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This video promises to be very useful and informative.
Complete step-by-step guide for tattoo artists from basics to clients, covering supplies, safety, techniques, style, branding, and content creation.
Key Takeaways
- Tattooing requires strict safety and hygiene to protect both artist and client.
- Choosing the right supplies and understanding needle types is crucial for quality work and budget management.
- Developing a unique style and strong branding helps artists stand out in a competitive market.
- Consistent practice and learning beyond short social media clips are necessary for mastery.
- Good client communication and professional conduct are essential for building a loyal client base.
What the video covers
- Introduction to tattooing for beginners and experienced artists aiming to improve and get booked solid.
- Overview of six key sections: basics, technique, style, branding, content, and clients.
- Detailed explanation of tattoo supplies including inks, needles, transfer gels, and ink caps with cost-saving tips.
- Safety protocols to prevent infection and cross-contamination during tattoo sessions in studios or at home.
- In-depth discussion on needle types, configurations, diameters, and tapers to help choose the right equipment.
- Advice on how to practice techniques, create content, and develop a personal style to stand out in the market.
- Guidance on studio setup, client interaction, and maintaining hygiene standards for repeat business.
- Encouragement to avoid common beginner mistakes and follow a structured learning path with provided resources.
- Information on how to access a free PDF pack containing supplies list, content ideas, and step-by-step guidance.
- Tips on branding and running a successful Instagram to attract and retain tattoo clients.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Overview
- 04:31Tattoo Supplies and Cost Management
- 09:16Needle Types, Sizes, and Configurations
- 13:40Safety and Hygiene Protocols
- 18:23Tattoo Techniques and Practice Tips
- 22:54Developing Style and Branding
- 26:41Content Creation and Social Media
- 31:15Client Interaction and Professionalism
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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Hey, everyone. This video is a tour through tattooing.
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In this video, I will explain what you need to do if you're a beginner planning to enter the niche, and what
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you should do if you're already a working tattoo artist who wants to level up your skills, get booked solid, and just be a higher-level guy.
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As always, I’ll try to do this without any unnecessary fluff. I’ll explain professional info in the simplest
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language possible. I’ll break everything down without the ego or any, well, boring nonsense.
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So grab some tea, pour yourself some coffee, get some cookies, and enjoy this video. It’s going to be very useful.
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This video will consist of six main sections that
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you will actually need. That’s basics, technique, style, branding, content, and clients. But first, I’ll say who I even am and why I’m sitting here rambling to you.
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"Yeah, your hands are all black, get out of here." "Loser jerk."
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I entered the industry five or six years ago, and I started solo. Yes, that’s exactly why my hands are black, because I learned from start to finish on myself. I went through this entire journey from a total zero who
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made all sorts of crap, to confidently cool work, to developing my own style, to opening a studio, and to training the most students in our city.
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Seventeen people in total. And yes, this isn't even all the fake skin. I gave away a good amount of this skin to my students, so I know what I’m talking about.
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Well, if we go back a bit, this is what I started with. Oh,
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please, take that away. And this is what I’m tattooing now. I have gone through this entire long journey with my own two hands. And honestly, I’ll say it was incredibly difficult. And I don’t advise anyone to do it that way.
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That is exactly why I am sitting here to tell you how, for God's sake, you shouldn't do it. I’ll show you the shortest path and everything you need to know and apply. And voilà. Done.
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Let’s go. And we’ll start it all off with the basics. The basics of tattooing is directly how a session goes in a studio or at home, about safety, so as not to infect the client in any way, because we work with blood.
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Tattooing is not just academic drawing, not just art class where we come in, draw cute kittens, and it’s all done.
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No, here we are invading an organism, we start wrestling with it, the client bleeds, and all that kind of stuff. To avoid any crap, today I’ll show you how to keep yourself and our beloved client safe, and I’ll also talk about
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supplies, what you need to start with, and what you can't do without. I'll say right away that there is just too much stuff in the tattoo industry. If you buy every configuration of needles by the pack, this and that, paper of this
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kind and that kind, inks of this type and that type, you simply won't have enough money. Nobody would have enough money. And I’m telling you: nobody would have enough money. That is exactly why I explain everything as simply, clearly, and understandably as
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possible. I also tell you what you need to buy and what you don't need to buy.
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And I've also prepared a whole big pack of supplies for you. I’ve gathered everything you’ll need. I’ve also left links. You can simply follow the ready-made links and order everything you’ll need. Besides the full pack of supplies, I’ve put together a
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step-by-step guide in text format for you—where to start, which techniques are best to practice, what content to create, and added some other cool stuff too. So be sure to watch this video to the end, and I’ll tell you how to get
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a very useful PDF file and start working with confidence. And this time I'll do without any prompts. That’s it, now it’s time to explain the supplies. This time we'll manage without any prompts. The devilish machines will take a look sometimes. So,
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what do we have for supplies today? As I said, the base is understanding a tattoo artist's supplies, session safety, and how to prevent cross-contamination and similar crap, so that people keep coming back to you without complaints. And I’ll talk
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about the format of working in a studio and at home. Alright, let’s start with the supplies. This is ink, there's a whole bunch of them, but this is just regular black, by the way. Yes, there are three types of them. There’s one
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for lining, one for solid filling, for blackwork, things like that. And there’s the regular universal one. I have the regular universal Allegory Black here. We have transfer gel. This is the stuff that helps us transfer sketches onto human skin. By the way,
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here’s a useful fact. If you are just learning on fake skin, well, on something like this, yeah, you can replace transfer gel with regular Old Spice or similar gels we use on our underarms. It’s basically the same base, only many times cheaper, and it
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transfers even better. So you don’t have to buy this crap for 10-15 bucks. You can take Old Spice, smear it on the fake skin, apply the stencil, and voilà, your design is ready. But before we move on to stencils, let me
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finish telling you what else we have. These are ink caps. They come in different sizes: S, M, L. They differ in size. As you've already figured out, these things are needed for us to pour ink into. That's it. These are
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disposable ink caps. These are needles, and there's a whole bunch of them here. As I said, in this video I will tell you what is best to buy, because there are so many needles that I think even an Arab sheikh couldn't buy all the
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needle configurations that currently exist. Needles come in different types. Configurations: RL, RS, RM1. By the way, yes, I'll remind you that by watching the video to the end, I'll explain how to get a PDF pack that will have
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everything: supplies, content ideas, where to start, the right path for an artist, and all of this for free. Make sure to subscribe and like the video.
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That's all, let's move on. So, there are four types of needles, but actually there are more now. The basic ones are RL, RS, RM1. RL are needles soldered in a bundle so we can do outlines.
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Outlines are strips, lines, and all sorts of details directly related to this needle. This also includes shading—a technique where shadows are represented as dots, meaning lots and lots of dots that create a textured shadow. And yes, I really want to share
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a lot because I love making useful content, both in a free format and for training. I'm not trying to hide anything from you or leave things unsaid, because I am all for helping people and for people to progress and
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make cool stuff. And in general, I think that's what it's all about. And needles don't just have RL, RS, RM, and M1 configurations. They also have a diameter. This is the thickness of each individual needle. Meaning, in each
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cartridge like this one, there is a specific number of needles. It is usually indicated by this second number. Here we have RL. Sorry, I know you can't see it, but I'm just explaining.
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We have RL. RL configuration 05 is the number of needles in the grouping. Well, inside this plastic piece. And we also have the number 10. So 10 is the diameter. There are three types of diameters—well, actually more— but
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again, the three basics are 08, 10, and 12. Where 08 is 0.25 mm in thickness for each individual needle. 10 is 0.30 mm, and 12 is 0.35 mm. So, going back, if we buy a whole bunch of every
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configuration, size, diameter, and needle count, we won't have enough money. Also, needles come in different tapers: long, medium, and short taper—LT, MT, ST. So, there’s just so much information, and the point is, if you want to learn this profession from
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scratch just by watching Reels—even my useful ones—they’re only 40 or 60 seconds, maybe two minutes at most, and it’s impossible to cover everything. Even though I talk really fast, I planned to make a thirty or forty-minute video, and not even
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super-duper useful, but again, I can’t do that; I want to tell you about everything. And if you really want to learn tattooing from scratch to getting cool results, of co
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fancy setup here with a bunch of cameras and guys with teleprompters, like you're watching some sort of TV show. No, this isn't a TV series or a movie—this is reality, where I talk to you in this simple language to
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provide you with a lot of value and usefulness, so that you think: "Damn, he's a cool guy, I should hang out with him, subscribe, and see more info." Let's go back. My favorite phrase. We had RL needles, where the needles are
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soldered into a bundle. Moving on. I don't have RS needles; I don't use them . RS are the same round liners as RLs.
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Only in RL, the needles are soldered into a bundle, while in RS, they stand parallel, and if you look from above, they are soldered in a circle, whereas an RL is a cone that forms a point. So, we need RS for solid color packing, for
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outlines, and for shading. Basically, they are just less traumatic. Again, I want to tell you so much, but I realize that if I start talking, the video will go on for at least four hours, so let's just forget about all that. RS are the
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same as liners, but they are less traumatic and allow you to do shading and coloring. But I don't use them, and I'll tell you in a bit what is better to buy. Then we have the Round Magnum.
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The Round Magnum is a kind of shovel, consisting of two rows. That is, if you look from above, it has a bottom row with slightly more needles and a top row. If you look from the side, it's shaped like a shovel. It is created for
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solid color packing and shading. Similar to this needle, there is another needle. That's the Magnum, the oldest, default needle intended for solid color packing. The difference between them is that the Magnum has just a square shape, while the Round
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Magnum has a shovel shape, meaning it isn't pointed at the edges. And that sharpness is what really traumatizes our skin. It's an outdated needle, and it seems like masters don't use it anymore. At the very least, I don't use
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it. And in my training, I've also trashed this needle many times. But if there are people who know this needle well and do everything with it, you can , of course, say that Round Magnums are crap and the M1 is top-tier. So,
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briefly, we've covered four types of needles: RL, RS, RM, and M1. And I'd also like you to notice how often I repeat information. I mean, I've already mentioned RL for the fifth time , right? And that is the unique thing
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about how I explain things. I don't just talk about a needle or a technique and then forget about it. No, I like to explain things so that you don't forget anything along the way. And if you do forget, you’ll be able to remember it
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all. We’ll set the needles aside for now, but I’ll tell you what’s best to buy. So, it would be cool if you took notes. Personally, my students and I use RLs and RMs. RL stands for Round Liner for outlines. RM is a Round
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Magnum for solid color packing and shading. Write this down. RLs are 3, 5, and 9, and Round Magnums are 7, 15, and 17. The 3 RL is for fine details, hair, shading, and other small stuff or lettering. The 5 is a universal needle
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that works for almost everything. And the 9 is really for thick outlines. But even I don't use the 9. I personally only use the 3 and the 5. My students use the 3, 5, and 9 so they can
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distinguish between fine, medium, and thick lines in their work. As for the RMs, there's 7, 15, and 17, where the 7 is for filling and shading small areas, the 15 for larger ones, and the 17 is my go-to needle for shadows. For very
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soft shadows. There. Again, I'll tell you how to get the equipment pack. It includes all the links to the best sets , or rather, not sets, but needles, inks, and all the equipment. Moving on.
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This is soap to be diluted in this thing. And this thing is called a spray bottle. It’s just some plastic container with a nozzle. A spray bottle is soap plus filtered water. You mix it all up. And we need this to wipe the
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person's skin during a session. We're working with ink, making a mess, so we use the spray bottle to squirt it, wipe it with a tissue, and it's all clean. A little preface. If you're working on fake skin, and for those guys who
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already know how to tattoo but are still practicing on synthetic skin, you won't need this thing on fake skin. It just doesn't wipe the dirt off synthetic skin well. So this stuff is for humans. For synthetic skin, we use
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something else. I'll tell you, just wait. Did you get the soap part? By the way, this is a concentrated antibacterial soap that also soothes the skin. If you're not swimming in money, you can replace it with any other liquid soap. Let's move on. This
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is foam like this. Same spray bottle, but with more soap and less water. In short, a stronger concentrate. And it can also be used for videos. You shake it, press it, and you get this foam.
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Fine, I'll do it just for the video. That's it. This is the kind of foam you end up with. Again, we wipe with it, and I don't know, the client enjoys the pleasant scent and it looks high-end.
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You won't need it on practice skin. Moving on. Colored inks. We had black-and-grey ink and color ink.
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There’s a whole bunch of them. This is for those who work with color. Captain Obvious. Thanks for sharing such an interesting fact. Personally, I don't really work with color. I sometimes use pink just to frame my stylized tattoo and make it look more
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high-contrast. Now, about tattoo machines. Tattoo machines. There are so many of them out there now. And a big misconception is that—if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to wipe up this bird poop. Alright, I'm back. And I also grabbed some wipes and Vaseline.
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So. A big misconception is that people think you need to buy expensive American tattoo machines or something with wires to be a "real" artist. Well, that's all total nonsense. Honestly, China is making really cool stuff right now, both tattoo machines and cars. You
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can get a really great machine for a relatively low price. For example, this machine from the brand Must. It costs around 200 dollars. It hits really well . It has a lot of functions and features. Yeah, it’s not exactly a "
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wow" high-end device, but it’s still a really cool machine. And again, in the PDF, I’ve left links to a whole bunch of tattoo machines. Choose one that fits your budget. On average, my students buy machines between 100 and
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200 dollars, or even less. Like, for 90 bucks you can get a good machine that works just fine. Yes, if you truly want to level up your skill, work with clients, and make good money, then it’s better to get a pricier machine.
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Personally, I’ve been using my VGX machine for about two and a half years. It’s very cool. I bought it for about 300 bucks back in the day. It also has a bunch of features, but it is a bit of
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an older model now. And, in principle, it's about time to get a new one. But a 300-dollar machine is more than enough for a couple of years to do great work without complaints. So don't overthink it, thinking that you need to buy a
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machine for 500 or 1,000 dollars before you can start. You don't. Leave that to the suckers who never end up starting.
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Simply because they’re afraid. We aren't afraid here. Moving on. This is grip tape. We need grip tape to wrap our tattoo machines. We wrap our machines not just with grip tape, but also with stretch wrap or cling film—
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call it whatever you want. And in addition, something like this. This is barrier protection. Barrier protection is necessary to keep the machine clean and ensure, so to speak, a single-use setup. Meaning, before each session, we protect everything. I’ll talk about
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this a bit later when I cover safety. So, in short, this is barrier protection, and this is bandage wrap.
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You will need both of these. But then again, if your funds are limited, these can be replaced with stretch film or cling wrap. Although, damn it, they’re the same thing. This stuff prevents the machine from slipping in your hand during the session and also
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absorbs some of the vibration. Basically, if you wrap your machine only in stretch film or just this tape, it will just slide around, and you won’t get any decent results. Moving on. Vaseline. And petroleum jelly. Yes.
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Not so you can call up your old ex-friend. No, we need the Vaseline specifically for the work. Let me briefly explain why it’s needed. We need Vaseline so that during the process, whether on practice skin or a person, the line we’re drawing or the
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shading we’re doing—before we interact with that area, we lightly dab it with Vaseline. Just a tiny bit. You don't need a lot. Dabbed it with Vaseline, and now we can work comfortably. What does this give us?
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First, the needle moves across the skin a bit better. Yes, that’s a fact. It moves just a little bit smoother. And most importantly, the ink flowing from the needle tip stays directly on the Vaseline. If we don’t use Vaseline,
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as soon as we touch the needle to the skin—synthetic or human—the ink will bleed out, and we won’t see a thing. So, this magic stuff allows us to keep the ink in one place, so the work doesn't get too messy and we can
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actually see what we’re doing. And the last thing we have left is a tattoo printer and tattoo paper. What is this for? This is so we can print our designs directly. We aren't working from our heads, we aren't just moving
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the machine around aimlessly. No, we need a sketch. A sketch can be printed, created, or made in two ways. This is the first, most awesome, and practical method. Though it does require a certain amount of money. That is to buy
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a tattoo printer. There are a whole bunch of them on the market. For instance, this is mine, and this is my girlfriend's. I bought mine about four years ago for over 200 bucks. Now they cost 80 to 100 dollars. So, in short,
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that’s the tattoo printer. And you will also need special transfer paper for them. Transfer paper is this kind of thin paper where our design will actually be, and it has this blue layer on it. It transfers our designs, prints
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our designs, and this thing here does the printing, of course. And there are two types of paper. There is paper for manual transfer, it’s thick; you print a design on A4 paper, put it on this sheet—it's thick, mind you—and
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you manually trace every line. By the way, all of this is in my training course. And we trace all of it. This is the old method, from back when these things didn't exist and everything had to be transferred by hand. So, it's a
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long process. And if you have a design like this, for example, you'll spend at least an hour or an hour and a half tracing every line. I remind you, this is transfer paper, basically carbon paper. So, you draw on it, and on the
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other side, you get an exact imprint that you will then transfer. So, to avoid dealing with regular printers and regular paper, or running around looking for things, people invented these thermal printers that are very convenient and require different paper.
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It’s what they call universal paper, or paper for machine transfer. It’s thin and is just right for feeding into this printer. And, basically, the printer prints the design onto this paper for you. That’s it, basically, that’s the thing. Printers currently
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cost around 100 bucks. Give or take, and all that. And let's briefly go over the prices so the video is even more useful, in case you're planning on buying all this—and remember, the links will be in the PDF file I'll
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share once you watch this video to the end—I want to tell you now how much it all costs. So, if you have a notebook and a pen or just a notepad for notes, definitely write this down.
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A spray bottle costs about 5 dollars. As for Vaseline, if you're practicing on fake skin, you don't need tattoo-specific petroleum jelly. You can buy it at a pharmacy; it costs about 20 cents. This one costs around 10 cents. I'll probably put the prices
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here. Next is grip wrap. You'll definitely need to buy it. One roll costs 1 dollar. Buy at least five. At first, you can replace this with regular plastic wrap. But if you have extra money, you can buy grip wrap.
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Plastic wrap costs about 3 dollars. This thing costs about 10 dollars. You won't need soap for fake skin because we wipe everything off with Vaseline when using fake skin. Yes, I forgot to mention that. For synthetic skin, we
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only need petroleum jelly to wipe off our stencils. For human skin, you will definitely need a soap concentrate.
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Either specialized tattoo soap or regular soap. Tattoo soap costs around 8 dollars. Regular soap costs around, well, 2 dollars. Tattoo ink. Allegory is, in my opinion, the clearest, blackest ink, ranging from 30 to 240 ml . It’s the most optimal size, and
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it's also cheaper. In short, a large bottle costs 50 dollars or even 40 dollars. A small one costs around 15 dollars. Moving on. While you’re working on synthetic skin, you can replace transfer gel with All Spice.
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All Spice costs around 4 dollars. This stuff costs around 10 dollars. Foam isn't necessary on synthetic skin, nor on a person, but it can be used as a bonus. It costs around 5 dollars.
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Colored inks cost around 20 dollars per bottle. Needles—each pack costs from 10 to 25 dollars. There are 20 pieces in a pack. And if we buy 3, 5, 9 and 7, 15, 17, that adds up to six packs. And
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for starters, how much do you need? Well, 100 bucks will definitely cover your first needle packs and last you a long time. It’ll be enough, enough, enough. And ink caps, they cost about 4 dollars for 100 pieces. I hope I won't
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be lazy and will put the prices somewhere here. Ah, that leaves us with tattoo machines. Wait, I forgot about the printer. A reminder: a printer now costs around 80 to 100 dollars. Paper, 100 sheets, costs plus or minus 30
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dollars. 100 sheets. That's a hell of a lot. That is way too much. You can buy less. And machines cost from 80 to 200 dollars for decent ones. Of course, there are ones for 2,000 euros, but you definitely don't need that. That's it.
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And that's it, we’re finished talking about consumables. We won't go back to them anymore, otherwise I’ll be talking forever. Moving on. Next, I want to say a few words about the studio, about the place where you can work. Oh, by the way, this first-person
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shooting format is cool. Anyway, I'll just briefly show my studio, because I'm too lazy to film it separately.
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Plus, it feels like the video will be more lively and informative this way. Wow, what a cool effect. Anyway, I won't hide the mess I’ve made just to record one video. I’ve got something standing there. There's a mirror here,
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so I’m like, "Yo, I see myself, and like, I'm good." As for the studio, in 2026-2027, it’s obviously ideal to work in a tattoo studio, because if you work from home—come on, dragging people to your house—sure, you can do
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it. I personally started that way. I spent a year and a half working at home . It wasn't cool, of course, but what else could I do? Nowadays, in the tattoo profession, you can start at home. I’ll insert a video here from
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my training on how I set everything up at home, in a home environment. But if you have a choice, it’s better not to work from home. It’s better to go to a professional studio, rent a spot from someone where all the supplies are
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already there: lamps, safety equipment, armrests, and massage tables. Sorry, I know it's not visible, but I can't change this light, where there are massage tables and much more. So, it's definitely best to go to a studio and pay rent. By the way, if we're talking
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about the tattoo artist's journey from A to Z, it would be a sin not to mention all the hidden pitfalls of being a tattoo artist. And rent costs money too. In our Tashkent, in Uzbekistan, where I work, rent starts
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from 200 dollars a month and up. Well, on average it's 200 dollars. And you pay 200 dollars a month. You get the chance to work in a professional tattoo studio that has all the equipment from A to Z, where you can just come in
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without worrying, not having to buy printers or computers, where there's everything so your client can arrive in a chill atmosphere, sit down, and you don't have to stress about where to work. because this guy, yeah, this is really...I want to make a full-fledged
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video so everything is included. This guy here started out with a table back in the day. By the way, I only threw it out not that long ago. It was even in our studio purely as a keepsake. I
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started out back in the day with a regular table and a sofa. I had a folding sofa where I’d lay clients down to work on areas like the chest, back, and so on. And everything on the arms, I did directly on the table. It
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was very uncomfortable. It was basically the person sitting there, putting their arm like this, and I would work on them. It was just a total nightmare. Well, now I think it’s a nightmare because I’ve gotten used to good conditions, where you have
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comfortable armrests, massage tables, and so on. And so, if you are a tattoo artist just entering the industry in 2026-2027, you can choose two options.
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The first option is to work from home. for the home. By the way, in my PDF file, I included links to this equipment, the armrest, the safety supplies, the tattoo bed, and so on. I just forgot to add a link to this
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shelving unit. Well, I think you'll find it yourselves. Two ways: work from home, and you don't pay rent to anyone.
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But I don't know, if you enjoy bringing clients home, then why not do it? If you're worried that you have nowhere to take them, or your home isn't set up for it, or anything else, don't be lazy . Find a second job, for instance, if
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you don't have one, so you have a regular cash flow, so you can calmly focus on creativity and development, because tattoos really pay off very well. Tattooing is cool. You work for yourself, you don't have to get up
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early in the morning to go to an office or anywhere else. You work with pleasant clients in a chill atmosphere with friends. By the way, I'm recording a video today, and we're having a get-together with our team later. So
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yeah. That is, a huge plus of being a tattoo artist is that you are your own boss. You can come in at any time, take on any clients, and socialize with interesting people. By the way, that's how I met a huge number of people who
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have sometimes helped me out a lot. That’s really cool. I wanted to make a 30-40 minute video, but it’s turning into a two-hour one. But I think the delivery of this video will be interesting, informative, and you won't mind watching it through to the
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end. And whoever has watched at least up to this point, please write in the comments that, man, you didn't do this in vain. I'm watching this video and it's useful for me. I will be very grateful. I will make more useful
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videos, and it will just feel warm and pleasant in my heart. What? Let's move on. And next, we...now it's time to talk about safety. What is safety exactly? First and foremost, what we must do is understand that we have an
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individual approach for each new client . This means not only that we offer them some extra services, if you know what I mean. But I'm talking about the fact that before every client, before every session, we must prepare
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everything so that our session is as sterile as possible. So, what will we need if we are talking about an armrest and, for example, working on an arm; if a client comes to us with an arm, we need to seat them at this armrest so
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that the person sits down, places their arm, and we can start working. But we certainly cannot do that on an untreated surface like this. So, to start a session safely, we must first greet the client, have them sit down,
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and only then begin setting up and sanitizing our workspace in front of them. Because if we do it beforehand and something happens later, we won’t be able to prove that it was all prepared exclusively for them and that
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everything is new and disposable. That is why the client arrives, watches, and we do all of this right in front of them. So, what will we need to sanitize our workspace? Today, we will be using a holder and a storage rack. The rack
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is the shelf where our tools are kept directly. Today I won't be showing how to assemble everything. I will simply explain it. If you want more details, that is available in the training course. I show everything there. I
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won't have time today. So, today we will need wipes, stretch film, and Alaminol. What is that? Alaminol is a chemical, right? It is diluted Alaminol that we prepare for our sessions. It is a chemical that kills a great many
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things. It is essential to use this chemical before the session. So, it comes in these bottles where it is diluted according to specific criteria, meaning a certain amount of Alaminol and water. What do we do with it? We
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spray down the entire area we will be working with. That includes the holder; spray it, wipe it down. The rack; spray it from all sides, wipe it down. The ring lamp, which is standing over there . And you need to perform this
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sanitization twice. Once before applying the tattoo, that is, while we are preparing the station. And after we have finished working, we clean everything up, and again spray the holder, the rack, the lamp, and everything we worked with. A quick
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reminder for those who are currently working or are about to start. If you have clients one after another, matching tattoos, or anything like that , you must change everything after each client. Meaning, before the first client, you sprayed everything, wiped
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it down, wrapped it, worked with the client, cleaned up, sprayed it again, and prepared the space anew. So, it's not like we set up the station and then a stream of people comes through whom we work on. No, everything is
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individual for each person. We have finished with the Alaminol, we sprayed everything. Next comes stretch film or cling film, call it whatever you like.
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I recently came across a comment where a guy was seriously trying to explain to me that stretch film and cling film are different things. Well, whatever, screw it. So, now our task is to wrap the entire workspace with this film.
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That is, specifically the holder, the rack on all sides, every ink bottle we work with, the spray bottle, the tattoo machine, and everything else so that everything is maximally safe. Also wrap our desk lamp because we constantly turn it during the session. And if you
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are working with a reference from your phone and your phone is lying on your workstation, we also wrap the phone directly so that nothing ends up unbarriered. This process is called " barriering." There. That is, we barrier and protect everything we work with.
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Our artists even wrap their energy drinks. If they want to drink an energy drink from a straw during a session, they wrap the can, drink, and that’s it. I’ll say a little more about our safety standards. Specifically, we
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constantly change the gloves we wear during the session. By changing, I mean that if we worked with a client and then went to get a needle we were missing or to adjust something that isn't barriered or protected by stretch
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wrap, we take off our gloves, throw them away, go and get it, or touch something. Once done, we put on new ones and continue. You cannot walk around in work gloves, go to the bathroom, and touch this and that,
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because the chance of cross-contamination in that case is very, very high. Next, in terms of session safety, besides preparing the space, we definitely need alcohol. We spray the area we are working on with alcohol first, and only then do we
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perform all the processes of transferring the sketch and applying it directly. And now, the most critical thing we work with. We work directly on the client with the tattoo machine. And here, even if we barrier everything, blood, ink, and all sorts of things can
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get in. This part on the tattoo machine is called the grip. And we must always sterilize it without fail. There are two ways to do this. Either we constantly sterilize it for every client, or we buy disposable ones—yes
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, there are such disposable things that we screw onto the machine, work with, throw away, and that's it. If you have a reusable one, it means you will need to sterilize it. And how do you do that ? I’ll explain now. To begin with, we
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need an ultrasonic cleaner like this one, which contains a specific set of liquids. The liquid here is Aluminol.
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We plug it into the outlet, and the ultrasonic cleaning of our grip takes place. It takes about 15-20 minutes, and a certain stage of safety and sterilization is complete. Then we take the grip out of our cleaner, wipe it
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with a napkin, and place it in a craft bag like this one. This is called a craft bag. We put it in here and seal it. And then we move the packed grip to the next stage of sterilization. The
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next type of sterilization is called a dry heat oven. There are a ton of dry heat sterilizers out there, from simple ones to some ultra-complicated models.
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Yeah, in my case, it's just a regular, simple dry heat sterilizer. In terms of time and how it works, it has a fixed temperature of around 200 ° C. All we have to do is just turn the timer dial
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so it bakes for a certain amount of time. So, it's basically just an oven for our grip. We put our grip in a craft paper pouch and place it directly into the sterilizer for 40–60 minutes . That's it; it heats up, runs, and the
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sterilization process is complete. Then you can take it out, let it cool down for a bit, and only then assemble your machine. So, let’s summarize the safety stuff, because I've said quite a lot here. You will definitely need to
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stock up on chemicals like Alaminol and alcohol to spray down your equipment and people. Use Alaminol to prepare your workspace. Whether that’s the holder, couch, shelves, lamp, and so on . Spray it, wipe it down, take some plastic wrap, wrap everything you’re
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working with, wrap your phones, energy drinks if you're drinking them, and so on. Then take your machine grip, put it in the ultrasonic cleaner, wait for it to finish, put it in a craft pouch, and then place it in our dry heat
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sterilizer for 40 to 60 minutes. The safety process is complete. For those just starting out, for those just learning at home on synthetic skin, all this hassle is unnecessary. You can’t infect anyone on synthetic skin, so you don't need to worry. You don't have to
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cover everything in plastic wrap, because that’s just a matter of cleanliness. If you enjoy things being dirty, be my guest. But during a session with a person, everything must be wrapped to ensure you don’t cause cross-contamination for your client
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under any circumstances. When you work on synthetic skin, you don’t need any dry heat sterilizers, ultrasonic cleaners, Alaminol, or alcohol.
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You’re basically just focused on the creative process there. And you can train without having any of this. But once you finish your training and want to work with people, if you stay at home, for instance, and set up a studio
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, you will need to purchase a dry heat sterilizer. They cost between 50 and 200 dollars. You’ll need to get an ultrasonic bath with Alaminol, which also costs about 30–40 dollars. Craft pouches, 100 count, I think, cost about
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8 dollars. Alaminol, this jug of chemicals. It costs around 30 dollars. Plastic wrap and alcohol. That’s it.
