The guinea pig for my first ever tattoo was my mum!
After having practiced my tattooing application on pig skin and fake skin for the past 4 years (1 year seriously) it was time to do my first real tattoo on human skin. Mum was looking for a memorial tattoo for a family member who sadly passed away late 2019 and she really wanted me to do it.
It was an absolute honour to do this tattoo for mum and I had pride in designing it personally for her and it meant so much more than a tattoo for us both!
It was an absolute honour to do this tattoo for mum and I had pride in designing it personally for her and it meant so much more than a tattoo for us both!
I was feeling the pressure big time... not only was it my first real skin and had huge meaning to us, but I was also filming the whole thing for my recently made YouTube channel. Not too much pressure on myself...!
Check out the progress shots of the tattoo. You can also find the full Youtube video at the bottom of the page.
Finished tattoo (would like to add highlights in the future)
Beginning the outline
First outlines
Robin outlined. The stencil wore off due to working from top to bottom. Lessons learned!
My first bit of script lined with the same liner
Although extremely different to fake skin, I actually found real skin to be much easier to apply the ink as I continued to black out the script and add the first bits of shading. I used a 5rl for the outlines and a 9flat magnum for the shading.
These are shots just after the first sitting as mum was in too much pain to continue and I don't blame her. It's quite a big first tattoo and because of my lack of experience and the need to film the whole thing, this was around 5 hours to get to this point.
First sitting over
And the tattoo is complete!
I think mum thought it wouldn't be as painful as it was, and maybe it wasn't the best idea to have a tattoo virgin as my first ever real tattoo. But it went well (when she could sit still haha) and we were both very happy with it and hopefully we done steve proud!
I am pleased to say that the tattoo has healed extremely well and it had held up very well so far. I will be adding some more orange to the design and white highlights in the future... when mums ready that is haha!
Watch the entire tattoo from start to finish here: