the line is 2 seconds and lets just say for instance at that speed our machine goes in and out of the skin 50 times. So if we speed up the machine to double then lets just for easy numbers say that with the machine now at 10 volts it now would enter and leave the skin 100 times every two seconds which means if we did the exact same line again then the needle would go in and out of the skin twice as much. Now let’s talk about hand speed. Our hand speed refers to how fast we actually move our hand. We know that if we slowed our hand speed by half and took 4 seconds to complete the same line then at 5 volts the needle would enter and leaves the skin twice as many times. Which would be the same as doubling the machine speed.
Bringing the two together When tattooing it’s really important that we consider both. When lining for example, we want to move our hand at a comfortable and consistent speed for each line we do, that speed will be unique to you. We then need the machine speed to be fast enough that it creates a solid line and not just a line of dots.
Lets say we’re doing that same line again with the machine set at 1 volt (image 9). Again we took 2 seconds to complete the line but the needle now only goes in and out of the skin 10 times within that 2 seconds. That isn’t going to create a solid line,
instead you would have a row of 10 dots with spaces between them. Understand that tattoo machines create tattoos by going in and out of the skin and pushing in ink, so to create a solid line we need those dots to be actually over lapping each other. Having the machine running too slow means we would end up getting dots with spaces between them, however, if the machine is running too fast it would be going in and out of the skin too many times in the same place and could potentially cause damage to the skin! The key is to find out find what works for you and your hand speed.
Later, we can use this knowledge and understanding to create some awesome effects, for example stipple shading, but we will get to that later in the course. Hopefully the hand and machine speed makes sense to you, don’t worry too much if you don’t get it yet, this is just the first lesson! Now you aware of it and as we progress through the course it will naturally start to make a lot more sense. There is one thing that I want you to fully understand. Obviously, every tattoo artist is different. We are all going to work at different speeds and hold the machine and move our hands in slightly different ways. Also were all going to be using different machines that run at different speeds. So now I hope you understand that when watching other artists and asking what voltage they are using to tattoo lines is a complete waste of time! I get asked this question all the time and it just shows a lack of fundamental understanding of how tattooing works. You need to find the correct hand and machine speed that suits your style of tattooing. Copying someone else’s setting will never work for you. I have a video on my YouTube showing exactly how to find the right speed for you. It’s actually a really simple process when you understand the principles we have just been through and how hand speed and machine speed work together.
Stretching
This is actually a really simple one to explain and understand but I’ll be honest with you. It’s the one that most beginners struggle with and I think I know why that is. Because it’s simple! Usually when something is so simple it’s seen as less important, however when it comes to tattooing the opposite is true! I’ll start by explaining what stretching does to the skin and then hopefully you will understand why it so important. Then I’ll go through some different methods of stretching and also make you aware of some bits of bad advice I have seen all over the internet that just simply aren’t true!
So what do you think the skin does when the needle hits then penetrates it? Well as the needle hits the skin it pushes it down and causes the skin to bounce. When the skin isn’t stretched it bounces more, and the bounce isn’t consistent which means the needle is going to be going to a different depth all the time. Sometimes the skin will move a lot and the needle will barely penetrate the skin, sometimes the skin can move less and the needle would penetrate more. Well, as artists we want everything to be as consistent as possible, how can we minimise the bounce? Imagine pushing your finger into a balloon, if the balloon isn’t blown up much it has a lot of movement because the surface isn’t stretched, however if we blow the balloon up more therefore stretching the surface it is a lot firmer and doesn’t allow as much bounce.
As with the balloon by stretching the skin we can reduce the bounce. There is a lot of misinformation out there on the internet. I have seen countless videos teaching how to ‘correctly stretch the skin’ even videos stating that they teach ‘the only way to stretch the skin’. Believe me it doesn’t matter how we do it as long as the skin is tight. The only aim of stretching the skin is to keep it nice and tight and prevent it from bouncing as much as possible to keep needle depth as consistent as we can.
I’ll go through some of the most common ways of stretching and then it’s up to you to try them all and see which you prefer. It also depends on the body part you’re tattooing and the space you have etc. And of course the biggest factor in all of this is how stretchy or tight the customers skin is in the first place.
4 point stretch
One of the most commonly used stretches is the 4 point stretch (image 10). Here we use both the stretching hand and the tattooing hand to preform the stretch. It’s called a 4 point stretch because we have 4 points of contact which are all pulling away from the area to be tattooed. We use the thumb and fingers of the stretching hand above and below and we also have the palms or side of both hands again both pulling away from the area being tattooed. This is a very reliable way of stretching but the only down side I find is because you’re using both hands to stretch it doesn’t allow a great deal of movement with the tattooing hand so you have to work on relatively small areas at a time.
3 point stretch
Next is the 3 point stretch (image 11) which is basically the same as the 4 point stretch however this time without using the palm of the tattooing hand which obviously brings it down to 3 points of contact. This is still a very good, strong stretch and because were no longer using the tattooing hand it allows a lot more freedom and range of motion with the machine.
full palm stretch
The full palm stretch (image 12) is actually one of my most used stretches, however it does require a little more room around the tattoo so not the best suited for small areas for example down near the wrist. So to preform this stretch we just place the full hand near the tattoo. I usually go below when I can but you can also go either side or even in some cases above the design. And then just with the entire hand pull away from the tattoo area. This is obviously only pulling the skin in one direction and could be classed as a weaker stretch however, as pulling the skin tight is the only goal, if we can pull the skin nice and tight in just one direction and the ink is going in nice and smooth then this stretch can be equally as good. One of the things I love about this stretch is that it obviously allows total freedom of the tattoo hand but I always rest my machine on my stretching hand and use it as a support. For me personally I find this really helps stabilise my hand and I find it really comfortable.
grasp
This stretch (image 13), if you can call it that, is more of a grasp and I have only ever used it on the upper arm. When I have been tattooing this area and struggling to get a good stretch with one of the other methods I end up doing this. So instead of stretching around the design I grab a large area of the skin at the back and grip it quite tight, this causes the skin at the front to tighten right up. Not something I use all the time but when it’s needed then obviously the option is there.
So what do I want you to take away from this section? Well as long as your getting the skin nice and tight and your in a comfortable and stable position while doing so, it doesn’t really matter what method you use. I have seen enough artists at work and each have there own ways of stretching, tight skin is all that’s important. Well I hope these key areas are starting to make sense. It may seem like a lot to take in just to tattoo a line and yes it can sometimes feel that way at the very beginning however trust me, it will all become second nature to you a lot faster than you think! Next we going to be putting all the concepts into practice and actually tattoo some straight lines. Well done for staying engaged, are we all ready to grab the machine and get some tattooing done?
practical lesson
So in the last section we covered the main focus areas we need to think about when tattooing a straight line. The reason this is so important is because you need to have at least a little bit of an understanding of these concepts prior to grabbing and machine.
Everything will make more sense with this foundation to build on. Remember, I have put this course together in a very particular way. I want you to learn how to tattoo in the fastest and most structured way possible. In a way that makes sense and builds skill upon skill in a progressive manner. For me to bring the best out in you in the shortest time possible I need just one thing from you: Please follow the lessons from day one in order right through to the end. Don’t skip lessons. I believe that when anything is broken down into small enough segments and repeated over and over that anyone can learn almost anything and master that skill in a much shorter time. That being said Rome wasn’t built in day, please don’t expect to get everything perfect the very first time you try, but do have a little faith in the system I have created. We all love that feeling when we sit back and look at something amazing we just created and you will be amazed at the level of tattooing you can reach in a few weeks.