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But while you’re learning, you don’t need any of this. This concludes our first block on the basics . It was the largest and most informative one. Next up, we’ve got technique, style, content packaging, and clients. There will be a bit less
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information there, but it will be of the highest quality. I hope I haven’t overwhelmed you too much. You’ll get to rest now, and I’ll just be chilling and sharing some interesting stuff. Let’s move on. Right, moving on. We’ve successfully wrapped up the
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first massive block on the basics, where we discussed supplies, working in a studio versus at home, and talked about safety. Now we can move on to the second, more practical part. Well, I won’t be showing the practice, but I
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will be talking about it. This is about technique and systems. To get into the tattoo industry now, and in general, it’s not enough to just know about supplies and that, well yeah, you can work in a studio or at home. You need
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to know the technical foundations of the tattoo industry. And by technical foundations, I mean the actual execution of tattooing. I mean, in tattooing there’s a huge number of techniques and a huge number of styles.
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Stylization, finding your own style— we’ll talk about that a bit later. The absolute basics for the most beginner tattoo artists are being able to make, uh, the most primitive lines —these are called outlines in tattooing—being able to fill in small
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areas, which is solid packing, and doing some decent-looking shading. So, in this block, I’ll touch on topics like outlines, whip shading, soft shadows, solid packing, color, stylization, and things like that. So, what are outlines? Outlines are lines.
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They are the basis of all tattoo fundamentals. That is, when we just take a tattoo and trace it with lines.
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Those lines are the outlines. Outlines can be done in various ways. If you really dive deep, there are even a huge number of types of outlines. There are dynamic outlines, sketch outlines, main outlines, and, uh, auxiliary or secondary outlines. There’s a whole
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bunch of them. And just being able to pull a line isn't enough anymore. In 2026 and 2027, to be honest, there are quite a lot of tattoo artists. I don’t know about your countries, but here in Tashkent, in Uzbekistan, there
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are plenty of them. And frankly, I don’t want to offend anyone, but most of them just do mediocre work; a client comes with a picture, you copy it, voilà, it’s done, you earn a modest amount of money and think you’re a
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master. No, a master, of course, is someone who understands every technique in depth, someone who isn't afraid to experiment, someone who incorporates their own vision, and so on. So, just learning basic outlines isn't enough for you now. There’s a lot of
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competition, so you have to be clever; you need to work evenly, precisely, smoothly, and in an interesting way.
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The same goes for shading. Learning just to pack shade with a round magnum is no longer relevant. Everyone does that. But do you know how to stylize it ? Can you present this shade in your own style, with character? I mean, even
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now, when I record free tutorials for total beginners, for regular guys, I often get comments saying, "No, that's not how it's done, the voltage is wrong , you showed that part incorrectly." There are just so many know-it-alls who
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, frankly, don't know a damn thing themselves. The tattoo industry, again, is so vast that I physically cannot cram an entire foundation on lining into 40 seconds. That's at least a full lesson for a whole module. For example,
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in my training course, the module on lining takes about eight lessons, or something like that. I’m still working on it, and there will be more lessons because I realize that even my two-hour videos, where I explain everything from A to Z, are simply not
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enough. The info is as clear as possible, people are learning, but even with that amount of knowledge, I still realize there’s more to tell and more to show, so that people really start to grasp that it’s not just about having
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a line and tracing it—no, not at all. Again, if you scroll through TikTok and all those tutorials, there’s very little useful stuff there. People often write in the comments, "Damn, nobody ever talked about this.""Nobody ever talked about lining like this.""Nobody
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ever mentioned this about whip shading. " And that's very strange, too. There is so much in tattooing, but people just don't talk about it. And beginners think, "I watched two tutorials, I’ve learned how to line." People send me
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their work in the comments, saying, " Check out my work." Sure, it’s just a piece of work, but there’s nothing cool about it. It lacks uniqueness, it lacks a personal vision. It’s unremarkable. And that kind of work is
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essentially not hard to replicate. You’ve figured out a little bit about how needles work and how to pull lines.
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And all of that is easy to repeat, especially on synthetic skin. I get a lot of comments like that, people asking why they need training if they can already do that. But again, that’s easy to do; you should try to
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do something better. In the feedback I got from my lining course, a girl wrote a massive, long text, she really took the time, saying that nobody really talks about this kind of stuff. I’m not saying this to promote my stuff as
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being super cool. I’m talking about a general overview of the profession today: in 2027, we have the internet, a multitude of artists, and everyone is trying to grab attention in their own special way. That is, doing the work at
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a basic level won’t surprise anyone anymore. People are currently going out of their way to show off their skills, to demonstrate precision, clarity, and all these stylized techniques. And that’s why now, more than ever, you need to have a maximum understanding of
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the industry and be fully involved in everything. Just watching short videos isn't enough these days. I mean, I honestly thought I could make this video in about 40 minutes. Truth be told, I wanted to give you a 40-minute
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tour of the industry, both for beginners and for those who are already tattooing. But damn it, it’s just not working out. I’m already speaking very fast as it is. I want to explain things as clearly as possible, to keep
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it interesting for you and make sure I don’t leave anything out. But 40 minutes is just impossible. There’s color, color gradients, and whip shading. In whip shading, for instance, I made a module with twelve long lessons, and I realize I could still
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add more. I could add more for those who really want to learn on their own, go through this journey independently, and learn on themselves—like, say, how I did it. Yes, it’s possible; yes , it’s possible to reach cool results
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like mine, that’s realistic. But then again, how much time will you spend on it, studying all the types of whip shading and all the styles of soft shadows? There are so many types of gradients, contours, and solid color
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packing—there are just tons of techniques. You can do it on your own, but only if you don’t mind the time and the failed attempts. Plus, if you don't have that kind of extreme enthusiasm and you aren't tattooing your own face so that you don't quit
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when a problem arises, then that’s great. Please, go ahead and give it a try. For those just entering the industry, I want to tell you what you will need. To start, besides covering safety and supplies, you need to learn
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to do basic outlines, strips—at least start with those—start pulling straight, confident lines, understand the grip, how to hold the machine, at what angle, how to stretch the skin, and how to avoid over-traumatizing it.
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Because in tattooing, it’s not enough to just make a drawing that looks more or less cool and informative; there is the flip side, which is that it's skin, and unnecessary trauma—It negatively affects the final result. Meaning, you could make a cool design, but because
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you didn't understand which layer to inject into and haven't learned to control your pressure correctly, you can over-traumatize the skin. The skin gets over-traumatized, the body will struggle for a long time to remove your pigment, it will overdo it, eject a
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whole bunch of ink, and eventually your tattoo will become gray instead of black. And you're like: "Damn, I think I used black ink, why is it gray?" I also get a lot of questions in my comments, a lot of requests about why
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my tattoo is turning gray or why there are scabs. That's why I recommend you figure out how outlines work, at least the basics, so that they're at an average level, well, just so they are straight. For now, don't try to do any
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overly complex, fancy outlines. That's how I usually show and teach. It's enough for you to just make lines.
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Don't jump straight into working on a person. You have artificial skin, and you have paper. And by the way, my students and I are constantly talking about the fact that artificial skin alone is not enough. You need to
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practice all of this on paper as well. Paper also helps a lot in training your hand. Meaning drawing all kinds of shapes in different directions and so on. So, train on artificial skin first.
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Take it and just draw lines. The more you do, the better. Draw shapes: triangles, squares, circles. They also train your hand. Take paper, make all sorts of sketches on it, copy various lines, and so on. Meaning you need to
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imagine everywhere that you have a tattoo machine in your hand. Everything you pick up is now a tattoo machine to you. This is just so your grip gets used to being stable, so your movement speed is stable, and your depth of
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penetration is stable. It will be useful for you to learn how human skin works. Human skin has three layers: epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. That is, the fat layer. And you need to learn which of these layers you need to
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hit: how to avoid over-traumatizing it; how many passes you'll need to make so that it all heals as a beautiful line rather than some bitten-up mess; so that your line remains thin rather than just a greasy, bluish blob with leaks;
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and so that the client doesn't end up with keloid scars. Because if you don't understand how much pressure to apply and you over-traumatize, there will be a raised scar, and there's practically no way to get rid of that.
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Then, after outlines and studying human skin, I recommend you start trying solid color packing. For solid packing, as we've already figured out, you will need a round magnum. Or just a standard magnum. But the Round Magnum is definitely better. It is less traumatic
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and fits our human skin much more anatomically. Take some synthetic skin and just start mindlessly filling. It doesn’t matter what shape you have, a square, triangle, or circle, just fill it in. And the more you fill, the better. If your solid black fill looks
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like a greyed-out shoe with spots, white gaps, and holes, that’s bad. A solid fill should be really sharp and matte black. So, for those practicing at home, take synthetic skin and focus as much as possible on uniformity, so
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your cube is velvety black from end to end. Try to cover all the gaps. It is also important to be a perfectionist. I teach my students to draw every single line on paper, even before they reach synthetic skin or a human canvas. If
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you see that a line is crooked, for example, even a single standard outline has two sides. That’s the outer part of the outline and the inner part of the outline. You look at the overall composition of the drawing and the
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straightness of the lines. If you notice that one side of your outline has a flaw, you correct that specific side. Again, a common beginner mistake is seeing a crooked line and trying to beat it into submission with multiple
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passes. But that is a terrible idea. Instead of a straight line, you’ll end up with a scarred-up wound, which will have a very poor outcome for the client. They might even message you and say some unpleasant things. What I’m
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saying is that you need to be a geek, a perfectionist; you need to get used to the fact that a human is not something that can be constantly corrected. This isn’t paper where you can just erase everything. You need to do it right the
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first time. And to do it right on a person the first time, you need to hone your skill on synthetic skin or paper, where you try to make every single line as sharp and cool as possible right now
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. Once you can make the coolest possible outline from all sides, so that it is perfectly straight, then you can call yourself a pro. Because it doesn’t even matter how many techniques you know, as Bruce Lee said, it doesn’t matter how many punches
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you learn. I fear the man who has practiced one kick a thousand times. And you really need to know how to do one thing, absolutely incredibly well.
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Choose a technique for yourself, say, filling or outlining, and master it to the highest level. Perhaps in this very technique, you will be able to continue working in your own style and so on.
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You can do blackwork, if that’s a solid fill. If it's outlines, maybe you'll be able to do delicate work for girls, maybe some lettering, and so on.
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After solid packing, I recommend moving on to base shading. For base shading, you will need a round magnum. That is, again, the shovel for solid packing, and you need to train softness.
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Softness. For soft shading, you will need to make as many passes as possible using a light touch. That is precisely why you get a soft shadow. Soft shading is about a huge number of pixels in a specific area. That is, if you have,
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say, 200 pixels in that area, well, your shadow will be dirty, relatively speaking. But if there are 2,000 pixels in that area, then your shadow will be soft. And the softness of the shadow comes only from the fact that you go
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over the same spot many, many times. Therefore, for soft shading, you need to work on lightness and smoothness.
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What do I recommend doing? Again, take some fake skin and try to make as many layers as possible so that nothing remains. It's not bad if you've gone over it and over it and nothing is left . For soft shading, it is actually good
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. You set up the fake skin, did 10-15 layers, and you've only just started to see a soft layer appear. That’s cool, right? If you see that you’ve created a blotch after one or two passes, that’s bad. Retrain yourself.
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Remember that for soft shading, you need to create as many layers as possible. Then take some paper. On paper. I advise doing this in the style of academic hatching, because academic hatching is essentially directly related to soft shading. The movements
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are the same, the layering is the same, the pendulum motion is the same. So, if you need to, look up lessons on academic drawing, how everything is layered, how to work with it, and so on . It will be very useful. Color in
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tattooing is a very tricky thing. Again , because there is an entire spectrum and you need to understand the order of the colors, you need to know the color wheel and understand the types of gradients. For example, on my YouTube
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channel, I posted one lesson from my training, taken out of context, on how to do a gradient. It was one of two techniques. And even that one video helped people a lot. What will you need right now if you only want to study
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color? To start with, study the color wheel and how it works. That is, for example, colors that are far apart from each other cannot be combined into one gradient. And if you try to make a transition from blue to yellow, you
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likely won't get good results because those colors are far apart, and where those tones intersect, you'll get an unpleasant green color. To avoid that, you need to learn how to build those gradients using various related, nearby colors. It is also very useful to draw
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sketches on paper. Using colored pencils, markers, or brushes. You take a sketch, draw it, try out contrasts, experiment with different stretches and gradients, and understand color combinations—where black works with a certain color, where this color works with another, and so on. This means you
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need to upgrade not just your ability to copy specific sketches, but your actual understanding of how to build future tattoos, so a gradient transitions smoothly into the next without looking muddy. The most important thing is to understand the
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system. A system isn't when you find a bit about color, a bit about linework, try something here and there—no, that doesn't work. You need to go back to the basics. The basics, again, are linework, solid packing, shading, color
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, and so on. First, learn linework and how it functions. Incorporate solid packing into those lines so you don't have gaps and don't cause unnecessary over-trauma to the skin. Then you can start thinking about 3D effects and shading in the tattoo. Only after the
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shading can you move on to color and see how it composes with your black and gray work. If we go in order, without grabbing bits and pieces here and there , we build a system. A system is a true
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game-changer in life. With that, we conclude the second block on technique and systems and move on to style and stylization. We’ve now reached the third point about what a tattoo artist needs in 2026-2027 and where to start if you're a beginner. And now we're
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talking about style and presentation. Your own style of stylization is how you actually give character to your work. If you only know how to simply copy a design—a client brings you a piece, you copy it, repeat it, and
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voila, it’s done. Then you’re just a typical copy-paster. And there are plenty of those on the market right now . If today’s video is about how to survive in 2026-2027 with such high competition, you need to stand out
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somehow. If you don't stand out with ultra-high quality or, damn, years of experience in realism, then you can at least stand out with your own style and stylization. By style and stylization, I mean specific lines that you do
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differently than in the original sketch . about additional elements you are doing not the way they should be, about creating sketches. I mean, for those who might think right now, "Damn, sketch creation, I'm just entering the industry, this isn't relevant to me, I
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have to buy an iPad, yeah." No, I'm talking in general that even if you, the person watching me, are a beginner just entering the industry, there are a lot of artists now. And you have to understand that to get clients, to have
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some advantage over the huge layer of people who are also tattooing everything in sight, I need to stand out, and you need to try in every way to add your own vision. In my training, I talk about this from the very first
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lesson: if we are outlining, please don't outline the work like this. Outline it at least like this, so that a vision of a cool tattoo forms for you beginners who are just starting out with tattoos. I advise you right now to
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study Pinterest. Pinterest is an app that collects a whole bunch of photos, tattoos, sketches, and so on. Study Pinterest, look at what’s even there, what kind of work people are doing, how they play it all out, what lines, what
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outlines, and so on. You need to develop your visual experience as much as possible. If you are just thinking about doing this and you’ve looked at some crappy outlines and thought, "Damn , that’s a tattoo, that’s how it
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should be done." No, that’s a piece of crap. You need to immerse yourself in this a little, and then you’ll understand that this, for example, is bad, and this is good. As long as you just sit there and try to poke at
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artificial skin without looking at what is happening in the market, you will have no progression. To have progression, you need to subscribe to artists, go to masterclasses, if you have already started working, for example. If you are just in the process
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, at least look at Pinterest, just look at the artists 'work, what they are even doing. Why, for example, are such contrasts used in this work? In this work, such contrasts are used. Here is blackwork, for example, on the whole
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body, and here is a minimum of blackwork and more shadows. Why is that ? Analyze the work, download the work, compare it with your own. I also teach my students that when you've done a job (and this is relevant to everyone right
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now, everyone who tattoos), you've done the work, you go, say, for a smoke break, and you have some fragment left —definitely take a photo of this work , look at it during your break, where you have flaws, where you messed up,
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where you didn't finish something, where you can add something. Because the reference we work with, the one we transfer, is only one part of it.