As I mentioned in the introduction before we start the practical part of each lesson we will need to get our practice station, template and machine set up. There are videos on my YouTube channel that explain all of this step by step and I suggest you watch these to help you get everything ready in the correct way before we start. And remember, to get the stencils all you need to do is sign up to my 30 day course (for free!) and I will email them to you. In these initial lessons I’m using my Sol Nova Unlimited, with a 12 05 round liner and solid black Dynamic ink.
step 1
So the first thing I want us to do is a little drill that helps us be more aware of a few things. This drill will help us with: needle location, understanding exactly where the needle is going to hit the skin, needle control and needle depth. This is super easy to do and
great at building a muscle memory in the hand. So first get our machines loaded up with some ink and dab a little ointment onto the area your going to be tattooing. Then I want you to move the needle slowly towards the skin and stop as soon as you feel that you have made contact or we can see a small pool of ink on the mat, then instantly pull back. The needle just touches the skin and enters the first layer (image 14).
now I want you to do exactly the same thing however this time when we feel or see the little pool of ink were going to go just a slight bit deeper and then again stop and come back out. We can then give that a little dab or wipe and make sure the ink has stayed in. If it has then great we know we’re at the correct depth (image 15). We will keep repeating this, leaving small spaces between the dots, and following the stencil. Keep going over this until you have completed a full row of lines. If you still don’t feel very confident at it then feel free to keep repeating this until it feels more natural however a row is usually enough. Remember this is all new so don’t expect to feel like you have been doing it for years after just a few minutes, lets keep our expectations of ourselves realistic.
step 2
So now were ready to start doing some lines! Remember our 5 key skills form part 1? It’s really important to be thinking about these all the time. Lets just very quickly recap, this time with the machine in your hand:
1. A to B in one motion and practice. Practise doing the line without actually putting the machine into the skin, this confirms we have the full range of motion and are in a comfortable position.
2. Hand and machine positioning. Remember that the angle of the machine will change where the ink will be deposited under the skin.
3. Entry and exit of skin. Let’s make sure were not stabbing into or out of the skin but instead using the gradual and smooth start and finish to the lines.
4. Hand and machine speed. Remember they both work side by side, we need to be tattooing at a comfortable hand speed so make sure the machine is adjusted accordingly.
5. Stretching. Finally, always be aware that we would be stretching the skin. I’ll admit it’s hard to replicate on the mats but as long as you keep it in mind then that’s great.
So lets do our first line together, load up with ink, then were going to be aware of the stretching hand, make sure were in a comfortable position, do a practise run from A to B as many times as you feel you need. Go towards the skin and wait for that pool of ink, go slightly deeper and smoothly start the line, keep consistent and then smoothly come out of the skin at the end. It’s as easy as that! (image 16)
ease don’t start stressing if your lines aren’t perfect straight away. Were not looking for perfection at this point, however we are looking for improvement over time. Keep going to complete the rest of the stencil and remember, it can help at the beginning to say each step of what you are doing out loud. Be sure to really take your time and do it right, under no circumstance do you want to be rushing any part of this.
Getting the basics right from the start is actually a lot harder than it seems, but it’s really important to ensure you don’t develop bad habits. I have seen too many lessons on YouTube that jump straight in to tattooing a design. In my opinion this is bullshit and not how we should be learning. When you’re tattooing a design, which we will of course get to soon, it’s easy to hide mistakes or at least they don’t stand out as much, because there are other things going on in the design.
Look at the lines we have just done if there are any mistakes we can see them straight away. We can then try to make them better the next time, and every line you do will be an improvement on the last. Learning with my method we drill each area of tattooing and focus on one thing at a time, only then will we bring everything together, no cutting corners and no rushing. You will thank me in a few weeks I am sure!
Well done!
You have made it to the end of the first lesson.
Now, to the few of you that will have done that perfect first time, congratulations! To the majority of you that found it difficult to get straight lines and were a bit wobbly or inconsistent, don’t worry. It sounds super simple to do a straight line doesn’t it, when in actual fact it’s one of the hardest things to do in tattooing, and something that even artists with years and years of experience dread coming up against. The main thing in these first few days and weeks is that you maintain focus and concentration, so please don’t get worked up if it’s not right straight away. Take a little break and come back to it. Make sure it’s enjoyable while your doing it. Take plenty of breaks, grab yourself a right nice cup o’ Yorkshire tea – it works wonders! And trust me, the progress will come.