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It’s just a cheat sheet that we look at and rely on. Everything else should come from in here. And when your mental library isn't packed with a huge number of sketches, a massive number of subscriptions to artists, and actual
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study of their work, you won't be able to tell what's cool and what isn't, and you won't be able to engage your own vision. Even in my own training, I have modules on fixing tattoos and on stylization. And I say outright that
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you won't be able to fix mistakes when you lack the knowledge and haven't seen enough. Knowing just the outlines isn't enough. You have to try everything from start to finish. Draw the sketch on paper. Right now, beginners or those
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who are already tattooing, try adding elements to it. For example, if you have a straight line, try making it diagonal, try varying its thickness, try adding a dot to the line, or try drawing another line next to it. If you
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are doing shading, try to make the shadow not just a blob, but give that shadow some kind of form. If you are doing blackwork, try not to fill the entire area with black, but leave some elements that remain the color of the
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skin. In other words, you need to experiment with outlines as much as possible. Try using different tones.
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Try making a light outline, try a dark outline, try making a thick outline next to a thin one, and so on. I mean, for any work going forward. Just imagine that I'm giving you all homework, again, both those who are
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tattooing and those who just want to start. Your homework, whether on artificial skin or on a person from now on. Try it—if you have a simple sketch, say, made of outlines, try not to do it that way, but do it this way
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instead. If there were soft shadows, try replacing them with, for instance, a rough texture like whip shading. Try making a solid fill less dense, and add some unshaded elements in there, and so on. In every way possible, incorporate
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some of your own vision of this sketch directly into your work. And then you'll notice that, from now on, you will make every single sketch unique.
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It’s not even about creating your own style here, but about knowing how to correct and refine things. If you mess up, with this knowledge you'll be able to improve the sketch. I’ll also attach some work here. My student and I
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had a project that looked like this. It was supposed to look like this. We did it like this instead. We applied our own vision to the outlines, added extra elements, and the work immediately became much cooler. You can see that
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with the naked eye. So, all this about stylization, about how you need to refine and frame your work so it stands out in '26 and '27, is how you’ll be able to differentiate yourself amidst all this heavy competition and attract
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clients. And clients are, quite simply, your money. And I recommend that everyone right now just pay attention to how they do their work. Are they just copying it, or are they trying to add a little something of their own?
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And adding your own touch is always about honor and respect. Copying is one thing, but adding your own creative flair—man, that deserves serious respect. So, definitely try it out and experiment. In '26 and '27, I think style will be an absolute must for
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those just entering the industry. You won't need this right now. You can even skip it if you want, or you can watch it; it’s still useful. Developing your own style gives you self-respect, earns you recognition among fellow artists, and gives you the chance to
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earn more because it's relevant and versatile. I mean, out of a huge pool of people, a client can just go to any of a hundred people like you if you're just doing mediocre work. But if you create your own unique style or
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stylization—for example, you draw sketches in a specific format—I can adapt any sketch into that format, and it will be unique. That’s when people will gravitate toward you. Well, that's for those who appreciate art and beauty . And those who appreciate art and
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beauty are willing to pay more. By the way, remember that too. Therefore, not having a style right now and not trying to develop one is really not a great idea. Of course, if you’ve chosen the path of pure commerce, just doing
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run-of-the-mill work, then sure, not bothering with style is a valid choice. But the question is, how long will you last when the market gets flooded with artists? Someone will have to leave because there will be less work, and it
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might just be you. That’s why I recommend that everyone think about creating their own style in tattooing.
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Today, with a huge number of artists, the internet, and AI that can draw for you, not using a style is like a monkey refusing a banana. I really advise everyone to dive into this. I'll also say a few words about how to develop
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your own style. To create your own style and start thinking in that direction, I advise you, first of all, to follow artists whose style you like, then find a few of them and take a little something from each. For example
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, take shading from one, outlines from another, solid coloring from a third, and just composition from someone else.
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Then, try to combine it all together. For example, see how this goes with that. Let’s say the outline plus the coloring is okay. If it’s not okay, that’s not it. If you’ve tried a couple of combinations like this and it
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looks cool, and let’s say they go well together, that’s great. And then you just have to keep trying and drawing. If you have the money for an iPad, even just some old 9th generation one that still supports Procreate, it
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costs 100-150 dollars, if you have the money, buy an iPad and start drawing. If you don't have the money for an iPad and Procreate, just take a sheet of paper, a pencil, and start sketching based on a reference you found, in the
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exact style you want. For example, you found some fauna, and you’ve formed a vision that I want to do soft shadows, I want to do dynamic outlines, I want to add extra elements, I want to include some lettering as well.
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That’s it. You see the twig you want to stylize in front of you, apply the outlines you need, add the necessary shadows, add your own inscription, throw in some extra elements, and that’s it—your style is ready. That is exactly how you need to practice.
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Spend a month or two on it, and you will definitely develop an awesome style. Even if it's not "awesome," you can adjust it endlessly and try to make it a real "wow" factor. People are willing to pay for "wow.""Wow" is
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valued, and "wow" is a real game-changer that is more relevant now than ever. After style, let’s talk about packaging and Instagram. Things like photography can be attributed to packaging. Nowadays, photography is incredibly important material that you just can't do without. Instagram is the
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same thing. Instagram and your social media. If you don’t run your social media, don’t photograph your work, and don’t post anything, then you are just an empty artist; why would anyone go to you if there’s nothing there? I
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mean, what is the point of going to a store when there are no products in the store? You have to go where there is a wide selection. And a wide selection in your case is having social media that
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features work, work, work, sketches, you, you, you, some content, and so on. I sometimes message artists who don’t run social media; they practice on fake skin and say they don’t have any appointments. The question is: if you’re training on fake skin, never
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get out among people, don’t shoot content, and don’t photograph your work, how are people supposed to find you? People find you when you run your social media, when you show up in their feeds, when you run ads, and so on. If
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you aren't doing this, what clients could you possibly be talking about? Ah , information for those just entering the industry. Start an Instagram, start a TikTok, start a YouTube, start a Telegram, and everywhere you show your work, yourself, your application
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process, photos of your work, everything related to you—you just have to do it, damn it. If you don't do it, you won't have anything. Start an Instagram. For those who are already tattooing, just tattooing and not bothering with Instagram or photos. Get
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started, polish your profile, photograph your work. There are different ways to photograph work. You can do a cool piece, take a picture of it with a dirty camera lens, like a grandma, and, well, it’ll be a piece of crap. But when you approach
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photography responsibly, say, choose a location, take different shots, edit them, and post them nicely, that's cool . People value that. That is already a premium product that people want to buy at a high price. For people to buy from
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you and for you to have clients, you again need to polish your Instagram, spruce up those sketches, take cool photos of your work, and actually start running it. Again, on how to run an Instagram, you can watch videos from
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marketers or join my training course. Everything is there, too. I would like to talk about this more. I could talk about this for hours, but I won't. I need you to watch the video to the end.
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Moving on. Our next block is: content in 2026-2027 is the number one thing for being in the profession. You might know how to tattoo like a god, but if nobody sees it, it’s worthless. If you aren't showing it to the masses,
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your work isn't worth a penny. For those who are afraid and shy about content, please don't enter the industry. If you know how to tattoo, you need to be doing content even more than tattooing. Back in 2010, yes,
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content didn't really exist as such. You could just tattoo something, and it was all like, cool, wow, and you’d have a ton of clients. But now, if you don't show the value of your work, if you don't answer client questions, if
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you don't address their pain points, nobody will come to you. Take my training course, for example: if I don't create useful content, if I don't show my professionalism, if I don't prove to you that I really know how to
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teach, that I’ve done these works, that I’ve used this much synthetic skin, that I, for instance, can do this level of work—you won’t come to me, I won’t have any students, because they won’t trust me. It’s the same
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with your work; if you know how to tattoo but don't show it, how will you get clients? That’s why it’s important for you to focus on content.
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Record everything. Unboxing equipment. Today I’m practicing on synthetic skin. Today I’m heading out to meet my first client. Today I’ll be doing a touch-up session. Today I’m out buying supplies. Tomorrow I’ll be filming some interesting content.
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I’ll be doing skits and so on. Content is top priority. You can forget everything else I said in this video.
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Just please, remember to focus on content, and you’ll be doing just fine. I don’t know what else to say.
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Content is a must-have. Even for those who are already tattooing, start incorporating content. Just having tattoos in your feed isn't enough. If we scroll through Instagram and all we see are tattooed arms, that's not cool.
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It’s cool when you show yourself, you show this, you show that—that’s interesting to watch. For those still watching this video, I want to share a very useful tip. When you're filming content and don't know what to film, first of all, you need to address your
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clients' pain points. For instance, a client wants a tattoo but doesn't know how much it costs. Answer that question for them: how much does it cost? The client is wondering, does it hurt?
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Answer that question for them through your content. The client is wondering, is everything sterile? Answer that question for them. And the more client pain points you write down, the more content you can create to bring in the right people. What kind of content
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should you make? I recommend three or four types of content. Personal, where you show yourself, who you are, and your personal life so people trust you.
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Professional content, so people see what you tattoo and what you can do, so they trust your skills. And sales content, where you invite them to a session, show available dates, and show the work process itself, so people buy
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from you. People need to see you, trust you, and buy from you. That’s it, three types of content: personal, sales , and expert, and you’ll be booked up . Just don't worry. Use ChatGPT for help. Write to him, tell him from A to
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Z what format you want the video in— expert, personal, or promotional. Mention the idea in passing, answer the pain point, and you'll have tons of content. But again, I will also leave you 30 small ideas for your videos.
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Let’s wrap up the topic of Instagram. You could talk endlessly here about the profile header, highlights, and photos.
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But let’s talk a little bit, in a few words, about clients. How should you behave with clients nowadays? I’m not talking about screwing clients over.
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I’m not talking about shoving a session or a course down their throats at any cost. I’ve had many requests like, "Damn, they sold me training or did this for me, but it’s actually crap." So, to avoid being just a
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marketer, you need to be able to do everything I mentioned above: make content, know about supplies, techniques, style, and so on. But you also need to know how to communicate with clients. You need to handle client objections. Not with the intent of just
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selling to them, but with the goal of helping them. In my free tutorials, like on YouTube, I do it from the perspective of helping a beginner, helping this person, helping that person. You need to be helpful. And a
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tattoo is the same kind of help. A client comes with a request: "I want this." And you should provide them with exactly what they actually need. Not just sell: "Look, I’m cool, great, and that’s it, let’s make money and
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leave." No, you need to act based on the fact that the client is paying me, so I must pay them back with something: a good result, good service, and so on.
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Now, for you to have clients in 2026 or 2027, you need to manage your correspondence correctly, convey the right value, and find out what the person genuinely wants. Not just force your own thing on them, but ask what it
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is that they want. Maybe we can tailor it to you, maybe this, maybe that. In this day and age, when there's a battle for every client, you need to show your loyalty, your dedication to the work, and your interest in the session.
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Therefore, every single time people write to you, don’t just write: "Hi, here’s the price." Don't do that. At the very least, you can ask them leading questions: "Where do you want the tattoo? What size should your tattoo be? Why this particular one?
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Maybe we can customize it for you." So, try to help them through leading questions. Then, offer your alternatives. If a client, for example, finds this too expensive, offer them something similar, well, something a bit cheaper. Again, it’s an
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opportunity not to lose the client and to earn money as well. There you go.
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And you’re also helping them by offering something more affordable. Therefore, you could talk about clients endlessly, there’s a ton of information. But let’s wrap this up.
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My point is that nowadays you need to treat clients like friends, like someone who is actually paying you, and you need to pay them back in kind. Not just throw something together, but be a friend to your clients. That’s
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exactly why I have these kinds of trusting relationships with every client, where we can always chat after the session, do this or that, eat during the session, go out, take a walk , watch a movie, and so on. Therefore,
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I think such relationships should be built with clients, with students, and in general. And to sum up the entire essence of my video, I want to tell you that you need to know your equipment, understand where you’ll be working—
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at home or in a studio—you need to understand safety so as not to harm your client in any way, and you need to know your technique so it’s at the highest level, because there’s a lot of competition and you need to show
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quality. Nowadays, just saying "I’m so good, come to me" is not enough. You need to show your style and individual approach. To stand out against the backdrop of this huge, fast-growing market. You need to show what makes you
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different from the majority so that people will come to you. You need to show a polished Instagram, show high-quality work, show yourself, and create a lot of content— sales-oriented, expert, and personal— so people understand who you are, trust
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you, consider you a professional, and buy your products. That is exactly what we do directly through content. And you need to communicate with clients the right way. It shouldn’t just be "hi, bye, here’s the price, take it or
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leave it"; for people to come to you, you need to build those friendly relationships and help them in every way possible. With that, our video is slowly coming to an end. I thought it would be 40 minutes, but we ended up
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with about two hours, plus or minus. But I think I’ve provided the maximum amount of info for this amount of time.
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Of course, I could have talked about this for 10 hours, but you wouldn’t be watching anymore. Info for those who want to enter the industry, or for those who are already tattooing but want to level up their skills, you can
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head over to my Telegram channel. I'll leave the link in the description. I have all sorts of useful stuff there, free lessons and a PDF file with links to equipment, tools, content ideas, and a step-by-step plan for a tattoo artist
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. You can grab those right there on my Telegram channel as well. So definitely go check it out and subscribe. And if you want to get trained and upgrade your skills, I have a massive online course that is super affordable. And
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it's not the kind of format where you just buy it and that's it. You might have noticed that I didn't even try to hide anything in this video. I tried to provide you with as much value as possible. And in the training, that
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value is overflowing. The system is built from A to Z, from equipment to safety, working with skin, outlines, techniques, and so on. I mean, it has absolutely everything: how to sell a tattoo, how to pack your Instagram, how
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to find clients, how to fix tattoos, how to photograph them, all the techniques, and tons of feedback. You can jump on a call with me, and I review your homework on the site. I correspond with you in Telegram. You
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receive a certificate upon completion and much more. There are tons of reviews. I also post all the reviews in my Telegram. The price of my training is much lower than the market rate. So I’m not one of those people who just
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wants to sell and that's it. I’m about helping people. So those who have already joined, you can see what they are writing. I post that in Telegram.
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It turns out that if you really want to learn from scratch on your own, please, you can. I am the result of the fact that you can learn solo. But it takes at least a few years. If you want to
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compress all that into a month or two or three, please, come join the training. Everything is there, and you will become a cool pro. For those who want to upgrade their skills, it’s the same thing. My training includes
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all the right techniques from start to finish on how you need to work so you have a full schedule, so your style grows, and your techniques improve.
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Plus my feedback, where we jump on calls, and I, as your personal mentor and friend, help you grow and become truly great. The link to the site is also in Telegram, so if anyone has any questions, don't hesitate. My account
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is in Telegram, you can message me, we can hop on a call, and we will discuss everything in detail. For those who watched until the end, you are absolutely amazing. There was a lot of info, and my mouth is actually hurting
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now. If you listened to it all and found it interesting, please write in the comments that I watched to the end.
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Leave a like and subscribe. It would make me really happy. And in the future there will be even more useful videos, more tutorials, and much more. Good luck to everyone, have a great mood, and thanks for being with me. Bye. Hey
Topics:tattooing basicstattoo suppliestattoo needlestattoo safetytattoo techniquestattoo artist guidetattoo brandingtattoo content creationtattoo clientstattoo training
